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Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

face2faceafrica.com

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Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#111

Post by oblio »

jopsen wrote: post #84
oblio wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So the book argues that when developing countries are pressured into free trade agreements This should have been obvious since the Opium Wars and the Opening of Japan (see Commodore Matthew Perry). All developed countries are pro free trade for markets where they are strong and fiercely protectionist where they are not (or they consider those markets strategic priorities). I'm from Romania. Romania joined the EU in…

Are those supermarkets really all that French or Belgian anymore? In practice, many large companies are owned by investors from all over the world looking for diversification.

The top management for sure is French/German/Belgian. At least big chunks of it. And the owners (individuals/companies) are French/German/Belgian.

If push comes to shove, they will for sure prioritize French/German/Belgian interests.

Can't really blame them but strategically it's not a position you want to be in, looking at it from the other side.

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#112

Post by oblio »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #74
oblio wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So the book argues that when developing countries are pressured into free trade agreements This should have been obvious since the Opium Wars and the Opening of Japan (see Commodore Matthew Perry). All developed countries are pro free trade for markets where they are strong and fiercely protectionist where they are not (or they consider those markets strategic priorities). I'm from Romania. Romania joined the EU in…

Romania still has at least one local supermarket chain I can think of: Oncos. I’m not sure how many locations they have outside of Transylvania, though. Sadly, Romania’s competitiveness in building its own businesses in Europe is weakened by being left out of Schengen. Considering that Mark Rutte’s party just won reelection in the Dutch elections, sadly nothing is likely to change on that front for years – he is the…

That's on our government.

We should just start vetoing some of those important treaties or other big agreements. We need to start pressuring the other EU members into pressuring the Netherlands for us.

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#113

Post by pastacacioepepe »

sandworm101 wrote: post #110
m12k wrote: post #15

I'm reading the book The Divide at the moment. It makes the argument that it takes time and the right conditions to build up an industry - infrastructure needs to be built, education and a skilled labor pool with the necessary know-how as well. To begin with, a fledgling industry in a developing country cannot compete with those of already industrialized countries - these are already so effective that they can underc…

>> a fledgling industry in a developing country cannot compete with those of already industrialized countries Except that often they do. With lower safety/environmental standards, lower wages, and lower expectations many "developing" countries can undercut the labor markets of developed countries, operating advanced manufacturing at far reduced costs. Many would ague that is exactly how China has risen to power. A re…

> With lower safety/environmental standards, lower wages

Well, no, thanks. I'd rather not be forced to enslave my people in order to compete with western capitalism.

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#114

Post by permo-w »

DSingularity wrote: post #37
oblio wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So the book argues that when developing countries are pressured into free trade agreements This should have been obvious since the Opium Wars and the Opening of Japan (see Commodore Matthew Perry). All developed countries are pro free trade for markets where they are strong and fiercely protectionist where they are not (or they consider those markets strategic priorities). I'm from Romania. Romania joined the EU in…

WW3 was fought with soft power and economics. Now some countries own other countries and nobody is complaining.

Soft power and economics have been used as weapons for centuries Do you really think that their current or recent use is enough to warrant the moniker “WW3”?

I don’t

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#115

Post by hanche »

prepend wrote: post #55

I think it’s good to see raw producers start working up market to make their own chocolate. I think a Ghanaian chocolate brand actually owned by Ghanaians and made for export would market very well. It’s interesting to me how much tasty and interesting stuff in Africa has not been marketed internationally and there’s lots of room for them to grow and develop. For example, fonio [0], is a grain native to west Africa t…

I satisfy my chocolate cravings with chocolate from fairafric now. Chocolate produced all the way from the tree to packaged chocolate bars in Ghana. They ran a couple kickstarter projects to get going. It's excellent chocolate too! At least the dark variants, which are the only ones I care about.

https://fairafric.com/en/home/

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#116

Post by pastacacioepepe »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #20
m12k wrote: post #15

I'm reading the book The Divide at the moment. It makes the argument that it takes time and the right conditions to build up an industry - infrastructure needs to be built, education and a skilled labor pool with the necessary know-how as well. To begin with, a fledgling industry in a developing country cannot compete with those of already industrialized countries - these are already so effective that they can underc…

>"we should allow developing countries" Not to pick on you, but I often hear this frasing in the 'first world' and surely you dont 'allow' or 'disallow' internal policies to an sovereign nation? It sounds like a Freudianslip or something, the reality is that its easy to bully or bribe officials in developing nations.

That's what the west does all the time.

Blackmail poor countries into selling all of their assets to foreign capital, just to gain access to foreign credit.

See what's happening in Cuba. See what Vietnam had to do after the war with the US, see Greece with Europe recently, see countless more.

The WTO, IMF and the World Bank are the colonizing arm of capitalism.

It's a relatively new form of supernational economic warfare that turned out to be very effective, especially when combined with embargoes and economic sanctions. It's the famous "offer one can't refuse".

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#118

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

pjmlp wrote: post #86
kar1181 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar things are happening in Croatia.

To the point that when I traveled around a couple of years ago along the coast, most people I met along the way seemed to be more confortable speaking German than English.

Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Kosovar familiarity with German is something that dates from the era of Yugoslavia, it has little to do with corporate sway in the modern EU.

Yugoslavia 1) allowed its people to freely work in the West, and many people chose to go to West Germany, and 2) Yugoslavia built up extensive tourist infrastructure in Croatia and Montenegro that drew predominantly German-speaking holidaymakers (and not so many English-speaking ones -- UK holidaymakers went for e.g. Spain or Greece during this era). All this made German seem like the language for communicating with foreigners, though among younger generations it is already giving way to English.

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#119

Post by audunw »

killtimeatwork wrote: post #87
oblio wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So the book argues that when developing countries are pressured into free trade agreements This should have been obvious since the Opium Wars and the Opening of Japan (see Commodore Matthew Perry). All developed countries are pro free trade for markets where they are strong and fiercely protectionist where they are not (or they consider those markets strategic priorities). I'm from Romania. Romania joined the EU in…

That's where China was smart I guess. They didn't sign any treaty which forced them into free trade or IP protection, but instead slowly allowed their industries to build up via IP theft and strong protectionism. Now they have giant companies on par with the West's. Whereas everyone who joined the EU in the decade of 2000 (and the Washington Consensus before that in the nineties) is now a pawn of the Western capital…

I really think China is making a huge mistake actually. See how TSMC (Taiwan) and Samsung are free to buy ASMLs EUV machines, while China is blocked. Part of that is due to their rampant IP theft. Why sell machines to China if they're just going to copy them?

China also messed up big time by enforcing their 1 child policy, and taking so long to open up and industrialize. They're far behind economically compared to where other countries were with their demographic. Now they're on the verge of the biggest wave of senior citizens reaching retirement the world has ever seen, with crumbling infrastructure and housing, relatively low GDP/capita and no clear path to manufacturing/export of truly high value goods and services. They're screwed.

China really wants to get out of low-value manufacturing, and in some ways they're encouraging pushing that out to south-east asia and africa. But at the same time they don't have the positive image and reputation needed to be a big exporter of high-value goods. Who is going to trust Chinese companies with things like 5G infrastructure and CPS, when they're all basically an extension of the CCP when it comes to security? Who wants to live and work in China now, when you have no real justice for foreign citizens and the CCP can arrest you at a whim? If anything even close to Shenzhen is replicated elsewhere in the world, I think companies and individuals will gladly develop their products elsewhere. Will a giant Chinese company ever gain the reputation of Samsung or Sony? DJI I guess? But that's a bit niche.

Poland is growing healthily last I checked. The proof is in immigration numbers in other European countries. It seems to be reversing. In Norway there's a clear downward trend in immigration from Poland.

Re: Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland

#120

Post by oyashirochama »

khuey wrote: post #108
killtimeatwork wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's where China was smart I guess. They didn't sign any treaty which forced them into free trade or IP protection, but instead slowly allowed their industries to build up via IP theft and strong protectionism. Now they have giant companies on par with the West's. Whereas everyone who joined the EU in the decade of 2000 (and the Washington Consensus before that in the nineties) is now a pawn of the Western capital…

They did sign those treaties (e.g. with WTO membership), they just ignored them.

And no one cared, it something that needs to be reckoned with.
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