Maria

“No president in history has burned more public money to sustain his personal lifestyle than Donald Trump. Three-quarters of the way through his first year in office, President Trump was on track to spend more on travel in one year of his presidency than Barack Obama in eight -- even though Trump only rarely ventured west of the Mississippi or across any ocean.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

“China, of course, gains access to commodities, but host countries get the loans to finance infrastructure developmental programs in their economies, they get to trade (creating incomes for their domestic citizenry), and they get investments that can support much-needed job creation.”
― Dambisa Moyo, Winner Take All: China's Race for Resources and What It Means for the World

“For China, the economic corridor has two aims, to open up an alternative route for oil imports from the Middle East, and to persuade Pakistan to do more to combat violent extremism seeping over its border. The vision is driven by strategic factors, not commercial logic.”
― Tom Miller, China's Asian Dream: Empire Building along the New Silk Road

“Relations with the Palestinian village of Qaffin, however, have been more complicated. "Before 1967," explains Dov Avital, "it was a West Bank village annexed by Jordan. Since, 1967, it has been a Palestinian village of the West Bank occupied by Israel. We share the struggle of our neighbors in Meisar for their civil rights - in principle, our fellow citizens. But it is different with Qaffin. As Israelis on the Left, we are willing to fight against the occupation for peace and for the creation of a Palestinian State. But the people in Qaffin are also struggling for national rights. We support them, but because they are Palestinians and we are Israelis, we cannot really take part in that.”
― René Backmann, A Wall in Palestine