A piece of the pie

Russia and France are showing renewed interest (after the Tata venture). The US is already here for quite sometime, interested in the energy field. The military footprints are not disclosed diplomatically, but the overtures are there (from far away Diego Garcia far down in south Indian Ocean, to Sri Lanka, to St Martin's creeping up north stage by stage). Thailand and Indonesia are very keen to export unsold goods and outdated services to Bangladesh as cheap lots at bargain prices. Our fertilizer is being smuggled out, and we have to import the shortage; our shipyards fail in a country with 500 rivers and poor IWT infrastructure!

The foothold in South Asia is important, for a piece of the pie in the huge potential market of more than one and a half billion consumers; with India emerging as a competitor to China, to dominate the global scene later in the century and beyond.

Europe is on the decline (hence the birth of the EU and Euro). The former huge USSR is broken up, and unable to form a regional block for negotiations.

Imperialism is not dead. It is being reincarnated in modern forms, starting with grabbing of the energy resources, by hook or by crook. Old habits die hard: the exploitation of man by man, colour bar notwithstanding. The nuclear arms threats are purely political harassment through diplomatic pressure, followed by pre-emptive use of force. Had there been no oil and gas in Iran and Iraq, these countries would have been ignored totally (the way Bangladesh is NOT being ignored!).