Comments by "peabase" (@peabase) on "Why is Europe so dependent on China's rare earths? | DW News" video.

  1. Only some European countries engaged in colonialism. Most did not. If you were correct, Scandinavia, for instance, should be significantly poorer than the former colonial powers. That's not the case, however. Maybe hard work and a strong urge to better oneself has something to do with it?
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  2. Rather, you should worry about China's neo-colonialism in Africa. That's real and tangible.
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  3.  Jhon Gonzalez  I see you're struggling with the notion that this so-called "West" is multipolar in itself. There's Europe, North America and Oceania, each of which is multipolar in itself as well. I think you have some more growing up to do before you can see the world for what it is.
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  4.  @crishhari5903  Thank you for that amateurish lecture about the history of my continent. With an MS in history (and another in political science), I could return the favour, but I'm not into smart-arsing. You fail to appreciate that a great many European countries were colonised themselves. I don't know what kind of antidote we got in 1917, but we never developed the habit of whining endlessly about it, or using it as an excuse for our own failings. Holier than thou? Less whiny than thou!
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  5.  @nevarran  I'm happy to cream off their best. But this one clearly doesn't make the grade.
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  6. You're comparing raw materials -- commodities -- to high-tech products like ASML's? Evidently we didn't fail economics since we're the affluent ones.
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  7.  @Starwarrior9831  You'll find that in many cases, the colonial masters in question can't get rid of their colonial remnants. The locals keep voting against independence.
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  8.  @yourface4248  Just as often we're at loggerheads. Israel's habitual ill-treatment of the Palestinians never fails to draw condemnation from Europe -- and a UNSC veto from the US, in whose eyes Israel can do no wrong. The Iraq War caused a major rift between the US and "Old Europe", as Rumsfeld called us WMD sceptics. More recently, there was the Iran JCPOA, which Trump famously ruined, much to the ire of Europe. Need I go on or are you slowly getting the picture?
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  9. That doesn't really tally with the relatively low incidence of corruption in Europe.
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  10. The Chinese aren't as daft as the Russians. The Chinese have business sense.
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