Recent content by flame_retardant

Hi guys, this isn't strictly about BD defence, but more people cycling in Dhaka is definitely a good thing. A couple of years ago, I made a thread asking if cycling could be the main form of transportation in Dhaka. I am happy to see more and more rich in \dhaka agree with me. So updates: 1...

So you've decided to check yourself out of reality completely. Just for fun, let's try this exercise: name me one country which has done economically well when its geographic region was in total turmoil. You don't even have to look very far to see countries failing because their neighbors are...

China's investing a lot into Bangladesh's infrastructure so the camp is welcome at the moment.

You've presented your point of view convincingly in the rest of your post but I wanted to address this separately. Countries are selfish. ESPECIALLY developing countries. Expecting wonderful hand-holding, everybody's nice, sincere, friendly is just not realistic. They're going to want to come...

I accept this part of your argument. By the way, I never thought it was realistic for India to hope to become China overnight. They're not that efficient and no where ear that infrastructure or education level. You've lost me here. Yes, NE India will have to use Bangladeshi route to the...

This is what I mean - Bangladesh is starting to develop its market in other sectors like plastics, ship-building, some electronics (refrigerator, LCDs, A/Cs etc), bicycles. These are very young markets right now & Bangladesh needs to protect its own interests - what it doesn't need is...

Now you know :) And you want to increase that 1.5% number by 1%. Instead of abstract, let's think of that as a real #: Bangladesh GDP 2012: 116.61 billion. 1% of that is 1.16billion dollars - that's roughly about a third of the price of the Jamuna bridge. The Jamuna bridge would increase...

China has a lot more money to invest in Africa because China made more money than India in the last 30yrs. They started out on about even-keel in the mid 80s. I agree that inefficient beaurocracy takes a huge hit on Indian economy. But maitaining good economic relationships with other...

Really? You hope civil war breaks out in India? Because that's going to be wonderful for the rest of South Asia? Like how much better things got for Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia & the Democratic republic of Congo after the Rwandan genocide? Or how much fun neighbors of Congo are having right now...

I'm glad you seem to have some understanding of the crux of the matter. The Indian government on the other hand hasn't been able to figure it out. GoI isn't honoring the free trade agreement between other South Asian countries & themselves - it's leading to India facing a lot of competition...

GoI doesn't have its act together - India's demographics & current infrastructure make it possible for growth rate to be 8-10% right now. But it's lagging at 4-5%. It's trying (& failing) to compete with China in foreign markets like Africa when it can't even hang onto a strong grasp on South...

^^ Intelligent You were doing so well and then you came to this. Really? Bangladesh, a country were 26% of the population is living on under $2/day, is in a (relatively) stable region, and is not under direct military threat needs to spend its very limited resources on building a...

Right now India is protecting its own young industries & not maintaining free trade. Protectionism can be good - that's what President Park did in South Korea in the 1960s to build up the electronics sector, which ultimately led to SK becoming the powerhouse it is today. But right now...

I didn't say Bangladesh will stay poor. I said growth rate in Bangladesh will be slower if India and south Asia doesn't get its act together compared to if South Asia does better. Frankly, if I were a poor person in Bangladesh, I would want to develop as quickly as possible so that my life would...

I didn't say that "keeping India poor" is possible for Bangladesh. Iajdani said thats what he wants. He totally forgets the implications of that: very hard lives for almost a billion Indians. India is 10 times the size of Bangladesh, and their population is growing at a faster rate; they have...