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Tibet

CHINA’S DEVELOPMENTALIST STATE

This blog series reflects on where Tibet is headed, propelled to its’ destination,  not only by China’s coercions but increasingly by China’s money and urban comforts. Reflecting back on the past 45 years, since communism, revolution and Cultural Revolution crashed, and ahead to the momentum China imposes. Those 45 years are also the years I […]

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Tibet

GOVERNMENTALITY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

TECHNOLOGIES OF MAKING TIBET CHINA’S Blog 1 of 4 overviewing China’s long term strategies Almost all of China’s interventions in Tibet share a common purpose, very seldom named. How can we sum up what China does, in the name of development, What is the common thread, over decades, shaping what China does, in the name […]

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Tibet

UNBALACED, UNSUSTAINABLE, UNCOORDINATED

  THIRD CCP PLENUM 2024 OPTS FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL To be Premier of China is a thankless task. Nominally the head of the entire state apparatus, in charge of the executive that plans and implements all policies, the Premier would seem to be one of the most powerful people on the planet. Yet his […]

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Tibet

HOT ROCKS

MATERIAL WORLD A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 1 of 3 A concise version of this blog was published by Turquoise Roof. If you have read that report, do read on for further insights into China’s long term strategy for global dominance of all new industries, and in-depth analysis of […]

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Tibet

SPIN CYCLE LITHIUM

A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 2 of 3 BOOMING LITHIUM: FEAR OF MISSING OUT Mining has always been prone to booms and busts, since the interval between demand and supply is  several years of careful investigation  to find and confirm a mineral deposit, draw up a sound business case, […]

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Tibet

PROBING TIBETAN SECRETS

A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 3 of 3 SAVING OUR PLANET, THROUGH MORE MINING THAN EVER Lithium extraction by any means, at whatever financial and environmental cost, makes sense only if decarbonising a world addicted to fossil fuels is the sole goal, and nothing else matters. Getting lithium out […]

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Tibet

TIBATTERY

HOW TIBET HELPS CHINA WIN THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION   Many fates have loomed for Tibet in the seven decades this vast plateau has been forced into Chinese modernity. Initially, in the proclamations of revolutionary communism, Tibet was to become a new heaven on earth, to be accomplished by first destroying all that is old. […]

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Tibet

KHAM ELECTRIFIED

Blog 1 of 3 on a big new hydro dam in Tibet RED GENE PRINCELINGS MAKING  TIBET CHINA’S In May 2023 the first big new hydro dam in several years in Tibet was announced. It will not be on the Yarlung Tsangpo but the Za Chu, the uppermost Mekong. The announcement came not as official […]

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Tibet

SOLARIZING TIBET

Blog 2 of 3 on a big new hydro dam in Tibet Migrating China’s massive energy extraction infrastructure industry far upstream into Tibet has long been signalled by party-state planners. Potential dam locations have been mapped by engineers for decades, and listed as potential dams in official plan decrees. Yet most of the big dams […]

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Tibet

EXPRESSWAY TURNS TIBET EASTWARD

Blog 3 of 3 on a big new hydro dam in Tibet EAST-WEST NORTH-SOUTH THE PARTY IS LEADING EVERYTHING. The intersectionality of Kham Markham is core. The magic of fungibility happens in Markham. Water turns into electricity, horses into tea, rivers into regional spheres of influence, movement is everything. China’s trajectory, from humiliation to hegemony, […]