China's One Belt, One Road: A Success or a Warning?

Few people in the world have not heard of the Belt and Road Initiative. This is the massive trading partnership initiated by China in 2013, which has now grown, beyond any initial expectations, to become a major economic challenger to the G7 group of nations. This project (which is still growing), when combined with two other initiatives, the BRICS (a trading block composed of emerging market countries) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), is in a position to revolutionize the global economic structure. Together they will impact every nation and every economy in the world.

This initiative offers our Western nations an opportunity to examine themselves and do a reality check on how we are doing in comparison. It should also carry a message causing us to ask why so many nations around the world are looking away from the nations of the West to find partners and opportunities. There is a serious warning for the West, much less a warning about China and its partners than a warning about what the West is becoming. It is a warning of impending collapse of Western wealth and power brought on by ourselves.