China’s Global Ambitions, With Loans and Strings Attached – The New York Times

The country has invested billions in Ecuador and elsewhere, using its economic clout to win diplomatic allies and secure natural resources around the world.

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and KEITH BRADSHERJULY 24, 2015

“EL CHACO, Ecuador — Where the Andean foothills dip into the Amazon jungle, nearly 1,000 Chinese engineers and workers have been pouring concrete for a dam and a 15-mile underground tunnel. The $2.2 billion project will feed river water to eight giant Chinese turbines designed to produce enough electricity to light more than a third of Ecuador.

Near the port of Manta on the Pacific Ocean, Chinese banks are in talks to lend $7 billion for the construction of an oil refinery, which could make Ecuador a global player in gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products.

Across the country in villages and towns, Chinese money is going to build roads, highways, bridges, hospitals, even a network of surveillance cameras stretching to the Galápagos Islands. State-owned Chinese banks have already put nearly $11 billion into the country, and the Ecuadorean government is asking for more.”

via China’s Global Ambitions, With Loans and Strings Attached – The New York Times.

Who is the Flake Republican, helping Obama on his new Cuban opening?

“A descendant of Mormon pioneers who grew up in a family of 11 children on a cattle ranch in a small Arizona town, Snowflake (named for his ancestors), Mr. Flake, 52, is mild mannered and with a wry sense of humor. He admits he is an unlikely figure in the Cuba debate. “I took a poll of Cuban-Americans in Arizona,” he said, deadpan, “and both of them said, ‘Go ahead.’”

Jeff Flake, a Conservative, Emerges as Obama’s Ally on Cuba

The Arizona senator has waged a long and lonely battle against fellow Republicans to push for easing restrictions on Cuba, and now the White House is counting on him.

nytimes.com|By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG