India and Pakistan Relations With The West

[ajohn]

We have been complacent in the west in turning China into our manufacturing facility

It starts with cheaper labour but eventually the whole supply chains needed for manufacture appear. When limestone, coal and iron ore was available in the UK we exported loads of it. The industry developed initially where coal and limestone was local, along the R. Severn. Move on in time and the ore gets imported. Move on again and the metal gets imported instead. Compared with being able to dig it out from the ground and process it locally any country is at a disadvantage if it can't do the same.

All rather over simplistic but that is loosely how it works and not just with iron based materials.

Business doesn't much care what goes on in China. The same could be said of Russia as the west has lots there. Business want profit and if you want to be able to buy the stuff..........................................

 

[albaPhenom]

The whole of our standard of living in the West is predicated on cheap labour in the devoloping world.
By all means buy British shoes made in Britain, or for that matter, smart phones, toys, shirts, televisions, ect.ect.but how much are you prepared to pay for them.
Indigenous cheap labour was plentiful in the UK until the working classes got the vote and universal education was introduced.
Since then the average worker is more clued up about how much their labour is worth, (ask any plumber and you wil see what i mean).

I'm more than prepared to own less, pay some more and have less cheap crap available if it means we're not leaving ourselves exposed to a country who is today "considering whether to provide Russia with military assistance in Ukraine"... and the sooner we shift our mindset and deal with that problem, stop putting our rampant consumerism first and foremost, the better we will be.

 

[Vinty]

I'm more than prepared to own less, pay some more and have less cheap crap available if it means we're not leaving ourselves exposed to a country who is today "considering whether to provide Russia with military assistance in Ukraine"... and the sooner we shift our mindset and deal with that problem, stop putting our rampant consumerism first and foremost, the better we will be.

I actually agree with that.
The sooner the western world decouples from the rest of humanity, the better for all concerned.