First 'Silk Road' train arrives in Tehran from China

C'Mon Karl, why so negative?! The locomotive in this photo was built by GM's Electro-Motive Division for export in 1971. That's Iran's "modern" motive power! 45 year old locomotives built in the US! Some progress... but I guess what the US accomplished in 1869 with the transcontinental railroad being replicated in 2016 in Asia is cause for us to gnash our teeth, cry and wail that we are falling behind.

If only Iran would stop threatening oil trade.

It's really a win-win for all parties involved, everyone prospers.

There is a big difference between Russia and China. China is not involved in the bloody war in Syria. Russia'a economic future is in doubt. Freedom and democracy is a question that needs to be answered eventually by the Russian and Chinese governments and can't afford to defer indefinitely.

Bush did no better and it was Bush who opened the war in Iraq etc. He left a mess and gave Daesh the path they now take.

American freedom and democracy under gun point

@Travel: too late, they're already there

Ah So, and now the Iranians can get China ICBM rocket engines delivered by train.

US invaded Iraq for its oil and not for democracy. Iran had a democratic government, but US with the help of CIA and UK, for the sake of British Petroleum (BP; which was stealing oil from Iran without paying anything) made a coup and overthrew the democratic elected government. I guess you are living in different world. Name one country which is democratic and was put in place by US (All corrupt Arab regimes). And, US has never had a good president as Obama, and you are saying this, because you are a racist and he is black. Write the facts!

madeski, I'm not sure what fantasy world you live in, but no one is giving Russia any accolades. In fact, most of the civilized world has sanctions against them for their warmongering... Not just the west. I think you're having trouble seeing the forest for all the trees.. The only thing Russia is doing in Syria is promoting their own interests, and bombing indiscriminately. They've killed thousands of civilians.. Tons of Syrians.. and almost no ISIS militants. I see what you're trying to do here, but not everyone buys this stupid #$%$ rhetoric from the Kremlin. A thug like Putin that assassinates his rivals a few blocks from the Kremlin gets no moral high ground.

Putin is a hero in my view, he dares to stick his own neck to stand side by side with the weakest country on earth, real action speaks for itself since everyone is watching, I believe he has more supporters than you realize.

Sean,

Sanction Russia is only from Western countries plus Japan, China never support such sanction, and that is why Sanction is failing.

Now let me know what special interest Russia have in Syria.

@Alex.. I started paying attention to you until you brought in the "Race". Thereafter all your points became gibberish...

well Madestki

And get arrested and shot in Iran. Fool. This may be interesting historically, but these are not the same people who operated it the first time. Anything good will surely be used for evil. Happens every time. Neato way for spooks to get around. Extra neato way to move drugs. Better way to move weapons and nukes. And no matter what,you can be sure that train will be EMPTY on the return to China. No Imports. Only exports.

I can't wait to take the first passenger train along the silk road.

Good luck. It may be your last.

Allen C...Gao does not get around too much. I am with you Allen, cannot wait to get onto one of the passenger trains.

Sadly, that's how the world works. While China and other countries are building up these 3rd world countries, the U.S. government and its allies are/will be busy tearing them down.

Shame

@DDS, If you idiot Google “ World Richest Countries “ you’ll find according to the International Monetary Fund statistics at October 2014 Iran’s ranking in the world is 18th. Iran is not a third world country as you idiot stated, and is far from it. Iran despite of being under severe international sanctions for about 35 years is among the top 20 richest countries in the world (having the 18th largest GDP in 2010). Iran is fully industrialized, and self-sufficient in most areas of production, such as automobiles, being the 12th largest automobile producer in the world, producing more than 1,500,000 , and exporting them to many surrounding countries in the Middle East and Asia.

Iran also produces military equipment, fighter jets (Azarakhsh and Saegheh), consumer goods and appliances, shipbuilding, computer technology, petrochemicals, and refined gasoline. It has the 4th largest oil reserves in the world and has a large refining capacity with is increasing by the day as new oil refineries are completed.

@Ahmad - Before you go around calling people idiots, you should learn how to read. Did i say Iran was a third world country? Did i specifically list any country other than China and U.S.? Did i even state "Middle East"? Matter of fact, did the original comment specifically state Iran as a 3rd world country? So why is it that you automatically think of Iran when someone mentions "3rd world country"?

Hurra! Washington has an important economic doctrine. The Father of our Nation was kicked out of colleges for at least one century... bring him and bring back Hamilton - to hell with the English enemy..

@Ahmad, I don't know if Iran is a 3rd world country, but I do know all countries in 2nd and 3rd are sanctioned by the 1st world countries all the time.

well said A Hamilton

Without the stimulation from the Government, it would go no where!!! 02/15/2016

NPR, THOSE IDIOTS IN GOVERNMENT WERE PUT THERE BY AMERICAN VOTERS, NOT ELVES

@Raymond, I don't blame the voters but the system. This time, vote for anyone and the result would be the same even when the candidates pretend to fight with each other sometimes as if they were enemies. It's the system.

READER, YES THE SSYSTEM SUCKS BUT THE CORRUPTION GOES RIGHT DOWN TO CITY MAYORS. PRIMARY FAULT IS STILL THE VOTERS. WHO ALLOW THE SYSTEM TO FLUORISH DOWN THE STREET

Cheney, Wolfowitz and the other Neo-cons worked hard to bring us this policy, and now the Republican operatives are working hard to convince the average Americans that it's all Obama's fault.

Like making the dollar strong and reliable and develop globalization. America has brought together global trade and ensured that Iran won't block trade routs and all Iran and China did is build 1 railroad that only worked once so far and you make America out to be the bad guy in an article that is not even about war?

Obama has added to the deluge of suffering

it's call the imperialist way! Gotta keep them nigguz down yo.

This was a political gesture to make a point. That point being that commerce between nations is going to happen, regardless of how horrible the US attempts to make the process.

@John, where are you going to ship your 140,000 TEUs without business connections. That's what it is all about. Establishing relationshipds, investments, infrastructure. Nothing of that the US does, not even in their own country.

WHILE John puts his 2 cents worth of snickering, how about ZERO cost per mile shipping for American goods. Ship it out the back door to yourself, and receive it at the front door. YOU NEED CUSTOMERS you idiota! Threatening the whole world with bombs and regime changes will not win you any friends.

A demented country with it's demented citizens living in a fools paradise of the past glory.

Hey John When the 21st Century Silk Road Economic Initiative is completed with high speed train from Beijing to Madrid and roads, rail, and Free Enterprise Zones stretching across Eurasia, helping to raise Eurasian countries out of poverty, the economic shape of the world will be radically changed.

While China builds infrastructure, opens up markets, and makes cooperation and trade agreements the US gives Foreign Aid, sells weapons and makes defense agreements. Foreign Aid in a Tribal Third World country does nothing but promote corruption. Selling weapons only helps to consolidate power in the hands of corrupt governments, building a railroad benefits the people by opening up markets.

America's influence is declining because of ignorance and belief in military power, while China's influence is increasing with the approach of helping to raise countries out of poverty

It won't be long until North Korean sells their nukes to Iran

Well almost everything here is already made in China, an as I'm told the same goes for the US

The last time I checked, we even import our food from there

made in your mom's rear end

We are now selling Chinese made volvos, Cadillac and buicks..

enjoy your lead laced food

As American usually said "Why Pay More"!!! 02/15/2016

I usually save my money rather than buying made in china junk

@CoreOverflow

In which case, you will be saving your money forever; because American businesses will continue to have more and more of their products 'made in China'. lol

can your family members have an apple smart phone (iphone)each? it is made in China. can they have a smart phone each except the iphone each?

dump?can your family members afford an iphone each? it is made in China. why so hate China without a reason when the westerns try to starve iranians to death?

without chinese foods the iranians will starve to death when the westerns try to isolate iran from the world. why hate China?

I invest my money in non-chinese companies and I'm shorting chinese stocks

I don't buy crapple products

@Core stop playin mutha fugz you can't afford no iPhone. You know you be on da Internet with that 52 lb Gateway laptop yo momma got you at the Salvation Army.

CoreOverflow...yes the Chinese do make some #$%$ but they ALSO make some quality products, the more you know about China the more you can avoid their #$%$.

I'm shorting the yuan

yeah, I bought my laptop from a black illiterate imbecile

I'm exporting clean air in a can to china

No. We don't build such trains because we really have little use for them. That's all. It's not a lack of education. It's a lack of need.

The US is almost as large as China. You also can build a train from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina and create jobs and get US products to Latin America markets faster. But that is too difficult. It would take foresight and intelligence.

Foresight and intelligence? Your an idiot if you think we lack that. NASA, Silicon Vally, Ivey Legaues, the Military, etc. We have little lack for either of those two. Also such a plan would be "extremely" costly, and at the end of the day would bring little benefit to America. We'd likely spend more on building such a thing then we'd make out of it. Also such a plan would need to cooperation of every nation involved and that's not likely.

China is also backing their currency with gold. U.S. gold reserves have not been audited since 1957.

And Germans won't be getting their gold back for another 50 years. Lol.

The West has been regretting this cold war alliance for a couple decades now. But once Israel had nukes...

The media blew it out of proportions. Billions of products from China are shipped to America on a daily basis.

It only takes one faulty manufacturer to mess up for the media to go nuts about it.

Look at your own household. I'd say 95% of everything you use was made in China.

Are you constantly living in a state of fear that your tv is just going to blow up and light your entire house on fire? Are you worried that the dinner plate you're using is filled with lead?

Of course not.

Except the facts do not support your claims: chinese firms lacing baby food and dog food with melamine, formaheldyhe in wall board and flooring, the recent landslide caused by the disregard for ordinances for dumping, etc., etc. The chinese have no regard for human life of any nationality. US Businesses set up there to save money, but not at the expense of safety.

@me. You don't know the facts.

The Chinese did just what American manufacturer wanted. Which i9s also why they refused to sell the same goods toi the Chinese people. Go twist a pretzel.

we have venture capitalists here with bundles of money not knowing what to do with it...O.K. start a US company HERE making crash bags for cars...the Japanese company is still doing recalls...its a ready market for such a company, US car makers will at the govt insistence buy the American product.

can't do that the Japanese need that money to buy US arms and military planes...

No-body is twisting others arms to buy Chinese products, you don't like, don't buy, but I'm betting 100% of Americans buy Chinese goods,Even Taxcollector 2015

Well, I buy a lot of things from China directly. I don't need a Jew middle man to jack up the price by adding his own logo. That's like buying a bottle of water spelled NAIVE backwards.

You think these Chinese companies that were caught with these faulty/trashy products are proud? No, their company probably folded the next day and workers/supervisors were fired on the spot. I don't see the Chinese government just casually standing by when the entire world is criticizing them for their sub-par products.

In the long run, it forces more regulation overseas. We still get to buy it at an incredibly discounted price, so really, stop complaining.

And like Geogre said, if you really still persist in thinking that all the Chinese products are garbage, then just stop buying it.

I agree Jack, but the US companies operated outside Chinese regulations. Once the products were exposed to Chinese consumers, the factories were shut down. The most criminal was the use of salvages lead to make toys for children . Enamel covered lead was found to be causing health problem in American children and the US tried to blame China. That was when China came out and exposed US companies.

I wouldn't go to say the RMB is going to replace the USD for all developed nations. I can definitely see developing nations switching for more RMB to USD in hopes of skirting the US's ability to punish them via economic routes, but the RMB is too volatile and the Chinese market is as questionable as ever, no matter what the central government says the Chinese market is very unstable.

How stable is the US market when social programs are listed as positive gdp?

CK Usa have so huge debt and double deficit than just decreased value of dollar as reserve currency hurt a lot.