About the Book
We offer 2 editions of this book: a color edition and a black & white edition (B&W). The color edition is much better to appreciate the maps, graphs and photos included in this book, while the B&W edition is cheaper. We do not offer a Kindle edition because our maps, graphs and tables are not supported by Kindle. For digital versions of the book that support our maps and tables, please go to SCMO website. Abstract The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has received considerable critical attention from the infrastructure, political and media worlds. Most reports and articles on the subject are confused at best, when they are not completely misinformed or contradictory. To date there has been little agreement on the number of BRI projects, amounts spent, dates, and geographical distribution. A global information warfare campaign of mis-information, disinformation, and intoxication is currently at play about the BRI, which direct result is to confuse the situation even more... This book critically examines what China's BRI is about, clarifies the confusion, and answers many questions. It includes a first-time-ever-published list and statistical tables of all the BRI projects up to December 31st, 2018. A mixed-methods approach was used in the data analysis, and the theory of constraints underpins this research as a theoretical framework. BRI projects are classified by projects' name, date, status, value, country, region, industry, and transportation mode. Additional never-published-before tables describe seven transportation modes. These tables are instrumental to our understanding of the BRI and are unpacked and analyzed in great detail in one section of this book. This work also demonstrates how instrumental the BRI is to globalization, which in itself is conducive to humanity's evolution. It describes humanity's five key choke points, and apprehends how China and the BRI are addressing them. In conclusion, we share an interview with a special Chinese lady, who benefits from a long China history's oversight. She shows us the Chinese perception of China and of the world. She tells us what China's point of view and ambitions are, especially as far as the BRI is concerned. Praise for Transportation and the Belt and Road Initiative "It is an excellent, comprehensive and detailed treatment of the Belt and Road Initiative. This book is far more useful than almost anything written on the topic." - Parag Khanna, Author of Connectography, New York, USA "This exhaustive study belongs within arm's reach on the desk and/ or nearby reference material shelf of any person or company involved in any manner, shape or form in the arena of "moving stuff"." - Joel Laykin, Secretary General of the IPPF, Hong Kong, China "I trust this book would provide a good road map for policy makers and infrastructure developers in any developing countries amidst complex geo-political circumstances." - Dr. D. J. Pandian, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, AIIB - Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing, China Readership This book is aimed at practitioners, scholars, and experts in: policy making, government administration, infrastructure development, BRI, civil engineering, logistics, transportation, supply chain management, sustainability, warfare, defense, military, intelligence, security, risk mitigation, law, energy, electric grid, pipeline, sea-freight, air-freight, road transportation, rail transportation, digital world, internet, geostrategy, globalization, geopolitics, political science, business, economics, developing nations, social science, tipping points, ecosystem, water, collapse, society cycles, South China Sea, expansionism, and many more.
