Xerxes

It was not just the Opium War that ended China’ Golden Age but also the deep corruption at the very top of Chinese ruling class as the ailing emperor gradually lost control to his deeply corrupt grand minister.

The growing tea trade …. And the growing trade deficit as silver moved from west to east.

I am reading this book alongside “Return of the King” by William Dalrymple, who is the host of “Empire” podcast and author of many history books on India Both books that I am reading in parallel are set in the 1840s, the Return of King covers East India Company attempt to install an exiled monarch named Shuja as Shah in Afghanistan. That triggers the Anglo-Afghan Wars that ends with the annihilation of East India Company armies. Twenty years later, the Company itself is gone. The other book set in the same timeframe, covers British attempt to “open up” China under the then rule of Manchu emperors. The trade through Canton was too little for British taste, who wanted more. While the Anglo-Afghan Wars were disastrous, the Opium Wars was anything but. I would highly recommend this book I am a quarter way through it. Here are some excerpts:

A+

I watched the 30 min highlights on YouTube and definitely did not have the same experience.

I have done road trips from Montreal to NB, Nova Scotia and PEI. But failed to do the final leap to NF, just time wise. Be sure to reach out when you are in Montreal. I will make an effort to meet. Also be sure to bring your passport. Only place in North America you can just drive/ferry to France ! https://en.spm-tourisme.fr/explore-en/our-exceptional-islands/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon

yeah. I never got the “newfy” thing myself and lived in QC for decades. But I use to hear it in high school as a joke. I never been in St John, maybe it is the undiscovered Vancouver of east coast, without the Chinese money inflow (not expensive) but lots of snow PS: fun fact, we (QC) buy a lot of electricity from Labrador on the cheap (which is part of Newfoundland) and resell to the north east States in the U.S. for massive profit.

In fact, 70% of population is in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City corridor and close BC The Canadian Shield north of the country ensures lack of fertile land so historically population gravitated toward already dense area.

It is lord of the rings in Ankara today.

Here is the good news : Seaspan may be a beneficiary of Canada moving ahead on its submarine procurement program as they own the Seaspan Shipyard in the west coast. Here is the bad news: This is not the business that FFH co-owns with Washington family

his best oil and gas bet will always be Petro-China

lol We want to keep this thread politics-free looks like Trump made sure it wasn’t

that was probably the case before the creation of Federal Reserve. enjoy your stay

Happy 4th ladies and gentlemen Big milestone !! Well earned. Keep being the engine of innovation

A+ Driving a Ferrari (Tencent) in a congested street is still more fun than driving a truck (Prosus) that has a Ferrari (Tencent) on its back in a congested street. Unless one has a strong view of non-Tencent portion of Prosus, one ought not opt for the “truck” If one has strong view of the rest Prosus portfolio, than having Tencent at a big discount is a major asset. In recently purchase this book hopefully I get a better perspective on Naspers. sure it is a corporate history book, but I find that reading corporate history book tells you something about the DNA of a given company.

The “chess players” beat Brazil some 10 years ago 7-1 or something like that … that was memorable https://youtu.be/a7IMPsyQg6k?si=th0L0-CHOe-1pK3r

Congrats !!!

Closing the book on first half of 2026. Overall lousy compared to market index. Oh well …. 2026 H1 => 5.7% 2025 => 24.38% 2024 => 36.96% 2023 => 24.81% 2022 => -11.48% 2021 => 20.09% 2020 => 11.36% 2020-25 CAGR stands at 21%. S&P500 had a YTD gain of 10% in the same period in USD terms, double that of my gain in YTD.

Ultimately Masayoshi Son superpower was not investing, it was his ability to believe in himself and pull on his vast network for the next big thing (I.e investment) It is telling that for someone who mentioned AI hundreds of times in the past ten years in his conference call, his company was not invested in OpenAI. It is telling that for someone who correctly identified Jack Ma as the standard bearer of e-commerce in China, he failed to correctly identify Elon Musk as the standard bearer for the space economy and EV revolution. And instead got carried away by Neumann and WeWork.

So I finished reading Gambling Man. it is short, yet thorough. I highly recommend it. Alongside Money Trap. Softbank has a lot of issues (governance, leverage etc). But no one can deny the wealth that Masayoshi Son created for himself and long term shareholders.

sorry just saw this now. I myself really enjoyed the one about Portuguese and the other book on Venice. Both of which I am planning to reread.

with reviews like this now I need to read it

You root for the team not the government. Do I really need to explain the obvious to you ? Doesn’t idiotic post like this belong to the “political thread” where wholesale destruction of people are casually discussed over coffee. Does not one root for United States (the country) to win, even with all the disgusting things (the government) does.