From my own business experience and from discussions with various businessmen that have done business on Balkans as a region. I know only of handful of people that made money there (Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Albania).
Everybody else got shafted one way or the other.
Are accounts of Chinese shafting foreign investors/businessmen whenever they can also prejudicious and xenophobic?
I would be glad to accept your (although anecdotal) experience that proves my point wrong. Is writing by lewis (Beware of the Greeks bearing Bonds) also xenophobic and prejudicious?
What better example of xenophobia/prejudice is there than invoking centuries old sayings about people from other conutries being one way or another !
That people get shafted when doing business outside their network (cultural or national or ethnic) isn't news or specific to any region, although it's certainly worse in some places than others. But that's not what I'm objecting to.
My problem is you could have made this point without saying, essentially, "the greeks are lazy and cannot be trusted, as we have known for centuries". This type of 'harmless' bullshit popular wisdom is the ground level of every extremist pyramid.
I agree with you. And I do have prejudices, but I believe them to be well founded. It is a jungle out here (general Balkans) and one can never take enough precaution.
Thats why I chose to spell it out clearly instead of wrapping it into weasel words.
