Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
Thu Mar 8, 2012, 12:39 PM Mar 2012

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Nouriel Roubini, and the Chinese delegation coming to Monroeville

next week, t kick off a huge push for Chinese business to come to Monroe County.

From front page news of today's weekly Monroeville Al paper.

"What was already being billed as a very big event for Monroeville has quickly evolved into a very huge event,
involving some of the world’s most prominent business leaders, entertainers and economists.
In one week, hundreds of Chinese and American business executives will arrive in Monroeville
to participate in the first Alabama-China Partnership Symposium March 15-16."

“This is the beginning of a relationship with Alabama and Monroeville that will go on for many, many years,”
said Raymond Cheng, CEO of the SoZo Group, which is organizing the event along with help from George
Landegger, president of Parson & Whittemore, the city of Monroeville, Monroe County and the
Monroeville/Monroe County Economic Development Authority (MMCEDA).

sigh....


13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Nouriel Roubini, and the Chinese delegation coming to Monroeville (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 OP
things that make you go "hmm" Syrinx Mar 2012 #1
Who is Raymond Cheng? Syrinx Mar 2012 #2
Yep..I have a very jaundiced eye. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #3
I also found this: dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #4
Sozo Group info. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #5
"no right to work laws which means labor unions are not an issue" Syrinx Mar 2012 #6
I may have messed up the quote..yes, he means unions are not an issue dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #7
I hope it goes well, but I'm kind of skeptical Syrinx Mar 2012 #8
When you wake up, you will still be making sense. dixiegrrrrl Mar 2012 #9
I know him Nancya Sep 2012 #10
He's Done/Doing it Again dot_man May 2016 #11
Luring Chinese investors with green card through investment Nancya Feb 2017 #12
Not going away? Azhang Mar 2017 #13
 

Syrinx

(14,804 posts)
1. things that make you go "hmm"
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 06:22 AM
Mar 2012

I think Zbig is kinda evil. I guess business development is a good thing. But if Zbig is involved, I view it with a jaded eye. He was largely responsible for the birth of al Qaeda. Not a good person, in my opinion. But I hope all goes well.

 

Syrinx

(14,804 posts)
2. Who is Raymond Cheng?
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 06:59 AM
Mar 2012
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Cheng, Raymond ray@raycheng.com
100 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10013
US
+44 (1344) 887603

Gene Stallings (who will do anything for money), Mike Hubbard, Jo Bonner, the mayors of Monroeville, Montgomery, Thomasville, will also be there (in addition to the people you mentioned).

Anyone know who Ray Cheng, of New York City is?

We've got the Alabama Development Office involved. ZTE corporation, whatever that is. Sinautec Automobile Technologies, Bill Taylor, former CEO of Mercedes USA, the sitting governor.

Very curious.

http://alabamachina.com

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
3. Yep..I have a very jaundiced eye.
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 08:58 AM
Mar 2012

I could find only this on Ray Cheng...he is CEO of SoZu Group. But nothing shows up in Wiki or Google.
Our local paper printed a long long "comment" from him ( he speaks perfect English) talking about all the wonderful reasons the South is so great for Chinese companies to invade, including " no right to work laws which means labor unions are not an issue"
Yes, that is a direct quote.
Wiki comes to the rescue with answers about other names mentioned.

ZTE is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China. It is the second-largest Chinese telecoms equipment maker measured by 2011 revenues
and the world's fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer measured by 2011 unit sales.

Sinautec Automobile Technologies,based in Arlington, Virginia, and its Chinese partner Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Company are testing, with 17 forty-one seat Ultracap Buses serving the Greater Shanghai area since 2006 without any major technical problems.
Buses in the Shanghai pilot are made by Germantown, Tennessee-based Foton America Bus Company.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
4. I also found this:
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 09:12 AM
Mar 2012

The Alabama/China site freezes my computer, something about the Flash..
but, did you read this thing from Pete Black, who is a "partner" with Cheng?
http://blog.alabamachina.com/index.php/entry/sweet-home-alabama

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
5. Sozo Group info.
Fri Mar 9, 2012, 09:26 AM
Mar 2012

The Sozu did not work, the Sozo did, and it appears to fit:
Linkdin says:
Privately Held Investment Management Company, based out of Hong Kong.

They hired a former Alabama Public Television, Host/Producer as their US Project Coordinator. says their website.
http://www.sozonet.com

AND, here in Monroeville, the project is being supported by Pete Black
Parsons & Whittemore Business Development Manager
Vice President – Monroeville-Monroe County Economic Development Authority Board

I have not met him, but I know his parents, they are neighbors, and his dad, at 83, is STILL running the service station up the street from me.

Pete Black wrote this about the company investing in SW Ala:
http://blog.alabamachina.com/index.php/entry/discover-monroeville

 

Syrinx

(14,804 posts)
6. "no right to work laws which means labor unions are not an issue"
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 02:55 AM
Mar 2012

Doesn't he mean that unions are not an issue, because we do have so-called "right-to-work" laws?

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
7. I may have messed up the quote..yes, he means unions are not an issue
Sat Mar 10, 2012, 11:27 AM
Mar 2012

as if that is a good thing.

Sadly,most folks around here will be blindly jumping for joy at the idea of new jobs coming to the area,
instead of seeing this as worker exploitation.
Vanity Fair, which supported this town for over 3 generations, intentionally moved from up North for the same reason:
cheaper non-union labor.
Today Vanity Fair is talked about as if it were placed here by the gods, despite the fact it left this town high and dry
when it moved overseas a few years ago.

How bad do things have to be in China if the Chinese want to come over here to hire Americans?

( and how many Chinese are going to be arrested under that stupid immigration law??)

 

Syrinx

(14,804 posts)
8. I hope it goes well, but I'm kind of skeptical
Sun Mar 11, 2012, 04:44 AM
Mar 2012

I hope that the Americans working for a Chinese company will be treated better than the Chinese working for American companies like Apple. (And of course I hope that those Chinese people will soon be treated better as well.) From what I've heard, it's essentially slave-labor over there.

I cheered on Clinton when he was passing NAFTA back in the early nineties. I remember when Al Gore cleaned Ross Perot's clock on Larry King Live that night, and I was happy about it. Clinton/Gore was my team, and my team was winning. How young and stupid I was. It appears now that NAFTA actually harmed the people of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, enriching only the international elites.

And China is one weird cat. They're supposedly extremely left-wing (Communist), but to me they seem more extreme right-wing (Fascist).

I really don't want to sound like Alex Jones, who I think is a raving lunatic, but it does sound like the "New World Order" is marching right on schedule. The new world order that President George H. W. Bush first talked about on September 11, 1990, eleven years to the day before the Twin Towers came down.



Okay, I'm starting to sound like a crazy person, so I must take my vitamin and get some sleep.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,011 posts)
9. When you wake up, you will still be making sense.
Sun Mar 11, 2012, 07:49 AM
Mar 2012

As someone who has read a lot of history, I knew what Perot's warning of "a giant sucking sound of jobs leaving" meant, with NAFTA.

Way back in the 1700's, Britain had to pass a law that it was illegal to cut cloth, because the English cloth weavers were cutting up Indian cotton to protest the "outsourcing" of cheaper fiber arriving from outside England.
Colonial imperialism has been going on for a long long time
The fact that China can find it financially worth while to build plants here tells us exactly where we stand now in the world economy.
( hint: it ain't #1 any longer)

It seems pretty obvious to a lot of folks by now that Goldman Sachs and the M.I.C. DOES is very involved with nefarious deeds all over the planet.

Nancya

(2 posts)
10. I know him
Tue Sep 25, 2012, 05:56 AM
Sep 2012

Interesting person, he is very successsful at getting away from troubles. I just found out he resurface after few years of being quiet (in the US). I guess he is going to do again what he knows best: run away with some investors money. See all his past activity (consortia, just to name one), the last one was Sozopac.... Are you kidding! How he can even use this company's name after what he did?

I will be glad to see him fail this time!

dot_man

(1 post)
11. He's Done/Doing it Again
Mon May 30, 2016, 08:31 AM
May 2016

It apparently did not take him long to do it again. Same thing has happened in Dothan, AL. Lots of investors losing a lot of money with nothing to show. He even pulled the Mayor into it. The city council and chamber have caught on to the scam so everyone is backing away trying to save face. However, The SoZo Group has moved a few miles to the east to Donaldsonville, GA and are doing it all over again, still maintaining operations in Dothan. I found this while doing research: http://www.therealraymondcheng.com

Nancya

(2 posts)
12. Luring Chinese investors with green card through investment
Sun Feb 19, 2017, 05:46 AM
Feb 2017

Ray Cheng's scam:
He says he will bring large Chinese businesses to create job in the US.
Instead he lures Chinese investors with green card through investment.
He uses local official and press to look credible.
Runs away with the investors' money.
Simple!
Not the first time not the last time.
Sorry Dothan, but next time do your research.

Azhang

(1 post)
13. Not going away?
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 07:29 AM
Mar 2017

I heard he's sticking around in Alabama even though things went south.

Do we know what he's doing at the moment?

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Alabama» Zbigniew Brzezinski, Nou...