A passage to Europe

Let me start with a bit of wonderful news: Next Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Chang'an Cargo Train (a.k.a. China Railway Express) is to make a short stop in Ankara. It is then going to pass under the Bosphorus, using the Marmaray tunnel. This is going to be the first direct cargo train traveling from Xian, China, to Europe, arriving at Prague passing through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia. At long last, the Turkish corridor to Europe is becoming operational.
On this occasion, I have three positive and one negative point in mind regarding the Asian transformation that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which President Xi Jinping, is heralding.
First, the BRI is about changing the hardware of international trade. All the talk about the U.S.-China trade war is about software, about WTO rules, customs tariffs and non-tariff barriers. There is absolutely no discussion among the international community about the hardware of international trade. There's nothing on the logistics infrastructure for cross border trade, roads, railroads, ports, and container terminals. Even talking about security along trade routes has a 19th century sound to it. It's almost as if technical issues aren't worth talking about, because they're on autopilot anyway. This is a huge fallacy.
Look at the facts. When it comes to international trade, you first need to go West in order to get to the East or visit north every time you go south. In order to send our containers to Pakistan, we in Turkey first need to send them to either Copenhagen or Hamburg. Why? That's where the large container ports serving the East are located. The hardware of international trade is as important as the software of international trade, if you ask me.