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Australia has of late had its own issues involving accusations of Chinese espionage as well as good old-fashioned palm-greasing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S

Australia has of late had its own issues involving accusations of Chinese espionage as well as good old-fashioned palm-greasing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Dastyari#Chinese_influence_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Dastyari#Chinese_influence... If the US starts clamping down on this sort of thing, expect China to accuse the US government of xenophobia, since of course "we'd like to stop so many Chinese agents and toadies from infiltrating our governmental and educational systems" translates to "we hate Chinese people" in Mandarin. EDIT: To be clear to any Chinese agents reading this, my issue is not so much with the spying and soft power campaigns so much as it is the unfair accusations of racism.

knz 9y ago
New Zealand has had similar issues - https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/339335/national-mp-confirms-he-taught-spies-denies-he-is-one https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/339335/national-mp-...
mc32 9y ago
Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". They'd be able to throw the racism card all over dems for having the temerity to accuse them of all sorts of political interference and other meddling... Alas, they cannot make such accusations. At most they can use "xenophobia".
- HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
  > Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". They'd be able to throw the racism card all over dems for having the temerity to accuse them of all sorts of political interference and other meddling... I assume this is why everyone turns a blind eye to the elephant in the room when it comes to foreign influence of American affairs - Israel.
  - mc32 9y ago
    That one's a bit more complicated. Our interests intersect with theirs along many axes. And they have lots of lobbyists in DC and Americans of Israeli/Jewish heritage donate lots to DC politicians along Israeli policy lines. People of Russian heritage on the other hand typically have opposing views to that of Moscow in many areas, so they are not as aligned, if at all; in addition, many people of Russians descent have Jewish heritage as well... So you know, they doubly oppose Moscow.
    - pobo 9y ago
      this is a typical narrative of double standard.
- thephyber 9y ago
  > Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". > Alas, they cannot make such accusations. Why not? Can you prove that Russians are "another race"? Is there such thing as a scientific definition that states unambiguously where any one race ends and another begins? I don't doubt that populations of humans commonly share family lineage, phenotypes, and genotypes, but the concept of "race" escapes any sufficient definition or real world testability. US state laws and culture had for a long time considered the "one-drop"[1] (of blood of a different race) a disqualifier for being considered a White American. The implication is that if you can't prove your pedigree back infinitely far, you are more likely that not to not be white. In fact, using some inductive logic, it's almost perfectly likely that every person is "mixed-race" if you search back far enough. This is all to say that "racism" is a description of how people see (and treat) other people. It's rarely been about actual pedigrees and almost entirely been about mental classification of others. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
  - mc32 9y ago
    >Is there such thing as a scientific definition that states unambiguously where any one race ends and another begins" No, that's why it's in scare quotes.
    - thephyber 9y ago
      Fair point. I think DJT has already desensitized me to details like capitalization and quoting.
      - pluto9 9y ago
        I've seen people reach pretty hard to blame various things on Trump, but blaming him for your own lack of reading comprehension is a new one.
- danjoc 9y ago
  >Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". I was under the impression they are, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs http://www.slovio.com/slavic-gene/index.html http://www.slovio.com/slavic-gene/index.html
- fwdpropaganda 9y ago
  They actually have a word for this, it's "Russophobia" [1] And from reading left-leaning discussion forums (HN included) you'd think they have a point. Try mentioning anything about Russia and see how long it takes until someone suggests it's probably Putin's friends doing it (Telegram is a great recurring example here on HN [2]). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia#United_States [2] E.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327159
  - fwdpropaganda 9y ago
    Notice the downvotes?
specialist 9y ago
Persecution complex, projection, feigning incredulity... Hypocracy is SOP for bullies.
logfromblammo 9y ago
I find the thought of Chinese people complaining that Americans are racist to be very amusing. Doubly so if I imagine the American so accused to be black with epicanthic folds. Did you know that a commercial once aired in China for Qiaobi detergent, where a black man is shoved into a washing machine, and when the cycle finishes, he comes out Chinese? It aired for months, and didn't get pulled until an English-language website made it go viral internationally. The US will always have its 1970s Calgon "ancient Chinese secret" advertisement, of course.
- Cyberdog 9y ago
  Might as well link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY I don't think it's intentionally racist as far as disparaging black people, but it does imply that black skin is "dirty" and wouldn't fly in, shall we say, less homogeneous cultures. See also Darkie/Darlie toothpaste: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie

knz 9y ago

New Zealand has had similar issues - https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/339335/national-mp-confirms-he-taught-spies-denies-he-is-one https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/339335/national-mp-...

mc32 9y ago

Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". They'd be able to throw the racism card all over dems for having the temerity to accuse them of all sorts of political interference and other meddling... Alas, they cannot make such accusations. At most they can use "xenophobia".

HumanDrivenDev 9y ago
> Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". They'd be able to throw the racism card all over dems for having the temerity to accuse them of all sorts of political interference and other meddling... I assume this is why everyone turns a blind eye to the elephant in the room when it comes to foreign influence of American affairs - Israel.
- mc32 9y ago
  That one's a bit more complicated. Our interests intersect with theirs along many axes. And they have lots of lobbyists in DC and Americans of Israeli/Jewish heritage donate lots to DC politicians along Israeli policy lines. People of Russian heritage on the other hand typically have opposing views to that of Moscow in many areas, so they are not as aligned, if at all; in addition, many people of Russians descent have Jewish heritage as well... So you know, they doubly oppose Moscow.
  - pobo 9y ago
    this is a typical narrative of double standard.
thephyber 9y ago
> Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". > Alas, they cannot make such accusations. Why not? Can you prove that Russians are "another race"? Is there such thing as a scientific definition that states unambiguously where any one race ends and another begins? I don't doubt that populations of humans commonly share family lineage, phenotypes, and genotypes, but the concept of "race" escapes any sufficient definition or real world testability. US state laws and culture had for a long time considered the "one-drop"[1] (of blood of a different race) a disqualifier for being considered a White American. The implication is that if you can't prove your pedigree back infinitely far, you are more likely that not to not be white. In fact, using some inductive logic, it's almost perfectly likely that every person is "mixed-race" if you search back far enough. This is all to say that "racism" is a description of how people see (and treat) other people. It's rarely been about actual pedigrees and almost entirely been about mental classification of others. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
- mc32 9y ago
  >Is there such thing as a scientific definition that states unambiguously where any one race ends and another begins" No, that's why it's in scare quotes.
  - thephyber 9y ago
    Fair point. I think DJT has already desensitized me to details like capitalization and quoting.
    - pluto9 9y ago
      I've seen people reach pretty hard to blame various things on Trump, but blaming him for your own lack of reading comprehension is a new one.
danjoc 9y ago
>Can you imagine if Russians were a another "race". I was under the impression they are, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs http://www.slovio.com/slavic-gene/index.html http://www.slovio.com/slavic-gene/index.html
fwdpropaganda 9y ago
They actually have a word for this, it's "Russophobia" [1] And from reading left-leaning discussion forums (HN included) you'd think they have a point. Try mentioning anything about Russia and see how long it takes until someone suggests it's probably Putin's friends doing it (Telegram is a great recurring example here on HN [2]). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russophobia#United_States [2] E.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16327159
- fwdpropaganda 9y ago
  Notice the downvotes?

specialist 9y ago

Persecution complex, projection, feigning incredulity... Hypocracy is SOP for bullies.

logfromblammo 9y ago

I find the thought of Chinese people complaining that Americans are racist to be very amusing. Doubly so if I imagine the American so accused to be black with epicanthic folds. Did you know that a commercial once aired in China for Qiaobi detergent, where a black man is shoved into a washing machine, and when the cycle finishes, he comes out Chinese? It aired for months, and didn't get pulled until an English-language website made it go viral internationally. The US will always have its 1970s Calgon "ancient Chinese secret" advertisement, of course.

Cyberdog 9y ago
Might as well link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Few8kJ0zfnY I don't think it's intentionally racist as far as disparaging black people, but it does imply that black skin is "dirty" and wouldn't fly in, shall we say, less homogeneous cultures. See also Darkie/Darlie toothpaste: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie