6 ms·

Nah, fuck it. We're allowed to commit to war too. Xi Jingping is a tyrannical insane dictator and his successor will be worse. He needs to be stood up to, and n

by ouid 4y ago

Nah, fuck it. We're allowed to commit to war too. Xi Jingping is a tyrannical insane dictator and his successor will be worse. He needs to be stood up to, and no one is in a better position to do that than the US.

whimsicalism 4y ago
Why Xi Jinping and not, say, MbS?
- axus 4y ago
  MBS isn't making claims on his neighbors territory for his own.
  - laverya 4y ago
    I think he's literally in the process of invading and subjugating a neighbor, actually. The Saudis might not call what's going on in Yemen an invasion, but it sure looks like it from here.
    - rnk 4y ago
      Yemen and the treatment of Khashoggi and many others by the Saudi govt could eventually yield a case for helping their neighbors resist them. Yemen is pretty horrible. We are stuck with oil dependence for now.
      - whimsicalism 4y ago
        > We are stuck with oil dependence for now. We produce more oil domestically than we consume.
        rnk 4y ago
        Yes, but it's a global market and there is not a barrier to oil at our border. SA increasing or decreasing world oil supplies affects the oil prices here. There's a separate discussion about the refineries in the US affecting the price of gas at the pump much more than the price of the oil. But let's focus on the fact that SA can increase or decrease the price of oil form them, it's a world wide commodity, and their actions affect the price people pay for oil in the us, because it's a world wide commodity.
- ouid 4y ago
  - whimsicalism 4y ago
    Engage with less vitriol :) it's in the spirit of the guidelines. What is the standard that we use for deciding what leader is worthy of intervention against? Is it the level of support among their own population? Is it how much they seek to export their ideology and take over other countries? I understand the analogy you're making with Chess. But perhaps you could also view it another way: MbS is a terrible dictator (with even less legitimacy than the still-illegitimate Chinese political process). The US could easily crush him, compared to do anything to seriously confront China's CCP domestically. Given that our resources would have a direct impact on people's lives in Saudi & Yemen, whereas we don't have much ability to have any impact in China, why is it better to invest our resources in fighting Xi Jinping?
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    > Both China and Taiwan are problems of global importance. Saudi Arabia is not. Do you know what OPEC is
  - dang 4y ago
    > what the fuck are you on about? Whoa - you can't post like that to HN, regardless of how wrong someone is or you feel they are. Please stop posting flamewar comments generally - I already replied to another case where you did that in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33266456 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33266456. We ban accounts that take HN threads into flamewar, so if you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules, we'd appreciate it.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
> Xi Jingping is a tyrannical insane dictator His people like him. Who are we to decide whether he is “tyrannical” or “insane”? The west has this constant undercurrent of “we know what’s best for you” when talking about other countries and their leaders. Its neither warranted nor welcome by the locals.
- dont__panic 4y ago
  How do you know "his people" like him, when anyone who criticizes the Chinese government either disappears or shuts up when the government threatens their family?
oDot 4y ago
How about you send your own ass to war instead of others'
- dang 4y ago
  "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dang 4y ago
Please don't post flamewar comments to HN, regardless of how bad someone is or you feel they are. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

by ouid 4y ago

whimsicalism 4y ago

Why Xi Jinping and not, say, MbS?

axus 4y ago
MBS isn't making claims on his neighbors territory for his own.
- laverya 4y ago
  I think he's literally in the process of invading and subjugating a neighbor, actually. The Saudis might not call what's going on in Yemen an invasion, but it sure looks like it from here.
  - rnk 4y ago
    Yemen and the treatment of Khashoggi and many others by the Saudi govt could eventually yield a case for helping their neighbors resist them. Yemen is pretty horrible. We are stuck with oil dependence for now.
    - whimsicalism 4y ago
      > We are stuck with oil dependence for now. We produce more oil domestically than we consume.
      - rnk 4y ago
        Yes, but it's a global market and there is not a barrier to oil at our border. SA increasing or decreasing world oil supplies affects the oil prices here. There's a separate discussion about the refineries in the US affecting the price of gas at the pump much more than the price of the oil. But let's focus on the fact that SA can increase or decrease the price of oil form them, it's a world wide commodity, and their actions affect the price people pay for oil in the us, because it's a world wide commodity.
ouid 4y ago
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Engage with less vitriol :) it's in the spirit of the guidelines. What is the standard that we use for deciding what leader is worthy of intervention against? Is it the level of support among their own population? Is it how much they seek to export their ideology and take over other countries? I understand the analogy you're making with Chess. But perhaps you could also view it another way: MbS is a terrible dictator (with even less legitimacy than the still-illegitimate Chinese political process). The US could easily crush him, compared to do anything to seriously confront China's CCP domestically. Given that our resources would have a direct impact on people's lives in Saudi & Yemen, whereas we don't have much ability to have any impact in China, why is it better to invest our resources in fighting Xi Jinping?
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  > Both China and Taiwan are problems of global importance. Saudi Arabia is not. Do you know what OPEC is
- dang 4y ago
  > what the fuck are you on about? Whoa - you can't post like that to HN, regardless of how wrong someone is or you feel they are. Please stop posting flamewar comments generally - I already replied to another case where you did that in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33266456 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33266456. We ban accounts that take HN threads into flamewar, so if you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules, we'd appreciate it.

spaceman_2020 4y ago

> Xi Jingping is a tyrannical insane dictator His people like him. Who are we to decide whether he is “tyrannical” or “insane”? The west has this constant undercurrent of “we know what’s best for you” when talking about other countries and their leaders. Its neither warranted nor welcome by the locals.

dont__panic 4y ago
How do you know "his people" like him, when anyone who criticizes the Chinese government either disappears or shuts up when the government threatens their family?

oDot 4y ago

How about you send your own ass to war instead of others'

dang 4y ago
"Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

dang 4y ago

Please don't post flamewar comments to HN, regardless of how bad someone is or you feel they are. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html