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You really think there is zero difference between Beijing (or Moscow, or Tehran) v Washington? Try going to live there and hold up a protest sign against whate
by toss1 4y ago
You really think there is zero difference between Beijing (or Moscow, or Tehran) v Washington?
Try going to live there and hold up a protest sign against whatever is the biggest anti-govt issue of the day. In any of the first three, you'll end up in jail for a fortnight to a decade, depending on the climate. In Washington, The worse you'll get is a "move along" if you are blocking traffic.
Or try being a neighboring country, like Taiwan. Right this minute, China is threatening it with its air force, navy, and army all harassing or doing target practice in it's direction. Hong Kong has lost ALL of the freedoms that were internationally agreed. All other neighbors are under varying degrees of threat & coercion. Meanwhile, Mexico, Caribbean islands, or Canada have trivial border checks and even Cuba have zero worries of any invasion.
The world really is divided between autocracy and democracy.
It may or may not be "good vs evil", but there is an absolutely critical difference. There are people who want to live a self-determined life free of coercion, and want a government determined by the people and not some tyrant. There are others who want to on a local level, be the bully and steal your lunch money, and on a geopolitical scale, rule and take everything.
This is a fight everywhere from the local level to be free, to the national level where abusers, bullies, crooks, and autocrats try to take over the reigns of democracy (and they recently succeeded in Hungary, Turkey), and internationally where the autocracies like China, Russia, Iran, NK, etc. are in expansionist.
Vladimir Lenin had a term for people who didn't understand the difference — "Useful Idiots". People who don't get it, and will happily do things helpful to their autocratic intentions, out of what they think are good intentions. You are in this territory, and should stop deluding yourself.
- GAN_Game 4y ago> Or try being a neighboring country, like Taiwan The US does not recognize Taiwan as a country > Cuba have zero worries of any invasion Because the US already invaded Cuba and occupies Guantanamo Bay there, despite the Cuban government demanding the US leave for over 60 years (incidentally the US "renditions" and tortures Arabs in Guantanamo Bay in a manner that is against even US law).
- toss1 4y ago>>The US does not recognize Taiwan as a country Not officially, but in every way but officially >>the US already invaded Cuba and occupies Guantanamo Bay there That should not make Cuba feel less worried, but more, but the fact is, that over six decades later, the US has done nothing of the sort. Meanwhile, just look at what China has done to Hong Kong and Taiwan in the last year. Or the cultural genocide of Tibet and the Uighers. Again, while absolutely no country is perfect, if you are trying to equate the nations defending democracy vs autocratic countries, you are either deeply misinformed or are deliberately lying. (and no, just because you can point out that what you said is an isolated fact does not mean you aren't lying, misleading is another form of lying, whether you are doing it intentionally or merely because you are deliberately or gullibly misinformed).
- GAN_Game 4y ago> the fact is, that over six decades later, the US has done nothing of the sort Bay of Pigs invasion? Cuban missile crisis blockade? I could go on...
- toss1 4y agoThat is why I mentioned six decades later. That was one bad incident, was not a US military operation, it done by Cuban exiles (yes, launched from and partially financed by the US) and as I said, zero similar has been done in over six decades. Contrast with China just in the last year, and Russia in the last hour. If you had a clue about actual history, you might know that the issue in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the blockade was NOT against Cuba, it was against Russian military gear, specifically nuclear missiles which could strike the entire East and Gulf coasts with near-zero warning. Kennedy announced the quarantine on October 22 and warned that U.S. forces would seize “offensive weapons and associated matériel” that Soviet vessels might attempt to deliver to Cuba. That is NOT an action against Cuba, but against the Soviets, who were using Cuba as a military base with it's permission. Again, this attempt at false equivalence is nonsense. You are either playing the role of a Useful Idiot, cluelessly spreading misleading arguments supporting authoritarian states, or are knowingly and willfully doing so. Which is it?
- pphysch 4y agoI am familiar with all of these pro-Washington talking points, yes. This sounds like a Biden stump speech. The world is obviously not divided into "good" and "evil", or even the poorly-defined "democracy" and "autocracy". That is a childish belief, like believing in Santa. The United States has engaged in horrendous atrocities, consistently, since its founding, including the largest ethnic cleansing program in human history that later inspired the Holocaust.