5 ms·

Of course, the US is widely known for repossessing airports[1], seaports[2], and railways[3], then displacing local workers by flying in your own people. That t

Of course, the US is widely known for repossessing airports[1], seaports[2], and railways[3], then displacing local workers by flying in your own people. That totally happens all the time - its just that US biased media hiding it from you. The era of this kind of lazy anti-Westernism is over, China is only out for itself, and it will drag countries into its sphere of influence any way it can. "But what about this american thing?" I don't really have the time or need to respond to the thoughts of an "American anarchist activist" which is in all likelihood a nice euphemism for foreign agent or useful idiot. [1] https://www.africanliberty.org/2018/09/10/like-zambia-sri-lanka-also-handed-over-port-to-china-to-pay-off-debt/ https://www.africanliberty.org/2018/09/10/like-zambia-sri-la... [2] https://saharareporters.com/2021/11/26/china-takes-over-ugandan-airport-other-countrys-assets-over-207million-loan-deal https://saharareporters.com/2021/11/26/china-takes-over-ugan... [3]https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/kenya-china-funded-railway-embroiled-in-lawsuits-and-corruption-investigations-becomes-hot-button-election-issue/ https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/kenya-ch...

teachrdan 3y ago
This is a very humorous comment for you to have made. OP posted a quote from David Graeber that precedes China's Belt-and-Road plans by years. Graeber was instead writing about the West's use of debt to further exploit the global south, and how debt has long had a supposed moral dimension that makes renegotiating it (in the literal and metaphorical sense) exceedingly difficult. As someone who sporadically did political organizing with David Graeber, I assure you he was sharply critical of US policy as it pertained to exploiting developing countries. He also happened to be a professor of anthropology at Yale and the London School of Economics. How you have determined he was a "foreign agent or useful idiot" is curious. But I know David would have found it as funny as I do.
- username332211 3y ago
  I don't see how you can drag someone's credentials to prove he isn't a useful idiot. Malcolm Caldwell, famous for being the very embodiment of a useful idiot was a research fellow at UCL. Other defenders of the Red Khmers had even more impressive credentials. Need I remind you who was the writer of "Distortions at Fourth Hand" and "Manufacturing Consent"? By definition, all useful idiots have impressive credentials. Without credentials, they are not useful.
  - littlestymaar 3y ago
    > Other defenders of the Red Khmers Are you talking about the entire Western block where in the 80 when western powers brought support to the milicia in order to piss off the Soviet Union-backed Vietnam, or what?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- vkou 3y ago
  > How you have determined he was a "foreign agent or useful idiot" is curious. That's easy. Generally speaking, anyone who is critical of empire-building is seen by that empire's apparatchiks as a "foreign agent or useful idiot." The criticism doesn't come from any position of principle, it's just us-versus-them tribalism.
SenAnder 3y ago
I share your animus against China, and, lacking the original context, I can see why the post you replied to looks like a defense of China, but I did not interpret it as such. Simply a correction of the too-often-ignorance of the IMF.
jhp123 3y ago
US Imperialism is even more brazen than that. Here's a video of the US President commenting on how US troops are in Syria "only for the oil": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10p3Tn9V5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10p3Tn9V5Y
- archgoon 3y ago
  [dead]
- stickfigure 3y ago
  This is the same guy who suggested injecting disinfectant or "bringing light inside the body" to cure covid. He also continues to lie about his election loss in a desperate attempt to cling to power. Trump is shameful, but he doesn't represent the long history of the US.
  - wheelerof4te 3y ago
    "the long history of the US." You mean, the long history of overthrowing governments, imperialistic wars and debt-trapping entire nations into selling their state-owned assets to US interest groups and funds? Your memory may be short lived, but there are many of us who know and remember. And, by the way, China hasn't started invading random countries all over the world...yet.
    - throwawaymaths 3y ago
      > And, by the way, China hasn't started invading random countries all over the world...yet. Bhutan, India, and Vietnam would have a word.
      - wheelerof4te 3y ago
        Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libiya, Syria and about 70% of Latin America. I spent just 2 minutes for this. I could go on, but you get the picture.
  - 3y ago
l3mure 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Natural_Rubber_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Natural_Rubber_Compa... > In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) released a report detailing the state of human rights on Liberia's rubber plantations. According to the report, Firestone managers in Liberia admitted that the company does not effectively monitor its own policy prohibiting child labor. UNMIL found that several factors contribute to the occurrence of child labor on Firestone plantations: pressure to meet company quotas, incentive to support the family financially, and lack of access to basic education. > Beginning in March 2019, the Washington, D.C. based Center for International Policy funded an investigation into alleged labor and environmental standards violations by Firestone in Liberia, culminating in publication of the February 2020 report, "A Bridge Too Far: Social and Environmental Concerns in Bridgestone's Liberian Rubber Plantation and a Plan for Remediation."The report details labor rights violations of Firestone's collective bargaining agreements with the Firestone workers union; Firestone's failure to honor pension payments for retired Firestone employees; and, Firestone's contamination of local watersheds resulting in elimination of fish and natural wildlife.

teachrdan 3y ago

This is a very humorous comment for you to have made. OP posted a quote from David Graeber that precedes China's Belt-and-Road plans by years. Graeber was instead writing about the West's use of debt to further exploit the global south, and how debt has long had a supposed moral dimension that makes renegotiating it (in the literal and metaphorical sense) exceedingly difficult. As someone who sporadically did political organizing with David Graeber, I assure you he was sharply critical of US policy as it pertained to exploiting developing countries. He also happened to be a professor of anthropology at Yale and the London School of Economics. How you have determined he was a "foreign agent or useful idiot" is curious. But I know David would have found it as funny as I do.

username332211 3y ago
I don't see how you can drag someone's credentials to prove he isn't a useful idiot. Malcolm Caldwell, famous for being the very embodiment of a useful idiot was a research fellow at UCL. Other defenders of the Red Khmers had even more impressive credentials. Need I remind you who was the writer of "Distortions at Fourth Hand" and "Manufacturing Consent"? By definition, all useful idiots have impressive credentials. Without credentials, they are not useful.
- littlestymaar 3y ago
  > Other defenders of the Red Khmers Are you talking about the entire Western block where in the 80 when western powers brought support to the milicia in order to piss off the Soviet Union-backed Vietnam, or what?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
vkou 3y ago
> How you have determined he was a "foreign agent or useful idiot" is curious. That's easy. Generally speaking, anyone who is critical of empire-building is seen by that empire's apparatchiks as a "foreign agent or useful idiot." The criticism doesn't come from any position of principle, it's just us-versus-them tribalism.

SenAnder 3y ago

I share your animus against China, and, lacking the original context, I can see why the post you replied to looks like a defense of China, but I did not interpret it as such. Simply a correction of the too-often-ignorance of the IMF.

jhp123 3y ago

US Imperialism is even more brazen than that. Here's a video of the US President commenting on how US troops are in Syria "only for the oil": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10p3Tn9V5Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U10p3Tn9V5Y

archgoon 3y ago
[dead]
stickfigure 3y ago
This is the same guy who suggested injecting disinfectant or "bringing light inside the body" to cure covid. He also continues to lie about his election loss in a desperate attempt to cling to power. Trump is shameful, but he doesn't represent the long history of the US.
- wheelerof4te 3y ago
  "the long history of the US." You mean, the long history of overthrowing governments, imperialistic wars and debt-trapping entire nations into selling their state-owned assets to US interest groups and funds? Your memory may be short lived, but there are many of us who know and remember. And, by the way, China hasn't started invading random countries all over the world...yet.
  - throwawaymaths 3y ago
    > And, by the way, China hasn't started invading random countries all over the world...yet. Bhutan, India, and Vietnam would have a word.
    - wheelerof4te 3y ago
      Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libiya, Syria and about 70% of Latin America. I spent just 2 minutes for this. I could go on, but you get the picture.
- 3y ago

l3mure 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Natural_Rubber_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Natural_Rubber_Compa... > In May 2006, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) released a report detailing the state of human rights on Liberia's rubber plantations. According to the report, Firestone managers in Liberia admitted that the company does not effectively monitor its own policy prohibiting child labor. UNMIL found that several factors contribute to the occurrence of child labor on Firestone plantations: pressure to meet company quotas, incentive to support the family financially, and lack of access to basic education. > Beginning in March 2019, the Washington, D.C. based Center for International Policy funded an investigation into alleged labor and environmental standards violations by Firestone in Liberia, culminating in publication of the February 2020 report, "A Bridge Too Far: Social and Environmental Concerns in Bridgestone's Liberian Rubber Plantation and a Plan for Remediation."The report details labor rights violations of Firestone's collective bargaining agreements with the Firestone workers union; Firestone's failure to honor pension payments for retired Firestone employees; and, Firestone's contamination of local watersheds resulting in elimination of fish and natural wildlife.