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When totalitarian governments all start applauding what you're doing, using what you're doing as a distraction from a bad domestic situation as well as a justif
by RandyOrion 2y ago
When totalitarian governments all start applauding what you're doing, using what you're doing as a distraction from a bad domestic situation as well as a justification for their dictatorships, you should know that something is totally screwed up.
Yes, I'm talking about the totalitarian governments of China and Russia.
- mistrial9 2y agoyou are talking about (edit almost) a third of the entire human population, as if you know better. Reality says - random armchair Western Educated Individual Rich and Democratic does not rule the day for a third of humanity by claiming some political imperative. More reality - the Muslim world is organized and very wealthy in spots. By confrontational and arrogant (see above) posturing and actions by Westerns, it drives power alliances to the Muslim world. So then there is one third of the actual population of the entire world, embracing the Muslim world economically and politically. Secondly and perhaps more importantly, the backdrop economically for all parties is substantially about Oil and Gas. In the USA, the Oil and Gas interests have gained the upper hand, and they know very well how to apply it. Oil and Gas industry has all the capital and all the ambition to expand, fortify and entrench for the next multiple decades. It is rarely mentioned in the provocative and divisive social "news" that fills the media in the West each day.
- RandyOrion 2y agoThe combined population of China and Russia is less than a fifth of the world (15-16 bn vs 80+ bn). Edit: should be 1.5-1.6 bn vs 8 bn. I'm only discussing Trump's behaviour and its effect on totalitarian governments, I don't have enough knowledge to discuss the rest of what you wrote. I think the recent series of Trump's actions against Ukraine have failed to send a message to totalitarian governments that matches his own words. This has nothing to do with how much of the population Trump rules.
- mistrial9 2y agoplease read this page: https://worldpopulationreview.com/ https://worldpopulationreview.com/
- awkwardpotato 2y agoFrom your own website; China: 1,419,320,000 Russia: 144,820,000 World: 8,005,176,000 Russia + China = ~1.56 billion (Russia + China) / World = 0.195 aka 20% or 1/5 of the world population
- manmal 2y agoParent just forgot a decimal separator I think.
- epistasis 2y agoTo be fair to China, even they are "appalled" by what Trump is doing to cause chaos with Europe and to abandon Ukraine by holding talks about Ukraine without Ukraine: https://news.liga.net/en/politics/news/china-appalled-by-trumps-policy-opposes-talks-without-ukraine https://news.liga.net/en/politics/news/china-appalled-by-tru...
- 9283409232 2y agoChina isn't actually appalled but they are trying to slip into America's spot in the world and they will likely do so successfully.
- ferguess_k 2y agoIt almost looks like China doesn't want but US somehow is dragging it towards that point. China has been mostly concerned about economic links with other countries and it has few oversea bases comparing to any of the other 4 big dogs. It doesn't have the mindset to be a region police, let alone a world one.
- 9283409232 2y agoChina doesn't want to be the world police. It just wants the economic benefits of being the US without the security liabilities.
- ferguess_k 2y agoYup that's the idea. It's not going to run away from that police liability very soon. Probably in 5-10 years I think. Actually already happening right now in Myanmar.
- bilbo0s 2y agoMeh. Let's all be honest here. At the end of the day, what China wants is for everyone to shut the F up and buy a big screen TV. Preferably on credit. Anything that moves the world towards that goal will receive China's tacit support. Trump's moves are seen to move the world away from that goal, so we're seeing some signs of discomfort coming from China. But believe me, it ain't because they're concerned about Ukraine or freedom or "ideals". Or even because they do or do not want to be world police. We can't think about their goals in Western terms because the fundamentals of the thinking are just completely different.
- ssssvd 2y ago[flagged]
- jacquesm 2y agoHow aboutism, is that a variation on whataboutism?
- ssssvd 2y agoI brought both so you wouldn’t have to stress over which one to deflect with.
- FpUser 2y agoNo, it is a variation of exposing hypocrites.
- keybored 2y agoWhataboutism is a legitimate rhetorical tactic. Without it we would just be exploring hegemonic (and hypocritical) talking points, forever.
- mola 2y ago20% of Israel citizenship is Arab, they get equal rights. Parliamentary representatives etc. they even get affirmative action in getting higher education. Is it perfect? No Half the country is fighting the other half to keep us a western democracy. But every time ignorants post half baked opinions and paint us as pure evil, more ppl here say, fuck it.
- bigyabai 2y agoMuch like how Americans can be good people under asinine leadership, Israel ends up criticized for the actions taken by their government. If Israel wanted a goody-two-shoes relationship with their neighbors then they should have considered that when they annexed the Golan Heights.
- ssssvd 2y agoI have Israeli friends across the spectrum (except maybe ultra-orthodox, but including Ukrainian/Russian olim). I also have friends from Lebanon (not even Arabs). They all share different stories, many of them very ugly ones, — and not just about Palestinians. And many of them are Jewish and critical of Jewish policies. I know plenty of Israelis who are genuinely trying, and there are many of liberal-minded people with their conscience absolutely in the right place. I don't want to badmouth any of them. My point is — if the same level of "trying" happened elsewhere (like in Xinjiang), Americans and Europeans would instantly brand it the worst kind of totalitarianism. It's astonishing how the same first-rank predators who've been devouring the world for 500 years now posture as moral messiahs. And that's coming from me — one of them.