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@yubblegum nails it - well written. I might add a couple of things: - China had a free look at what Japan did so well 70s-90s - China had a free look at Russi
by scrubs 1y ago
@yubblegum nails it - well written. I might add a couple of things:
- China had a free look at what Japan did so well 70s-90s
- China had a free look at Russia and most definitely did not repeat their mistakes economically. Russia ought to be the most embarrassed of all how well done China has done.
- the above two points are compliments to china: they take statecraft far smarter abd seriously for them. Similarly, China isn't stupid enough to start a war (Ukraine) they couldn't mop up with a low level adversary. But Russia is because they're fragile that way.
- China under Nixon sided with the US and the west, who had solid currency to pay for goods. That helped a lot.
- we Americans made the same mistake germany did with Russian energy: economic ties are not a by way to western liberlization. You can't buy off Russia from invading.
- and as for us Americans: we didn't protect ourselves in job losses through nafta, or China. It wasn't woke liberal politicians who sent jobs overseas or to canada/Mexico or china. It was private corporate owners/boards. And yes, they are a special kind of stupid if they couldn't see the long game china played. China had a long game; US only saw $ signs. Good lord! China was never going to allow dominance in manufacturing or access to Chinese markets by outsiders. The British made sure of that. Period.
- the US is now at a point where job security is more important than cheap crap at 5 and below, while china has moved onto high end. The days of trading lower consumer prices for job losses is waning.
- rkomorn 1y ago> China isn't stupid enough to start a war (Ukraine) they couldn't mop up with a low level adversary. Didn't Russia (and a lot of other folks) think Ukraine was an adversary they could mop up? Or are you saying China wouldn't estimate wrong like Russia did?
- scrubs 1y agoI'm saying china makes better decisions; i don't think it would start a war with a snowballs chance of winning convincingly. Second, China is not motivated (apart from taiwan) to invade. Russia is because it's fragile, scared of nato, and generally more expansive. China just doesn't have those urges. If I was China I'd be sick and tired of babysitting Russia with handouts because its in over its head. Russia as far as I know was told by its own Ukraine was 1 week doable - clearly wrong. I think but have no argument to underpin the claim China is smarter in that the decision makers are not told what they want to hear in foreign wars.
- kelipso 1y agoThis doesn’t really make sense. Everyone thought Russia would mop up Ukraine in a week. Turns out it was wrong because Russian military was weaker than they thought, Ukraine response was strong, etc. but this is just a hindsight 20/20 thing. Any country could make such a mistake. And you say fragile, scared, etc. Countries, especially large countries, don’t operate like that. They had security concerns, which they publicly warned about for months, and then they attacked.