4 ms·

Ah, yes, the best way to react to increased authoritarianism in the US is to checks notes begin doing more business with a country that is the final word in aut

Ah, yes, the best way to react to increased authoritarianism in the US is to checks notes begin doing more business with a country that is the final word in authoritarianism.

blahblaher 2mo ago
the big difference is that China is not bombing anyone, and causing chaos to it's allies..
- lenerdenator 2mo ago
  > not bombing anyone Not that they wouldn't bomb Taiwan if they thought they could get away with it. The reason they can't, of course, is that doing so carries the risk of starting a thermonuclear war with the United States. > causing chaos to it's [sic] allies... Well, there's two ways to think about this. 1) China doesn't really have allies. They've a long history of pissing off their neighborhood extending back centuries. 2) They very much are causing chaos to allies, given that the Vietnamese went so far as to buy American military goods to help defend their portion of the South China Sea, which China sees as theirs.
  - westpfelia 2mo ago
    > Not that they wouldn't bomb Taiwan if they thought they could get away with it. There is zero evidence of this. The last time China even engaged in a direct military conflict was the 1970s. Where as even before Trump America could have invaded almost any country on the planet. and it wouldnt have been to shocking.
    - tgv 2mo ago
      > There is zero evidence of this. Ah, all those exercises are just for fun.
      - xyzsparetimexyz 2mo ago
        No, they're for force projection. The ideal success with Taiwan is to convince them with a hearts and minds play.
        lenerdenator 2mo ago
        > The ideal success with Taiwan is to convince them with a hearts and minds play. Which is very hard to do when you're threatening them with force projection. "Hearts and minds" isn't a thing totalitarian governments understand. You're either in agreement with them, or you're wrong. The conundrum is, if you don't have the force projection, then you have the possibility that the wise and correct Party isn't all-powerful and all-knowing, because they couldn't convince a relatively tiny island - one closer than Cuba is to the US - to join the mainland. If wise and correct Party isn't all-powerful and all-knowing, well, then power and knowledge might reside elsewhere that could need consultation every once in a while, and the wise and correct Party isn't wise and correct. That's inherently fatal to totalitarian systems of government.
    - lenerdenator 2mo ago
      > There is zero evidence of this You're either being willfully obtuse, have very little knowledge of the relations between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China, or are here to troll. It's absolutely on the CCP's agenda to bring Taiwan under PRC control, by force if necessary. This has been one of their main objectives since the KMT fled to the island when the CCP captured the mainland. [0] The Strait is arguably one of the hottest geopolitical areas on Earth with major implications for pretty much everyone. As far as "direct military conflict", depends on your definition of that. If the PLA is having one of its units regularly attack American or Western digital infrastructure, I'd very much consider that to be an attack, and there's plenty of evidence of that. There have also been border skirmishes with India. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-strait_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-strait_relations
- bamboozled 2mo ago
  They are supporting countries doing the bombing…
  - bamboozled 2mo ago
    Apparently a controversial opinion now...?
- nairboon 2mo ago
  Or threatening to invade it's allies.
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
  Except 1. Illegally occupying Tibet and cleansing the region 2. Occupying and cleansing several regions like Uyghur or Hong Kong 3. Wars with neighbors like India and conflicts with all neighbors except North Korea 4. indirectly arming Russia 5. Taiwan If China had a fraction of American power, they would be making life miserable for a lot of countries.
  - i34ubt4q2 2mo ago
    [dead]
vrganj 2mo ago
The best way to handle it is indeed equidistance between the two other poles, positioning oneself as the weight that could tip dominance either way and having the other two trying to woo you. Basically Yugoslavia's foreign policy during the Cold War, but on a much bigger scale.
danlugo92 2mo ago
Grow up man, we need people to grow up and see the world for what it really is before we can fix it You go against the government (for real) in ANY country you get a bullet, simple as that... That is everywhere... In USA, China, Russia, Paraguay, Laos, or wherever you go look...
- lenerdenator 2mo ago
  Ah, yes. That's how it ended for Joe Biden, right? "It's all the same", just isn't true. If it were, you wouldn't see any conflict.
- thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
  False equivalence. Also funnily you left out Europe, why? For instance, you can mock Trump and question the US all day. You can’t do that in China. Even this website is banned in China.
  - tialaramex 2mo ago
    > For instance, you can mock Trump and question the US all day. It's less dangerous to do this in the US, but it's still much worse there than it was even a decade ago.
    - thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
      But much much more dangerous than the US in China still.
  - pocksuppet 2mo ago
    People who've been to China consistently report that you can mock the regime and people do, but in private.
    - lenerdenator 2mo ago
      So, in a way that will have zero impact on the political course of the nation?
i34ubt4q2 2mo ago
[dead]

Ah, yes, the best way to react to increased authoritarianism in the US is to checks notes begin doing more business with a country that is the final word in authoritarianism.

blahblaher 2mo ago

the big difference is that China is not bombing anyone, and causing chaos to it's allies..

lenerdenator 2mo ago
> not bombing anyone Not that they wouldn't bomb Taiwan if they thought they could get away with it. The reason they can't, of course, is that doing so carries the risk of starting a thermonuclear war with the United States. > causing chaos to it's [sic] allies... Well, there's two ways to think about this. 1) China doesn't really have allies. They've a long history of pissing off their neighborhood extending back centuries. 2) They very much are causing chaos to allies, given that the Vietnamese went so far as to buy American military goods to help defend their portion of the South China Sea, which China sees as theirs.
- westpfelia 2mo ago
  > Not that they wouldn't bomb Taiwan if they thought they could get away with it. There is zero evidence of this. The last time China even engaged in a direct military conflict was the 1970s. Where as even before Trump America could have invaded almost any country on the planet. and it wouldnt have been to shocking.
  - tgv 2mo ago
    > There is zero evidence of this. Ah, all those exercises are just for fun.
    - xyzsparetimexyz 2mo ago
      No, they're for force projection. The ideal success with Taiwan is to convince them with a hearts and minds play.
      - lenerdenator 2mo ago
        > The ideal success with Taiwan is to convince them with a hearts and minds play. Which is very hard to do when you're threatening them with force projection. "Hearts and minds" isn't a thing totalitarian governments understand. You're either in agreement with them, or you're wrong. The conundrum is, if you don't have the force projection, then you have the possibility that the wise and correct Party isn't all-powerful and all-knowing, because they couldn't convince a relatively tiny island - one closer than Cuba is to the US - to join the mainland. If wise and correct Party isn't all-powerful and all-knowing, well, then power and knowledge might reside elsewhere that could need consultation every once in a while, and the wise and correct Party isn't wise and correct. That's inherently fatal to totalitarian systems of government.
  - lenerdenator 2mo ago
    > There is zero evidence of this You're either being willfully obtuse, have very little knowledge of the relations between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China, or are here to troll. It's absolutely on the CCP's agenda to bring Taiwan under PRC control, by force if necessary. This has been one of their main objectives since the KMT fled to the island when the CCP captured the mainland. [0] The Strait is arguably one of the hottest geopolitical areas on Earth with major implications for pretty much everyone. As far as "direct military conflict", depends on your definition of that. If the PLA is having one of its units regularly attack American or Western digital infrastructure, I'd very much consider that to be an attack, and there's plenty of evidence of that. There have also been border skirmishes with India. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-strait_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-strait_relations
bamboozled 2mo ago
They are supporting countries doing the bombing…
- bamboozled 2mo ago
  Apparently a controversial opinion now...?
nairboon 2mo ago
Or threatening to invade it's allies.
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
Except 1. Illegally occupying Tibet and cleansing the region 2. Occupying and cleansing several regions like Uyghur or Hong Kong 3. Wars with neighbors like India and conflicts with all neighbors except North Korea 4. indirectly arming Russia 5. Taiwan If China had a fraction of American power, they would be making life miserable for a lot of countries.
- i34ubt4q2 2mo ago
  [dead]

vrganj 2mo ago

The best way to handle it is indeed equidistance between the two other poles, positioning oneself as the weight that could tip dominance either way and having the other two trying to woo you. Basically Yugoslavia's foreign policy during the Cold War, but on a much bigger scale.

danlugo92 2mo ago

Grow up man, we need people to grow up and see the world for what it really is before we can fix it You go against the government (for real) in ANY country you get a bullet, simple as that... That is everywhere... In USA, China, Russia, Paraguay, Laos, or wherever you go look...

lenerdenator 2mo ago
Ah, yes. That's how it ended for Joe Biden, right? "It's all the same", just isn't true. If it were, you wouldn't see any conflict.
thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
False equivalence. Also funnily you left out Europe, why? For instance, you can mock Trump and question the US all day. You can’t do that in China. Even this website is banned in China.
- tialaramex 2mo ago
  > For instance, you can mock Trump and question the US all day. It's less dangerous to do this in the US, but it's still much worse there than it was even a decade ago.
  - thesmtsolver2 2mo ago
    But much much more dangerous than the US in China still.
- pocksuppet 2mo ago
  People who've been to China consistently report that you can mock the regime and people do, but in private.
  - lenerdenator 2mo ago
    So, in a way that will have zero impact on the political course of the nation?

i34ubt4q2 2mo ago

[dead]