free_rms

30 ms·

271.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's a security think tank for a five eyes country. The problem with WeChat is that they don't get access.
272.
by free_rms 6y ago
"Defense-oriented Think Tank Hypes Up Chinese and/or Russian Threat"
273.
by free_rms 6y ago
The flavor difference is what's interesting. In the US, the allowed opinions are actually a tiny band, socially enforced. You don't get to be an opinion maker unless you're in band. Technically we're way freer, but prac
274.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's a comparison of different methods of social control. An interesting conversation, IMO at least. "Bad guys bad!" is much less interesting, especially when it's only the bad guys you've been told to hate.
275.
by free_rms 6y ago
I was specifically responding to a comment talking about the 2020 primaries, and I talked about the 2020 primaries. It's really an amazing system we have. The government and media tell you how free you are and how wicked all these oth
276.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's awfully suspicious how all of the other candidates except Warren dropped out and endorsed Biden overnight, right? Meanwhile, Warren, who was presumed to draw votes from Bernie, was all of a sudden awash in SuperPAC money despite
277.
by free_rms 6y ago
It all comes down to geopolitics. Iran and China will get the bad cop treatment, while Saudi Arabia gets kid gloves.
278.
by free_rms 6y ago
"What about Iraq" would have been whataboutism. "What about literally everyone else, in all of time" is what I said.
279.
by free_rms 6y ago
Same in the US for the pro-diversity essays as I understand it -- I was trying to make a comparison.
280.
by free_rms 6y ago
In China, professors have to periodically write essays about how they're ideologically committed to the party goals in order to keep funding and not be fired. These goals are all nice sounding things about national prosperity and such
281.
by free_rms 6y ago
Yeah, and the handling of the Greece situation a few years ago proved that politics abound over justice or sanity in all arenas. It'll be interesting to see how it develops, they're clearly more of a governing body than the UN, bu
282.
by free_rms 6y ago
That's actually a decent answer, thanks. But they're an economic-only organization. The EU didn't bomb Libya, France and Britain did.
283.
by free_rms 6y ago
Can you give an example of a significant power, any time in history, that did have a lot of qualms with using repression for political ends? Even the Athenians had slaves.
284.
by free_rms 6y ago
There's people out there with a lot of economic insecurity plus kids with no school right now, it's not 'catastrophizing' for them to feel like they're drowning.
285.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's not ironic, it's standard. Cultural conservatives in the US also dump on islam.
286.
by free_rms 6y ago
"Quantitative easing". One way to juice the economy is just print more money and give it to everyone. Everyone's richer, yay! Except you haven't increased production or necessarily consumption, so prices will just equa
287.
by free_rms 6y ago
Thank you!
288.
by free_rms 6y ago
National leaders, everywhere, find very little abhorrent. They're in the business of abhorrence in the name of maintaining national power.
289.
by free_rms 6y ago
RE: religion, the impression I've gotten is that it's specifically organization that the government sees as a threat. So, without the context of Urumqi riots or bombings, they'd probably default to seeing catholics or certai
290.
by free_rms 6y ago
Religion is a part of daily life for many, many Chinese. It's different, not Abrahamic, more of a syncretic blend of taoist, buddhist and localized icons. Monks and nuns take their roles seriously. Xi's government, in contrast to
291.
by free_rms 6y ago
Yes, and you've stripped all of the ideology and mania out of it by referencing it in this context. OP who wrote that excellent post would have known better. Are Uyghurs being sent out into the farmlands to toil on stupid projects as
292.
by free_rms 6y ago
This is the best post on this topic that has ever been written on Hacker News. Only nitpick (after a bunch of brilliant conjecture that basically 'scans' as far as human behavior, chinese society, and Xi's inclinations): The
293.
by free_rms 6y ago
I agree with your facts there, although "sinicize Islam" sounds awfully grand? In context with Western countries' reactions to militant islam, it's very different, different cultural norms, but it's hard to call it
294.
by free_rms 6y ago
All of the reporting just indicates buildings exist. I'm not sure what to believe, lots of things are in range given the evidence, but I don't take "look, a building" to mean much of anything.
295.
by free_rms 6y ago
A lot of very emotional people scan these threads, try to quickly put people on a 'side', and downvote accordingly. Great post, don't sweat it.
296.
by free_rms 6y ago
Maaaayyybe at a big western oriented hotel in Shanghai. I personally stayed at plenty of places without giving them my ID.
297.
by free_rms 6y ago
It matters it it's mandatory job and language training vs ethnic cleansing or genocide. There's evidence for the former, none for the latter. And a paternalistic "we'll end this unrest by educating them" attitude
298.
by free_rms 6y ago
I've been to China numerous times, my Mandarin sucks, I stand out, and I went wherever I wanted. Didn't try to go to Xinjiang, admittedly. There's paperwork that says you have to check in with local authorities wherever you
299.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's a tough issue because it's hard to give the Chinese government credit for lack of evidence when they're not letting journalists in in the first place. I looked into it a year ago and the strongest evidence I found at tha
300.
by free_rms 6y ago
It's propaganda for liberal values as long as they serve the interests of the US . Allies get a pass, and liberal enemies of our allies will be criticized. Bin Laden was a good guy when he was fighting the Soviets.

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