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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I can't help but think some of the comparisons fall flat when you consider what Trump is actually capable of getting done.
Trump is a terrifying move towards authoritarianism, and things like the immigrant kids in cages are horrible, but Trump isn't an actual dictator and he can't actually do whatever he wants.
I will point out that when I said the CCP are better than Trump I was purely talking about their ability to strategize, spread the influence of their state, and play the long game. I.e pragmatic skills that arguably make them more dangerous.
Obviously, from any humanist-liberal perspective, they're morally just as bad if not worse.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangYou can make a deal with the CCP and expect them to act the same way on it ten years down the line. Trump has shown that the US doesn’t have that kind of consistency, that causes issues.
Faith in the consistency of US foreign policy can’t be restored by the next president, it will take two or maybe three presidents in a row restoring consistency before it can be trusted in again.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranActing the same way isn’t the same as acting in good faith or reasonably, I said China was consistent, not moral.
The US was consistent until Bush when you guys basiclly started tearing up decade old international alliances and threatening global stability out of a thirst for blood, Trump has shown that Bush wasn’t a one of mistake, you guys’ve have made a habit out of it now and you need to show you’ve kicked the habit before you can be trusted again.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranIt makes it a lot easier to plan for, you can make a plan based on China having a reasonably similar foreign policy today and 20 years from now, one can no longer make a plan based on the US having a reasonably similar foreign policy today and 20 years from now.
Planning for a bad guy to act bad for 20 years isn’t that difficult, planning for a good guy guy to be good then turn bad for a random 4-8 of the next 20 years is rather tough.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranExcept one can't count on the CCP being consistent. Not really.
What Xi Jinping is doing is the equivalent of MAGA (except it'd be MCGA in this case). There's a reason the CCP has really accelerated their expansionism, flirted with military intervention, is cracking down harder and harder on Hong Kong, and is beating the invasion drums concerning Taiwan louder than ever. Nationalism is slowly overtaking the ostensibly pragmatic assholery that mostly defined the CCP in the past.
Edited by M84 on Apr 28th 2019 at 10:52:17 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedExcept that none of that’s that unusual for China, it’s still consistent with how China has been for the last twenty years. It’s not the same but it’s an logical expansion and adaptation.
To the best of my knowledge China hasn’t started tearing up decade old treaties just because it feels like it, it may cheat at them and ignore parts, but that’s a risk that was there when the treaties were made.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranMore like China has never been in a good direction. I mean, Mao's a low bar to slide under.
I honestly think that once/if America pulls its shit together, it'll be able to take an increasingly leading role in the world again, if only because much of the rest of NATO will be able to sympathize. We're not unique in suffering from a bout of fascism - that seems to be a worldwide trend right now, and if we pull through and throw it off, the world will be happy to encourage America to take up its security responsibilities again.
China has basically been royally fucked since the Opium Wars.
Mainly because it's not, when it comes down to it, a single nation (even beyond the two Chinas), but rather a (vestigial) empire made up of several nations with related but distinct ethnicities and cultures that have only ever been unified when they're under strongly autocratic leadership.
Angry gets shit done.Back to primary matters: Can a woman beat Trump? Some Democrats wonder if it's worth the risk
Also a bit old news but McConnell plan to hike smoking age could be win for tobacco companies
goes into detail about why concerns exist. Which include racial profiling. Go fig.
Another piece about the Evil Turtle
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Apr 29th 2019 at 9:03:11 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanVisas Are The Newest Weapon In U.S.-China Rivalry
:
At least he did until a few weeks ago, when he received an email from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. His 10-year U.S. business visa had been abruptly canceled with no explanation. He was told he could apply for a single-entry business visa instead, if he was able to list his last 15 years of travel history.
"It was too much personal information to American government, so I rejected having to apply again," Wang tells NPR.
Visas are the latest weapon in a growing rivalry between the U.S. and China. This year, the U.S. canceled visas for a number of prominent Chinese scholars with government links over concerns that such exchanges are conduits for peddling influence and for espionage. Increased scrutiny has delayed visas to hundreds of Chinese students. Meanwhile, American academics continue to fail to receive visas to China.
Academic exchanges between the U.S. and China have blossomed in frequency and scope since relations were normalized in 1978. Now, as relations sour, Chinese scholars and students face suspicions of espionage and spreading propaganda. The U.S. scrutiny is especially intense for Chinese scholars affiliated with state-linked think tanks and research institutions.
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Some Democratic primary voters clearly learned this lesson. As Sharon Quinn, 70, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, put it at an O’Rourke campaign event in March: “We need someone who the boys will vote for, OK?"
Ouch.
Edited by M84 on Apr 30th 2019 at 3:14:44 AM
Disgusted, but not surprisedAlso this bit of the article was disturbing:
"Women do quite well politically when they are perceived as being in service positions and wanting to have power as much as in that they will be serving a local constituency," said Kate Manne, a philosophy professor at Cornell University who has written extensively about gender and politics. "Problems arise when women are trying to run for the presidency, because that is the ultimate masculine-coded authority position and one is subordinate to no one."
Basically, people are fine with voting for female politicians as long as they are reassured that those female politicians still ultimately have to answer to a man.
Edited by M84 on Apr 30th 2019 at 3:17:46 AM
Disgusted, but not surprisedYou might find this Google Scholar search result
sobering, then.

China's dictator has concentration camps for Muslims. He is a monster and even worse than Trump.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.