Seems like China is unilaterally changing the so-called "status quo". Maybe it's time for the rest of the world to stop pretending to respect China's claim to Taiwan and instead openly push back against it.
When China get Taiwan, do you think you will get the chips you want for your computer? Or all the chips will have backdoor that control your life? It is not Dantzig you die for, but your freedom.
> China claims Taiwan, Taiwan claims China. Both claim to be China. I don't think you understand the actual political situation.
I’m not quite sure what point you’re trying to make, but I assure you I’m well aware of the political situation. Maybe you should make fewer assumptions out of ignorance.
Has anyone tried to do global sentiment analysis for nation states? China's exploits related to Canada [1], Australia [2], and Sri Lanka [3] makes me wonder what happens, should China go into recession?
Europe has a long history of dealing with imperial bullies. In fact, that is the reason why the concept of modern state and sovereignty were created there in the Westphalia Treaties.
I so much hope all the smaller European countries honor their own fight for freedom and sovereignty and get behind Lithuania. If they don't do that then what is the purpose of belonging to the European Union?
There are a lot of countries in Europe. Most of them were not bullies or, at least, were far less bullies than their neighbors: Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Romania, ...
Even some of the big empires (e.g.: Netherlands, Belgium) actually went through the experience of being bullied.
Some people could have made mistakes as a teenager. How they are now is more important, humans ( normally ) learn from mistakes.
Same for countries, Europe has changed a lot over the years/decades/centuries.
Because of advancements in technologies enabling global communication, the success is now mostly based on trade and not on war/conquer like in the past. People keep forgetting that it really is a different world compared to 1600.
I don't know. Does this not smell like a soft proxy war to you? Lithuania is being pressured by the US to say/do certain things against America's top rival.
If any of this is true, what the fuck did they expect? Remind me again, why do we need to care about the well being of the hegemon who has been ravaging the world for about 100 years, while their current competitor hasn't done much on the international scene. Surely bombing tens of millions and overthrowing governments is worse than whatever the fuck is going on IN China. No?
Hold on. Taiwan became a democracy just a few years ago (1996). Before it was still one of the many fascist satellite states of the US, which helped the Kuomintang with their revolution in China, which they lost. "Chill" democracy is chill, like the "chill democracies" in Korea or HK, with a similar fate. Still better than the PRC of course. Random European countries always prefer stable fascist partners over democracies.
If you are a democracy, then befriending other democracy's makes sense. At the end of the day it's unlikely that the consensus formed from small and large democracies will be grievously disagreeable as long as there are protections for minority participants (small democracies).
There isn't a good frame of reference to understand what a hegemonic China will entail in the long-term for a country like Lithuania. It's certainly unlikely that the US will continue to provide security (NATO). Nor will the EU provide an effective economic and diplomatic force if member states can be played against each other.
Correct me If I am wrong, but it seems China's government controls their companies and makes them act against their best economic interest. This results into a much bigger global impact of China communist party because of those decisions.
This is to compare to West companies which act a lot more independently.
I don't know. The US seems just as happy to get involve in company business. Worse, they generally force companies not even based in the US to do as they're told. Just look at Iran or any financial company.
Chinese actions are just as official aren't they? And that's saying nothing of "unofficial" actions like the NSA, CIA etc take.
I don't think there is a meaningful difference between what China and the US do in terms of pursuing foreign policies via economics and "private" company actions...
The Chinese are denying it. So either there’re lying or incredibly petty. Either way, not a good look. Either way, they’ll claim it’s western propaganda.
If any business. partner isn't reliable (see commie claims in the linked article) that's companies controlled by a totalitarian government.
The second thing to note that as general rule the larger the state the worse (less free) just look at them (including the US and Canada with its declining freedoms). From this perspective alone all secessionist movements in all countries should be wholeheartedly supported.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 30.1 ms ] threadI’m not quite sure what point you’re trying to make, but I assure you I’m well aware of the political situation. Maybe you should make fewer assumptions out of ignorance.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/world/asia/china-canada-m...
[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/07/ch...
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lank...
I so much hope all the smaller European countries honor their own fight for freedom and sovereignty and get behind Lithuania. If they don't do that then what is the purpose of belonging to the European Union?
In this case, China is quite clearly the imperial bully.
Different sources I can find have between 4 and 5 of the top 10 as European, the rest Asian, and pretty consistently have them alternating the top 4.
There are a lot of countries in Europe. Most of them were not bullies or, at least, were far less bullies than their neighbors: Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Romania, ...
Even some of the big empires (e.g.: Netherlands, Belgium) actually went through the experience of being bullied.
Portugal is small now but it's history is a bit bloody.
Some people could have made mistakes as a teenager. How they are now is more important, humans ( normally ) learn from mistakes.
Same for countries, Europe has changed a lot over the years/decades/centuries.
Because of advancements in technologies enabling global communication, the success is now mostly based on trade and not on war/conquer like in the past. People keep forgetting that it really is a different world compared to 1600.
If any of this is true, what the fuck did they expect? Remind me again, why do we need to care about the well being of the hegemon who has been ravaging the world for about 100 years, while their current competitor hasn't done much on the international scene. Surely bombing tens of millions and overthrowing governments is worse than whatever the fuck is going on IN China. No?
I suppose on geological timescales, but thats spanning multiple generations.
There isn't a good frame of reference to understand what a hegemonic China will entail in the long-term for a country like Lithuania. It's certainly unlikely that the US will continue to provide security (NATO). Nor will the EU provide an effective economic and diplomatic force if member states can be played against each other.
> while their current competitor hasn't done much on the international scene.
So holding African ports for ransom and illegally invading the territorial waters of countries from Ecuador to Argentina doesn't count?
Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:History_of_European_c...
I don't think there is a meaningful difference between what China and the US do in terms of pursuing foreign policies via economics and "private" company actions...
The second thing to note that as general rule the larger the state the worse (less free) just look at them (including the US and Canada with its declining freedoms). From this perspective alone all secessionist movements in all countries should be wholeheartedly supported.