DarthOne
☦️
Yeah, but most of the population only sees what the media shows them. They either don’t care enough about politics or are too busy working.
China ChiCom News Thread
- Thread starter LordsFire
- Start date
The death of what could be hundreds to thousands of citizens, mainly military, wouldnnot go unnoticed.
We arnt Russia.
DarthOne
☦️
Only if it’s all at once in the same place. Yeah but at that point it falls under the ‘too big to ignore’ thing.
And even then if they don’t want people to notice it won’t end up in the news cycle for long.
Ironically, when push came to shove and she realized that, yes, if the kingdom she puppeted did go to war they'd get their teeth kicked in badly, she dithered and tried to sit on the fence, and IIRC when she finally did order regional governments to support the Boxers, they basically saw the writing on the wall and openly disobeyed, arresting/executing said Boxers in the streets. They even collaborated with the invaders to keep their people alive; the culmination of the Throne itself becoming increasingly weakened over the last few decades (the same thing happened in Ancient Egypt, with nomarchs becoming more and more powerful than the actual Pharaoh in some periods to the point where they could openly defy them).
This was especially bad for the Dowager, since these provinces controlled the hubs for the telegraph lines, and there was even a plot to establish a non-Imperial government the moment the capital fell by a few generals (eventually, this would result in the government that'd eventually flee to and then form Taiwan in the next century from the Commies).
I also like the boarding action.
DarthOne
☦️
That is the story we Americans seem to like to tell ourselves. It’s a nice lie.
Meanwhile in reality we stick our noses in everything, declare war on flimsy or made up justification and forbid trade with everyone we don’t agree with. All while exporting neo-liberalism and wokist nonsense.
DarthOne
☦️
A lot of that was done decades ago. Back when this nonsense was in its infancy or more subtle. And they are becoming woke now that is to US influence.
LordsFire
Internet Wizard
If you're going to strip the history of the US as world Hegemon down to the last 15 years, then I can strip it down to the end of the Cold War.
In which case, we've done absolutely fantastically!
DarthOne
☦️
You say that like we didn’t mess up even then! The Balakan Wars in the 90’s spring to mind.
And even before that during the Cold War we made an absolute mess of stuff at times.
LordsFire
Internet Wizard
The first question you should be asking:
"Did the US overall do more harm or good?"
The second question you should be asking is:
"How did it compare to other world hegemons?"
Once you have some context, then you have a decent basis to move forward from.
Every hedgemon does asshole things great britian did much the same, its a matter of degree and fact is we are a lot more benevolent then either the russians or the CCP though honestly thats not a high bar.
DarthOne
☦️
That I completely agree with. I just have issues with the delusional view of the USA’s role in the world stage.
DarthOne
☦️
And neither of those where the points I was making.
The language of international relations is power and all countries act like psychopaths when compared to individuals. Its unfortuantely the nature of things my friend.
DarthOne
☦️
Agreed. And that’s my point, rather then the ‘the USA just wants people to trade on their dime’ nonsense.
TheRejectionist
TheRejectionist
Travels through the ruins of culture
Alexandra Marshall
Getty Images
Alexandra Marshall
2 October 2023
12:48 AM
The uneasy groan, stutter, and clunking of the modern age rises through the square in Italy's coastal port of Trieste.
Tourist buses squeeze down streets better suited to Roman carts, while heavy-set cars lurch over the cobblestones, cutting their rubber fronts on the stone where they leave behind black stains and flecks of paint. Messy power lines tangle above, slouching in the gaps between the marble facades that bear the faces of mythical heroes and dead personalities. Traffic lights and the green neon crosses of the Farmacia leer out. 'Useful but unpleasant' I believe is how it was put by a friend attempting to crop them from a photograph.
I will remember Trieste as a pretty town waking up to the world even though it is one of Europe's industrial ports. The rose-tinted perspective of a guest… Before 8am in the tourist areas the cafes are open but little else, leaving people to strut purposely to nowhere. It is a region run by twin tides, the water and a human swell of sightseers that arrive and depart at regular intervals, washing over the businesses. This is the lull. There is no point fighting against it and so, with nowhere in particular to be, I joined the wandering souls.
Trieste's streets end abruptly in a main road where the traffic has one last crack at pedestrians. On the other side there is a narrow pathway, a drop, and then water with a scattering of lamp posts to mark the edge of the town. Giant cruise liners perch in the harbour beyond – eerily still and impervious to the gentle motion that tugs smaller boats against their moorings. The true port shimmers as a severe line in the distance shadowed by coloured cranes and industrial equipment.
Modernity's incursion into this scene is uncouth – a melancholy disorder that mimics that chaotic state of Western life where tourists spend fortunes reminiscing in ancient cities only to partake in the age of 'progress' that has no clue where it is going. Later, the feeling will be revisited on the docks in Split, where the shops are pressed into the remains of Diocletian's palace and its streets stretch out like the dried-out arteries of some long-dead creature.
Trieste has, this month, won a victory for its soul. It became Beijing's latest embarrassment after Italy decided to abandon the widely publicised Belt and Road deal which would have left the port city as a security liability in the Western sphere. 'For the Chinese, this is a major humiliation,' said Yun Sun. 'For Italy to publicly announce its intent to withdraw from the Belt and Road, I think for the Chinese they take great offence in that decision.' Italy's pandering to China in the early months of the Covid pandemic makes more sense when you realise there was a $2.8 billion investment deal on the table and a trade reach promise of $78 billion – but China has caused Italy too much pain, with the relationship becoming cautious under the watch of Prime Minister Meloni. China has since found its moves against Italian businesses thwarted and its existing projects pushed down the road and, in most cases, off a Mediterranean cliff.
Long before the decision, the late Silvio Berlusconi sent a letter saying that Italy could not 'leave the most strategic of infrastructures, the port of Trieste, in the unfriendly hands of the Chinese Silk Road project.'
Italy was the first G7 country to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative, now – as Europe and America distance themselves from the increasingly aggressive communist regime – they have thought better of it.
In 2019, when the agreement was first discussed, Italy felt isolated from Europe and its open-border policies which were causing problems for Italian towns to the ignorance of Brussels. China was knocking at the door, wooing Italian companies and government officials with deep pockets and impossible vistas.
Beijing's dream to rebuild the Silk Road of legend demanded Italy as its vassal trading outpost and a wedge against the EU.
It is surreal to watch these modern conflicts play out while sitting comfortably in the shadow of the old world. The marks of Rome and Greece provide scaffolding for the stage – twin expired empires decaying in front of the constant flicker of Instagram photos. Trieste is a town full of men with grand dreams. Conquerors, rulers, artists, and explorers of the world and the mind. There are figures of great beauty, failed love, and adventurers of the sea. Family fortunes were poured into buildings created for permanence, standing as the antithesis of our impatient culture which values efficiency to the point it programs human beings out of the equation at every opportunity. Their marble will remain long after our modern concrete and glass monstrosities rot.
The answer to this problem of collapse is not to hand over construction to foreign powers. Stagnation is not a solution either, and so we ask the question, is our civilisation going to vanish in an instant – like Ubar, the Atlantis of Sands? Or shall the West be hacked at by raids and rebellion – petty wars and idiot leaders… Perhaps our world will be overtaken by 'progress' until its customs are watered down, dribbling into the gutters and harbour beyond while its people are slowly replaced by newcomers. Like a body shedding its cells, a city's buildings may remain but its flesh – the living entities, change beyond recognition.
Sometimes better civilisations are created, but usually modern populations are found squatting in the shade of past grandeur. Parasites surviving off the achievements of ghosts.
Devotion to beauty and worship for the sake of permanence is not something a generation taught to 'own nothing and be happy' can comprehend. Those who revile inherited wealth as a capitalist evil cannot see the merit in the accumulation of cultural wealth that benefits those who are yet to be born.
Seduced by eternal rebellion, we've built nothing of worth. Created little of value. And failed to maintain pride in ourselves as a people. The idle hands of jealousy have started tearing town statues and burning books.
Sipping coffee in the square, shaded by red-cloth awnings with a glimpse of open water, it is evident that sometimes it is hard to grasp what has been lost until you find yourself a tourist in the ruins.
Travels through the ruins of culture | The Spectator Australia
The uneasy groan, stutter, and clunking of the modern age rises through the square in Italy’s coastal port of Trieste. Tourist buses squeeze down streets better suited to Roman carts…
www.spectator.com.au
Japan and Korea being woke?
I laugh.
The Baltic states being woke?
I laugh.
Poland rejects it...by how heavily Christian they are you would think the woke left hates them. Yet we are close as hell with them.
Almost like we won't force upon wokeism if they are allies because we like money more as a nation
Good.
Now, either sink the ship so it acts as a new marine wildlife habitat or impound it for auction or scrap value.
Fuck China.