All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Tendrin]

Tens of millions of people starved to death under Mao, which while certainly a tragic failure of policy, is hardly a one to one comparison with the number of people that have been directly killed by American forces in Asia. If you want to start counting up all of the people whose lives were shortened as an indirect consequence of US foreign policy, whether military, economic, or otherwise, THAT toll would certainly be up in the billions by now, and would be even worse if you include the actions of US allies and proxies.

At the end of the day, this much is clear - the United States and its Western cohorts largely view Asian countries not as respected equals, but rather as naughty children that need to be brought in line, hence the all stick no carrot foreign policy that has been massively destabilizing to the entire region ever since the day Commodore Perry showed up in Edo Bay. And this attitude extends to Asian Americans as well, we're expected to keep quiet and not upset anyone, so that we can be used up for our skillset and then disposed of when we are no longer useful, we'll never be seen as true citizens who have an equal stake in deciding the future of this country. Sure, you might think that this doesn't apply to you and that you respect all people equally, but if you can't even stand someone expressing some quite mild criticism of America and think that even the most lukewarm statements in support of China are evidence that I'm a paid propaganda mouthpiece, I wonder how you'd react if you heard any actual radical opinions, which are far more common amongst Asian Americans than you might expect and are certainly widespread across Asia itself.

No one actually thinks you're a paid spokesperson for the Chinese government, you know. We all know you do this apologism for free.

[Tami]

Palo Alto Woman Alexandra Souverneva Charged With Starting Fawn Fire; She’s Being Investigated For Starting Other CA Wildfires

SHASTA COUNTY (CBS13/AP) – Palo Alto woman Alexandra Souverneva is suspected of lighting a fire near where the Fawn Fire started, Cal Fire announced on Thursday.

Employees working near the JF Shea and Mountain Gate Quarries reported seeing a woman trespassing at the property and acting irrationally.
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Later in the day, authorities believe that the same woman, 30-year-old Palo Alto resident Alexandra Souverneva, emerged from the brush near the fire line and approached fire crews for help. Cal Fire said she had a lighter in her pocket at the time.

She was taken out of the area for evaluation and treatment. During an interview with Cal Fire and law enforcement, officers came to believe Souverneva was responsible for setting the fire, officials said. She was arrested and booked into the Shasta County Jail.

On Friday, she was charged Friday with felony arson to wildland with an enhancement due to the declared state of emergency California is under, said Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett.

Souverneva is also being investigated for starting other fires in Shasta County and throughout the state, Bridgett said.

[PwrdOn]

No one actually thinks you're a paid spokesperson for the Chinese government, you know. We all know you do this apologism for free.

I should be getting paid though, educating ignorant white people about Asia is a difficult slog with near zero retention rates.

[Gray Lensman]

I mean, they did support the slaves being freed in the 1860s so their workers' rights were important at that time that they shouldn't be forced to work for free.

Kinda downhill after that.

I was referring to the Progressive Era rather than Lincoln though. Although Abe is the last Republican president to not have a recession start under his watch.

[CaptainEurope]

There’s been some long articles in UK press about her (Angela Merkel) as her time in office comes to an end.

Not surprisingly the articles considered her decision in 2015 to take in over 1 million Syrian refugees as maybe the biggest single decision of her time in office. It was an incredibly brave call…I can’t think of any close equivalent in recent years.

I'm a little frustrated that the success of that move (unemployment did not go up but down, same for crime rates) did not hurt the far right AfD more, who won 13% on a xenophobia platform in 2017 when the effects of taking in 1.5 million refugees from 2015 to 2017 were still not known.

[Mister Mets]

If you are flippantly citing death tolls to try and prove that the U.S. has not been a massively disruptive force in Asia, then yes, you are a racist. You clearly just don’t know anything about the history and politics of the region yet you keep insisting on stating your opinion as if it is authoritative even though you have no credibility to speak on these matters.

I don't believe he's flippantly citing death tolls. More precise numbers are hard to come by, mainly due to the Chinese government's refusal to open records, and left-wing academics being hesitant to blame Chinese communists.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-a033c5287bce/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...derer-his-due/

[Tendrin]

I should be getting paid though, educating ignorant white people about Asia is a difficult slog with near zero retention rates.

If only we could all have the political insight and wisdom of the guy who thinks Biden is going to have no choice but to start a war with China.

[The Cool Thatguy]

If only we could all have the political insight and wisdom of the guy who thinks Biden is going to have no choice but to start a war with China.

Also, how China playing the victim card absolves them of ever doing anything bad.

[babyblob]

I should be getting paid though, educating ignorant white people about Asia is a difficult slog with near zero retention rates.

Thank god for you! Thank god you can go on a random comic book site and educate us all evil racist white people. My life has been forever changed reading your posts. I do wonder why you are living in some evil western country and not the great land of China? Im sure they would love to have you.

Also, how China playing the victim card absolves them of ever doing anything bad.

It pretty much does. The USA is the worst country that there ever has been or ever will be! Only America can be blamed for doing bad things (Which we have done a lot of bad stuff) so everyone gets a free pass because you know USA bad!

[PwrdOn]

If only we could all have the political insight and wisdom of the guy who thinks Biden is going to have no choice but to start a war with China.

Well you see, in geopolitics, usually when you continually ramp up hostilities with another country that typically leads to war unless you manage to reach some kind of detente. In this case that would be a difficult prospect because it's unclear what the US actually wants from China apart from wishing that they'd just commit national suicide like the USSR did, and maintaining a prolonged cold war without any kind of resolution in sight, which is apparently what you guys are advocating, isn't a desirable outcome for anyone.

Also, how China playing the victim card absolves them of ever doing anything bad.

I'd also like to hear your opinions about why black on black crime is killing more young men than cops are, why it's curious that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims, or why young women should really take some personal responsibility over how they dress if they don't want to be raped.

Thank god for you! Thank god you can go on a random comic book site and educate us all evil racist white people. My life has been forever changed reading your posts. I do wonder why you are living in some evil western country and not the great land of China? Im sure they would love to have you.

[Tendrin]

Well you see, in geopolitics, usually when you continually ramp up hostilities with another country that typically leads to war unless you manage to reach some kind of detente. In this case that would be a difficult prospect because it's unclear what the US actually wants from China apart from wishing that they'd just commit national suicide like the USSR did, and maintaining a prolonged cold war without any kind of resolution in sight, which is apparently what you guys are advocating, isn't a desirable outcome for anyone.

Don't try to wiggle out of it now. You declared definitively that Biden was going to get us into a war with China because he sent Australia some submarines. If China isn't going to go to war with a country that it routinely skirmishes with to the point where 43 Chinese soldiers lost their lives in May 2020, I don't think it's likely that the two nuclear powers that are as tied together economically at the USA and China are going to either, and definitely not because of some posturing over submarines. I mean, we can talk about America's diplomacy having no long-term strategy in place at this point, since the long-range strategy to deal with China diplomatically and economically was the TPP, but that's not 'Biden is going to get us into a war with China', either.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I think he lives in the US. Bernie Bros and trump supporters have the same talking points, so I'm pretty sure he's a Bernie Bro.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I'd also like to hear your opinions about why black on black crime is killing more young men than cops are, why it's curious that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims, or why young women should really take some personal responsibility over how they dress if they don't want to be raped.

I already know your answer "White man's fault only!" as opposed to generally complicated situations in general (minus your last example).

"Love it or leave it" would be a harsher burn if most everyone in this thread didn't freely admit that America has massive issues that need to be addressed.

I have to say, for an educator, you don't seem to learn or observe very well.

[babyblob]

Thats not a burn to me. I know America has a lot of issues. But I would rather live here then any where in the world. Well maybe I would like to live in Canada. I enjoy the cold, Hockey, and would love to have maple syrup with every meal.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Thats not a burn to me. I know America has a lot of issues. But I would rather live here then any where in the world. Well maybe I would like to live in Canada. I enjoy the cold, Hockey, and would love to have maple syrup with every meal.

America has lots of issues, but thankfully, we have mechanisms for addressing them. Among them, electing our president every 4 years.

When does the party chairman of China face re-election? I forget.