On the ground, the whole point of “The Olympics” is that an irresponsible authority gets to erase things that people are actually using, right?
Like, is there any other effect for people who actually live in the targeted city? Folks come in and destroy things you like, and replace them with things you’re not allowed to touch. That’s what “The Olympics” does, yeah?
I was thinking if people are still sore about the retirement thing in Paris they should do a slow down or ramp up the protests and no one works to really tell their government how they feel by putting it all on display for the world.
Nice. We Czechs remember how it feels when Russia thinks your country should be theirs. This won’t solve anything but I think it’s a nice gesture of solidarity with our Ukrainian friends.
The solidarity with the Ukranian friends is to ban russian or belarussian athletes? Even if they are against the war, which is a pretty dangerous position to be taking if they plan to get back to their country?
Wimbledon banned russian and Belarusian athletes last year. With the ban being lifted for this year’s event. One Belarusian athlete (victoria azarenka) was even boo’d at Wimbledon after her loss against Ukraine athlete Elina Svitolina, who refused to shake hands with any Russian or Belarusian.
Azarenka is openly against the war and has been since the war started, but is still being treated unfairly as a villain.
I understand this is a near impossible task, but sports (particularly the athletes) and politics should stay separate.
I understand this is a near impossible task, but sports (particularly the athletes) and politics should stay separate.
That ship has sailed in the 1936 at the latest. Every authoritative regime will sooner or later try to use successes of their athletes for propaganda(the “neutral flag” sham notwithstanding). There is no reason to give them the opportunity.
And that it affects the careers of the athletes? Maybe, but let me remind you that Ukrainians are still dying, probably by hundreds a day. And so do their athletes.
So much this. If you allow your government to pull shit like that and expect your sports career to be unhampered in any way she should take the streets. Not whine.
I know the implication here is that “maoist lemmygrad tankies” are so gross they give you diarrhea but it really comes off as “I get stress diarrhia reading left wing content online” which isn’t very flattering.
Except I am anarcho-syndicalist and aggressively socially left-wing. But I will never understand anyone that holds China or Russia in anything approaching high regard.
Edit: And, no. My comment didn’t come across as that. You obviously just wanted to read it as such.
Except I am anarcho-syndicalist and aggressively socially left-wing
If youre still specifying social and economic policy as seperate in this context than you’ve still got a lot more reading and political development to do as a leftist.
But I will never understand anyone that holds China or Russia in anything approaching high regard.
The soviet union defeated the Nazis, and China is defeating the US primarily through peaceful means Both massively improved quality of life and political rights. If those aren’t things to be conditionally admirable about as a leftist than you seem a very strange leftist.
Edit: And, no. My comment didn’t come across as that. You obviously just wanted to read it as such.
Please explain how “reading socialist comments gives me diarrhia” should be taken.
Well, you’re blatantly wrong about political freedom in China (seriously? LOL). Also, the Soviet Union alone didn’t defeat the Nazis so fuck off with your tankie revisionist history. You seriously have no clue what you’re talking about.
Furthermore, because you’ve outed yourself as a tankie, this conversation is over. I will not engage with the likes of you, a pseudointellectual.
Well, you’re blatantly wrong about political freedom in China
Oh, were they better under the KMT or the colonial Japanese? Gotta say bud, your coming off as not very historically literate.
Also, the Soviet Union alone didn’t defeat the Nazis so fuck off with your tankie revisionist history.
Didn’t say they did. They just spearheaded it, being responsible for 80 percent of german casualties, and losing 26 million people for their troubles. Britain or the US wouldn’t have been able to defeat the nazis by themselves. Continental Europe would still be the third reich without those dastardly tankies.
Furthermore, because you’ve outed yourself as a tankie, this conversation is over. I will not engage with the likes of you, a pseudointellectual.
From the towering intellect that thought the KMT or the colonial Japanese provided more rights than the PRC.
Also “outed myself”? Really? That sure implies revealing deception, and I’ve been nothing but open and honest about my views.
Nuance is for good countries like the USA, UK and Australia. With them you can say when they fall short of their ideals that they are trying. With evil countries like the USSR or China they don’t deserve historical understanding or nuance so it’s either perfect or terrible, clearly.
The USSR famously subsidized and gave autonomy to the non Russian SSRs. Russofication was obviously a problem but much less of a problem than during the monarchy or the post union capitalist state. There is a reason why the non Russian SSRs voted at higher rates than the Russian SSR to stay in the USSR during the referendum before the illegitimate dissolution of the soviet union.
Yeah but we are today, and I fail to see what’s actually “left wing” about the present situation. Is Russia (a fascist kleptocracy) being helped by China (state capitalist and only communist in name) somehow contributing to spreading socialism ideals? In retrospect that was maybe a rhetorical question.
Even Lenin acknowledged that you can’t get rid of capitalism quickly, and China started from an even worse position than the USSR.
Empires competing and creating multipolarity benefits China, other socialist nations, and the imperial periphery looking to break free. Keep in mind that mao’s three worlds theory is a major influence on some socialist factions in China, even if it is reductionist. Russia maintaining strength to challenge the US(including if it comes through a defeat or truce in ukraine)(note that China is pushing for a truce which would maintain Russia’s ability to defend itself from NATO better, but supplying them to maintain their strength) is a good thing in their calculus, and I haven’t seen any compelling rebuttals to it.
Realistically, China, as an hegemony seeking super power, would do the same thing no matter what century and flavor of autocratic regime is at the helm at that particular time. No need to make it more than what it is, really.
Have you ever listen to the CCP’s rhetoric? Especially Xi’s neo-traditionnalism and “restoring China’s just place at the center of the world”.
When China historically was the “center of the world” did they exert imperial hegemony over the rest of the known world?
This is a rhetorical question, because they didn’t.
When you look at the way China has been making itself “center of the world” you’ll note the lack of imperialism in their policy. They do not rely on financial and military control in foreign countries the way empires do.
And neither did you, you were off-topic from the get go.
You were claiming they weren’t left wing and were state capitalist, I was addressing that misconception. Did you just try to say this as a “no you!”?
A woman from hexbear actually. Not everyone on the internet is a man, you can afford to not be sexist and stop perceiving man as the default. I hope reading my conditional defense of historical and existing somewhat successful socialist projects hasn’t given you too much diarrhea.
Looks like Bolivia's next in line for the Belt and Road Bait and Switch, and they're sending out the messaging that they want a shot at what Africa's getting.
That being said, it's not surprising that we'd see this reaction from Bolivia and other economically distressed countries in Latin America given the interest rate increases by the Fed. This caused downstream liquidity problems that the economic minister is directly speaking to. Note, this explanation appears disingenuous, as the Boliviano has been rising against the dollar since the beginning of 2022.
In February 2021, the Arce government returned an amount of around $351 million to the IMF. This comprised a loan of $327 million taken out by the interim government in April 2020 and interest of around $24 million. The government said it returned the loan to protect Bolivia's economic sovereignty and because the conditions attached to the loan were unacceptable
That they did this in the middle of the pandemic is actually a stronger indicator than the attached article that the Arce administration is determined move Bolivia out of the US's economic sphere of influence. This is understandable given the abuses many countries have suffered as a result of IMF policies.
That being said, Belt and Road is a very similar deal, just without the same conditionality that the IMF requires of its debtors. I don't see it being a better choice for Bolivia in the long run, and I would be far more worried about China and Russia gaining additional influence in my country than I would the US, but that's only considering current geopolitics, and disregards the history and scars of US action in Latin America.
I think it's a fairly safe bet to assume it's among the 22 countries which have applied for membership when BRICS expands, or at very least the wider 40 who are interested. There has been a bit of talk lately about BRICS maybe even adopting or creating a single reserve currency, which is going to be interesting if it happens.
IMF is nicknamed "Infant Mortality Fund" in humanitarian aid circles because even when you control for other factors an IMF loan is always accompanied by a rise in infant mortality in the country that receives it, due to the conditions it imposes.
And, Operation Condor still casts a long shadow. Many of the families of the Disappeared are still alive. With allies like that, who needs enemies.
Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, DPRK, China, are all socialist projects that have succeeded to some extent. Most of them have pretty concrete plans to fully sieze the means of production by 2050 or so.
By “succeed” you mean the 1000s of countrymen and women that were slaughtered to silence by the tyrannical leaders’ armies because they were an actual threat to their grip on the people. The “success” that so many outsiders take as fact is nothing but cleverly crafted lies to make communism and socialism seem better than it actually is. The REAL truth is told by the citizens that successfully fled said countries and fled to America and other free countries. Listen to their stories and the things they experienced. THAT is the truth of what goes on in the countries.
US police kill around a thousand people who arent in prison every year. The US contains 25 percent of the world’s prisoners despite only making up 4 percent of the world’s population.
By “succeed” you mean the 1000s of countrymen and women that were slaughtered to silence by the tyrannical leaders’ armies because they were an actual threat to their grip on the people.
2A) lots of those people were right wing or fascist assholes who should be repressed.
2B) This is what every state does, capitalist or socialist. Socialist societies aren’t yet communist so they don’t get rid of the excesses of the state, they only get rid of the violence of capitalism.
The US cuban regime was a horribly violent dictatorship. Now, Cuba has a thriving democracy which just overwhelmingly passed a family code by referendum that makes it the most progressive country in the world on lgbt and family rights. Before it was voted on, it was developed starting on the local level and where each citizen had input on the process and then moved up into larger committees.
The US was responsible for four million vietnamese deaths by waging their illegal war there. Vietnam is now a flourishing democracy despite still cleaning up unexploded ordnance and chemical weapon contamination. The vietnamese people have a strong anarchist tradition and decentralized community armories to resist aggression. Every citizen is trained in basic warfare and college students are required to study more advanced military knowledge. If they didn’t want their government, their government wouldnt be around for long.
Laos was bombed to shit by the US despite never being party to war. Laos is currently a one party socialist democracy that is doing well for itself and well for its people.
The US killed 20 percent of the Korean population after the dprk tried to liberate the south, which had become a US puppet military dictatorship that was killing thousands of peaceful protestors and tens of thousands total, including random people and justifiably violent protestors. The DPRK has more democratic institutions than modern South Korea. South Korea’s military is still subordinate to the US pacific command.
The socialist Chinese government has stronger democratic institutions than the US. Over a hundred million people are members of the party. The Chinese people overwhelmingly approve of the party: news.harvard.edu/…/long-term-survey-reveals-chine…. Which makes sense, given that China has gone from an impoverished semi-feudal country to a modern nation massively improving the quality of life of everyone within it, all while breaking the US stranglehold on the world by merely being an economic alternative.
Along with Davel23’s suggestion, figured it was worth mentioning that the backslash in my earlier comment’s markdown (visible using their suggestion to view the source) is acting as an escape character. This is pretty common for formatting codes and programming languages but not universal. If you’re looking to get a similar effect elsewhere and the backslash isn’t working, try using the phrase “escape character” and the language/application/website name in your preferred search engine to see if it’s documented somewhere.
Three things. First, China had explicitly declared that it would not supply arms. Second, it has tried to cast itself as a neutral mediator and peacemaker. Third, it has a broader stated policy of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Given that NATO is providing arms for Ukraine and NATO can’t make its weapons without China it does seem fair to also provide components to Russia.
Third, it has a broader stated policy of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty.
It can’t do this without embargoing US weapons manufacturers, but that would be catastrophic so it makes sense that it is providing everyone instead of just the US.
These type of anouncements have been going on forever.
In practice, nothing ever changes. If either Russia or China wants their currency to become one of the worlds hard currencies (like the dollar, euro, pound, franc or yen), they will have to stop manipulating their currencies.
But their autocratic regimes don’t want to give up control to an actually independent central bank, so it won’t happen.
And any country willing to hold large amounts of a manipulated currency would be crazy.
reuters.com
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