You realise the Donbas has been getting shelled by western Ukraine since 2014 right? That the people of the Donbas are majority ethnic Russians? That those people have been asking for Russia to help them for years?

Whatever about the “real” motives etc etc this war is liberatory for the people of the Donbas, that liberation being a side effect of the war to avoid NATO missiles on the Russian border doesn’t change the material outcome.

?

The USSR is hiding out in Red Shambhala consolidating power to fight the fascists in the hollow earth.

A big Freikorps fan? Imperialist pillaging of the periphery isn’t a major issue in your mind so long as you get “your” cut of the spoils?

So you support the shelling of the Donbas and repression of minorities? Certainly a take. The people of the Donbas don’t want the Donbas to be part of Ukraine since the banderite government began their repression campaign around 2014. They asked Russia for help as the majority of the Donbas is ethnic Russians.

They can move if they want, but the ground belongs to the majority

You’re also pro ethnic cleansing wow.

Edit:

All of this is irrelevant to my original point anyway. Which is that no matter how you personally feel about Russia, the war, etc. etc. etc. the people of the Donbas likely see the war as liberatory for them.

Russia is only asking for the Donbas you know that right? They aren’t trying to take all of Ukraine. The people of the Donbas clearly would prefer to be part of Russia or independent given they fought for a decade about it. Why should banderites in Kyiv and the West of Ukraine get to decide for the Donbas?

The people of the Donbas who have been getting shelled by the banderites since 2014 would probably disagree with you.

Chen Xiaopiro

陈傻逼肉

Yes, people discuss government policy in public and offline all the time. It’s a very normal topic of conversation. In practice, serious political discussion tends to happen face-to-face because that’s simply a better format for nuanced debate, but there is also plenty of discussion online. What generally gets censored online are calls for overthrowing the state, organizing mass unrest, or similar things. Many countries draw similar lines around incitement or destabilization.

Protests and strikes do occur, but they are usually local and issue-specific rather than ideological movements aimed at regime change. Labor disputes, land disputes, corruption complaints, etc. happen all the time and are often resolved through administrative or legal channels. The political culture tends to focus more on petitioning, negotiation, and internal pressure than on permanent protest movements.

On “independent” media: Independent from whom? In Western countries most major media outlets are owned by a very small number of large corporations or billionaires. Those owners influence what gets covered, what narratives dominate, and what perspectives are marginalized. Calling that system “independent” while ignoring ownership power is a very selective definition of independence.

The firewall was originally created to foster and protect China’s fledgling digital infrastructure and data sovereignty. That was a legitimate policy choice. Many countries regulate foreign platforms and data flows. China built its own ecosystem instead of depending on foreign companies. We have seen what happens when foreign platforms operate without local oversight: Facebook facilitating genocide in Myanmar, coordinated anti-vax disinformation campaigns in Southeast Asia, algorithm-driven radicalization. The firewall makes those kinds of external influence operations harder to run at scale.

I like many others here support the firewall even though it can be inconvenient (so long as vpns remain accessible and legal). I have seen the alternatives. The trade off makes sense to us.

I think you don’t have a solid grasp of what the abuses really were and what actually happened in Xinjiang.

forced assimilation

Uyghur is used in schools, all signage is in both Uyghur and and Mandarin, Uyghur is still widely spoken and cultural practices continue.

reeducation camps

If it happened in a white country you’d call it reformative justice. When you get sent to prison being taught vocational skills so that you can reintegrate into society once you finish your sentence is how it’s supposed to work.

forced labor

Do you have a source for this. Xinjiang cotton farming for instance is some of the most automated on earth.

forced sterilization

This comes from Adrian Zenz (German evangelical on a self proclaimed mission from god to punish China (some of my favourite quotes from him

Through notions of gender equality…the enemy is undermining God’s unique but different role assignments for men and women”

… anti-discrimination laws put in place throughout the European Union … forbid employers to discriminate based on gender or sexual orientation. That way, it becomes illegal for churches or Christian organizations to refuse to hire homosexuals into important positions

) (whole other rabbit hole)) misinterpreting a table that said Xinjiang made up 8.7% of new IUD insertions as 80%. As well as the fact that the population growth rate fell by 84% but that’s normal as developing areas develop throughout history. Also why bother exclude Uyghurs like the rest of us minorities from the one child policy if they were going to do this? It just doesn’t make sense.

What happened in Xinjiang is categorically not a genocide. Both the UN and OIC agree on that. The actual abuses were much closer to what the US does to its people of colour, racial profiling, dragnet policing etc. still terrible and inexcusable but calling it genocide simply diluted the word and throws mud on the real grievances.

Being accurate on reality shouldn’t get you labelled a tankie if it actually fits the meaning you prescribed it. Like I’ve been saying tankie is a pejorative used to apply a moral label to those who don’t tow the anti-communist line properly.

the majority of people who use the word know that it’s a pejorative for exclusively authoritarian communists

Yes in theory, but unless you are a diviner or mind reader identifying who is and isn’t especially is short online debate is far from a science.

For example if you point out there is no Uyghur genocide even if you perform the 1000 prostrations, and explain the reality of the abuses how it was still terrible and inexcusable it doesn’t matter what your wider beliefs are you will be called a tankie.

Which is exactly my point it is at its core a pejorative specifically to put down those who do not tow the anti-communist line just right by equating them with the straw man of some hyper evil pro genocide caricature.

Ok so everything else I said stands just put pejorative in place for slur.

slur /slûr/

transitive verb

Synonym of Pejorative

To talk about disparagingly or insultingly. adjective

Disparaging; belittling.

Implying or imputing evil; depreciatory; disparaging; unfavorable.

It’s a slur, or a pejorative, whichever you prefer to use. You should learn what words mean. English isn’t even my first or second language yet I managed to do it before speaking on it.

Wow why do you feel the need to be so aggressive. I’m simply pointing out that no matter what Google tells you in reality it’s simply used as a slur leftists who don’t tow the anti-communist line right. If you don’t tow the anti-communist line just right it doesn’t matter what you are you will be called a tankie.

I’ve seen anarchists like Diva get called tankies for not towing the anti-communist line hard enough though, so it seems you’ve been misinformed.

You shouldn’t use slurs.

Also it’s not even handed when you say “China is good but…” and then a bunch of lies. Their are things wrong in China but you managed to mention none of them.

They seem like the kind of person who thinks the cultural revolution was completely lead by Chairman Mao and not mostly the chaos of warring factions when all power was given to the people with no oversight or discipline.

In short China is what it has always been a land empire in east Asia who forces homogenity in their culture and doesn’t like dissent, but promotes education for at least the ruling class and usually becomes too top heavy and collapses in on itself into civil war that kills millions.

Holy Orientalism.

You are a racist.

I hope you get a chance to look in the mirror and better yourself.

Much like the old soviet joke:

A Soviet and an American get on a plane and get to talking. The Soviet says he works for the KGB and he’s on his way to go learn American propaganda techniques.

“What American propaganda techniques?” asks the American.

“Exactly,” the Soviet replies.

Thank you. I might at some point but for now I’m happy simply posting comments on anything interesting I come across.