• Tinidril@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    16
    ·
    11 hours ago

    Russia isn’t imperialist, it has no colonies nor neocolonies

    Yeah, tell that to Crimea, the Donbas, or even Siberia or the puppet states like Belarus, Georgia and Moldova. Russian neo-colonialism is all over Africa.

    China isn’t imperialist either, it’s a socialist country wituout any financial domination of the state or economy.

    China is a kinder imperialist, but they are using largely the same playbook that the west used in Africa, including debt-trap diplomacy, undermining local sovereignty and regulation, and undermining labor movements.

    They also have a mix of socialism and capitalism, sometimes getting the best of both, and sometimes the worst. They definitely dominate the state economy through control of banking and the use of capital controls to direct funding to national priorities. The current real estate crisis and “ghost cities” are a pretty obvious example.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      3 hours ago

      Crimea and the people of the Donbass region both voted to join Russia. In fact, the Donetsk and Luhanks People’s Republics, the ones being ethnically cleansed by the far-right Banderites in Kiev that have been in power since the 2014 western-backed Euromaidan coup, specifically requested assistance from Russia in 2022. Belarus and Georgia having close economic ties is not the same as imperialism. You also have no evidence of neocolonialism, trade with Russia is closer to south-south trade as it doesn’t have a monopoly on the goods it exports like gas and nuclear power plants, and as such African countries are developing more via trade with Russia and China while being underdeveloped by the west.

      China is a socialist country. They have markets, but that doesn’t mean they have a “mix” of capitalism and socialism. Public ownership is the principle aspect of their economy, and the state is under the control of the working classes. There is no “real estate crisis,” housing prices were kept low and no longer able to be used as an investment vehicle. The “ghost cities” are smart urban development, and most are habited after being developed. This kind of thinking ahead is possible because of socialism.

      You also have no evidence of “debt-trap diplomacy, undermining local sovereignty,” or “undermining labor movements.” China regularly forgives loans, doesn’t requore privatization of publicly owned industry or force austerity like the IMF does, and has been doing huge work in developing and building up the global south with more south-south trade.

      What’s going on here is it’s absolutely unacceptable for you to admit that the west is the worst, by far, out of that trio. China is genuinely a progressive state with mass popular support internally and internationally, governed by a communist party. Russia is seeing rising support for socialism internally, and is higher up on the list of candidates for new socialist countried because of it. The west is the indisuputed world empire, helmed by the US, and this empire is projecting hard onto other countries as it exports genocide and plunders the world on its way out.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        4 hours ago

        You also have no evidence of “debt-trap diplomacy, undermining local sovereignty,” or “undermining labor movements.”

        Their evidence is that the TV told them this many times over years, enough times that it’s true.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          3 hours ago

          Of course, they have people dedicated to finding evidence and distorting it to present pro-imperial narratives, and fund them well.

    • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      9 hours ago

      including debt-trap diplomacy, undermining local sovereignty and regulation, and undermining labor movements.

      Notice how you have these facts in your brain that you’re sure are true but can’t actually identify why you think they’re true? That’s what being propagandized feels like.

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      11 hours ago

      Russia isn’t imperialist, it has no colonies nor neocolonies

      Yeah, tell that to Crimea, the Donbas

      Are you kidding me? The people in Crimea and the Donbas wanted to join Russia, to protect them from Ukraine, which had been killing them since 2014.

      China is a kinder imperialist, but they are using largely the same playbook that the west used in Africa, including debt-trap diplomacy, undermining local sovereignty and regulation, and undermining labor movements.

      The Atlantic, 2021: The Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ Is a Myth

      What is China doing to undermine local sovereignty or labor movements in Africa?

      The current real estate crisis

      What “current” real estate crisis? The Chinese state intentionally popped the real estate bubble over a year ago, making the capitalists eat their losses.

      Compare that to Obama, who bailed out the private banks at the expense of people with home mortgages, banks that knowingly wrote those bad mortgages. Michael Hudson, 2023: Why the Bank Crisis isn’t Over

      The financial sector is the core of Democratic Party support, and the party leadership is loyal to its supporters. As President Obama told the bankers who worried that he might follow through on his campaign promises to write down mortgage debts to realistic market valuations in order to enable exploited junk-mortgage clients to remain in their homes, “I’m the only one between you [the bankers visiting the White House] and the mob with the pitchforks,” that is, his characterization of voters who believed his “hope and change” patter talk.

      “ghost cities” are a pretty obvious example.

      Reuters, 2015: The myth of China’s ghost cities

      Wherever you’re getting your information from, it’s dogshit.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        15
        ·
        edit-2
        9 hours ago

        I see you have your cut and paste propaganda all ready to go there.

        The people in Crimea and the Donbas wanted to join Russia, to protect them from Ukraine,

        Sounds an awful lot like claiming Iraqis wanted the US to overthrow Sadam and would welcome it with open arms. It worked out about the same too, except for the Russian military embarrassing themselves. Even taken at face value, all you are doing is justifying the imperialism, not showing it doesn’t exist.

        China is the biggest debt holder nation in the world. Zambia just had to default on loans for infrastructure that largely served Chinese needs, and Kenya and Ethiopia are not far behind. Meanwhile, the DRC is falling into debt paying for infrastructure to ship Copper and Cobalt to Chinese. China has not been as abusive as the west was, but they aren’t that much better either. It’s still the same tactics.

        New Labor Forum: Chinese Investments in Africa: Twenty-First Century Colonialism?

        • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 hour ago

          “Cut and paste propaganda” lol you mean sources? You’re just upset that they came prepared because you’ve got jack shit

        • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          16
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          9 hours ago

          I see you have your cut and paste propaganda all ready to go there.

          Oh yeah, famous Chinese propaganda outlet: The Atlantic.

          Fuck off; you’re just using the word “propaganda” to mean "anything I disagree with. There is nothing that anyone could say to you to disagree that you wouldn’t immediately say “that’s propaganda and therefore wrong!” to.

          It worked out about the same too

          Are you stupid? Iraq immediately erupted into long term insurgency, a thing that categorically did not happen in Crimea or Donbas.

          • Tinidril@midwest.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            7
            ·
            2 hours ago

            There is still a significant pro Ukrainian resistance operating in both Crimea and Donbas. Russian has had to resort to brutal tactics to suppress them, but has still not been entirely successful. Many of the resisters retreated to fight with the rest of Ukraine, and they are certainly giving Russia a fight. In any case, it’s still imperialism.

            • REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              2 hours ago

              Evidence for that? Ukraine government - the same who sold the Ghost of Kiev, Russia collecting Ukrainian children like Pokemon, the Martyrs of Snake Island, the secessionists shelling themselves, Russia shelling itself, russian troops shelling themselves, russian timetravel technology deployed in Bucha and much more.

              Is getting your intelligence insulted your kink or something?

        • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          8 hours ago

          If you don’t like cut and paste responses, stop having cut and paste thoughts.