Funny to remember how widespread making fun of the “Soviet Gerontocracy” was in the 70s and 80s in western media and politics. This is so so so much worse. Suslov, Brezhnev and Chernenko at their worst and most decrepit state were monsters of vitality and intellect compared to what we are seeing from Amerikkka these days.

You can put renal failure induced encephalopathy Andropov on the debate stage 5 minutes before he died and Biden would still seem barely sentient comperatively

“dont let history repeat itself”

Bruh you are 500 miles off of China and they havent colonized you once in 3000 years. Meanwhile you got got multiple times by western colonial empires from the otherside of the globe. The only history repeating itself is yall being colonized by the US, this time willingly

Vietnam is in a difficult position and is dependent on good economic relations with the imperial core

Eh i dont think thats an excuse tbh. Bunch of SEA nations, especially with large muslim minorities or majorities have at the very least taken a stong and loud pro-palestinian stance, even if its surface level and trade continues to go as is. Yeah they got some pressure from the west but nothing too dangerous. Vietnam could afford to have a better position on the issue than it does, comfortably. Cutting back from their way to extensive military cooparation and trade with Israel for example that even in nominal figures is one of the most extensive globably. Lib countries have done so , even performatively.

The real issue is ,and it often goes unnoticed, that Vietnam got into the capitalist,pro west and liberal brainrot comfortably more so than China during their oppening up, and hasnt really had a “course correction” like the Xi era has been for China. Of course they had huge issues to content and very hostile conditions after the Vietnam war but the current situation is what it is. Its seems weird but at the street level as well as in various official circles there is less pronounced distaste towards the western led neoliberal world order then in most of their non socialist neighbours. Free market good, foreign investment good , bamboo diplomacy good has been drilled a little to deep in most political and public life even if it started as pragmatic and controled choices by the communist party and it basicaly has put dogmatic blinders of the wrong ideology in a lot of their decision making . China had and still has this problem as well. Even the changes under Xi and the new cold war still havent managed to shake it off in a satisfactory degree. Regarding Israel there is a prominent view in liberal and west friendly market loving circles, that arent an unimportant force in Vietnamese politics and party, that its a enterprenaur nation that knows to get rich and technologicaly advanced and strong despite their size so there is a dumbass soft-admiration towards it

To end on a positive note tho, last i heard there has been an ongoing power stuggle inside the party and the less american/liberal friendly wing has been coming out on top and cleaning house. It wont cause some noticable shift, at least not one that they wanna show since America already is buying that Vietnam is an ally or whatever but it seems like there wont be a rightwing, neoliberal slide for the next decade at least there and there probably be more China intergration

This is somewhat reddit analysis since in the scenario of US-China conflict starting with a Chinese kinetic action or blockade of Taiwan any US initiated disruption or blockade of ship routes from and towards China serious enough to hurt China enough to “back off” will have already completely collapsed the economies and even societies of Japan, Worst Korea and Phillipines (allies whose assistance let alone normal function the US counts on to be able to do any kind of successull defense of Taiwan), those of most of the “non-aligned” SEA countries and of course Taiwan. Not in a “recession” or “inflation” sense. If the US is able to mount any such successfull sea route choking to have China in crisis within idk 1 month ,most of the countries i mentioned will be imploding within 1-2 weeks. There is no way of doing one without doing the other and at that point you have lost both Taiwan and the entire region.

There is a reason practicaly no US military think tank, war game or DoD analysis seriously considers SEA sea trade route blockading and disruption a strategy US is remotely likely to try. If it was a viable approach to “win the engagement” both sides would know it and it wouldnt be any kind of a secret, you would see it being seriously discussed and analyses by credible sources and people, not on YT videos and r/Noncredible defense

Of course China wants to expand its inland routes and of course it wants to maximize its degree self sufficiency in energy , calories etc. In part because of course sea routes will be disrupted in any Taiwan related US-China conflict even if the US takes no action on that front. But it being used as a strategy by the US and being credibly able to hurt China both enough and quickly enough to cause a defeat before other factors do and without it fucking up every single ally and non ally in the erea first to a degree that will mean the US loses the region anyways

If anything Ansarallah forcing the last line of missile and air defence used by US ships and managing at least a near hit or scare on USS Eisenhower with the 2nd tier Iranian missiles shows that in any hot conflict in SCS there would be 4 US carriers and 15 Destroyers in the bottom of the ocean by the time the first Chinese person goes hungry or without heating due to US initiated sea route disruption

Also its beyond meaningless when you consider that at most idk 3% of the population of Xinjiang and 1% in Tibet is considering themselves to be occupied by China and are remotely likely to participate or aid in an armed struggle against the CPC, even at the best possible conditions

Like sure, Tibetians have a right to engage in an armed anti-colonial struggle or kickstart an indeginous liberation movement ok. You probably couldnt even fill an NBA stadium with those willing so what does that leave their lib free Tibet dreams. The CIA was trying to recruit and instigate an anti-chinese sessesionist movement last century and they gave up because they couldnt find enough willing Tibetians to get the project off the ground. And they had a budget of dozens and dozens of millions to pay off poor ass Tibetians and they still couldnt find any fertile sessesionist sentiment. And thats on record

I have only seen polls where Vietnamese opinion on the US is comfortably positive ,annoyingly so, while opinions towards China are at the absolute best close to 50-50

He was killed in his house but Kurds both in southwestern Iraq and in Syria obviously hang in and around US bases or any kind of intelligence or other outpost. Prob staff a lot as well. Its not even an open secret or even unofficial in most cases that they ally and collaborate with US (and even israeli) forces, mercs and intelligence in their ereas

Idk if they have the single missile payload to sink a carrier so that may be only possible if they hit one damaging it enough so it stops moving and then managing a couple more hits on it

Hey that cant be cartoonishly evil. Its on the anarch-kurdist territory there by cooperation with the SDF so its all for the greater good of Actualy Existing Libertarian Confederalism or whatever. Dont expect their presence there being question even by most domestic left “anti-imperialist” voices. USA shouldnt leave and betray them and also the latter dont have any other choice than being comprados and being a side demon to the Great Satan, or so i have been constantly been told

Interesting post but you have made those points again elsewhere in the last couple of weeks ,i know your analysis and i agree in part even if i feel like some assumptions that it takes for granted are less so. But I was not arguing against it or against the point that China should or should not move away from being an exporter country or if thats where the whole play is. My response is questioning the viability and possibility of China NOT being an Exporter country given certain economic sizes and trends and what would such a tranformation entail and its consequences both for the composition of its domestic economy and its worldwide soft power. If the math even works out? I feel like you didnt answer those questions. Maybe the “facts” i laid out are wrong assumptions to begin with so id like to go over my comment and answer me when you have the time ?

China’s share of global manufacturing value added is smth crazy like 35%. It’s industrial might overshadows most of the world combined.

On top of that in context of the deleveraging and derisking of the real estate issue the investing and credit domesticaly has been shifting heavilt away from the real estate sector and towards industry and manufacturing

Yeah Chinese household consumption is low (tho I have seen recalculations that put it at or around Japan and SK levels and not notably lower).

So I’m asking you in light of this. How can China NOT be an exporter country? Even if household consumption along with median income approaches western levels (which is a shift that it’s unreasonable to ask the Chinese state to manufacture in this short timeframe) China’s manufacturing and industrial output is so large that it would still be an exporter country right? Even more so if productivity gains increase in China and the rest of the world doesn’t pick up manufacturing wise.

So what does not being an exporter country entails in light of all these? China becoming more financialized and it’s manufacturing base not expanding or even decreasing?

Because at current scales, and given that real estate related contributions to gdp are to shrink and have already shrinking the growth, it’s industrial and manufacturing sector will only become more dynamic , versatile, efficient and productive while providing jobs to hundred(s) of millions.

It’s domestic consumption can’t and won’t absorb anything close to it’s big majority in the foreseeable future even in good case scenarios. So how can China become significantly less of an exporter country or not at all?

Also what would that mean for its foreign relations and soft power? A China that isn’t the biggest exporter to most nations is a China easier to isolate with countries more likely to fa in line with US coercion, now having less to lose. Unless it becomes a comperably big importer of goods from these countries, especially as they develop too. So now China will have to absorb a much larger part of its own production and also import enough from other countries to counterbalance the loss in soft power from decreased exports of capital and goods?

Also the US “replacing” it’s Chinese imports with other countries (Mexico, Vietnam) is a Potemkin village isn’t it? These countries just import parts from China and assemble them to export to the us. Their imports from China follow the growth of their exports to the US EXACTLY. They become more dependent and inter tangled with China while the US isn’t untagling itself from Chinese supply chains and production or industry. Just adding a middle man. Have you seen any “decoupling” and “manufacturing moving” that hasn’t been that? Why is that such a good deal for the US?

With China reconciling with the US

Name a single relevant and concrete concession, policy change or backstep China has taken in the last couple of months in context of this “reconciling with the US” that noticably diverges from their behavior 6 months or 12 months ago. Xi visiting the US and saying “lets all coexist peacefully mmmkey?” or signing some deal for soybeans or whatever doesnt sell the story to me

what is “the world market” exactly ? China losing most of europe ,Korea, Phillipines and Japan? Like someone else pointed out Chinese mid and high end exports and intergration with most of SEA is going great and China is starting to dominate the market on digital infastructure in a lot of the devloping world elsewhere. USA has been unable to block the penetration and even domination of Chinese world leading mid-high tech exports in some of the worlds most important markets

For example ASEAN leads the world in growth and wants to repeat an “Asian Tigers” like development and China’s leading position in digital and physical infrastructure creates a natural economic partnership with them . Already in 2020, China exported almost twice as much to ASEAN as it did to developed Asia (Japan, Taiwan and South Korea). Chinese exports to the Global South, including ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America, nearly doubled from pre-Covid levels to an annual rate of around $900 billion in 2022 – double China’s exports to either the United States or the European Union.According to the IMF, the region’s per capital GDP in terms of purchasing power parity is $16,163, or nearly three times the USD dollar GDP per capita. The purchasing power of foreign currency in local economies is multiplied by the undervaluation of the region’s currencies. As the US dollar value of GDP converges with purchasing power parity over time and these countries grow, the import capacity of that 700 million people will rise to match western markets even in demand for high tech products . No reason to believe Chinese high tech exports and digital infastructure will not continue to rise even more.

From an ASEAN study published last year:

As ASEAN advances to become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2030, it is undergoing a transition marked by a demographic shift to a younger population, a rising middle class, and rapid adoption of technology. With many mobile-first markets in the region, ASEAN is expected to see rapid increase in the use of technology which would contribute to the growth of its digital economy by 6.4 times, from $31 billion in 2015 to $197 billion by 2025. The digital economy, therefore, is a key factor driving the growth of the region’s economy.

China is already a world leader in practical applications of digital infrastructure (AI/5G) and their strategy centers on creating future markets for its high end products by providing broadband, cloud computing, and training for Southeast Asian nations and in those aspects it already dominates the 700m people market with deals being signed left and right no matter US disagreements. .

According to a July 2022 report by the Carnegie Endowment on Huawei’s success in Indonesia, by far the largest ASEAN nation with a population of 275 million:

Huawei and, to a lesser extent, ZTE have successfully positioned themselves as trusted cybersecurity providers to the Indonesian government and the Indonesian nation. This has been no easy feat given long-held Indonesian animosity toward China. Many Chinese companies have faced protests over concerns they were taking local jobs. Huawei and ZTE have suffered no such fate. Nor has there been a broad coalition of Indonesian voices against using Chinese technology in critical telecommunications infrastructure. In short, Indonesians care a lot more about Chinese cement plants than they do about Huawei involvement in 5G networks.

Huawei teamed up with Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy to open a “Thailand 5G Ecosystem Innovation Center” in Bangkok in 2021, the director of Thailand’s digital development office told a Huawei conference in 2021. In October 2022, Huawei released a white paper entitled “Malaysia as the ASEAN Digital Capital.” And all these were for a Huawei in their weakest. They are booming again in 2023 and so are a lot of Chinese tech giants and sectors. Like electric cars. Already bound to dominate in SEA you see them capturing markets just in the US doorstep

Even if you wanna hyper focus on chip exports. China already has a great shot in dominating mid and low end chip production and exports everywhere within the next decade and there is little real ability or plan from the west to counterbalance that legacy chip domination. How will that coexist as a reality with them being completely cut off fin the high end sector when they reach parity. I dont think it can .

Good article on the subject in Chinese https://www.guancha.cn/ChenFeng3/2023_02_14_679722_s.shtml

everyone does not know why .A lot arent that online to have seen the discourse come up before or that informed about some specific period in modern chinese history. Its worth pointing it out since its a pretty weird relation even if its stating the obvious for most. And did say it sucks so idk why you think i disagree with people finding it lame

Idk what people expected, Kissinger is legit seen as a figure that positively impacted the trajectory of modern China by being important in the restoring of diplomatic relations with the US and the West and the opening up of China to the global economy and acceptance to global institutions. If they uphold the policy decisions they made domesticaly and abroad in the late mao and Deng era ,and they do, then they will still be formal and cordial to a figurehead like Kissinger that was central to a lot of these shifts and developments. Mao or no Mao, Revisionism or no Revisionism china would have made such a statement for Kissinger either way. Sucks but thats how china is where it is now and thats part of its history. Mao himself was cracking jokes and hanging out with Kissinger while the latter already had the blood of millions on his hands. This position (at least in their mind) has little to do with how commited in socialism or communist anyone in the prc is

Some funny and probably positive news from Greece with the political landscape there being both the same and the opposite from other countries in Europe rn.

Its same in the sense that New Democracy (not Maoist but like 80% Macron - 20% Le Pen) governs after getting ~40% in the elections this year all while the socdem to center-left has either been eating shit and imploding (SYRIZA), being PASOK doing nothing after being Pasokified and or being Varoufakis enjoying his internationalist larp party at ~2% outside of parliament. With Syriza’s implosion being the funny one since they ate shit in the elections, Tsipras resigned and then they literaly imported some better looking Pete Buttigieg - Beto O’Rourke dude from the US but with worse politics (reaganite, campaigned for Biden in 2008) and made him the leader so now they are about to be polling at signle digits. Like look at this

But there are also opposing trends compared to other countries.

The Greek Communist Party (Hardline MLs who also dont suck too much on LGBT issues anymore despite what the convo was some years ago) has more than doubled their support, consistently hitting 10%+ in recent polls and now has a real chance of actually reaching 2nd place. Looking at the state of communist parties and movements in most of the west , at eurocommunism and in general the post war trajectory of most , you dont have that kind of party that doesnt suck in 90% of issues with that kind of parliamentary numbers + organizational strength at a youth or union level almost anywhere else.

Also contrary to other countries the far right is very split and incoherent . After the collapse of Golden Dawn the overtly anti-migrant fascists, neonazis , ethnonationalists, alt-right nutjobs, religious nutjobs etc are split over 4-6 parties with basicaly no organizational strength or organic reach. They wont and cant reach any really threatening unified movement as of now and they mostly overtly clownish and lame

The USSR from the early 70s until its collapse basicaly held a pro-palestine 2 state solution position. WHat makes you think even if they survived they would have had a noticably better position than China’s

Isnt the majority of Chinese loans to low and middle income countries already mostly in Yuan and not Dollars ?. Arent these to be paid back in Yuan/local currencies as well?

Unless the trend has been totally reversed in the last year dont these already dawrf whatever the BRICS bank can dish out in volume ?

If people were asking as a consequence of the meeting what was China’s concession this time? Well its right here. China continues their commitment to non-interventionism, they continue to claim they wont fight the US. In doing so this is the result

Wtf do you want China to do for the Argentinian elections? Rig them or assasinate the ancap nutjob ? It wasnt close enough to be flipped by an agressive China intervention in the first place and its not like its losing some strategic ally. Argentina is gonna get worse with the clown and in 4 years time some socdem peronist will win and things will be more of the same. What is this “Well its right here?” that you so clearly see in this case?

Also where are you seeing this normalization and concession stuff ? The Americans were begging for a meeting for years and Xi went there in a position of strength and repeated every buzzword and positions China has stated in the last 10 years. There was no rhetoric shift. China is as non-interventionist today as it was 2 or 3 years ago. That may already be in issue yeah but that doesnt mean that somehow believe that they will have good peaceful relations with the US or that they conceeded their position in any international matter

Millenium Actress is moderately known just by beinga Kon joint. Tho unfortunately is maybe the lesser known of the 4 (and the best).

Liz and the blue bird has a bunch of following just through Kyoani having a bunch of following tho its not the most active online.

Votoms is weird. Like its super important and pretty amazing but the people who have heard it and talk about it are just people that like old Mechas cause its like 3rd/4th in line for most people when they started getting into that rabbithole. I have seen a bunch of people starting it on twitter but maybe pushing it as a MGS core influence would get more people to give it a try. people SHOULD watch it

Vampire Hunter D bloodlust is probably the better known of the bunch but mostly by US millenial audience. The physical releases sold very well and it was one of the best known “anime movies” of the 00s . But that crowd prob is just normal people that dont partake into online an ime discussions now

Beautiful Dreamer its probably the lesser known in the west. Despite it being Oshii and UY being such an important franchise. Its a hard sell when its attached to a 100+ ep 80s romcom no matter how good the latter is and even if you try to convince people to watch it standalone. Also thats not really true cause there is a ton of enjoyment and depth to be found when you are at least familiar with the characters and format of the show and how the movie handles them andbrings them upside down