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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 5th, 2023

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  • It’s funny to think we can sanction China in any sort of way similar to Russia. We didn’t have almost anything say Made in Russia on it but fossil fuels and rocket engines when we sanctioned Russia. I’m supporting local production as much as I can and yet the vast majority of things I use in my daily life say Made in PRC. Those things need replacement and often no one is making them locally. Can we change that? Absolutely. Is it going to be fast enough to avoid a cataclysmic economic event that will trigger a reversal of sanctions, I don’t think so. I don’t think China is deterred by sanctions nearly as much as they are by the threat of armed conflict.

    But yes, it’s likely much more productive to go the diplomatic/subversive/interfering route.


  • 100%

    There’s another point that occurred to me when listening to him. The process of citizens looking over another country’s regime with envy as theirs crumbles could occur without subversive action too. I don’t think there’s much US citizens to be envious for of Russia. On the other hand, I got shocked recently while looking at some income numbers for China. Wages in manufacturing is 104K CNY or US $14.3K. Adjusted for purchase power parity, that’s $52K. And look at these growth numbers:

    Meanwhile the US equivalent is sitting aroung $57.5K right now. And the growth since the 80s…

    If these trends continue it may come a time when it becomes self-evident that the Chinese model is the way to go.


  • I’m now past the middle of this talk. While the points about how subversion works in general are insightful, his diatribe about unions makes no sense. He claims that unions got radicalized and became violent recently and that was helped by Soviet propaganda. That’s brutally wrong. Clashes between unions and company militias were much more violent historically and way before the October revolution, let alone the creation of the KGB. His talking points on this come straight out of Milton Friedman’s mouth. It’s straight up right wing propaganda. Given that right wing propaganda is the reason why the working class is on its knees today and has just elected Donald Trump, it begs the question whether his talk isn’t KGB subversion itself.

    E: He gave the CIA coup in Chile that installed Pinochet as a good example for how to stop the process of Soviet subversion. Also straight up said that Americans should support right wing conservatives to curb this process. Restrict the rights on certain groups. Don’t elect the gays into power - they’re an enemy. 🤦