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0 sats \ 16 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 8 Sep \ parent \ on: The New York Times Trump Attack Hits Ross Too Politics_And_Law
Sure there are plenty of state led projects that undermine the economy but historically the US was in a fortunate position geographically, being far from Europes chronic warring.
The US was new ground for people to break and make fortunes, much like the other pioneers states of Australasia and Canada.
But the US had the size and overall advantage and post WW2 holding most of the gold and most of the remaining manufacturing plant it then also gained monetary dominance becoming the global reserve currency- that is a construct of the state and that construct of US enjoying the extraordinary privilege of global monetary dominance has enriched the US ever since. It also ultimately bred inefficiency and arrogance and now the USA is in decline.
It is the combination of good government and a private sector that can generate wealth but private wealth has come to dominate and control US politics and corrupted it.
At the same time a more hungry and determined nation, China has emerged with the goal of achieving true domination and sovereignty which no nation outside of the European/ western imperialists has enjoyed since- well since about 600 years ago when China was then the most advanced wealthy and well governed nation on earth.
Becoming the global reserve currency wasn't a result of state engineering. It was, as you mentioned, a geographic and historical coincidence from not having to fight WW2 on its own soil.
You talk about China like the country has agency. It's one party making all the decisions from Beijing. Who knows what China the nation actually wants? What choice do they have?
I don't think being ruled and dominated by someone the same race as you qualifies as "sovereignty." It seems like a cheap imitation of independence that is only marginally better than being dominated by a foreign country.
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Becoming global super power was a combination of things, some fate and some choice- Great Britain was not up to the job anymore so the empire was handed over to USA as it was best placed to continue western civilisations global reign.
China has a unique and ancient culture and position in the world- it was too big for anyone single western imperialist power to take full control of and even Japan could not ultimately hold it.
Sovereignty definition-
'sovereignty /sŏv′ər-ĭn-tē, sŏv′rĭn-/
noun
Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state.
Royal rank, authority, or power.
Complete independence and self-government. '
How many nations enjoy fully independent self determination???
I would say almost none- perhaps just the super powers.
Europe, UK, Japan, Australasia, Canada, S.Korea are all subservient militarily and monetarily to the USA.
Russia, N.Korea, Iran are now subservient tribute states to China...and almost all nations today must trade with China or lose significant economic advantage.
China never ceded full sovereignty and has always retained the belief that it deserves full sovereignty as it enjoyed for millennia before western imperialism delivered its one hundred years of humiliation.
The next 100 years will be interesting.
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China did cede full sovereignty, to the CCP. You're not independent if you relinquish your entire will and identity to masochism. The fact that it's self-inflicted doesn't mean you're independent.
I don't understand why you don't hold the same or greater resentment towards the CCP that you do for the UK or Japan, considering they killed more Chinese in peacetime than any foreign power ever could have managed.
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The CCP operates on a modern equivalent of the ancient Heavens Mandate- ie if it does not satisfy the populace with sufficiently decent governance and improving standard of living, the people will remove them- and it would probably not be to a quiet retirement and a presidential library- it would be bloody.
The same system worked for monarchies in the west for centuries and is rather effective- arguably more effective than modern 'liberal democracies' where big business and bankers own nearly all elected representatives and effectively rule via puppets who spout endless scripted woke and meaningless nonsense.
I might prefer Heavens Mandate where those in power know that if they do not serve most citizens they will feel a sharp instrument upon their throat!
BTW the Japanese massacre of Nanjing is something you may like to read about-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre
The CCP has never significantly imposed its will upon or mistreated peoples other than its own citizens.
The same cannot be said for Japan, Britain or the USA.
The CCP has in the last 40 years improved the wealth and prosperity of its citizens significantly- having largely abandoned any solid Communist ideology it is now largely legitimate and accepted by the economic development it enables.
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The CCP has never significantly imposed its will upon or mistreated peoples other than its own citizens. The same cannot be said for Japan, Britain or the USA.
What an utterly absurd equivocation. The CCP doesn't own the Chinese people. A government isn't entitled to organize systematic slaughter of its own people on such a massive scale and claim it's not as bad as a foreign invasion just because it's within their borders or they speak the same language. Nothing Mao did is justified by the Nanjing massacre, the sum total of it was much worse, and the CCP let it happen. Does the Mandate of Heaven just conveniently not count anything until Deng Xiaoping?
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The re-establishment of Chinese sovereignty was a bloody and messy process.
Yes there were huge mistakes during Maos era, just as there have been errors made in many eras of history.
Despite those mistakes and excesses China rebuilt its sovereignty and now is able to deal with the world increasingly on its terms.
Is the USA innocent of how it has historically treated people of colour (ie enslaving them) and still discriminates in many ways and places to this day?
Government is not an easy process, it is messy.
There are internal conflicts and external threats.
If Tibet had not been seized by China then the US would have emplaced nuclear weapons there and China may not have retained its self determination.
Nationhood is a brutal contest for power internally and the ability to project power sufficiently to maintain and grow wealth and prosperity- all nations are confronted by the same essential challenges.
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No, if US had had its nationalist lackeys retain control over mainland China, China would today be a tethered slave to US imperialism just like Japan and S.Korea.