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[Blowback S5] China not looking so hot in this season. (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 days ago by RedWizard@hexbear.net to c/podcasts@hexbear.net

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I'm finishing the last episode of S5 now, and I'll be fully caught up on this series. Between Afghanistan and Cambodia, China's willingness to play ball with the US and its agenda is frustrating to learn.

It leaves me wanting to learn more about the Sino/Soviet split. The way this division manifested really aligned China with some dark forces, it would seem.

I also imagine the process of "normalization" with the US plays a huge role in the way this history unfolds as well.

It makes me wonder what they knew about The Khmer Rouge's operations. I was left with the impression, based on how the history was laid out, that China was aware of just how aggressive and bloody the Khmer Rouge's policies were.

Something about that stretch of time between 79 and 89 seems to have resulted in a bunch of weird geopolitical stuff.

Need to finish this episode, I guess.

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[–] Tomorrow_Farewell@hexbear.net 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Why should China be advancing the socialist cause directly in whatever nation?

Stopping colonialism and genocides is good, actually. Also, national chauvinism and claiming that all that matters is how well people live in China, as opposed to caring about the conditions of the working class in the world in general, is cringe, to say the least.

This is precisely the biggest blunder the USSR did

What basis does this claim have?

China already does their part

The PRC has been successful in improving the lives of people in China, but it does not seem to be doing much to help the rest of the world against capitalism and colonialism.

by leading with example and proving that socialism is a superior system

This is rather silly. Firstly, an 'example' is not something that gives peripheral states arms and productive capacities to fight off NATO, nor does it give those to the working class there to fight off the bourgeoisie in general. Secondly, what useful 'example' does the PRC provide? A shift to a privatised economy is useful in the short term for attracting foreign investments, which comes at the cost of workers' rights, such as guaranteed housing. Currently, no country that is opposed to NATO seems to be able to compete with the PRC in terms of foreign investment attraction and exports, as far as I'm aware. For that to happen, the PRC would have to stop taking its 'W's. Thirdly, as of right now, the PRC's economy is significantly privatised, it has a profit motive. I'm not sure what your definition of a 'socialist system' is, but the definitions that I have encountered so far require the abolition of the profit motive. That is in addition to the fact that, due to this profit motive, the PRC cannot currently manage to provide people with guaranteed housing the way planned economies are incentivised to do.

the responsibility for liberating one own nation falls in the shoulders of the respective nation citizens

Notably, even if we accept this as some sort of a natural law (it obviously is not), that does not mean that the other countries should be left to suffer NATO's colonial atrocities.

If a country wants a revolution they can have it

This is literally a belief in the 'mind directly shapes matter' sort of magic.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

A large part of Chinese marxist scholarship, is analyzing the reasons for the USSR's downfall. Some of the big ones are:

Being the anchor and banker for other revolutionary projects, which puts a considerable strain on your economy.
Getting directly involved and taking sides in international disputes, which forces you into an arms race and alienates trade partners.
Not opening up to the world economy, especially with the goal of drawing science and technology from the richer countries.

Of course both the PRC and USSR had some major foreign policy mistakes, but the PRC since Mao has continued to be non-interventionist overall.