• Count042@lemmy.ml
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    15 hours ago

    Given Blinkens statements about the Palestinian genocide, I wouldn’t believe a word he says about anything else.

  • franpoli@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    It’s challenging to engage with articles quoting individuals who support crimes against humanity. Still, if we give some credit to Blinken’s statement that ‘China may have stopped Putin from using nuclear weapons,’ it prompts an interesting question: Could someone have encouraged Putin toward using such weapons? And if so, is it possible that figures like Blinken are not entirely disconnected from this eventuality?

    • Count042@lemmy.ml
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      8 hours ago

      It’s not just that he supports crimes against humanity. It’s that he lies with every word while doing so.

      That destroys his credibility for everything else.

      • franpoli@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        Crimes against humanity are among the most serious offenses, second only to genocide. Someone capable of such crimes is hypothetically capable of all vices.

  • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I’ve heard it said before that most of China’s geopolitical strategies can be explained with two statements:

    1. War is bad for business.
    2. China is big on business.
  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    2 days ago

    That “may” is sure doing a lot of heavy lifting…

    Blinken said the U.S. had been “very concerned” because Putin appeared to be considering nuclear weapons.

    “Even if the probability went from 5 to 15%, when it comes to nuclear weapons, nothing is more serious,” he said.

    • Aurenkin
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      2 days ago

      I would have thought a probability of nothing would be considerably less serious.

  • zephorah@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    So China is the new world negotiator? Headline trend over the last couple months anyway.

    • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I mean, the US can’t exactly be relied upon to fill that role over the next however many years of temper tantrums, graft and whatever else (nuking hurricanes?)

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        No. The seismic shift since Trumps first run has been felt. A bunch of, for lack of a better word, asshole world leaders running amuck: Assad, Putin, Netanyahu. Even N Korea is bolder. S Korea even tried to pull a military coup on democracy.

        Power vacuums on the world stage matter. Trump created that. And we’ve failed to mend it either election since.

        Lame duck President. Inertia. And now another run of Trump. We’re effectively done on the world stage, except for the occasional show of being a bully, probably, because it’s Trump and he wants to play with military toys.

        Here’s the bigger problem.

        China is boycotting all sales to our defense contractors. Take a minute to think about what that means. And will Trump continue to export what chips we do have to China this term as well? While distracting everyone with tariffs? There’s a modicum of security in military dominance, but it’s not us any more, it’s probably China.

    • atzanteol
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      2 days ago

      Why wouldn’t they be? China has been a major player in international politics for a long time.

      • zephorah@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        I’m not saying it isn’t expected. But it is notable in that it isn’t a democratic nation running the show.

        • atzanteol
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          2 days ago

          They’re not “running the show”. Nobody is. That’s not how international politics works. They have a lot of influence is all.

          • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            Still a hell of a lot more democratic than China is. I get what you’re saying but there’s still a long way to fall from our flawed democratic institutions.

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    China is basically winning geopolitics and they know that all they need is to keep things as is.

    • etuomaala@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      IDK, Syria has been a huge setback for the CCP. Also, there is a growing wave of Chinese divestment among businesses everywhere, and the CCP is losing influence in Canada and Europe. There is a growing will to break their addiction to cheap Chinese manufacturing. Canada in particular hates the CCP, for the illegal police stations and for the kidnapping and ransom of the Michaels.

      Surveys in most countries around the world rank the CCP pretty poorly in terms of public perception. (See for example https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/09/more-people-view-the-us-positively-than-china-across-35-surveyed-countries/ ) If this is the CCP winning, I do wonder what losing would look like.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Machiavelli wrote about this. People don’t need to love you for your power to be secure, and in fact, it’s far preferable to be respected because people fear you than to be respected because people love you.

  • EasternLettuce@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Everything that comes out of blinken’s mouth is a lie so I would take this report with a grain of salt

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      During the Sino-Soviet Split, the US opposed a Soviet preemptive nuclear strike against China when the Soviets started considering one and tried feeling the US out about it.

      Generally speaking, I think that no country wants to see nuclear war, even if they aren’t directly involved.