zlacker

Amazingly succinct post.

However I think the CCP are overplaying their hand now. They are doing too much too fast too aggressively. Hong kong, NBA, now going after Australia. It's going to backfire IMO.

Especially if you start to think about non first world countries. What's india going to do once they're massive covid wave is over? Is it going to improve india-china relations? You are going to have 1bn people with a border with China very very pissed I think at them.

We are only 1 year into this pandemic, and I think many geopolitical issues haven't been worked through yet.

>>zpeti+(OP)
Unfortunately, I don't think it will backfire. Conspiracy theorists like to talk about heavy metals in the atmosphere being used to brainwash us, however, this past year has shown us it's way simpler than that.

If you just repeat the same thing over and over from different sources, people come to accept it as true. Whether they believe it or not doesn't matter, behavior is still dictated by what we're told, and no one wants to be the nail sticking out.

>>zpeti+(OP)
I dont think it is going to backfire, I think everything is going exactly as they want it to go. Look at what is happening to the Uighurs. They are actively running concentration camps for millions of people and governments have for the most part just shrugged their shoulders. This is a massive boost to the Chinese as they now know they can get away with massive human rights violations with no consequences. Their airforce and navy is modernizing at a fantastic pace while the US has sunk a trillion into what for all purposes appears to be a dud in the JSF. They have the new silk road initiative under way, have built massive influence in Africa and are essentially claiming the entire south china sea for themselves. The Hong Kong situation is close to resolved and the only thing the world did was watch a few youtube videos or maybe wear a slogan on a tshirt. The next time there is an isolationist US president they will likely take Taiwan. They have all the time in the world.