Why isn't China criticized for not condemming Russia?

@ArishMell Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. I'm not sure I would characterize Russia as capitalist under any definition a westerner would use. It's more like a kleptocracy or a National Socialist system in the sense that there are a small number of oligarchs who are watched closely by the supreme leader, Putin. Hitler organized Germany almost the same way economically. Russia was so corrupt at the time Soviet communism fell that most of the existing wealth of the country went to a few well connected people.

Do you think any of these oligarchs would do or say a thing contrary to Putin's wishes? That's hardly what I would call capitalism or a free market.

Anyone can say what they want about Trump, but he was ON to China. The American people should remember who stood with us and who did nothing in 2022.

Thanks again. I owe you a beer (or do you prefer vodka? :) ).

@irishmolly72 Thank you! Yes, I see your point, and since I posted that reports on President Putin's TV appearances have made his character a lot clearer.

Basically, though he's probably not as paranoid and cruel as Hitler and Stalin were, he still wants to be surrounded by mere yes-men frightened to question him. Or who find it advantageous in business terms to be yes-men.

I used "capitalist" really to make the point that the Russian Federation is not Communist, whatever else it is. I could not really think of a suitable word that encapsulates the contrast.

In the end though, it does not make much difference within their own lands. Russia and China have never been democracies, and the 20C Russian and Chinese Revolution, and then the collapse of the USSR, only replaced dictatorial ideologies with other ones.

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Regarding China, I do wonder if the West fell for a huge con-trick. After Chairman Mao Tse-Tung's death, the government realised his "Cultural Revolution" had been a gigantic mistake - never mind also immensely cruel, as that would not bother them - and also that the country needed to open up a bit to the outside world.

It seemed to be turning into a freer country with a welcoming economy, and ever so happy to become the world's leader in mass-produced goods. Even major Western European and American companies started having their goods manufactured in supposedly free-economy firms in China, with much lower labour and overheads costs.

It's very likely whatever you are reading this on, was designed in the USA or Europe and carrying that firm's badge, but made in China - possibly, and ironically, on production-machinery made in the West.

Then the Party Line changed, Britain had no choice under treaty and international law but to return Hong Kong to China, Xi's rule hardened. Although the factories are still busy making products for Western companies, Beijing's dislike of the "West".


With the strategic advantage of a strong and coherent regime of harsh single-party rule, a country can plan a long way ahead. Those three, perhaps four, decades of apparent open-ness had given China her opportunity to gain vast international power and influence. She can now do whatever she likes at home, and try that abroad too, probably judging she has sufficiently weakened the opposition.

The West helped her, too, unwittingly, by so believing in the old "inward [i][sic][/i] investment" canard that vast chunks of countries' industries and even public services are now owned by foreign companies, Russian and Middle Eastern oligarchs, and indeed [i]nations[/i] - including the People's Republic of China.

So, I wonder if China's domestic and international situation now was the planned result of policies created long ago, back when President Nixon made his famous visit to the country.

(Russia seems to have missed her equivalent chance, with Putin more interested in restoring his country's old Eurasian imperialism than gaining world-wide power.)

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A pint of beer would be very good, thank you!

@irishmolly72 Russia do not care about sanctions

@Khenpal1 I guess I disagree. They will care if we get a large, strong coalition. Granted that will be extremely difficult, but it's worth a try. Given enough time and pressure there could eventually be a coup against Putin. I know it's a long shot.

@irishmolly72 No way , coalitions don't work anymore. Use Nato Navy to blocked straits and starve mother fuckers.

@Rhode57 I think you're on to something.

@4meAndyou
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@irishmolly72 simple! The goals change! And just who the former president was all for economically? And it wasn't just China either!

So the goals change who also gets changed? The long term thinkers. 🤷‍♂️

Now not all of those are willing to work with any government. So who do they get? 🤷‍♂️

The less qualified thinkers or less experienced thinkers who don't have all the facts.

And so forth and so on. 😔

@DeWayfarer Yes, a price we pay to diffuse power in a democracy, especially when the population is polarized as it is today. But China is not a democracy. What's their excuse for not thinking long term?

@irishmolly72 watchful persistence has always been the Oriental way of thinking. They simply don't think like we do.

Not that they don't have their own thinkers. Just different type of tactics.

They are the number one controlling member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and hold the second most debt of the world.

If 1945 isn't long thinking, I don't know what is! 🤷‍♂️

@redredred That's why western media, at least, should shine a huge spotlight on it.

@redredred absolutely..
timed just as Durham showed the world Hillary and the dems and rinos are treacherous corrupt spying on sitting president A-holes..

What a coincidence

@irishmolly72 Unfortunately some debates don't end with conclusions.

@ABCDEF7 What's the alternative?

@irishmolly72 It's not that simple. Either every country/community becomes interdependent on each other, which doesn't seems easily possible. The other solution would be when the whole civilization starts to listen and seek the truth instead of concluding things based on their limited knowledge and established beliefs.

@irishmolly72 the west has no plan to remove Russian forces yet makes threats of retaliation.

@meJess We'll see how it plays out. I hope you're wrong but maybe you're right.

@irishmolly72 unfortunately a proper plan would probably require a significant conflict

@Mamapolo2016 Thank you for your thoughtful response. Is all the posturing on the Russia threat purely about the self interest of NATO countries? I guess it might be, but I would like to think that lots of ordinary people like us are thinking about moral considerations and that, in the west, the people vote for their leaders. The leaders should be responsive to their voters. If China wants to be part of peace and global prosperity, shouldn't they step up to the plate here? If they don't want to, then we should call them out on it.

@irishmolly72 Oh, yes, I agree. They do.

To be fair to their citizens, most of them are successfully prevented from knowing anything else; although it is becoming more difficult for the authorities to maintain that. The usual thread is that their government is protecting them from hostile foreigners.

We may be able to break the international propaganda, but not the domestic versions. If we think about how propaganda works though, we see that it is important for a dictatorship that its international and domestic versions do match so it works at home. Word will get back, so and the message must be coherent.

We might try to persuade China to apply sanctions to Russia, but looking at it as China might, it's hard to see them doing so.

Firstly, China could not care less about the Ukrainians, far from Chinese territory anyway, but does have major economic and political strategic reasons for not upsetting Russia.

Secondly, China always makes it abundantly clear it does not care what other countries think about it anyway. It calls any criticism, "interference"; and this ties in with the coherence of propaganda, strengthening what it wants its own residents to believe.

@ArishMell What i mean to say is because everyone wants China bucks they tend to not criticize China. NBA, Hollywood etcetera. It's amazing what people will do for money.

@TheunderdogofNY Not sure about "everyone", but I take your point.

@LonelyMan

@LonelyMan Thanks for your opinion, but I can't be that cynical.

@stratosranger Within China, yes, but it is not in their interest to condemn Russia. They don't want to be seen encouraging Putin's invasion of Ukraine, but neither do they want to upset their ally.

The companies that own the major news networks, NBC, ABC, and CBS, all do significant business in China. On the print side, top U.S. newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times have been criticized for running paid China Daily inserts. What they were paid for these inserts is still unknown. @ArishMell

@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout About?

@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout This truism is often countered with reductio ad absurdum. e.g. You can't criticize little impoverished disabled girls in Africa.

@Northwest Thank you. That was a great article.

@Ferric67 The US also considers Taiwan part of China, but won't give it back as long as the mainland is a communist dictatorship. We supported Chiang Kai-shek in his fight for true freedom and independence in China.

@irishmolly72 I have extended family members in Taiwan, and I feel some concern for them

@ExtremeNext Have a nice day! 😊

@irishmolly72 I always do