Comments by "Doncarlo" (@doujinflip) on "VisualPolitik EN" channel.

  1. End of 2021: "We invest way too much on Defense!" End of 2022: "We invest way too little on Defense!"
    297
  2. IIRC, Ho Chi Minh himself thought that enforcing straight ideological Communism was stupid (as was being shown by Mao's China across the border) and that Viet Nam needed to take capitalist measures to develop a stable economic base -- he realized the Deng Xiaoping version of China before China itself did. Unfortunately the 1950s Americans didn't realize that the Communist world was not a unified monolith and tried to prop up a more inept anticommunist South, with the disastrous choices and strategic results that followed.
    195
  3. Despite what we hear about China, it's likely more vulnerable there: they polluted their own lands and seas so much that they're a net importer of food with a still growing deficit. They also rely on importing fuel and raw materials from abroad, cut that off and their massive industrial capacity will be largely idle. They're already woefully inefficient with their industries in general because automation kills exactly the jobs their underemployed and underskilled workforce needs to not think about alternatives, and China at war would likely see too many of their most skilled workers trying to escape the country at the first opportunity. China would quickly run into trouble simply by scaring off civilian ships with the crossfire, and they'd rapidly deplete their war chest not only paying for overland alternatives, but also the increasing need to redeploy its forces inward for "stability" operations as internal discontent grows.
    23
  4. The only reason Taiwan isn't a "sovereign country" was the ego of Chiang Kai-Shek, who as the autocrat of the then one-party ROC believed he still had claim to all of China. By the time Taipei accepted the fact they would never retake the Mainland, the trend of One China was already set by all the new nations as they decolonized.
    22
  5. Although a lot of it is relatively new too, as in some East Coast subway lines were old enough to get a pension by the time East Asia first opened theirs (with almost all of China's being the newest). Time will tell if the increasingly intensive maintenance will let it age gracefully like Japan and Taiwan, or just stay marginally operational like Indonesia and the Philippines.
    21
  6. The Xúzhōu Chained Woman took away a lot of attention domestically. In places where the Games were showing, there felt like even less enthusiasm than a regular intercity sports league match.
    20
  7. Taiwan was also a similarly oppressive dictatorship until it democratized. What irritates Beijing most is how Taiwan provides living depiction of what 華人 could be without the Party.
    16
  8. It didn't work out so well when Iraq tried to invade and seize oil-rich Khuzestan while Iran was in a much more tenuous internal position following the Ayatollah takeover. A direct conflict could see another patriotic rallying effect in favor of the theocracy that runs the place now.
    15
  9. Interested to hear how Macao is supposed to take the reins from HK, since it's notorious as a gateway for Chinese money to escape the Mainland and doesn't have a whole lot of space to go for much else 🇲🇴🎰💸
    14
  10. Have you heard of Sejong City? That's the already completed South Korean equivalent, and likely what Xióng'ān will likely end up repeating 🏢🏢🏢😪
    14
  11. Singapore is what the CPC wants to think it's leading China toward, if it conveniently ignores that S'pore: 1) is a democracy where the dominant party accepts the results, even if its popularity fades; 2) is overtly and inclusively multicultural, not trying to Sinicize its citizens; 3) admittedly relies on foreign immigrants for much of its basic activities; 4) doesn't present a territorial threat to its neighbors, despite its superior military; 5) literally cannot survive without open trade access, and works constantly to build real trust among as many nations as it can; and 6) cracks down on even perceived corruption among its officials and enforces well defined laws dispassionately with everyone in its jurisdiction, not vaguely and selectively out of political convenience 🇸🇬
    13
  12. Switzerland modeled its constitution largely from the US one, and practice their governance more in line with what America's Founding Fathers seemed to have envisioned. However, Switzerland wasn't handicapped by the economic interests of chattel slavery, expanding its territory before another European power got hold of it, or subsequently populating those annexations with whatever people they could attract.
    10
  13. US strategy involves the "Indo-Pacific", which also includes India and its classic sphere of influence from the Himalayas to the Maldives (and the Asia - Europe/MidEast/Africa sea lanes it dominates), as well as Australia and New Zealand with its historical influence on the Pacific Island Countries. "Asia-Pacific" is more a PRC term designed to isolate India and Australia from the picture.
    10
  14. If just feeding people and tracking positive/clearing negative COVID cases in Shànghǎi is any indication, the PRC will still be shockingly inept. The virus doesn't shoot back, they're limiting their own options mainly out of suspicion and fear from their own side; now imagine if those logistical assets were specifically targeted, along with their abilities to communicate.
    10
  15. It's China who doesn't want a united Korea. NK is a useful physical buffer against Western forces, a source of cheap material whenever they can sneak it in, and its fall would be a crushing blow to the totalitarian Communism that the Mainland advocates. China deliberately delayed the ceasefire of the Korean War until Stalin's death meant an end of supplies to the otherwise impoverished PRC.
    10
  16. Right, capitalism becomes self-defeating when it deems care for dependents as purely "personal" and a "net loss" to the firm.
    9
  17. I know government and corporations often maintain a stock of "China Only" laptops and phones with minimized local data (instead using a overseas cloud services via VPN at every opportunity) and with operating systems that are wiped and reimaged upon return. It's highly recommended to bring such "burner" devices because just connecting to any Chinese network (cellular or company wifi like in hotels) practically guarantees secret installation over the air of spyware tools to at least accurately track your location, if not activate the microphone or camera as well as reading the storage of your apps. All those things you fear about the CIA doing to you, in the PRC these are actually true. Beijing spends a lot more of its budget on "internal security", as in at least as much as on the military.
    9
  18. Also the celebration of "liberty" expressed through the consumption of drugs, and by extension supplements and other substances where the "safety" and "benefits" are based merely on the word of its advertisers without independent scientific criticism.
    9
  19. Moldova is historically tied to its Romanian neighbor, so a merge is arguably a reunification from its artificial creation by the Russian Empire/USSR. Transnistria could be ceded to Ukraine, which nowadays is a lot more prepared to assert control.
    7
  20. Religion in general is authoritarian and incompatible with democracy.
    7
  21.  @barbiquearea  Right, the CPC won because not only of Soviet and rural support, but also because America abandoned defending the flagrantly corrupt KMT thinking the then-allied Communists would do a better job. It wasn't until the Korean War that Communism became a global threat and the US got serious about defending what was left of Blue China on Táiwān.
    7
  22. They might want to revisit how they pay out those pensions, making it a share of taxpayer size and input... meaning it's bound to shrink if they don't have kids and don't pressure their kids' employers to pay more.
    6
  23. China has the opposite problem, where outside of employment or heritage interests practically nobody spends their money to learn Chinese
    6
  24. The US has been "on the brink of collapse" since 1812, yet survives each usually violent crisis often more in tune with its goals of "and more perfect Union" through "liberty and justice for all". This is in contrast to how China's history tends to swing wildly between "harmony" and active revolt against the central authority, a cycle arguably only broken in Taiwan when it democratized.
    6
  25. Not to the extent of France though. Immigrant communities not on the Mexican border tend to be the more quiet of neighborhoods.
    6
  26. Ironic considering the Mainland uses imperial history to justify its 'totally not imperial' ambitions. The PRC has never held control over Táiwān.
    6
  27. The way China is aging, polluting, and taking on debt, not by much and not for long 📈📉
    6
  28. It was lower for the populations that “mattered”
    5
  29. The PRC complains about a Century of Humiliation, but to the Vietnamese it’s a Millienia under multiple Chinese dynasties. And that’s just the times where China was successful.
    5
  30. I think even a regular dedicated "Fat Camp" for new recruits would help a lot, because getting paid a lower-enlisted rate to have your exercise and diet controlled wouldn't add much to the budget or time in service yet provides needed bodies for the service and a healthy extension of life for the servicemember.
    5
  31. Considering how often the US has been deemed on the "verge of collapse" since 1812, Americans use the coffin as a coffee table we put our beer and feet up on while watching everyone else freak out over the chaos and spectrum that we thrive on.
    5
  32. America is too focused on pleasing private businesses, even to the point of demanding that government activities should be able to make profits on its own. Thing is infrastructure is practically never profitable -- it's a literal part of the economic environment from which profits have to be processed out of.
    5
  33. Japan is even offering free houses to those younger folks willing to move and stay there. Problem is it's not strictly having a roof over their head, but more fundamental flaws in the economy especially for those same young adults seeking to establish a livelihood they can predict will carry them through potential parenthood and retirement.
    5
  34.  @MrHarumakiSensei  Both. Raising a kid to productivity has only gotten more expensive because they're increasingly competing against automation that is much more intensive to stay ahead of. At the same time corporations have successfully lobbied to globalize their labor and break the bargaining power of its employee unions, giving them more funds to M&A away the competition as well as accelerate the development of career-ending automation without providing balance through loss-leading investments in education and developing overall human capital.
    5
  35.  @daniely500  China's last organized ground war was against an even more lightly armed Vietnam who is literally next door, where they made few gains at alarming costs against the local militia and reservists. The PLA ran back to China before the regulars could get into position.
    4
  36. Because the prices you pay aren't tied to the amount of your wealth, so of course the poor end up spending more of what they have on regular living expenses. For most people there simply isn't enough to set aside into investments and simply live off the gained equities and interest.
    4
  37. More like rebellion, of which criminality falls under.
    4
  38. 현대 sounds more like "hyun-day". Although even their official ads butcher it to "hun-day" or "hyun-die" because Korean reputation was fairly weak (especially in the car market) until fairly recently when more than military, missionaries, and migrant teachers became familiar with the language.
    4
  39. America has regularly been on "fragile ground", like the War of 1812, the Panic of 1837, the Civil War, the anarcho-communist insurrections, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights Movement. Each time we come out the other end fine and often more harmonized with our own ideal of "liberty and justice for all" (not just landed white male puritan conservatives). As much as our media dramatizes the current MAGA-"woke" culture war, we've already been through far worse.
    4
  40. Tell that to China, whose own diplomats confirmed they have an attitude of "we're big, you're small, therefore you have no leverage in these discussions" despite having much less historical influence and integration in the South Pacific than the British and its former colonies.
    4
  41. Overpopulation is becoming a risk in Africa, as long as religion and traditional tribalism continues to pressure its people to "Birth 'em all and let God sort it out", at the expense of rational education that would increase productivity to the point where they can at least feed themselves.
    4
  42. Ironically more wars would help diversify our defense production capabilities. The end of the Cold War triggered the consolidations we suffer from today as demand for those companies cratered.
    4
  43. Probably because the weakness of America's public welfare means that school districts end up taking on the roles that a larger dedicated statewide program should provide. It sounds like Estonia as a whole provides the fundamentals such as student meals, healthcare, and teacher training, whereas in the US the individual states, districts, and campuses have to budget all that in.
    4
  44. Ukraine is still holding, and it doesn’t even have direct warfighter involvement from its supporters. The PLA though has yet to prove its competency treating combat injuries and battle damage from an opponent who actually shoots back. And unlike Mainlanders, Taiwanese are much more proactive to support each other and take up arms without government direction.
    4
  45. Defense spending at least has clear "trickle down" effects to the rest of society, unlike say corporate tax breaks 💸
    4
  46. The F-35 could be that aircraft carrier, having line of sight pencil beam links with wingman drones to help prevent them from getting remotely hacked and going astray.
    3
  47. Russia actually has combat experience though, and if they're performing this poorly (especially in logistics under fire) the PLA's failures would be even more dramatic. Remember the last time the Mainlanders tried a mass deployment, they got routed by unprepared reservists in Vietnam.
    3
  48. Stimulants feel good for the near future, but long term causes horrible damage. That's what China is experiencing with its overcapacity in apartment shells and passenger transport infrastructure, and what Russia will encounter as its richest customers set up permanent alternatives to their pipelines.
    3
  49. Swiss gun culture would a huge lesson. They actually practice the "well regulated Militia" qualification through screening and training along with enforced proper storage and carry, unlike in America where simply being alive (and not black) grants you the absolute unconditional option to unilaterally threaten anyone else with instant death at your whim.
    3
  50. That only came about because there were two major adversaries to worry about after WWII: the USSR and the PRC. Before then the US was quite isolationist, wanting at most to deter and diminish European control in the Western Hemisphere.
    3