If you aren’t American: Depicted are American civil war reenactors with the flag of the Confederacy which seceded from the Union of the United States in the 19th century due to built up tensions regarding slavery. The Confederacy were ultimately fighting to keep slavery as a government institution.

The target of the joke are tankies (described briskly above), which we will see on Lemmy, often see any action taken against the US or the EU (the West) as praiseworthy, blatantly disregarding or downplaying equivalent or worse actions from non-western nations.

The subversion of expectation here is that a tankie would see the pro-slavery Confederacy as praiseworthy because they’re fighting the US government, despite the Confederacy’s blatantly immoral cause.

Caveat - I say this with bias as someone explicitly against authoritarian bootlickers, like tankies.

You didn’t comprehend what I wrote.

You disagree with what? That this is a bleak time for the concept of humanity?

I agree with the sentiment, but purchasing a photo of oppressed people enjoying a small comfort in the middle of a destroyed city feels real bad.

A bleak time for the concept of humanity.

Clicking on the link and having it advertise “Licensable Picture” gives off an even more dystopic aura, and makes it all that much worse.

I’m wondering if antagonizing NATO actually has the purpose of pulling more Chinese support for their war. As you said, traditional hostilities against NATO would end in a loss of a lot and potentially a power grab of a NATO friendly government in Russia that China doesn’t want.

Then again a collapsing Russia is a land grab for China.

I agree, it’s extremely stupid reasoning but I haven’t seen anything intelligent from Russia since getting an asset into the US presidency.

I would imagine they wouldn’t want to antagonize NATO like they’re doing unless they’re planning on Trump using it as an excuse to have the US pull out of NATO, but even that seems farfetched.

Russian Oligarchic leadership may have pushed themselves into a corner, internally, that’s lead to a death cult around Putin. The fact that they failed their perceived quick operation in Ukraine back in 2022 suggests that the people making decisions are either extremely stupid or being told lies from the bottom up. Both are signs of a flailing autocracy.

I’ve seen speculation that it would be an internal face-saving maneuver where losing to NATO is preferable to losing to the Ukrainians. Theory being that it’s the most likely scenario where Putin doesn’t get ousted and KGB‘ed to the back of the head.

The armpits of America

And what about tens of thousands of civilians The KMT murdered to create the ROC?

Circular argument. How many native Taiwanese did the Han Chinese kill in the 1600s for the Qing to lay claim to the island?

Is it always a virtue?

Yes. Nazi’s killing Jews is explicitly against the self-determination of said Hungarian Jews. To shorthand this argument: People make countries, countries don’t make people.

still compare their actions against each other.

I set the line at morality in my subsequent responses. Comparing two hegemon’s actions in discussions often falls into the Argumentum ad antiquitatem fallacy.

My first post was explicitly calling out the downplaying of Chinese imperialism from the OP. I don’t have time lately to discuss geopolitical strategies of hegemons, as you will see with this truncated response, but I will call out influence tactics of the either ill-informed or state-paid actors. Hence, bringing Russia into this.

As for LGBTQ+, I have no interest in modeling state systems that are behind on personal freedoms such as these. It’s good to hear things are changing, and I hope they do for everyone’s sake, but watching even the more “freedom” minded places utilize LGBTQs as scapegoats for conservative failings gives me little hope for the timeline of places where they are not legally recognized.

Would your country be happy to recognize it as an independent nation

Self-determination is a virtue. Holding onto the claims of your forefathers is problematic to say the least. History of Israel and all that.

Comparatively I think you would hear worse if you asked them about western ambitions.

Anecdotally, I have experienced the opposite. I oppose US imperialism too. It’s all bad

You can label that as imperialism if you want However that opens the debate on how we quantify imperialism, and the only real way to do that is by comparison.

This is a non-answer. You want to discuss the nature of power and dynamics. Doing an imperialism because your neighbor did an imperialism does not make it morally correct, in fact it’s likely to lead to a cascade into conflict. This is not US or Russia apologia, everyone should rail them for doing that. Making excuses for China doing the same is the weakest take you can have in a conversation on the topic of morality.

On the topic of Han ethnicity, we should always be wary of the concept of ethnicity in political policy, rather than people as people.

Great to hear that the CCP is willing to admit a few mistakes. Really puts into perspective how bad Trump is.

The non-western world’s current stance on LGBTQ+ will always make the US and Europe better places to exist for personal choice and freedoms. Until that changes, Chinese / Russian apologists will always be treated with derision and Fox News level credibility. FYI

Doomerism: These disphits should have never supported him in the first place.

Hoperism: Time’s arrow marches ever forward and here’s hoping this lesson stick with Americans and brings about meaningful change.

——————————————

Reads article -

Initial reaction: Doomerism

Subsequent reaction after some thought and soul-searching: Hoperism

They brigaded you Dagnet. RIP.

Purged like their authoritarian heroes wished for dissidents, downvotes to the back of the head. :,(

https://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism

imperialism, state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas

Bruh can’t even read a dictionary, lmao.

Projection

Lmao, who do you even think I am?

The US is bad too. If you’re going to be anti-imperialist then you need to be against all imperialism and not just the one you were told to hate.

The vitriol toward defending China in this second response, at any cost, gives you away.

Had me in the first half, ngl.

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/territorial-disputes-south-china-sea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-expressed-concern-over-chinese-structure-disputed-area-sea-2025-04-24/

Ask literally any average Southeast Asian citizen about China’s influence on their country, and you’ll get a sense of Chinese imperialist ambitions.

I’m brushing over the long history of Han ethnic expansionism and the literal war with communist Vietnam over their supposed vassal-state of Cambodia.

Edit: Read up on the Chinese Ethnic Unity Law: https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/ethnic-unity-and-progress-law/

Whom will likely benefit the most: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_China

I support you, good human.

IIRC he was owner of Sky News until 2019. Not so coincidentally, the journalistic integrity of Sky News shot up afterward though remains questionable.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxq38028djo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–South_Korea_relations#%3A~%3Atext=on+the+band.-%2CControversies+over+names+and+history%2Cbe+a+Chinese+tributary+state.

https://amp.dw.com/en/is-china-exploiting-south-koreas-political-crisis/a-71292223

Imagine China stopping it’s imperialist claims after Taiwan, lmao

When China collapses

I have a bridge to sell you if you think Taiwan isn’t real.

Imagine supporting Chinese imperialism purely because it’s not western. Could never be me lol