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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

I know there are companies that try to tread lightly especially when they have sizable mainlander ranks and go to pains to try to not offend.

And we obviously don’t want to speak to the people at large, but I definitely think we should have no qualms about calling out behavior of the Chinese gov as we do the Russian gov.

It’s such a contrast for Russian expats and Chinese expats and how company wide comms go out asking people to be mindful and not offend (but never get comms about not offending Russkies). I think this speaks to the importance of where the money comes from and how sensitive they are to that.

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Part of the deal is that the Chinese are much more hypersensitive than the Russians. The Chinese seem to have a deep inferiority complex about their country (a couple centuries of being over-run by foreigners can do that to you), and they are responding by aggressively trying to shut down any criticism whatsoever of China.

But strong nations don't need to do that. Weak nations do. Russia is actually stronger than China here, because Russia doesn't feel like they have to stop all criticism.

Maybe but Russia has had a history of being weak and controlled as well as being a target for colonization by two at the time super powers of Europe with visions of grandeur.

They also likely feel “victimized” as losers of the Cold War... (though wrongly).

If you're talking about French war and WW 2, then both of those wars were won by Russians, so those are examples of Russian superiority when we're talking about nation pride. Also I don't think that many Russians thinks that Russia lost Cold War. It was internal rebellion and has nothing to do with US. Last time Russia lost was Mongol invasion but it was so long ago.

Ok, but then China won against Japan in WWII and won against the nationalists and also defeated the Manchurians... although they had a draw against the Vietnamese... but then there is Afghanistan for the USSR

Russia feels they never lost on their own territory. They stopped Napoleon and Hitler. They are sure that they would win any war, and indeed never felt they lost the cold war, at least as Russians.

China however lost multiple time (in history) against "inferior", cruel or "dumb" enemies because of internal unrest. Those lost caused part of their territory to be under the rule of foreigners for multiple years, decades even in some cases.

Nationalism worked great for liberalism in the 18th century, but now it seems it became a tool for any government.

That's what your brain tells you. Is it reality?

A better explanation: China is much more unstable than Russia, and revolution is a much more dangerous and consequential threat.

That's an interesting take on it. I wonder if you're right. (And I'm torn as to whether to hope that you're right, or to fear that you are.)

China’s major political shifts until the liberalizations have resulted in bloodshed costing the lives of millions, if not tens of millions of deaths. (E.g. Deposing the Qing, Warlord Era, KMT vs CCP, Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution).

The major issue is that the mythos of the Chinese state has always required a unified China, and unifying such a large, heavily populated country is difficult.

Russia jails critics and worse on a frequent basis. From the Gulags to Pussy Riot to this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/06/russian-parlia...

> The law, which critics say is reminiscent of Soviet-era legislation used to target political dissidents, stipulates fines of up to 100,000 roubles (£1,155) for “indecent” online posts that demonstrate a “blatant disrespect for society, the country, Russia’s official state symbols, the constitution, or the authorities”.

Sure they do. They don't do as much to exert international pressure, though.

Perhaps I should have said that, while China and Russia are both very concerned about their image inside the country (showing that they have some fear of their own population, perhaps), China is much touchier about its image outside the country.

The difference is Russia (the country) is poor. While China is not.

Russia's GDP is about 2017USD$ 1.7 T.

China's is 2017USD$ 12.2 T.

Companies traditionally aren't in the habit of doing favors for inconsequential entities. And for non-energy multinationals, Russia is generally more trouble than it's worth.

China pop is 1.417 bil, Russia's population is 144 million.

GDP/person: China $8,609, Russia $11,805. It's complicated to compare these two countries. China has a much larger economy so they have a bigger pool of money to spend, but then they have less per person. But both countries have huge poor groups.

Nevertheless, you are making a richer entity and a large pool of people butt hurt

because Russia is not as relevant internationally.

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