A new world order? BRICS nations offer alternative to West
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Anyway, you don't get my point. People lived healthily and happily before these "improvements" of life, driven by greed and hunger for power. When you ignore child mortality, people didn't live much shorter lives on the Balkans before - didn't need a bunch of meds to deal with chronic disease either. Anyway, the good thing is that many Westerners have started to realize this too recently - progress does not necessarily improve life, but you become so dependent, i.e. less free and happy!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial#Ch...
> A Gallup poll made on behalf of CNN and USA Today concluded that 79% of Americans thought the Iraq War was justified, with or without conclusive evidence of illegal weapons. 19% thought weapons were needed to justify the war
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_opinion_in_the_United...
Remember that the popular consensus isn't always the right thing to do. We can nearly always explain this as a product of emotions and groupthink. Why then does our favorite genocide denialist resort to convoluted conspiracy theories?
>>As we also noted from the first paragraph of our earlier review of this material, to which we will simply refer here for specifics, “there is no difficulty in documenting major atrocities and oppression, primarily from the reports of refugees”; there is little doubt that “the record of atrocities in Cambodia is substantial and often gruesome” and represents “a fearful toll”; “when the facts are in, it may turn out that the more extreme condemnations were in fact correct,” although if so, “it will in no way alter the conclusions we have reached on the central question addressed here: how the available facts were selected, modified, or sometimes invented to create a certain image offered to the general population. The answer to this question seems clear, and it is unaffected by whatever may yet be discovered about Cambodia in the future.”
you should go read what they originally said at the time of the genocide. its similar to saying we shouldnt believe the stories of jewish refugees at the time of the holocaust because the us and the nazis happened to be enemies.
> how the available facts were selected, modified, or sometimes invented to create a certain image offered to the general population
imagine if someone said this about the reporting of the holocaust. the cambodian genocide is comparable in terms of numbers to the holocaust btw. so shameless and yet people still defend these people
Their statements seem reasonable in that context. What you’re claiming is outright denial is more like hedging, and an open admission that they don’t trust the source.
It reflects poor judgment on his part, but what you’re arguing isn’t in good faith.
Denying the holocaust today is reprehensible. Denying it in 1943 was understandable, given the limited facts at the time. Similarly, denying the Cambodian genocide in a book in 1979, literally right in the middle of it, isn’t the same as denying it today.
Remember that those countries have highly pragmatic external relations policies and are probably a bit tired of being bossed around by the west.
Notwithstanding the possible merit of the decision, weaponizing the US dollar monetary system against Russia would inevitably have some unintended side effects. One of them is that countries like China, India, Iran, and Saudi Arabia would become interested in strengthening their commercial, monetary, and diplomatic ties.
I can assure you that across the other side of the fence from the western world, every leader started wondering what it would take for their countries to have their foreign reserves seized and have their banks cut off from the western banking system.
We can be certain that Saudi leaders absolutely despise the Americans and that this feeling is reciprocal. Yet, Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner of the USA for decades because their particular interests aligned in many things.
If their common interests align, you can be sure that China and India will find common ground for agreement.
If that can happen to Russia, it can happen to any country.
Regarding your point about common interests aligning.
In last few weeks Saudi and Iran relationships are improving.
If that's possible, India and China can surely continue doing business together.
NATO is backed by ideology to an extent. BRICS don't claim to have any such underlying principles.
China and India have a USD 135 Billion Annual Trade.
Practical Relationship - Not friends, Not allies, will do business together.
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Sometimes it's good to know that the other person is not your friend.
Otherwise, like Europe one might find out that their friend and ally might not always have their best interests at heart.
The traffic didn’t bother me that much, I just went to work at 6AM and came back around 3 PM. The problem was the air pollution, when you start affecting life expectancy and unlike gun violence isn’t easy to avoid.
Corruption? Police state? Crime? Poverty? Yeah, no thanks. Get your shit fixed and then we'll talk.
No corruption.
No Police violence. No Brutality.
No Gun Violence.
No Crime.
No poverty - no homelessness, no people unable to afford a life without stimulus and bailouts.
No racism.
Absolute freedom of speech.
America is the utopia the World should aspire to be.
/s - In case someone is wondering.
Brazil is barely a country, has a declining QOL and is remarkably unstable. Lovely people, culture, beaches - but they're not even the best off LatAm country (that's Colombia, Chile, or Argentina)
Russia is a joke and an international pariah
South Africa is about to split in half (or not? who knows!) and is declining into a race-centered downward spiral. Again, horrible to see bad things happen to a lovely group of people, but ESKOM is emblematic of the countries problems.
India and China despise each other and are becoming more, not less hostile. India will soon be larger than China (may be today) and is betting the Chinese Miracle is ending. China has pretty openly racist views about India and doesn't treat them like equals in any way shape or form.
It’s an alternative for sure. Not sure it’s desirable or preferable.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/19/americ...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/psychologi...
https://www.wired.com/story/us-authoritarian-movement-future...
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/18/opinion/democracy-america...
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/23/trump-amer...
Pretty sure American love for Freedom of Speech with push this comment into the abyss.
1. China | 30.07
2. USA | 25.03
3. India | 11.66
4. Japan | 6.10
5. Germany | 5.31
6. Russia | 4.65
7. Indonesia | 4.02
8. Brazil | 3.78
Considering that China is the premier industrial powerhouse of the world, and Russia is probably the country with the vastest reserves of natural reserves in the world, with a highly educated population, and that probably the BRICS will be soon joined by the oil behemoths of Saudi Arabia and Iran, things don't look to me as straightforward as they look to you.
China just needs Russia's resources for now.
I guess the definition of "international" here is NATO.
BRICS have a population of 3.24 Billion. B - Billion.
NATO has a population of about 950 Million. M - Million.
BRICS countries are actively Trading with Russia.
America's favorite ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is doing deals with Russia and Iran. BTW Saudi Arabia wants to join BRICS.
Iran is friendly with Russia.
>India and China despise each other and are becoming more, not less hostile. China has pretty openly racist views about India and doesn't treat them like equals in any way shape or form.
You are not completely wrong about this. Still India and China Trade is USD 135 Billion. That's after many restrictions they impose on each other.
In the Indian and Chinese mindset, it's a very practical relationship. Don't consider each other friends, do business when necessary.
About your last point. Chinese don't consider anyone as their equals.
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The world order is changing. BRICS countries are not dictating to anyone how they should live. They are just finding new opportunities among themselves.
What?
Mainland china keeps calling Taiwan its province!
Russia just invaded Ukraine to reestablish kleptocracy!
Technically, Taiwan thinks that the entirety of mainland China belongs to Taiwan.
The only difference between the two dreams is that Taiwan has no realistic way of acquiring China. But China does.
Regardless, China does not want to use its military on Taiwan. They would much rather have a peaceful reunification.
> I guess the definition of "international" here is NATO.
Rather, UN. See e.g. various votes last year.
> BRICS have a population of 3.24 Billion. B - Billion.
> NATO has a population of about 950 Million. M - Million.
Yeah, BRICS is 3240-ish Million. M - Million. And NATO - ~0.95 Billion. B - Billion.
And the cherry on top which is more important - in NATO countries opinions are much close to the actual opinions of people, while in BRICS R, I and C are various degrees of autocracies. Just ask people in Russia what do they think about the events in Ukraine, and you won't even need to remind them of laws which essentially prohibit non-official point of view.
> BRICS countries are not dictating to anyone how they should live.
This is from a different universe.