ClumsyPilot

> - Its relationship with China is also rapidly deteriorating

For which there is no good reason and which is extremely stupid

There has been zero aggression from China towards Europe and zero chance of military confrontation.

Most of the sanctions that were implemented under pressure from Us have backfired on Europe (but not so much on US)

European politicians are going around the world and telling India not to trade with Russia while Israel trades with Russia, etc.

We seem to be good at combining the worst of both sides -> rightwing trickle down economics, left-wing social policy plus boomerism sprinkled on top

This narrative is a fabrication.

EU spends 33% of World’s military spending, once you exclude US. EU spends more on military than China.

How much do you need to spend to defend yourself, 60% of the world?

Mind you, many western weapons, like stinger and javelin, cost more than their weight in silver. Sounds like a scam

> They didn't anticipate…the Middle East blowing up again

Yes, interesting that the People dropping bombs did not anticipate blowing up.

Our elites have revealed many flaws recently, but one I did not expect is that they have surprisingly limited intelligence.

> at a breakneck pace for no apparent reason

So many reasons: unpopular wars in the Middle East, repeated embarrassments in international arena, domestic unrest, decadent elites…

That’s even worse

> Politicians and all their communication are to be excluded, for they have decided it is obvious that we can trust them

What’s the point of criticising USSR and China only to reinvent it

Famously law enforcement don’t commit crimes and don’t need to be held accountable

>> would be addressing the "for the children" motivations seriously rather than fully dismissing them

Like actually finding and arresting Eipstein clients?

There’s no need to protect children when it’s higher ranking people doing the crime I guess

Sounds like something you should test rather that just rely on heuristics

Hard to tell one old man with dementia from another

I am just saying that it would be good if we could have more precise discussion about corruption because different types of it are not equal, and we have more precise terminology.

> So of course it would be viewed as corruption by any country with such institutions

It’s not viewed as corruption. US gov made numerous public statements condemning IP theft, and never even once classified it as corruption - it’s simply a different crime.

Furthermore, you suggested a benchmark is: “How wealthy are the ruling elites”

Well let’s see - the richest man in the world is American, 70% of 100 richest people are American, American has higher inequality than China.

By what robust quantitative measurement does this effort look less genuine than American one?

Are you accessing any objective facts or you simply are unable to accept that a country you are opposed to is making genuine progress?

I like how you are unable to separate actual crimes from government policies you disagree with.

>> corruption is an institution

>> Or for example, how has IP theft policy changed?

Another country may decide to have no IP protections, that’s not a crime.

Furthermore Intellectual property is legal fiction, some people and countries don’t believe in it.

Apparently Anthropic don’t believe in IP either, they are stealing everything that isn’t nailed down, but cry wolf when someone does it to them. And they are asking for legal immunity on IP theft.

I am pointing out the whole ‘losing face’ thing exists in the west too.

If you cause certain people to lose face, you will get China-like response.

In fact it’s a core conservative value and you can observe it in interactions with police - if a victim embarrasses the police they will prosecute the victim instead of the perpetrator

> Naming someone who reportedly gets a harsh sentence is not evidence.

And if I show you official statistics you will say statistics out of China can’t be trusted.

Folks like yourself will only realise when it’s too late

> we had shame back then

The collapse of our standards has been heartbreaking to see and I am observing that most are simply in denial.

Facilitation payment are usually considered the less egregious kinds of bribery, some may be considered acceptable in a culture, and there can be a whole etiquette to it.

In some countries, doctors or surgeons are severely underpaid and it would be customary for a well off citizen to bring them a gift or a cash summ before an important surgery.

That’s quite different from Kickbacks (rampant in UK leaseholds by the way), etc.

How does it relate to the question?

Wuhan situation is clearly government policy. It may be terrible, but that is besides the point.

It was not policy of British government to burn down a skyscraper in central london with hundred of people inside cooked alive.

It was not the policy of British government to infect 30,000 people with AIDS.

Yet British government is unable or unwilling to take action against people responsible.

>> The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided roughly $1.4 million to the Wuhan Institute of Virology

So.. Biden?

Wasnt the especially hard trial and punishment of Chelsea manning, assange, etc. not a punishment by the western establishment for losing face?

Well I given that it wasn’t a spy balloon in the end, perhaps they had a point

For UK I have: Grenfell tower scandal (over 100 dead, no one in prison), infected blood scandal (thousands dead, no one in prison), postmaster scandal (thousands falsely imprisoned , no perpetrator in prison), no Eipstein clients are I. Prison to this day, Covid procurement was corrupt, no one went to prison

And finally no one went to prison for the global financial crisis, which was caused by fraud

Are you sure? Do you have an example of substantial disaster or scandal that resulted in loss of life and loss of face for China, but perpetuators got away?

For UK I have: Grenfell tower scandal (over 100 dead, no one in prison), infected blood scandal (thousands dead, no one in prison), postmaster scandal (thousands falsely imprisoned , no perpetrator in prison), etc.

>> basic liberties we take for granted in the West are considered corruption

Like insider trading by congress?

Jokes aside, this is not how dictatorships normally deal with democratic activists? I don’t see how you can come to this conclusion u less you believe that corporations are people, election spending is a form of legally protected free speech, and corporations should vote in elections:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/delaware-court-upho...

Many dictators were democratically elected, this is not a sensible approach.

What objective measurement is that?

We have spent 20 years criticising China for the great firewall and control of social media, but now are adopting similar laws ourselves.

There is significant probability that China will have better quality of life than Europe in 2045 and that very little will be left of European liberties

This is a basic ontological error, author conflates reliability and suitability

>> If a website uses fancy new browser features and works for 98% of the population

>> If an employer pays their employees 98% of the times, I definitely wouldn’t want to work there

Are you sure about that? 2% of the population has no bank account, will your employer agree to pay in cash?

These are different scenarios -> your employer likely cannot pay some percentage of the population; but that’s not the same as the process randomly failing (which may be worse or better depending in some cases)

“distinguishable from a perpetual lease with a cancellation clause”

Perpetual lease is not a valid concept. I mean it is, just like perpetual employment is - we call it serfdom or slavery.

Iy serves no legitimate purpose. It’s just a workaround.

If you cannot define meaning of “Buy” then you cannot govern at all.

This could be said about anything.

There are plenty of shady people commenting right here right now.