If this doesn’t terrify you, it should

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

In reply to 67LS1 :

America hasn't seen the level of interference from China that Canada has.

Beware.

Of what?  Free healthcare and friendly, happy citizens who live longer and have a lower infant mortality rate?  :)

If you want China to make that decision for you, then yes?

(you should at least do a quick search before dismissing it with a snide remark, it seems to be a pretty serious issue)

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Canada announces a probe to examine possible Chinese election interference

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161566242/canada-announces-a-probe-to-examine-possible-chinese-election-interference

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Canada faces questions over alleged Chinese interference

An official inquiry is under way into allegations China meddled in federal elections but some say the influence goes further.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/13/canada-faces-questions-over-alleged-chinese-interference

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China now seen as influencing politics more than ever, on a global scale

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/foreign-interference-china-elections-1.6773020

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Chinese influence in Canada ‘alive and well,’ says student leader threatened by trolls

https://globalnews.ca/news/5804742/chinese-influence-canada/

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

This put us on a trajectory that I think is behind much of the political unrest in our country. Those who disagreed with ones political stances were dumb and misled, but essentially well-meaning as long as we had the luxury of confidence in the American entity. Once it looked like we were on a downward spiral that could end up with America's fall from economic grace, the stakes became higher and those persons appeared more dangerous as we search for scapegoats.

On a spectrum of 1 to 10, 99% of us lie somewhere between 3 and 7, yet we treat eat other like we're all 1 or 10. 

In reply to aircooled :

Bruh did you just equate a low death rate of children with Chinese espionage?

what am I supposed to do about it though?

GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to aircooled :

Bruh did you just equate a low death rate of children with Chinese espionage?

Ask the Chinese government. Their citizens are very happy and live long, fulfilling lives. 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

In reply to 67LS1 :

America hasn't seen the level of interference from China that Canada has.

Beware.

Of what?  Free healthcare and friendly, happy citizens who live longer and have a lower infant mortality rate?  :)

I'm sorry, but I have to refute this. After years of dealing daily with Canadians I can assure you they are not happy, pleasant people. How they got that misnomer I will never know. 

The rest of you statement I have zero comment. 

I'd like to see us shut the empire down.  This clearly isn't going to work out in the long run and don't think it's going that well today either.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

and replace it with what exactly?

bobzilla said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

ShawnG said:

In reply to 67LS1 :

America hasn't seen the level of interference from China that Canada has.

Beware.

Of what?  Free healthcare and friendly, happy citizens who live longer and have a lower infant mortality rate?  :)

I'm sorry, but I have to refute this. After years of dealing daily with Canadians I can assure you they are not happy, pleasant people. How they got that misnomer I will never know. 

The rest of you statement I have zero comment. 

Y'all can't take a joke.

I've lived in Canada for almost a quarter of my life, so it's not like I have no knowledge of the country.  Some Canadians have a noted disdain for Americans, which is warranted.  Perhaps that what you're sensing.

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I'd like to see us shut the empire down.  This clearly isn't going to work out in the long run and don't think it's going that well today either.

After all, what have the Romans ever done for us?!?

In reply to bobzilla :

A country that hasn't covered the earth with military bases while people at home are doing "less than well".  

Most of the rest of the world doesn't operate like we do and it seems to suit them pretty well. 

GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to aircooled :

Bruh did you just equate a low death rate of children with Chinese espionage?

No, I did not.  I am curious as to how you came to that conclusion though.

 I am pretty sure I stated that you should be concerned (beware) of Chinese influence in Canada.  If you want to imply that the Chinese are responsible for their healthcare and happiness through their influence, I still say you should beware of their influence.  If you want to say, they don't have any influence because they have those things, then I still say beware (and check the linked stories).  Note question mark for not knowing what exactly was meant, but the answer is the same (in my opinion) either way.

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

In reply to bobzilla :

A country that hasn't covered the earth with military bases while people at home are doing "less than well".  

Most of the rest of the world doesn't operate like we do and it seems to suit them pretty well. 

They've partially been able to do so only because America decided after world war 2 that the best method to prevent another from happening was to have the biggest stick on earth to enforce that peace. We'll never know how many wars the American Navy has prevented by enforcing open trade through all the oceans.

We need to take care of the home much better- but from talking with European friends, who've explained those memes about racism against Romani and Gypsies aren't memes? America absolutely has it's positives. 

aircooled said:

GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to aircooled :

Bruh did you just equate a low death rate of children with Chinese espionage?

No, I did not.  I am curious as to how you came to that conclusion though.

 I am pretty sure I stated that you should be concerned (beware) of Chinese influence in Canada.  If you want to imply that the Chinese are responsible for their healthcare and happiness through their influence, I still say you should beware of their influence.  If you want to say, they don't have any influence because they have those things, then I still say beware (and check the linked stories).  Note question mark for not knowing what exactly was meant, but the answer is the same (in my opinion) either way.

Bro you're response to someone who's lived in Canada pointing out their positives was to being listing off espionage issues; like Curtis said, ya'll cant take a joke.

And before you respond that I don't take it seriously... 

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I'd like to see us shut the empire down.  This clearly isn't going to work out in the long run and don't think it's going that well today either.

Yes, this is exactly what the Chinese are shooting for.  Don't worry, there will be very happy to take over that roll.  You can wish for reasonable behavior from the countries of the world, but it has historically has never happen, and almost certainly never will.

To re-phrase this phrase again:  The US is the worst most oppressive country to act as the world police... except for every other country who would take over that roll.

camopaint0707 said:

what am I supposed to do about it though?

Awareness is the first step.  I think I can comfortably say that there is almost no government or politician (at least in most of the "western" world, well, clearly excepting some Canadian politicians!) who is OK with Chinese influence in their government.  See recent Tick Tok concerns. 

So, not much you really need to do, except maybe not help them in their efforts.  I see plenty of what is likely Chinese (probably Russian also) influence in social media channels (lot's of thinly veiled anti-capitalist, pro-communist, America-bad/evil angles).

I am not saying we should be afraid of China (to refer to the OP), but we really want to be aware of what they are doing and trying to do.  They are VERY good at using us against ourselves.

ShawnG said:

GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to aircooled :

Bruh did you just equate a low death rate of children with Chinese espionage?

Ask the Chinese government. Their citizens are very happy and live long, fulfilling lives. 

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pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

In reply to bobzilla :

A country that hasn't covered the earth with military bases while people at home are doing "less than well".  

Most of the rest of the world doesn't operate like we do and it seems to suit them pretty well. 

Admittedly, I'm no expert on world affairs so I won't definitively disagree with you.

Having said that, "nature abhors a vacuum" so in a general sense, not covering the earth with U.S. bases would probably result in some other country covering the earth with bases rather than their being no bases.  In a similar sense, there's no reason to believe the rest of the world would be suited pretty well if not for the stabilizing influence the U.S. provides.

Again, I'm no expert...I'm just making the point that if you radically change one factor (little or no U.S. military influence around the world) the cards get re-shuffled and it becomes anybody's guess who the ultimate winners and losers would be.

Just my humble opinion.

In reply to RX Reven' :

India's spreading military bases throughout the Indian Ocean, Tajikistan, and is running military exercises with Mongolia. But many of the "AMERICA BAD" behave and act like other states/nations can't have their own goals and actions separate of America; we're always the one pushing everyone around for our own gains, you don't hear them screeching about Mhodi running the Double Fish Hook military strategy when they're so heavily polluted, for instance.

I'm not buying into "no, you need to be scared, trust us".  

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

mine was more joke than serial (as all good jokes have more than a little truth in them) but there are a LOT of angry Canuckistanians. I would get cussed out daily because I wasn't allowed to ship our cheaper parts across the border. In multiple languages. 

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Nobody is telling you not to be concerned, but bro what do you expect me to do?

1. I'm a nurse and I'm getting active in local politics to begin asserting myself in my state. I ain't yet a senator!
2. The president I voted for has just busted the first Chinese secret police ring in America, which was a rumored issue from immigrants over here for a few months- and if the FBI busted one openly, then you KNOW they have lines on several others and they feel comfortable to make things public to turn up the heat.
3. Said president has cut off China from lithography machines, meaning the best they can make for integrated chipsets is tech from the early 2000s at best. That means no modern milspec gear at the same time they're making threats or advanced tech production without US/EU Consent- and Ukraine can show you how much of a game changer Western tech makes.
4. We just sailed a destroyer through the middle of China's military exercise in the Sea of Taiwan to shut them up.
5. Their population graph shows they've leveled off and are rapidly an aging nation. 
6. The Philippines have agreed to new American military bases in the south seas, and relations with Vietnam are getting even better.
7. Aforementioned India's "Double Fish Hook" Strategy to counter "Necklace of Pearls".

And that's just off the back of my hand. Like yeah, my jackass state just decided to remove worker's protections for Children instead of focusing on what matters, but I can only do so much and I know I do quite a lot. 

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Sooo, you want to be a senator representing a state you think is a jacka$$.

Have you come up with your campaign slogan yet  

   There was a time when I thought I was interested in diving into politics at the local level. I was deceiving myself. I absolutely cannot tolerate the disingenuous squabbling that takes place between any of the opposing groups of hard-believing political ideologues.  The layers of the facade they build up and present to people with the sole goal of manipulating voters disgusts and infuriates me. Not only are they not penalized for spewing lie upon lie, they are rewarded with re-election. 


   My hat is off to you if you can wade into that cesspool and not strangle anyone.  

I'm glad that Girth is getting involved. So many people complain. So few try and do something about it. 

In reply to aircooled :

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

I'd like to see us shut the empire down.  This clearly isn't going to work out in the long run and don't think it's going that well today either.

Yes, this is exactly what the Chinese are shooting for.  Don't worry, there will be very happy to take over that roll.  You can wish for reasonable behavior from the countries of the world, but it has historically has never happen, and almost certainly never will.

To re-phrase this phrase again:  The US is the worst most oppressive country to act as the world police... except for every other country who would take over that roll.

camopaint0707 said:

what am I supposed to do about it though?

Awareness is the first step.  I think I can comfortably say that there is almost no government or politician (at least in most of the "western" world, well, clearly excepting some Canadian politicians!) who is OK with Chinese influence in their government.  See recent Tick Tok concerns. 

So, not much you really need to do, except maybe not help them in their efforts.  I see plenty of what is likely Chinese (probably Russian also) influence in social media channels (lot's of thinly veiled anti-capitalist, pro-communist, America-bad/evil angles).

I am not saying we should be afraid of China (to refer to the OP), but we really want to be aware of what they are doing and trying to do.  They are VERY good at using us against ourselves.

You hit the nail on the head. And this is just a warm up for what is coming as we enter the age of AI generated deep fakes. We need to learn to adapt real quick. 

RX Reven' said:

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Sooo, you want to be a senator representing a state you think is a jacka$$.

Have you come up with your campaign slogan yet  

"An honest politician."