After @Scalenex 's lengthy campaign against the CCP, the CCP have deployed their surveillance balloon over US airspace.
All things considered, the CCP's spy balloon feels like a real life example of a famous movie/TV trope. One of my favorites for comedy, but it's not as funny when it's real. I have suspect they caused this incident on purpose to distract Americans. The CCPs crimes include genocide, violating international waters to strip mine the sea, human trafficking for sex slaves, human trafficking for organs, embezzlement for North Korea, flooding the US with fentanyl, massive theft of government and corporate intellectual secrets, international bribery and corruption, and now....evil balloons! I actually saw a video on how China claims to be "iron brothers" with Pakistan but they are involved in trafficking Pakastani women for forced prostitution. Also, China buys a lot of donkeys from Pakistan....and treats the donkeys badly! The video actually put way more emphasis on the donkeys. I like donkeys, and I think people who abuse domesticated animals are scum, but forgive if I believe systematic kidnapping and rape of humans is worse than underfeeding donkeys and hitting them. While I appreciate traditional Chinese culture and think it's a shame that the CCP has strangled the positive aspects of Chinese culture. One bad aspect of traditional Chinese culture that the CCP actually has not stamped out and has only gotten worse is quack folk medicine or specialty food using rare animal parts. A lot of rich Chinese people try to buy rhino horn, bear paw soup, shark fin soup, and other parts of rare and endangered animals, but apparently they can make quack medicine out of donkeys too. I'd rather a donkey die than an Asiatic black bear, but that's stupid reason to kill a donkey.
I do have a soft spot for endangered Asiatic bears...unfortunately every Asiatic bear is endangered...mahrlect poachers are the racoons of humanity.
The CCP is insidious and need to be called to task. It pisses me off that the Australian govt knows how bad they are and yet still insists on ignoring their continuing criminal actions for the sake of the almighty trade dollar
money talks in the short term... but if you plan for the future, it's clear that is not a wise decision to let China have free reign.
A very short video explaining why I don't think the CCP has any shot at all of replacing the US as a superpower. That said, I don't think it's guaranteed that the US will remain the global superpower. For most of human history, no one was a super power and we could easily return to that. Whether or not that is a good thing, I do not know. But also, the CCP definitely wants to become the global super power just like Putin wants to become the regional European power. Putin will fail in his ambitions, but his attempt is causing much suffering. On a similar note, the CCP's fumbling attempts will lead to much suffering, and on a larger and wider scale than Putin's schemes. If you are attempt to take over the world is doomed to fail, at least make it bloodless and fun. NARF!
I have added Elon Musk's companies to the lists of companies I will do my best to not give a penny to. Though my odds of buying a Tesla or joining Twitter were essentially zero, I had toyed with buying stock in one or more of his companies. No longer.
For all the flaws democracies have, especially regarding natural disasters. Socialist and authoritarian regimes are worse, especially regarding natural disasters. They are more concerned with hiding the damage than they are with mitigating the damage. This is truly sickening. This is how the CCP treats their own people. Given how racist, jingoist, and xenophobic they are towards outsiders, imagine how they will treat you given half a chance?
"May you live in interesting times" is a traditional Chinese blessing and a curse. It is unlikely that Taiwan could resist a PLA invasion if the United States didn't back them up. Theoretically this would be a good time invade Taiwan. Every time Biden says something supporting Taiwan, his handlers walk it back. The war in Ukraine has sapped the United States' general populace' tolerance for war and depleted a lot of our ammo stockpiles. The thing this, The CCP has it's own internal problems right now. That is probably good news for Taiwan. But maybe not, predators are most dangerous when wounded and scared. Xi Jinping might launch an invasion as a last ditch effort to salvage his credibility. Hypothetically, if Xi Jinping is toppled by a coup, his successor may want to make a grand gesture to cement his new position and this grand gesture could be an invasion of Taiwan. I believe all the problems mainland China has right now are the result of the CCPs poor state planning. I believe that the CCP will collapse entirely within 30 years if they cannot take Taiwan. If CCP can take Taiwan, they will gain the economic and political leverage to limp along another couple decades since they gain a huge advantage in semiconductors and a stranglehold in shipping. If the CCP dissolves in my lifetime I plan to get really drunk with my friends in celebration. That said, if the CCP collapses it is not like China will instantly become a peaceful and prosperous liberal democracy. The best case scenario might be a kleptocratic fake democracy with a Putin-esque leader taking control of China. Worst case scenario is a CCP leader decides to start shooting nuclear missles on his way out the door.
CCP stands for Chinese Communist Party CPC stands for the Communist Party of China. They are technically synonyms but if you ever see "CPC" in print, I guarantee the article in question is party propaganda.