barrbaric [he/him]

Given that Israel is militarily occupying and actively colonizing Palestine, I would say that Palestine is unable to exercise its sovereignty. Should it be granted more sovereignty? Yes, but that seems as though it will require either the radical reformation or outright destruction of Israel.

The dispute at this point is over how we define a country, especially because Taiwan clearly falls in a grey area within that definition. I claim that they are fundamentally unable to exercise their sovereignty given they aren’t formally recognized as a country by even their greatest allies and benefactors, thus they fail. You claim that they can fulfill the roles of the state, have a national identity, and have various semantic work-arounds for that fundamental illegitimacy, thus they pass. There’s also the question of the legitimacy of their founding, with me saying that the ROC was originally an oppressive colonial military dictatorship, but then you would say that it’s been long enough and their government has changed enough that it doesn’t matter, then we bicker over what constitutes a democracy.

Ultimately the argument would continue indefinitely and I don’t think there’s much chance either of us would be convinced by the other.

As an aside, the point of the prior comment was that surveys of beliefs can very easily be detached from reality, and so aren’t good evidence for claims.

In practice, Taiwan is not internationally recognized as a country. It doesn’t get to participate in many important international bodies like the UN or WHO, for instance. I get your implied point that this doesn’t mean much because it really only matters on the diplomatic level, and true enough a lot of that works out to semantics, such as their having “Economic, Trade, and Cultural Offices” instead of formal embassies despite them doing largely the same thing.

Balkanize you fucks

Not until Biden starts saying it (not that I’d rule this out lol, the man’s a segregationist).

70% of US adults believe in angels, but that doesn’t make it true. No countries with any actual amount of power on the global stage recognize the ROC (see the US’ One China Policy), which means that regardless of whatever views people claim to have when surveyed, Taiwan is de facto part of the PRC.

Taiwan only exists because it served, and continues to serve, US interests as a staging point for military operations against China. A war over Taiwan would absolutely see the US using Taiwan as a proxy, much as they are currently using Ukraine against Russia.

It’s the same as the housing market or 401ks. Tie someone’s future to the institutions of capitalism and they’ll fall in line rapidly. Swap out capitalism for naked imperialism and you have the MIC jobs program.

Contrast that with America, which has had hegemony only since 1945 and already looks like it’s in terminal decline.

They’ve lasted less than the British! The BRITISH!

We’ve had one, yes, but what about second proxy war?

I mean yeah. All they need to do is say “woke” a bunch of times and they’ll be within spitting distance of the presidency.

Them having a platform is irrelevant. Trump is going to be the nominee, almost certainly even if he’s actually found guilty and ends up in prison (which I doubt will ever happen). This is all just a marketing exercise for the other candidates.

Also if they’re getting booed for denying climate change(?), then they’re better off just being silent on the campaign trail while continuing to support the oil sector once in office. Hell, they could even pivot to what the dems do by campaigning on it and doing nothing if their base starts to make it an issue.

We must invade Italy to protect human rights and democracy in Europe.

Whoa now, let’s not be unreasonable. They can be taxed at a geometric rate, starting at 100% the value of the house and doubling for every one thereafter.

Ah, but who checks the genitals of the genital checkers? How do we know that they’re not all just in on it?!

But Russia is stupid, hopefully they’ll do something Russian and pick a fight with the rest of NATO, because that’s just what they do.

I hope they don’t because that would in all likelihood escalate to nuclear war.

One struggle

Also arrested trade union leaders and got into it with a teacher’s union. I obviously support Sankara, and like you say he’s really not different from any other communist leaders except that he was assassinated and his work undone.