RangerJoe
Posts: 13450
Joined: 11/16/2015 From: My Mother, although my Father had some small part. Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: z1812 quote:
ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins quote:
ORIGINAL: z1812 The Chinese have not been Communist for quite a while. They still have the " Communist Party " as an element of their government but it is really only in name communist. They are business people and are very Capitalistic. So much so that many American and European companies have large operations there. Think Mercedes, Boeing, Nike and Starbucks to name but a few. The party leaders are not capitalistic business people, but rather authoritarian thugs intent on enriching themselves and gaining power. There's a big difference. The still teach and preach communist orthodoxy, though I agree that they have allowed many divergences from it in the interest of wealth and power and I'm not sure most of the leaders still believe it, but it still serves as a powerful ideological tool for them and certainly many are still believers. quote:
In regards to China's initial response, did they really do anything different than any other country? In every country measures were brought out, drip by drip, drop by drop. Yes, there was one very key difference. They spent weeks covering it up. I agree that other governments have not covered themselves in glory, but at least in a free society we would have had a chance to nip it in the bud. China's response after it had to reveal the truth to the world was extreme and effective, but much time was already lost and at the same time China was using its leverage to tell other countries to _not_ ban travel to/from China even while their outbreak was still growing. Had we had no cover-up, an effective response and an acceptance of travel bans until under control in China, we might be in a better place today. Regards, - Erik Hi Eric, My response to some of your points. "The party leaders are not capitalistic business people, but rather authoritarian thugs intent on enriching themselves and gaining power. There's a big difference." How does that differ from the ruling class in most other countries? Are you saying they are not interested in enriching themselves and gaining power? Authoritarian Thugs..............well there is certainly enough of them around.......and not just in China. Had we had no cover-up, an effective response and an acceptance of travel bans until under control in China, we might be in a better place today. Do you have a reliable evidentiary source that proves the Chinese covered it up? You said they covered it up for weeks. That is the same amount of time it has taken most western countries to take this seriously and put proper precautions in place. Were they covering up as well? Hopefully countries will spend some time after this is dealt with to properly plan for the inevitable next one. We do agree however that some wargaming is one the most entertaining things we can do to pass some time while this is virus is sorted out. FPRS and JTCS here. Regards, John China could have done more to stop this and to keep their medical staff safe. If you want the link, let me know and I will send you the link in a pm.
< Message edited by RangerJoe -- 3/14/2020 6:16:13 AM >
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Seek peace but keep your gun handy. I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing! “Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).” ― Julia Child
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