Russia's economy has entered a recession as gross domestic output fell by four percent in the third quarter, according to first estimates published Wednesday by the national statistics agency, Rosstat. The drop in GDP follows a similar four percent contraction in the second quarter, as Western sanctions pummel Russia's economy following Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. The four percent drop in economic output between July and September was less than the 4.5 percent contraction analysts had expected.
They noticed someone talking freely the first time, then the person being talked to by the men trailing the journalists, then the person they spoke to made a zipping motion across their mouth. It’s not spin, it’s being perceptive.
Their movements are tightly monitored and controlled. They are not allowed to travel. Afghans were always able to travel, even if some travel could be dangerous.
Are you incapable of thinking a single positive thing about US society? Yes, we have a free press, and there has been plenty of criticism and coverage of the criminal justice system.
Again, the narrative that the intrepid western journalists are uncovering crimes fits your existing biases, and that’s what makes it such an easy sell for you.
You’re willing to ignore all the objective evidence such as lack of any of these massive prison facilities, lack of refugees, and so on in favor of these subjective observations which you think are “perceptive”.
If you don’t understand why that statement is absurd, I encourage you to think about it a bit about what you said there. Also, explain what reason China would have to prevent these people from leaving. If these people are dissidents that would cause trouble, then China would be glad to get rid of them. None of what you say makes any logical sense.
I’m certainly incapable of doing mental gymnastics where US is a free and open society that has free press. One has to be utterly ignorant to say such things. Entire books have been written showing this to be false.
Okay, then how are you explaining the shopkeeper making a zipped lips motion? That doesn’t seem so subjective.
China has leaned on other governments to return asylum seeking Uyghurs. The article I linked to mentions several cases.
Oh? Am I going to get yet another link to Manufacturing Consent, work of infallible leftist god Noam Chomsky? Oh wait, there are literally thousands of articles bemoaning the school to prison pipeline, 90’s crime bill, three strikes laws, systemic racism, and hunger where there should be abundance. These are widely discussed in US politics.
Again, that’s an anecdote reported by a person with a particular agenda. You can go on youtube and find tons of videos of people living in Xinjiang, including westerners, and they go around and interact with people. Here’s an example.
You mean US and Saudi trained terrorists?
Weird how none of that talking actually translates into any actual action. It’s as if these kinds of articles are designed for the specific purpose of having a veneer of discussion so that people like you can point to them and claim there’s freedom of speech.
Free speech is a completely meaningless term unless that speech can be translated into action. Whenever there is a threat of actual action then you end up like MLK and Fred Hampton. Chapter 10 in this book documents lots of examples of political repression in US using intimidation and violence.
No, I mean people fleeing China and seeking asylum.
Good thing that guy doesn’t have any bias or anything. Not like he didn’t just wander right by the SWAT guy “having a nice chat”. Nothing could possibly be intimidating about a police officer in a SWAT jacket dropping by your store. No siree.
There’s action on criminal justice reform. It mostly is on the state level at the moment.
Yup, the US doesn’t have a pure history or present. But it doesn’t approach China’s open and systematic repression of dissent, and you’re well into whataboutism territory at this point.
Right, the terrorists that US and Saudis have been funding to do terrorist attacks in China. These are your friends seeking asylum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Juma_Tayir
Did you as an American just criticize China for having police that’s too militarized? Amazing levels of cognitive dissonance here. 😂
The reason you think that is because your propagandist tell this. You have zero actual knowledge of China. It’s a country you’ve never been to, you don’t know people living there, only things you know about this country about this country come the media you consume. The same media that constantly lies about everything.
And don’t deflect with your whataboutism bullshit from the fact that you ignore the same kind of crimes happening in your own country that you accuse China off. These are far better documented and have far more evidence for them than the straws you’re grasping at. If you actually cared about these things then you’d be denouncing your own country. Instead, you’re just looking for ways to justify your chauvinism.
In objective terms your country is responsible for far worse systemic repression than anything observed in China. The enormous prison population alone is a clear example of that. US imprisons far more people per capita than China does. And if we include all the horrors your nightmarish empire is responsible for around the world then you have no leg to stand on accusing any other country.
People in China see their lives improve each and every decade, while people in US are having their lives destroyed by the oligarchs. If you cared about actual tangible freedoms, then you’d care about freedom to have housing, healthcare, education, and jobs. Freedom to live a life free from want.
Please do explain to me how those 200 people in Thailand have anything to do with Juma Tayir. Or is collective punishment in vogue again?
I’ve criticized the American police as being too militarized and unaccountable. Doesn’t mean that I can’t criticize China for using its police to intimidate its people.
I criticize my country. I want it to improve. I’ve never, ever seen you criticize China. Not once.
I assume you’re being intentionally obtuse. I provided an example of the kinds of people we’re talking about here. You can read the book by an ex CIA asset that I linked in this thread earlier that details how CIA has been training these extremists with the intent of destabilizing China. Incidentally, this is exactly the same playbook US used with mujahideen in Afghanistan. You guys aren’t very creative.
Difference is that we have plenty of tangible evidence for what US does.
I have yet to have a single conversation with you where you actually criticize US or accept any criticism of it. What you do without fail is whitewash the crimes of your country.
Uh… that article. The one I linked from Time where it’s talking about fleeing people. One group of 200 Uyghurs was deported back to China at China’s request. There’s nothing I can see about them having the least bit to do with the assassination of Juma Tayir, besides a shared ethnicity.
As I said, it’s the consequence of an open society where we are allowed to discuss our flaws. The best disinfectant is sunlight, and in China there is no sunlight allowed.
Then you haven’t been paying attention. Or perhaps I just am not always agreeing with the criticism that you want me to agree with? I’m not obligated to agree with your every complaint.