Look, Rom, Rom...I know you're a sophisticated guy. The world is a mess. The world is as sick as it gets. What you think this gonna cause a little more sickness? The world is a sick place. All of this has happened: we went into lockdown- we shouldn't have gone into lockdown.

The USSR's "peaceful coexistence" during the Cold War was simply them trying to avoid WW3 with the US, especially after how much WW2 devastated Soviet society and how far it set them back in their economic goals. It wasn't an incorrect position to take given the US still had an immense amount of production capital before the neoliberal turn and, if the USSR were to hypothetically enter a hot war with America, they would likely lose it solely because the US would be able to outproduce them.

And even before WW2, the USSR was already doing peaceful coexistence with capital from their policy of 'Socialism in one country', because they realized after the failure of socialist uprisings in other European countries in the 1920's, they were alone in the world and surrounded by the enemy. Trying to be more 'proactive', which is what the Trotskyists wanted, would have been tantamount to self-destruction.

The PRC and the rest of the Marxist-Leninist states today continue the same doctrine, because it works for them today as it did for the Soviets back then.

It should also be noted that some of the interventions that the USSR did undertake ended up eliciting resentment from the local populations towards Soviet Communism. The Soviet-Afghan War is a prime example, but it can also be seen in their suppression of protests and politicians that didn't toe Moscow's line closely enough in Eastern European SSRs (which, while understandable, did create a big impression from the people that the USSR was an occupier getting in the way of self-determination).

Mao's criticism of the USSR conducting 'social imperialism' during the Cold War was an apt one when, in the cases I noted beforehand, it was very much the Soviets trying to impose their will and ideological line on foreign peoples, instead of allowing left-wing movements to grow and develop organically. I personally believe the Belt and Road Initiative is China's way of allowing the latter idea to occur, but it's not without its faults, and it remains to be seen if it will succeed.

Let's not forget the PRC themselves made several mistakes in their attempts to export Socialism abroad too; backing the genocidal Khmer Rouge, sending the PLA into Vietnam to "teach them a lesson" for removing the Khmer Rouge, and the Sino-Soviet Split itself causing a massive rift in the International left that greatly stunted the ability to organize against global capital.

Again, I'm not trying to argue that it's wrong to try and instigate revolution abroad and back anti-colonial movements (DPRK indirectly supplying weapons to Palestinians is based), but that there is a lot more historical nuance behind the modern geopolitical strategies of AES.

If I may ask, what do you believe the USSR should have been more proactive in in regard to their interventions abroad?

China maintains their current foreign policy because they learned from the mistakes of the USSR.

The USSR did the opposite of non-interference and actively tried to ferment revolutions or arm socialist orgs around the world. While this isn't a bad thing, it resulted in the Soviets overextending themselves and getting bogged down in proxy wars and a frankly unnecessary arms race with the US. When the Soviets went into Afghanistan to fight the US-backed Islamists, they lost far more than they gained, and the Afghan people ended up turning against them.

The collapse of the USSR and loss of the Cold War gave China much to reflect on, and ultimately, they fine-tuned their Marxist ideology to suit the post-Cold War Unipolar world. And it has worked for them thus far.

Whether they will need to fine-tune it again as we head into a multi-polar world still dominated by Neoliberal Capitalism remains to be seen.

The real Ghost of Kyiv

"Brunch has costed you your strength. Electoralism has defeated you!" - Lenin, probably

I love how this meme has become a posting tradition every US election since the Chapo subreddit days.

Red Alert 3 Soviet March intensifies

Generally his video essays about Imperialism/ Settler-Colonialism are extremely on point and a great way to educate libs, but yeah his takes on AES can be hit and miss.

In regards to Venezuela, while their nominally socialist government definitely has its problems (even if you ignore the likely electoral fraud, Maduro has suppressed much of the Venezuelan left including the Communist Party, and his policies are largely social democratic in nature), as a Marxist who lives in the Global North, my first position towards Venezuela or any country in the Global South is to lift all sanctions and/ or stop Western intervention for imperialist interests. This is why we have critical support for imperialized countries.

What do you expect from the same country that thinks means "evil antisemitic hate symbol!!"

It's like Germany learned nothing from the last century and is still trying its hardest to be on the wrong side of history.

The thing you're forgetting though is that Kamala is ALSO a shitty candidate like Hillary and Biden was.

As others have already pointed out, she is the only candidate who polled worse than Biden against Trump. She's nowhere near the level of charm and charisma Obama was.

At least half the country thinks she's a Cultural Marxist that will destroy America (I wish). And her fanbase is nearly identical to Hillary's was (suburbanite wine moms).

Of course her being younger, not part of any political dynasty, and also actually non-White could tip the scales in her favour. But we'll see.

He is Bidone.

So the US gets all the greedy, self-centred Capitalists from China, while China gets all the rational, forward-thinking Scientists and Academics from the US? Cool.

The Forest.

Peaceful. Quiet. No people to bother me (great for Introverts). A place to get good sleep. Fresh locally sourced food. Perfect weather.

My kind of escape from this hell world.

There's still people on the Steam Forums and Reddit trying to rally people to get the Arrowhead Community Managers (at least one of which is Transgender) fired.

This is such a stupid "protest" largely driven by Chud G*mers who couldn't read the fine text of a game they bought, and now are trying to turn an inconvenient account requirement into GamerGate 2.0.

The sooner anything about this 'ironic' Fascist video game gets off my social media the better.

According to this article China makes up 27% of Intel's revenue (its SINGLE biggest market) and 15% of AMD's revenue (its third largest). Will be interesting to see how badly this will affect the bottom line of both companies in the coming years.

Considering the US already bans Nvidia and AMD from selling their high-end GPUs to China, this ban was going to happen sooner or later. China just decided to pre-emptively do it so they can plan ahead for the phase-out as opposed to being caught off guard.

China leading a potential Linux revolution on the global tech industry would be glorious to see.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. The heart scene scarred the shit out of me as a kid.

Well, at least this one got the element-bending and the names right. Hopefully the next live action will get the script right.

Further proof that Tankie is just the liberal version of "SJW" or "Woke"; a meaningless buzzword to describe anything left of them.

Wait until he finds out a lot of Western Capital cities like Washington DC and Paris were largely the result of central planning.

I would argue Palestine is part of the war phase, and they'll probs be a third extension opening up in the next couple of years (Taiwan? Korea? India?).

The famine will be Climate Change, or a mass disruption to the global food chain caused by the war horseman.

Death will be