As far as I know, no one was forced to change their religion (Uyghurs aren’t even the biggest Muslim group in China, that’s the Hui) and there was no mass murder. I believe some innocent people who were wrongly suspected of being terrorists were strip-searched, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Yogthos, Cowbee etc. have given very detailed answers below. From what I know, the things they said are mostly correct. However, one point to note is that a very small minority of Uyghur people, who were influenced by fundamentalist Wahhabi teachings, carried out terrorist attacks against non-Uyghur people in the 2010s. So there was an atmosphere of fear and suspicion against all the Uyghurs, and many innocent people were subjected to searches, arrests, and so on. This has been documented by the UN. Of course, this is not dissimilar to the way Muslims were treated in France or the US after terrorist attacks. In fact, representatives from Muslim countries who visited Xinjiang praised the government’s response, as it included a lot of job creation and infrastructure projects to turn people away from extremism.
Every country is ‘authoritarian’. That’s pretty much the practical definition of a country - that they, and they alone, can use force within their borders.
If you travel to another country, you should of course consider your own safety, as well as whether that country crosses something you see as a red line. To give an example, I oppose state restrictions on religion (unless they are dangerous to the public), am a republican, and support Palestinian independence. But I would visit France, the UAE or Germany if I got the chance, and I would try to understand why they have those policies (restrictions on Muslims’ clothes, monarchy, and ban on criticising Israel). But I would not go to the US, since getting shot by a random madman is not good for health.
The Radxa Rock 5 series use RK3588s and have USB, ethernet and 4-32 GB RAM.
Materialism is the ultimate means of oppression.
Materialism was historically just one way of understanding the world. Over time, it got accepted more and more because it could make testable (and useful) predictions, and they turned out to be right.
And it’s something you’ve been conditioned to believe in since birth.
Because it works.
Socialists, communists etc. still rely on materialism to drive their ideology
Because it works.
No, but the climate was probably cooler and drier than today. In fact the interior regions of the supercontinent might have been too dry to support most life-forms.
If someone is sick, and gets certified as such by a licenced medical doctor, they get leave. Why is this so complicated?
Bonus fun fact: part of the reason for their success might be that one of the local police informants was … Stalin.
‘President’ is mostly a ceremonial office, so they should be able to smile and wave, entertain any visiting dignitaries, and read out whatever speeches Parliament writes for them in a pleasant voice. A feel-good origin story would be a nice bonus.
Isn’t it the one that shoots black holes?
There are numbers for these, you know. Biggest sources of carbon emissions are (1) burning fossil fuels and (2) land use change (converting natural ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and wetlands - to plantations, farmlands and concrete).
Most beneficial activity is <redacted>.
I don’t think they put those in smart phones anymore lol
They still have them. GSMarena lists 261 models released in the last 17 months with IR blasters. 86 in 2025.
Just saw this on the news community. The linked article goes into some detail. I don’t know if these policies will achieve ‘full communism’ (or even if that would be a good thing), but education and health are good things for governments to focus on whichever way you look at it.
Communists that focus on voting are delusional (in my opinion) but like all reformists they view the existing government as the mechanism to make widespread change.
The only state in my country that has a communist party in power has been consistently leading national rankings in education and health, so I guess they’re doing something right.
But plz do tell me an example of a “dual faith” that can exist without violating one belief from the other.
Two very common ones are Confucianism + Taoism + Mahayana Buddhism (optional) in China and Shinto + Mahayana Buddhism + Christianity (optional) in Japan. The first is rather entertaining, because Confucianism and Taoism often have opposite teachings (falling respectively on the ‘ascend to technocrat’ and ‘retvrn to monke’ ends of the political compass meme). And yet, for the majority of Chinese history, most people - or at least most people who left behind written records - were both Confucian and Taoist.
There are also various blends of religions in South Asia, including Sufism, Sikhism (both Islam + Hinduism), various schools of Hinduism + Buddhism, and Navayana Buddhism (Buddhism + Marxism). Mentioning these to fundamentalists of any of the pure religions is not recommended.
It really depends on who your friend is, and who they are trying to defenf against.
If the US ( or Russian / Chinese) government really wants to access an internet-connected device, they can do it; what app you are using doesn’t even matter. For example, most people use the default Google keyboard, which could be compromised.
If the concern is about local goons / employers / coworkers, then both Telegram and Signal are more than enough to stop them prying.
As for whether to use Signal or Telegram, Signal has end to end encryption enabled by default, while in Telegram you have to switch it on for each chat. On the other hand, Telegram has the best UI among messaging apps hands down.
When modern-day Ukraine was formed in 1990, it was majority Ukrainian, but with a sizable Russian (and smaller Romanian and Polish) minority. Over the next twenty or so years, this minority voted for parties and politicians that favoured stronger ties with Russia. In contrast, ethnic Ukrainians supported joining (or at least aligning with) the EU. This conflict came to a head in 2014, when the pro-Russian government was overthrown by pro-EU protestors. Relations between the two groups have worsened since then, leading to pro-Russian militants seizing power in the (Russian majority) Donbass and Crimea, and joining Russia.
Bangladesh is a very populous country that lies almost entirely at sea level, and the Ganga and Brahmaputra flood at least once a year. The problem isn’t not being able to swim in calm water. The best swimmer in the world would still die if he got caught in one of those currents.
Ah yes, the French Revolution …
THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror … A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/989759-there-were-two-reigns-of-terror-if-we-would-but
As far as we know we have not found the colonialism gene, and there is no evidence that Europeans are somehow genetically different at this locus. So we can, at least for now, ignore the possibility that Europeans are inherently evil, or predisposed towards colonialism. Rather, the actions of any people must be understood as a consequence of their circumstances and culture.
White people are not only the beneficiaries of the colonialism that has already happened, they are often also the beneficiaries of colonialism that is currently happening. The CIA didn’t coup random Central American countries because they were bored. The IMF and World Bank don’t give loans to African countries for humanitarian reasons.
I feel that the same principles that govern other animals should apply, more or less, to humans too. Although it might be more appropriate to compare human societies to populations of social animals (such as ant colonies or beehives) than to different species.
I think the difference is that historically China had excellent agricultural land, a relatively modern and stable economy, and was surrounded by poorer and less advanced countries. So people had all the resources they wanted, and had little incentive to go far away. In contrast, Europe was fragmented, with Scotland, the Netherlands and Portugal actually having poor / too little land, and so there was a push for both raw materials and markets.