38 minutes ago, Woke to Sounds said:

Just more gaslighting / Newspeak from the devil muppets.

Makes it sound all cuddly and nice.

Its basically a new term "smart authoritarianism" for 2025.The left makes it sound all cuddly and nice for the CCP leader for life.

Google ai overview:

"Jennifer Lind's 2025 book

Autocracy 2.0: How China’s Rise Reinvented Tyranny

, published by Cornell University Press, introduces the concept of "smart authoritarianism" to describe how the Chinese Communist Party manages the "king's dilemma" – the tension between political control and economic growth"

In their January 2023 Journal of Democracy article, USA's Threat to Democracy, scholars Michael Beckley and Hal Brands explain that the Republican party (aided by the Heritage Foundation) is fanatically working to corrupt and destabilize the USA's own democracy, in order to make the USA safe for autocracy.

Can you imagine a (sic) autocratic rule where a single leader (Trump) or a tiny elite (Heritage Foundation) holds absolute, unchecked power, issuing illegal executive orders, limiting voting rights, silencing critics (Jimmy Kimmel, South park, CNN et al) controlling the flow of information through broadcasters (Fox News), and shaping every aspect of public life without meaningful accountability to the people?

Welcome to the golden age of the USA.

On 2/13/2026 at 5:10 PM, BritManToo said:

Yes, I've found the MSM China repression hate stories to be entirely wrong from my personal experience.

I would have believed those stories if I had never visited there.

Complete BS, as usual. Try to send a message in China about democracy or simply mentioning Winnie the Poo on Chinese social media! 😃

38 minutes ago, riclag said:

Its basically a new term "smart authoritarianism" for 2025.The left makes it sound all cuddly and nice for the CCP leader for life.

Google ai overview:

"Jennifer Lind's 2025 book

Autocracy 2.0: How China’s Rise Reinvented Tyranny

, published by Cornell University Press, introduces the concept of "smart authoritarianism" to describe how the Chinese Communist Party manages the "king's dilemma" – the tension between political control and economic growth"

Baseless rant. The strong economic, scientific and technological development shows that, unlike the previous autocratic type (Mao), this autocracy has been smart. And also smarter than the Russian autocracy.

On 2/13/2026 at 1:47 PM, riclag said:

In their January 2023 Journal of Democracy article, China’s Threat to Global Democracy, scholars Michael Beckley and Hal Brands explain that the Chinese Communist Party is fanatically working to corrupt and destabilize democracies worldwide ,not just to defend its own rule, but to make the world safe for autocracy.

Can you imagine a autocratic rule where a single leader or a tiny elite holds absolute, unchecked power,deciding laws, silencing critics, controlling the flow of information, and shaping every aspect of public life without meaningful accountability to the people?

Yes, I can look at Trump.

The USA is leading for decades in destabilizing democracies.

TBH China’s Threat to Global Democracy is minimal today, compared to what some other countries are demonstrating.

25 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Yes, I can look at Trump.

The USA is leading for decades in destabilizing democracies.

I suppose the people of China are wonderful ,unfortunately, the CCP's Cultural Revolution to control the country is a nightmare on Elm Street in comparison to 250 years of American freedom, liberty, and constitutional democracy.

14 hours ago, riclag said:

At this stage in global politics, I believe the international left has gone full supportive of communism, far beyond the common sense and free market institutions that once defined mainstream liberal or progressive thought, it doesn't get anymore far left than that.

It's right-wing posters who are lauding China's political system on this thread! 🤣

9 minutes ago, candide said:

Complete BS, as usual. Try to send a message about democracy or simply mentioning Winnie the Poo on Chinese social media! 😃

47 minutes ago, candide said:

It's right-wing posters who are lauding China's political system on this thread! 🤣

I'm a Marxist ........

China is a great place.

Russia would probably be a great place if it wasn't so cold.

15 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I'm a Marxist ........

China is a great place.

Russia would probably be a great place if it wasn't so cold.

Which party do you support in your country?

17 minutes ago, candide said:

Which party do you support in your country?

Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party.

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party.

And now? Among current parties?

3 hours ago, riclag said:

250 years of American freedom, liberty, and constitutional democracy.

Tell that the Native Americans, who have been robbed of their land, resources. Put in reservations and nowadays are rounded up by ICE.

What about the slavery?

What about blacks being discriminated and murdered by the KKK?

What about the hostile actions to Asian people in the USA?

Tell that the Native Americans, who have been robbed of their land, resources. Put in reservations and nowadays are rounded up by ICE.

What about the slavery?

What about blacks being discriminated and murdered by the KKK?

What about the hostile actions to Asian people in the USA?

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Tell that the Native Americans, who have been robbed of their land, resources. Put in reservations and nowadays are rounded up by ICE.

What about the slavery?

What about blacks being discriminated and murdered by the KKK?

What about the hostile actions to Asian people in the USA?

Native Americans? Robbed of land, resources, herded onto reservations? Yeah, brutal. But they weren't U.S. citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Enslaved Africans (and descendants) were property, not citizens.

Those accusations you love to trot out, Mostly non citizens with zero constitutional protections.

Now flip to the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), 1.5 million Chinese citizens,your own people,purged, beaten, starved, or suicided in a decade of Mao's Red Guard chaos. Direct state terror.

KKK was Dem party reared .

U.S. stains on citizens? Low tens of thousands spread over 250 years,tragic, but contained by the very Constitution you hate. CCP on its citizens? Millions in 10 years, "smart authoritarianism" edition.

16 hours ago, riclag said:

Native Americans? Robbed of land, resources, herded onto reservations? Yeah, brutal. But they weren't U.S. citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Enslaved Africans (and descendants) were property, not citizens.

Those accusations you love to trot out, Mostly non citizens with zero constitutional protections.

Now flip to the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), 1.5 million Chinese citizens,your own people,purged, beaten, starved, or suicided in a decade of Mao's Red Guard chaos. Direct state terror.

KKK was Dem party reared .

U.S. stains on citizens? Low tens of thousands spread over 250 years,tragic, but contained by the very Constitution you hate. CCP on its citizens? Millions in 10 years, "smart authoritarianism" edition.

Mao killed more people than Hitler or Stalin.

However, Mao was not "smart" authoritarism. No one claimed that! 🤣

One party, one leader. the CCP. A dream /utopian world for the far left who encourage Government to control every aspect of societal norms. Old radical ideas(autocracy) never die.

google ai overview:

"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operates as the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China, enforcing a system of "one party, one leader, one ideology" under General Secretary Xi Jinping. Since 2012, Xi has consolidated power, removing presidential term limits in 2018 and elevating his ideology into the party constitution, establishing absolute control over the party, military, and state".

"Under communism, individuals are merely a means to be used toward the achievement of the ends of the collective nation state. Thus, individuals can be easily sacrificed for the nation state’s goals.  Individuals do not have inherent value under Marxism-Leninism. They exist to serve the state; the state does not exist to serve them".

https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/the-chinese-communist-partys-ideology-and-global-ambitions/

On 2/16/2026 at 9:12 PM, riclag said:

Native Americans? Robbed of land, resources, herded onto reservations? Yeah, brutal. But they weren't U.S. citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

Enslaved Africans (and descendants) were property, not citizens.

Those accusations you love to trot out, Mostly non citizens with zero constitutional protections.

Now flip to the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), 1.5 million Chinese citizens,your own people,purged, beaten, starved, or suicided in a decade of Mao's Red Guard chaos. Direct state terror.

KKK was Dem party reared .

U.S. stains on citizens? Low tens of thousands spread over 250 years,tragic, but contained by the very Constitution you hate. CCP on its citizens? Millions in 10 years, "smart authoritarianism" edition.

Jeez, "they weren't citizens". They were living there, you stole the land and declared a country.

15 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Jeez, "they weren't citizens". They were living there, you stole the land and declared a country.

But if we're talking threat to global democracy today, one system has a Constitution that lets people debate its sins openly (and fix some); the other jails/censors/disappears critics while exporting authoritarian control.

9 minutes ago, riclag said:

But if we're talking threat to global democracy today, one system has a Constitution that lets people debate its sins openly (and fix some)

That was a couple of years ago.

Now you have a government who doesn't give a <deleted> about the constitution.

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

That was a couple of years ago.

Now you have a government who doesn't give a <deleted> about the constitution.

It doesn't murder millions of it citizens .

Chinese citizens in just 10 years. No constitutional checks, no independent courts, no free press to expose or stop it,just state backed Red Guards, beatings, forced suicides, and factional massacres, to consolidate absolute power.

When the USA gets to that point of "smart authoritarianism" ,absolute ,1 potus for life ,one party, let me know.

Just now, riclag said:

It doesn't murder millions of it citizens .

Chinese citizens in just 10 years. No constitutional checks, no independent courts, no free press to expose or stop it,just state backed Red Guards, beatings, forced suicides, and factional massacres, to consolidate absolute power.

When the USA gets to that point of autocracy ,1 potus for life ,one party, let me know.

Guantanamo, does it ring a bell? People locked up for years without seeing a lawyer,

People kidnapped from their country and brought to CIA black sites all over the world to get tortured.

21 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Guantanamo, does it ring a bell? People locked up for years without seeing a lawyer,

People kidnapped from their country and brought to CIA black sites all over the world to get tortured.

How many millions did that involve?

Condemn Guantanamo and black sites fully. But don't use them to equate or excuse the CCP's far larger, ongoing citizen killing machine and global authoritarian export.

On 2/15/2026 at 10:54 PM, MIke B Bad said:

In their January 2023 Journal of Democracy article, USA's Threat to Democracy, scholars Michael Beckley and Hal Brands explain that the Republican party (aided by the Heritage Foundation) is fanatically working to corrupt and destabilize the USA's own democracy, in order to make the USA safe for autocracy.

Can you imagine a (sic) autocratic rule where a single leader (Trump) or a tiny elite (Heritage Foundation) holds absolute, unchecked power, issuing illegal executive orders, limiting voting rights, silencing critics (Jimmy Kimmel, South park, CNN et al) controlling the flow of information through broadcasters (Fox News), and shaping every aspect of public life without meaningful accountability to the people?

Welcome to the golden age of the USA.

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands are misguided in their views. The critics of Trump are either silenced or living in fear, and voting rights have been compromised. Right? This reflects the absurd level of discourse that the left considers serious thought.

On 2/16/2026 at 4:14 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Tell that the Native Americans, who have been robbed of their land, resources. Put in reservations and nowadays are rounded up by ICE.

What about the slavery?

What about blacks being discriminated and murdered by the KKK?

What about the hostile actions to Asian people in the USA?

Slavery ended in 1865.

The KKK has pretty much been destroyed.

Who exactly is being hostile to Asians?

On 2/13/2026 at 1:47 PM, riclag said:

In their January 2023 Journal of Democracy article, China’s Threat to Global Democracy, scholars Michael Beckley and Hal Brands explain that the Chinese Communist Party is fanatically working to corrupt and destabilize democracies worldwide ,not just to defend its own rule, but to make the world safe for autocracy.

Can you imagine a autocratic rule where a single leader or a tiny elite holds absolute, unchecked power,deciding laws, silencing critics, controlling the flow of information, and shaping every aspect of public life without meaningful accountability to the people?

https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/chinas-threat-to-global-democracy/#:~:text=In%20*China's%20Threat%20to%20Global%20Democracy*%2C%20Michael,silence%20free%20speech%20far%20beyond%20its%20borders.

The story is based on a journal of democracy.org article

This text should be decoded using the key phrase:

"I used to think that democracy was the power of the people. But Tovarisch Roosevelt explained to me that it is the power of the American people", - Joseph Stalin

23 minutes ago, zmisha said:

This text should be decoded using the key phrase:

"I used to think that democracy was the power of the people. But Tovarisch Roosevelt explained to me that it is the power of the American people", - Joseph Stalin

So decode this: Which is the bigger threat to actual people power today one system that lets us argue about maleficence (no matter how bad it is ) openly, or one that disappears critics and exports control? Beckley/Brands lay out CCP evidence. Wow you bring up another communist killer of citizens, Stalin,how many did his state kill ,never mind I got it ,low ball figure,

google ai overview:

"Modern scholarship, utilizing declassified Soviet archives, generally places the number of directly caused deaths (executions, gulag, and forced famine) between 6 million and 9 million",

What about all the power in the hands of american run Google ? or some other social media ? they have enough information to topple any government not to mention any individual. I think they are a bigger threat then China.

12 hours ago, Fact said:

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands are misguided in their views. The critics of Trump are either silenced or living in fear, and voting rights have been compromised. Right? This reflects the absurd level of discourse that the left considers serious thought.

Stuff like this is not serious?.....hmm

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/stephen-colbert-cbs-james-talarico-fcc-rcna259341

7 hours ago, MIke B Bad said:

Stuff like this is not serious?.....hmm

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/stephen-colbert-cbs-james-talarico-fcc-rcna259341

Be afraid,