Trump 2.0 official thread

[HighGround]

Why did my country suddenly stop whining about Egg prices? Or does this only apply to Biden?

 

[name]

Remnants of the previous power balance when American power was undeniably dominant. People listen to the dominant hard power. China has an advantage influencing its own people, of course, but that advantage has to be balanced against the American advantage of globally dominant power, so the effect achieved was that some Chinese became liberalized while most were protected.

This still doesn't answer the question.

This can only explain Chinese people being influenced by foreign media located outside of China's borders.

It cannot explain the success of foreign psyops within China's borders, which you falsely claimed was "easy for a nation to stop with hard power".

We can discuss the rest later. Just address this point first.

 

[manqiangrexue]

This still doesn't answer the question.

Yes it did; you just lacked the common sense to understand.

This can only explain Chinese people being influenced by foreign media located outside of China's borders.

It cannot explain the success of foreign psyops within China's borders, which you falsely claimed was "easy for a nation to stop with hard power".

We can discuss the rest later. Just address this point first.

Information is not sealed away by the local government, right? People can see and read things that creep through the censors. People can get paid and corrupted into spreading enemy propaganda within one's one country, right? The US can pay and train Chinese spies to go back into China and spread its propaganda, right? People can hop the firewall to read things online, right? This is common sense, didn't even think I'd need to tell you.

 

[name]

Yes it did; you just lacked the common sense to understand.

Information is not sealed away by the local government, right? People can see and read things that creep through the censors. People can get paid and corrupted into spreading enemy propaganda within one's one country, right? The US can pay and train Chinese spies to go back into China and spread its propaganda, right? People can hop the firewall to read things online, right? This is common sense, didn't even think I'd need to tell you.

You contradict yourself.

First you say hard power can stop soft power attacks easily within a nation's borders...

Now, you agree with me and admit that hard power cannot stop soft power within a nation's borders easily.

 

[Overbom]

You contradict yourself.

First you say hard power can stop soft power attacks easily within a nation's borders...

Now, you agree with me and admit that hard power cannot stop soft power within a nation's borders easily.

It's simple. China's hard power is still not enough to contend against the US in all domains.

China is chipping away US advantage in various aspects but there is still way to go. Dethroning the world hegemon has always been a slow process

 

[manqiangrexue]

You contradict yourself.

No, you just can't fathom different hard powers working against each other.

First you say hard power can stop soft power attacks easily within a nation's borders...

Hard power control within one's borders presents an asymetric advantage against foreign hard power attempting to gain control of your people. What spread into China is not soft power at all; they were the nonviolent extensions of hard power. Everything I listed above that the US did relied on its hard power through funding and technology.

Now, you agree with me and admit that hard power cannot stop soft power within a nation's borders easily.

No, I don't agree with you. You thought I did because you don't even know what is hard power. You think funding terrorists, training spies is soft power? You think money and technology are soft power? No wonder you think that shit is important LOL You are under the common misconception that hard power is military force and soft power is everything else. That's a very low level mistake.

Hard power fights hard power. The hard power control you exert over your own territory is pitted against the hard power of your enemies. China's hard power control was needed to counter the hard power of American spies, internet warfare, government funded terrorist groups, and the natural affinity of ordinary people worshipping overall superior hard power, which the US dominated in.

There is no such thing as soft power. There is only the nonviolent extension of hard power and just useless begging.

 

[wuguanhui]

To be honest, I was more interested in the angle of "would countries permit a Chinese "USAID" to conduct similar influence operations, or if these countries will ban USAID and all similar agencies from operating in their soil.

The countries I have in mind are the South East Asian ones. I want to see them either: expel USAID influence, or let China to pay off their "independent" media too.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

All those three talking points are literally some of your main talking points. You and your cheerleaders keep repeating this nonsense over and over despite it being shown to be wrong.

hArD PoWeR CaN StOp sOfT PoWeR EaSiLy wItHiN ThEiR OwN BoRdErS.

Explain why the west was able to run psyops all over China and STILL did until usaid pulled funding. It doesn't matter if America had more hard power since China is controlled by Chinese people. According to your own claim, Chinese control should be able to kill any foreign psyops within their borders.

Soft power is defined as the ability to coerce without military force or economic transactions.

Paying fake news propagandists is literally hard power.

There is indeed soft power but that is shit like religion and ideology. You might have seen it on XHS. Did China pay millions of Americans to use the app and expose real conditions in the US? Did China threaten them with J-20? Exactly.

Support for China isn't tied to being paid to support China or being threatened to support China. That is true soft power.

 

[manqiangrexue]

Soft power is defined as the ability to coerce without military force or economic transactions.

Paying fake news propagandists is literally hard power.

There is indeed soft power but that is shit like religion and ideology. You might have seen it on XHS. Did China pay millions of Americans to use the app and expose real conditions in the US? Did China threaten them with J-20? Exactly.

Support for China isn't tied to being paid to support China or being threatened to support China. That is true soft power.

Creating an app like XHS takes technological prowess and that only allows Americans to see what China is like. They fell on China's side because they marvelled at how beautiful and technologically advanced our society is and how powerful our economy is in protecting our citizens' power as consumers. Many countries around the world with lesser economies could not control the inflation and the people became poor when the global economy shook. China protected its citizens from that. This is China's hard power, nothing soft here.

And believe me, if China falters and our economy crashes, those beautiful images of people with carts full of food in a thriving modern metropolis turn into pictures of homeless encampments and beggars/criminals stalking the streets, their support of us will turn into derisive laughter, no matter how friendly we are to them on an app. It is all 100% dependent on hard power and hard power only.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Creating an app like XHS takes technological prowess and that only allows Americans to see what China is like. They fell on China's side because they marvelled at how beautiful and technologically advanced our society is and how powerful our economy is in protecting our citizens' power as consumers. This is China's hard power, nothing soft here.

True but XHS had no business with the US and it is neither the largest nor a technically innovative app. It is a decent app with a moderate user base.

Why aren't Americans in awe at say, Korean Naver? Why did Naver showing pictures of Seoul have not even 0.1% the effect that XHS has on Americans to the degree of them being in shock and angry at their own government, not merely impressed?

Hard power being everything only matters if everyone is 100% rational and the cost of imposing hard power is 0. Nobody is 100% rational and there's always a price for imposing hard power even on a weaker opponent, sometimes ruinously high.