I guess it depends whether you're just looking at the damage caused by western imperialism or if you also include the Japanese occupation. China was never completely colonized like India but it's still going to be an astronomically large amount of wealth that they were deprived of by the imperialists. I mean just look at the relative wealth between China and Europe in the pre-colonial era, and then compare that with where China and the West were at in 1948. There was clearly an enormous transfer of wealth that took place in those few centuries, not just from China but from the entire global south to the imperial core. A big chunk of that stolen wealth came just from India and China.

For how much longer though, with energy costs spiraling out of control? Even the US's auto industry is no longer competitive globally, and their energy situation is nowhere near as bad as ours here in Germany.

At this point the German auto industry is coasting forward on pure inertia since it is so big, but the recent mass layoffs and closures of factories have shown that it's only a matter of time until that inertia runs out.

The state will try to prop them up of course as long as they can, because if and when the auto industry implodes the effects on the German economy will be catastrophic. But that will come at the cost of more and more austerity.

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Exactly! Always approach sources with a known history of operating as vectors of disinformation and psychological warfare with extreme skepticism. Always look for evidence and corroboration from reliable sources before taking anything they say at face value. And I would also like to add that this same skepticism and caution should be extended to so-called "OSINT" as well.

The OP has written an excellent piece about this subject. I've been disappointed to see some folks in anti-imperialist circles base geopolitical and military analysis on data put out by these so-called "OSINT" sources with insufficient skepticism as to whether they are really what they claim to be, or why this information in particular has been made available and what narrative those who control the flow of this information are trying to shape.

Too many people still haven't grasped this basic truth: if it's in a pro-Zionist or pro-imperialist publication, it is likely, in some way or another, bullshit. It doesn't necessarily need to be all lies, but it can and very often is a case of twisting half-truths, misleading framing and intentionally deceptive choice of language. The same applies to analysis derived from so-called "OSINT" sources, which can sometimes appear trustworthy but very often are a tool of Zionist and imperialist psychological warfare. It is easier to be deceived than most people think.

I also think some people are just so paranoid about "their side" not being pure enough that they will jump at any opportunity to have their fears validated, because it feels good in a sort of masochistic way to wallow in negativity than risk later disappointment or embarrassment. In my opinion it is the same emotional mechanism that leads to the toxic cycles of alternating defeatism and triumphalism that we observe sometimes in anti-imperialist circles which is not productive but feels more emotionally cathartic than maintaining a sober and level head.

It is either being sabotaged or criminally neglected. Either way the objective result is the same which is the severe decay of the rail transport system that anyone who lives in Germany can and likely has at some point experienced first hand. To deny that this is happening would simply be gaslighting.

Indeed.

Either this was some fash on fash violence or the Russians finally did something based. I'm leaning towards the former. Either way, the world is a better place now.

An outstanding piece! This really is the perfect case study to illustrate how the mainstream media function as an imperialist disnformation laundering network on a systemic level.

Ukraine is run by Nazis. Sorry but you are out of your depth in this conversation. You won't understand why we critically support Russia until you get your basic facts straight and stop listening to the western propaganda around this issue. Even the verbiage you are using is straight out of their propaganda playbook. You are repeating unserious cliche phrases while entirely ignoring the actual reality and history of this conflict.

Listen to the voices of people from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions who actually lived through the Nazi terror bombing. And they were the lucky ones because they are now in liberated territories. Countless Russian speaking Ukrainians continue to be terrorized and abused by Nazi thugs every day, be forced into trenches with a gun at their back, and have their friends and relatives abducted, tortured and murdered in the torture dungeons of the Kiev regime.

I don't even want to get into the whole NATO expansion argument because to me that is secondary. Russia's intervention was not only strategically correct from an anti-imperialist perspective, it was a moral imperative! And i'm tired of mincing words on this issue so i'll say it straight up: The Kiev regime is a terrorist Nazi entity with zero legitimacy that is held up only by Western money and weapons, and through brutal violence, terror and repression. Ukraine as a sovereign state does not exist anymore.

This didn't start in 2022, it started in 2014 when the US and EU orchestrated a coup and installed a puppet regime that launched a war against its own people. They are the aggressors. Russia isn't invading anything, it is liberating a brotherly nation that has been taken over by a Nazi cult and turned into a pawn of imperialist aggression against Russia. Russia is doing in Ukraine what the whole world should be doing in occupied Palestine: stopping a genocide and eliminating a rabid, fascist, out-of-control US proxy regime.

This is the same government that just recently nationalized French owned mining companies. I trust that they know what they are doing here and will do the right thing. After all, China also used foreign investment to develop. The key is always in the details of how it is implemented and how it is handled in the long term.

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