[fao_]

It's almost like the political thoughs of a leader of most other countries aside from America, are complex and can't really be effectively summed up in a short article about the manufacturing of a ballpoint pen.

Also, by 'they' do you mean all of China or just Xi?

[deogeo]

> It's almost like the political thoughs of a leader of most other countries aside from America, are complex and can't really be effectively summed up in a short article

A nice way of saying "hypocrisy is politically useful, especially if you're not called out on it".

[fao_]

Not really. Supporting globalism doesn't implicitly lock you in to believing that every single item that a country makes should be produced in several thousand globe-spanning factories.

(Sidenote: globalism is a positive move for the proletariat and means that strikes are several orders of magintude much more effective (See: Marxism at the Millennium by Cliff, chapter four))

[deogeo]

So when China acts protectionist, this is OK and in tune with free-trade globalism, because globalism "doesn't lock you in to believing every item should be produced internationally."

But when they accuse the US of that very same protectionism, this is not hypocritical, because of complex and nuanced reasons. Do I understand that correctly?

[fao_]

How is producing a single pen using solely the labour of residents of China 'protectionist'.

Can you explain where I have accused the US of being protectionist?