[baybal2]

> This is ridiculous. Do you think China and Russia are operating like an ant colony or something?

As a person who spend near half of my life in both of them, I don't see the statement being far from reality.

Both countries indeed feel quite "aimless," as they are today. Nor Russia, nor China saw any kind of conscious political course setting for two full decades.

I don't see Xi, or Putin having any semblance of a long term plan for their countries, nor having an idea where they are going themselves.

Just like an airplane on autopilot will fly aimlessly until it runs out of fuel, or runs into a mountain, both Xi, and Putin just want their systems to last as much as they can, and if they need to invade few countries to sate primal urges of their polities, they think "so be it"

[fiblye]

I don't know enough about Russia to speak about it, but China's goals are pretty clear. They're aiming to raise the standard of living in China massively, working towards one united and uniform Chinese cultural identity, and spreading Chinese culture around the world through economic and social means. Another big one is trying to earn China respect as a nation and undoing the reputation of being poor, dirty, and being an exporter of junk, and one big way they're aiming for that is through tech exports and scientific research.

The government has clear ideals. The problem is the ways they're going about achieving them and whether some of them (like erasing the separate cultures within their borders) is justifiable.

[baybal2]

> They're aiming to raise the standard of living in China massively

Haha

> working towards one united and uniform Chinese cultural identity,

Haha

Ask any middle class Chinese citizen earning his cup of rice. If you really believe that, lots of Chinese grannies are laughing at you now.

[fiblye]

Ask any Chinese person whether the quality of life is better now than 5 years ago, and they'll say yes. Ask them if it's better than 10 years ago and they'll say of course. Ask a grandma if it's better than 50 years ago, and she'll think you're insane for even doubting that it's better. People have trains, food, houses, and smartphones as a baseline with many taking international trips. A couple decades ago, China was incredibly poor. Their modern lifestyle was unimaginable, which is why the CCP has no trouble maintaining stability.

And China is chipping away at its various cultures and pushing for one Mandarin-speaking Han identity and achieving that goal quite quickly.

I have no clue what point you're trying to make.

[arcticbull]

It's crazy that at the time of the handover, Hong Kong accounted for about 20% of China's GDP. Today, it's just 2.7%

[baybal2]

I can call ten Chinese citizens now, of all walk of life, including non rank holding CPC member, and small time public servants. They will laugh you out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ6UuF85ENA

[ric2b]

> Both countries indeed feel quite "aimless," as they are today. Nor Russia, nor China saw any kind of conscious political course setting for two full decades.

> I don't see Xi, or Putin having any semblance of a long term plan for their countries, nor having an idea where they are going themselves.

I could say the same about the US.

[baybal2]

This is the world we live in today