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Reposted by Gabriel Corsetti

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 7d

🙏 💚

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 8d

Sad story. Unfortunately young Chinese don't necessarily realise how dangerous dissent can be until something like this happens. Except, that is, if they are Tibetans or Uyghurs, in which case they know full well.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

‘She didn’t realise how dangerous it was’: London-bound student held in China over Tibet support

Zhang Yadi was due to begin a degree in the UK but the activist vanished on holiday amid tensions over Dalai Lama

www.theguardian.com

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 10d

So true! There are also a few big anti-CCP accounts (some of them also pretty sensationalist and unserious), but there's far more pro-Beijing propaganda, and at least some of it (although not all) is organised by Beijing.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 10d

Crime has gone down, but these same people were already claiming in 2015 that China was incredibly safe, guaranteed. Shaun Rein was probably claiming it in 2005 actually. And describing China as "high trust" is a stretch, yes.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 10d

Also, the guy's example of why America is backward compared to China is just wild. "I was in the Hyatt, and I had to go down to the lobby and queue for 10 minutes JUST FOR A SPOON! The US is doomed." I was in Shenzhen in May by the way, and no robots delivered anything to my room.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 10d

New Shaun Rein diatribe on China's greatness dropped. This is the shills' new favourite talking point, that China has gone from lawless hellhole to super-safe utopia in 10 years. In fact, couriers would also leave packages unattended in front of my door 10 years ago, and no one would take them.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

Qualcuno avverta Travaglio!

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

This is also true of traditional tourist destinations. Bali or Phuket are much better value for money than Hainan when it comes to hotels and eating out. I guess that, according to Rein's logic, Thailand and Indonesia thus have better human rights than China.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

In Beijing there was a lot of bicycle theft, that much is true. But violence and muggings were rare 15 years ago as well. Of course, smaller cities could be somewhat more dangerous.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

There was pickpocketing, it's true, but in my opinion it wasn't that bad, and certainly nowhere near the levels of many European cities. I lived in Beijing for 14 years, and I can think of one foreigner who (possibly) had a phone stolen on the subway.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

As I've argued recently, there's a trend of apologists exaggerating how dangerous China used to be, in order to praise the current government policies. bsky.app/profile/gabr...

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 28d

Recent trend: apologists (whose ranks Angelica Oung has sadly joined) are claiming that China just a few years ago was a terribly dangerous country, full of crime, violence and a complete lack of trust, but in the space of a few years it has become completely safe and a paradise of social cohesion.

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

Yeah, but to be fair China was always relatively safe from that perspective. 15 years ago, a foreigner briefly visiting Shanghai would also have found it extremely safe.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

Yeah, and I don't quite believe couriers leave keys in their motorcycles either. I wouldn't do that in China or anywhere else in the world.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 11d

Shaun Rein's in full gear with his spiel today. Apart from the ridiculousness of equating human rights with stuff being cheap, the "really really nice" Shanghai hotel for $71 a night would probably cost half of that in Bangkok or Saigon. Most of SE Asia is better value for tourists than China.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 12d

I'm afraid X is still way more popular than BlueSky, yes, although it must also have declined.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 12d

Well that's something anyway.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 12d

If people in Britain complain, imagine those from non-English speaking countries when they hear their kids speaking to each other in English.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 12d

My experience corroborates this graph. Levels of engagement on this site have really fallen through the floor. It's like everyone's given up on BlueSky. It was a nice idea, but it's not taking off. I hope I'm wrong.

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 14d

Yeah, but how?

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 15d

Prabowo said them all (Wassalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, Shalom, Om shanti shanti shanti om.
Namo Budaya.) He probably didn't mean it as a Jewish greeting. And yet that's how Jews and Israelis understood it.

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 15d

Speaking to an Indonesian friend, I've just figured out this is a misunderstanding. "Shalom" is considered to be a Christian greeting in Indonesia, and it's sometimes used as a part of a series of greetings that represent the country's different religions.

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 15d

Nice to see the Muslim leader of a major Muslim-majority country end a speech at the UN with Shalom.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

At UN, Indonesian president says guaranteeing Israel’s security is key to peace, ends speech with, ‘Shalom’

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www.timesofisrael.com

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Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 15d

Nice to see the Muslim leader of a major Muslim-majority country end a speech at the UN with Shalom.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

At UN, Indonesian president says guaranteeing Israel’s security is key to peace, ends speech with, ‘Shalom’

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 16d

He points to how EU members’ exports to China now don’t even amount to those to Poland, a nation with a gross domestic product less than 5% of China’s — roughly the economic size of the southwestern province of Sichuan….“ www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Europe’s China Dream Is Over, With Poland Now a Bigger Customer

I’m Chris Anstey, an economics editor in Boston. Today we’re looking at Europe’s changed economic relationship with China. Send us feedback and tips to [email protected]. And if you aren’t yet si...

www.bloomberg.com

Gabriel Corsetti @gabrielcorsetti.bsky.social · 16d

Would be nice to see.
jakartaglobe.id/news/indones...

Indonesia to Recognize Israel if Palestine Gains Independence, Prabowo Tells UN

Prabowo has repeated Indonesia's plan to start diplomatic ties with Israel under the condition that it recognizes a Palestinian state.

jakartaglobe.id

Reposted by Gabriel Corsetti

George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 16d

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