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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: May 10th, 2022

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  • How South Korea’s Robust Protest Culture Shut Down Martial Law—For Now – [Archived version]

    A surge in dramas and literature dealing with the country’s political trauma has helped older generations keep the memory of autocracy fresh.

    Back in September, amid simmering tensions between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the country’s parliament, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung issued a warning: Yoon and his allies were preparing to declare martial law.

    The claim was roundly dismissed as alarmist, the irresponsible stuff of conspiracy theories—even by some of Lee’s supporters. But the warning was prescient. On Tuesday, Yoon shocked the world by carrying out exactly what had been warned, declaring that martial law was necessary to save South Korea from “anti-state forces.”

    The action instantly prompted scenes of chaos to unfold, with stunned lawmakers, and thousands of ordinary citizens, mobilizing to protest the declaration. Hours later, a unanimous parliamentary vote forced Yoon to back down. Still, his fate remains uncertain. Many are increasingly concerned that Yoon could reinstate martial law once more. Meanwhile, immense crowds continue to gather in Seoul, demanding Yoon’s removal.



  • Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won’t change the world for the better.

    I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.


  • @LukeZaz

    There aren’t a lot of Chinese citizenry here. But there are a lot of Americans. It so follows that it makes sense to criticize the U.S. more, because many people on Beehaw can actually do something about it, especially in aggregate.

    I agree that there are most likely more Americans (or other ‘Westerners’) here than Chinese, yet there are many tankies here with alt accounts on Beehaw. It is them who spread the Chinese propaganda, criticizing the West in general while being silent on China.


  • @thingsiplay

    Because another countries takes away freedom and eliminates the free market, makes it a non argument if the US does the same? The US is doing the same what China does.

    If so, why then haven’t you long been criticizing China the same way you do now the US? Where are these posts?

    (Just to say that: The US, China, EU, and all the others can ban Tiktok, Twitter, FB, and all the centralized data collectors. I wouldn’t miss any of them, and I think it would be better for the world. But the hypocrisy here in this thread is very telling.)


  • I think Tiktok is much worse. It’s about a foreign country whose government is pursuing a dictatorial policy trying to interfere in foreign elections (again, look at Romania, for example).

    The argument of FB collaborating with the US gov is true I guess, but isn’t valid here. China is doing the same, the Chinese government is banning the Western version of Tiktok, too, let alone all other non-Chinese apps. So the ‘free market’-argument doesn’t make any sense here, it’d be even hypocritical.
















  • Update: After the 4th night of profests that saw Georgians stand again against their government’s tear gas and water cannons, a new report says that 80% of protesters who were detained were being subjected to violence and mistreatment by the police..

    Meanwhile, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Telegram that Georgia was “moving rapidly along the Ukrainian path, into the dark abyss. Usually this sort of thing ends very badly.”

    “Of course not,” Medvedev told journalists when questioned about whether the ruling Georgian Dream party would agree to hold a new vote as demanded by the country’s president, opposition, and the European Parliament.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said Monday that Russia views parallels between events in Georgia and those in 2013 and 2014 in Ukraine when a wave of protests was triggered by the then pro-Russian president’s decision not to sign an association agreement with the EU.

    It’s time that Western democracies understand that this is not about Ukraine and Georgia, but on democracy. Putin and his fellow dictators around the globe won’t back down until they are completely defeated. Any ‘appeasement policy’ towards Russia will be like a time travel to the 1938 Europe imo.