China has been buying and stealing south africa piece by piece for decades. land, mines, politicians. Everything. This will have very negative consequences for all of sa.

They are not defending their boundaries. This is just going to feed the other beast. This just cuts off americas influence on SA, and lets china go full hog into it. This was just they were waiting for.

He sounds like hes trying to demo what he wants to happen in other places. Normalise the conversation, break the standards. If its part of the dialogue now, it isnt that far fetched if it happens in the future. “We can do it too” “they did it first”

Its not subtle. Its a game plan. Its disgusting, but that is exactly whats happening. Same as when he said that the king of england should dissolve parliament. That wont happen, but saying it out loud unfortunately gives it merit. If its part of the conversation, its going to have opinions. Opinions that used to be only said in shadows, can now be said in public. And then they can be pointed to as justification.

He’s looking for precident.

If they can say, look, they did it, we can too. Well now youve got an invitation to snag all the power you can.

Its projection.

I dont dissagree. But for the rest of yall here, the point stands.

Foreign policy is nuanced, multi layered, and gives no shits about your morality. Any of you that boil down the issue to palistine vs israel or race or religion, have no idea whats going on. Two state solutions are just to placate you while wholesale slaughter happens.

This is about power and maintaining it. Always has been. And american, or western dominance in the region as a way to maintain what little peace exists, and not let our adversaries seize that control, is the end sum game.

Im not saying its right. But superpowers and governments do not care about your moral hangups. A hundred thousand dead “someone else” vs a major strategic location means nothing. Appalling, sure, but there is a brutal logic to it.

So nuanced. So brave.

What are you talking about? What is “that”?

Putin, being a clever person, used his own swab for the test.

The qtip was not the revolutionary part of the covid test.

the cotton on the end of a stick is not the most important part of a covid test.

You could… use a different swab.