An informal alliance of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea is forcing NATO to tighten links with Indo-Pacific countries.

PATO: The Pacific and Atlantic Treaty Organization

Their cooperation is forcing NATO to build closer ties with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific. For the first time, senior officials from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan took part in a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

They baddies are “forcing” NATO into this. The poor imperial core, being dragged around again. #AlwaysTheSameMap

Citations Needed podcast: The Always Stumbling US Empire: “Stumbling”, “sliding”, “drawn into” war––the media frequently assumes the US is bumbling its way around the world. The idea that the United States operates in “good faith” is taken for granted for most of the American press while war is always portrayed as something that happens to the US, not something it seeks out.

Also, doesn’t “CRINK” already have a name, the Axis of Resistance?

Anyway, death to POTATO.

  • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
    72·
    11 days ago

    Just as a heads up, we don’t like horseshoe theory here, which “authoritarian” falls under. Please refrain from horseshoe theory posting.

    Also, factually, China isn’t a dictatorship. They follow a proletarian democratic model that is significantly distinct from bourgeois democratic models.

    • sandbox@lemmy.world
      82·
      10 days ago

      Hold up - the terms “authoritarian” and “totalitarian” are banned in this community? I have to admit, I think that is an absolutely absurd rule that can only stand to benefit the far-right. Are there alternative terms which are preferred without the ideological baggage outlined below, or are we just meant to not criticise far-right regimes which exert extreme control over their citizens by use of the “””rule of law”””?

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
        51·
        10 days ago

        think that is an absolutely absurd rule that can only stand to benefit the far-right.

        Lol no you can still call fascists fascists. We are just asking you to use more accurate language.

    • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
      86·
      11 days ago

      Oh please, you can’t just decide that a term falls under a theory you disagree with and then disregard it out of hand.

      The term “authoritarian” might be used in horseshoe theory but it is not defined by horseshoe theory. The term has its own meaning independent of horseshoe theory.

      You’re just playing Calvinball to redefine and then exclude words you don’t like.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
        72·
        11 days ago

        When people say authoritarianism it is reliably synonymous with totalitarianism as defined by Hannah Arendt, which is basically horseshoe theory, where fascism and communism are equivalated.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism#Examples

        There is no one consensus definition of authoritarianism, but several annual measurements are attempted, including Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report. Some countries such as Venezuela, among others, that are currently or historically recognized as authoritarian did not become authoritarian upon taking power or fluctuated between an authoritarian, flawed democracy, and hybrid regime due to periods of democratic backsliding or democratization. Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia are often regarded as the most infamous examples of “totalitarian” systems. Some countries such as China and various fascist regimes have also been characterized as totalitarian, with some periods being depicted as more authoritarian, or totalitarian, than others.

        Hannah Arendt came from a wealthy family and was unsurprisingly anti-communist. Her work was financially supported and promoted by the CIA. The CIA and the Cultural Cold War Revisited

        U.S. and European anticommunist publications receiving direct or indirect funding included Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, New Leader, Encounter and many others. Among the intellectuals who were funded and promoted by the CIA were Irving Kristol, Melvin Lasky, Isaiah Berlin, Stephen Spender, Sidney Hook, Daniel Bell, Dwight MacDonald, Robert Lowell, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, and numerous others in the United States and Europe. In Europe, the CIA was particularly interested in and promoted the “Democratic Left” and ex-leftists, including Ignacio Silone, Stephen Spender, Arthur Koestler, Raymond Aron, Anthony Crosland, Michael Josselson, and George Orwell.

        The authoritarian states are whichever states the Council on Foreign Relations deems authoritarian this month. It just means “governments that Global North capitalists want regime changed,” and that’s usually because the authoritarian government is blocking their access to neocolonial profit-making.