soulless

Whether it's China or really anything, I'd agree to being critical of any claims made without proper context, yet the context here is the massacre and subsequent cover-up perpetrated by the Chinese government following peaceful protests on the Tiananmen square.

Meeting that with whataboutisms and vague excuses is disrespectful towards the victims full stop.

Being a socialist should be easy, because truth is on our side. It should be easy to point to Tiananmen square and say "this is what happens when the ruling class feels threatened", just like you can say the same thing when the US government busts their unions or murders their black citizens. Being an unquestioning supporter of either of these regimes is not what socialism is to me, and it never was. I just don't understand how anyone can reconcile these opposing views in their heads.

A signitory yes, but not a party to the conflict. Russia denied being that, and under point 10 they denied having any forces inside Ukraine so could not be asked to withdraw.

Schrödinger's party if you will; not there for any responsibility, there to claim foul play when the other guys refuse to play along with your charade.

At best you could argue that none of the parties adhered to the agreement, but regardless the full scale invasion of a neighbouring country, the rape and wanton murder perpetrated by the VDV/capitalist murder brigades under Prigozhin, the kidnapping and forced relocation of the Ukrainian children in occupied territories and let's not forget threats of all out nuclear war is so far beyond any perceived slight under the Minsk agreement that any reference to it is just comical at this point.

If you really want to hit them, just make a concerted effort to request GDPR data for your user. It's perfectly legal, it costs them time and money, and it may also actually benefit you to know what kind of data reddit collects about you.

At some point, it may even become a nice tool, say if someone creates a way to import that data into e.g. the fediverse or tilde or something similar.

For anyone interested, this is the page: https://www.reddit.com/settings/data-request. Just log in, select GDPR and request data for your "full time at Reddit".

Having been a life long socialist myself, it's a bit mystifying to me how anyone can believe that the atrocities commited by the US somehow makes the PRC or Russia in any way deserving of praise.

For sure I'd like more people to call out the American genocide of its natives, or honor the heroes that fought for their emancipation during the time of chattel slavery.

But I'll be damned if any of those atrocities will make me defend the human suffering caused by the Chinese or Russian regimes. To me, being a socialist means standing up for the little guy, judging a society by how we care for those who have the least. The only us vs them struggle there is, is the one between the working and the ruling class - not the one between east and west. Idolising Zedong only puts another Emperor on a pedestal. I say fuck them all, western or eastern rulers and billionaires, they're the real enemies of a social and equal world.

It's hard for me to discuss something when it seems like we can't even agree on basic facts.

Ukraine being the aggressor due to breaking the Minsk agreement is just so far from what I perceive as reality that I'm not even sure what kinds of mental gymnastics I would have to perform to even understand your basic assumptions.

Did not Russia deny even being a party to the agreement, which in turn was a major blockage for its success? How can someone who by their own words are not even a party be wronged or have their hands forced into action? And if they're a outside third party to the conflict, how is Russia interfering any different from say France interfering or even the US?

I think we're so far apart not only in what we see as facts, but also our reasons for engaging in discussion that I think I'll just leave it at that. Thank you for the discussion, and have a pleasant evening.

I am a bit worried that you're not arguing in good faith, since I struggle to see how anyone can believe that Ukraine was the one to break the various points agreed upon in Minsk II. In fact a major blockage has been Russia's insistence that they're not even a party, so how Ukraine could have somehow broken an agreement towards a country who by their own words aren't a party demands some leaps in logic that I struggle to follow.

Since I don't see us agreeing on even basic facts, I'd just like to thank you for the discussion and leave it at that.

First of all, my suggestion was that it'd be up to them. If Ukraine and Russia are OK with PRC acting as mediator that's really all there is to it. My point was that PRC aren't necessarily neutral.

Secondly, a peace doesn't necessarily mean less people dead in the long run, Russia has shown how little regard they have for civilian lives, and their imperialistic posturing begs the question as to who would be next? Moldova perhaps?

As an allegory, consider that you have a neighbour who believes he should be entitled to taking the eldest of your three children and half of your house. Would a good mediator then suggest that your neighbour should only get 25% of your house and perhaps your youngest child? I think not, and I think that's more or less the position Ukraine has when it comes to their territorial integrity. I'm sure they're open to debate NATO membership as well as keeping Sevastopol open, but they have been rather firm that they will not discuss any option involving concession of land to Russia, and I don't think you, the PRC or anyone else are in a position to judge them for that.

I would ask them, but I would guess a delegation from the African Union or possibly a south american coalition would be as close to neutral as can be.

Please enlighten me

China has supplied drones and more than likely advanced technology like semi-conductors and equipment meant for operating radar systems/weapons guidance and similar. Some of this is not "official" support, in the sense that civilian Chinese companies are supplying drones, however this is certainly being used for military purposes within Ukraine. Whether or not this can be proven 100% is less important, since the appearance of bias is as detrimental to neutrality as actual bias.

With regards to the economic incentive, Chinese trade has increased by 30% since the invasion began, making China by far the most important trading partner for Russia.

Now, I am making no judgement as to the morality of this and I am certainly not making any pro US arguments, I am just pointing out that painting China as a neutral part here is disingenuous, they absolutely have interests that align more closely with their good friend and trading partner Russia vs. helping Ukraine and the rest of Europe reach any goals they might have.

Second I don’t see how the US has the ability to be taken charitably any more

That's fine and I understand the sentiment (although as a rhetorical device, I find the "principle of charity" to be worthwhile and helpful towards mutual understanding), however I don't think this makes either Russia or China any better - they just might all be a bunch of evil bastards :)

Is this really true though? A neutral third party would not supply weapons or have any economic incentive to the outcome of the conflict, which China plainly does have. I'm not saying the US or really any NATO country is in a better position, however saying China is only interested in peace and are a neutral third party is disingenuous.

And as to what Blinken is saying, that's something Ukraine has been saying since the invasion began. Sure it's not his place, however if you interpret it charitably, it could also be construed as supporting the stance of your ally in the face of pressure towards an agreement they don't really want.

There are some subs that I'd rather see dead, and some that are just amazing, just based on their moderation and communities. r/fantasy is a shining beacon of light in an otherwise dark world, and with it a lot of the sister communities like WoT, Stormlight_archive and similar. They all have a positive feel, including and fair with just enough moderation without becoming heavy handed.

So in a sense it's not so much the content, but rather the community itself that I'd love to see persisting beyond reddit.

While the Polish justice system has undeniably been corrupted by their conservative PiS party (who did a purge of their judges a few years back), this seems more of an incompetence issue than an attempt to silence opposing views.

They're definitely doing that too, but in this case I'm leaning more towards "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". Of course it doesn't exactly help Pablo that they have a bunch of far right judges.