We can debate which label is most proper to apply, but I think the article is more concerned about what actually happens, no matter how we choose to label it. And how mostly no one gives a fuck.
I’m with Viliam-happy to debate terms/use less hyperbole, but very bad things are happening to Uighurs in Xinjiang right now. The purpose of this post is to encourage people to think of solutions outside of what is currently being done because none of it seems to be working.
This might not be the correct solution, but at the very least folks need to know that it is possible to stop, the terrible things happening right now to people in Xinjiang.
If you believe you can make a positive change in the world, you have some shot at making it happen. If you don’t believe you have a chance, you have no shot.
This is by no means a high percentage play, but when you’re down 25 in the 3rd quarter you better believe and start throwing some deep balls. And sometimes, you’re able to make it happen.
Let’s compare this goal of “stopping genocide in Xinjiang” with, say, the goal of “stopping famine in Yemen”. The Uighurs are governed by a state which is not within the American sphere of influence. Famine in Yemen is the product of a Saudi blockade that is strategically supported by the United States, because it opposes the expansion of the Iranian sphere of influence. It would make slightly more sense to use the NBA to prevent famine in Yemen, since the United States really does have political leverage there. But nothing would actually change unless some faction of America’s powerbrokers decided to change the policy.
(By the way, I don’t actually know that “famine in Yemen” is any more real than “genocide in Xinjiang”. I’m sure they’re having food shortages, but is it actual starvation? I haven’t done the research.)
The “genocide in Xinjiang” is nonexistent, it’s a propagandistic construct manufactured by the enemies of China. To speak of “human rights violations” would at least have some truth, but it still evades the question of why they are occurring. Xinjiang has a history of separatist movements, and in this generation, that includes some jihadists. This is an era of Islamic militance, as events in France and Austria have just reminded us. And Xinjiang is also a crucial node in the development of economic ties between China and the Islamic world; hostile powers like America and India want this to fail. So of course China’s social engineers are there in force, trying to make the troublesome 10% into patriotic consumers or whatever, while police and spies crack down on the real resistance and on foreign subversion.
You may not want to hear this, but the quickest way for repression to end is for Uighur resistance to end. Maybe Turkey and the OIC can negotiate a culturally sensitive compromise. But what role does America have in this situation? Trump had an advisor (Carter Page) who counselled economic and strategic cooperation among Russia, China, and America, but he was an early victim of “Russiagate”. American strategists think promotion of democracy and human rights is a way for the US to gain strategic advantage. America is ideologically opposed to the Chinese system, and strategically opposed to Eurasian integration. You might better spend your time in reforming your own country’s panopticon, while you still can.
We can debate which label is most proper to apply, but I think the article is more concerned about what actually happens, no matter how we choose to label it. And how mostly no one gives a fuck.
Viliam/Mitchell-thank you both for reading!
I’m with Viliam-happy to debate terms/use less hyperbole, but very bad things are happening to Uighurs in Xinjiang right now. The purpose of this post is to encourage people to think of solutions outside of what is currently being done because none of it seems to be working.
This might not be the correct solution, but at the very least folks need to know that it is possible to stop, the terrible things happening right now to people in Xinjiang.
If you believe you can make a positive change in the world, you have some shot at making it happen. If you don’t believe you have a chance, you have no shot.
This is by no means a high percentage play, but when you’re down 25 in the 3rd quarter you better believe and start throwing some deep balls. And sometimes, you’re able to make it happen.
Let’s compare this goal of “stopping genocide in Xinjiang” with, say, the goal of “stopping famine in Yemen”. The Uighurs are governed by a state which is not within the American sphere of influence. Famine in Yemen is the product of a Saudi blockade that is strategically supported by the United States, because it opposes the expansion of the Iranian sphere of influence. It would make slightly more sense to use the NBA to prevent famine in Yemen, since the United States really does have political leverage there. But nothing would actually change unless some faction of America’s powerbrokers decided to change the policy.
(By the way, I don’t actually know that “famine in Yemen” is any more real than “genocide in Xinjiang”. I’m sure they’re having food shortages, but is it actual starvation? I haven’t done the research.)
The “genocide in Xinjiang” is nonexistent, it’s a propagandistic construct manufactured by the enemies of China. To speak of “human rights violations” would at least have some truth, but it still evades the question of why they are occurring. Xinjiang has a history of separatist movements, and in this generation, that includes some jihadists. This is an era of Islamic militance, as events in France and Austria have just reminded us. And Xinjiang is also a crucial node in the development of economic ties between China and the Islamic world; hostile powers like America and India want this to fail. So of course China’s social engineers are there in force, trying to make the troublesome 10% into patriotic consumers or whatever, while police and spies crack down on the real resistance and on foreign subversion.
You may not want to hear this, but the quickest way for repression to end is for Uighur resistance to end. Maybe Turkey and the OIC can negotiate a culturally sensitive compromise. But what role does America have in this situation? Trump had an advisor (Carter Page) who counselled economic and strategic cooperation among Russia, China, and America, but he was an early victim of “Russiagate”. American strategists think promotion of democracy and human rights is a way for the US to gain strategic advantage. America is ideologically opposed to the Chinese system, and strategically opposed to Eurasian integration. You might better spend your time in reforming your own country’s panopticon, while you still can.