I’m finishing the last episode of S5 now, and I’ll be fully caught up on this series. Between Afghanistan and Cambodia, China’s willingness to play ball with the US and its agenda is frustrating to learn.
It leaves me wanting to learn more about the Sino/Soviet split. The way this division manifested really aligned China with some dark forces, it would seem.
I also imagine the process of “normalization” with the US plays a huge role in the way this history unfolds as well.
It makes me wonder what they knew about The Khmer Rouge’s operations. I was left with the impression, based on how the history was laid out, that China was aware of just how aggressive and bloody the Khmer Rouge’s policies were.
Something about that stretch of time between 79 and 89 seems to have resulted in a bunch of weird geopolitical stuff.
Need to finish this episode, I guess.
My takeaway so far, having not finished the final episode, is that this is definitely the blowback. No one except, maybe Vietnam, had any interest in the well-being of the Cambodian people, including China and the USSR.
I guess that doesn’t exactly constitute blowback, since the instigators walked away pretty clean from the whole ordeal… Perhaps after 5 seasons, “Blowback” has become more of a title than a directive. This really feels more like an untold history than anything else.
I agree. It calls to mind that proverb “when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.” I think you’re right that this is more an untold history.
Just processing out loud here: it’s useful for getting rid of brainworms as well. Embarrassingly, I sat with the cognitive dissonance of the PRC supporting Pol Pot for a long time before resolving it with the obvious answer of it being wrong and bad, as others have mentioned in this thread. Getting out of that mindset of geopolitical “teams” is rough lol
The geopolitical team mindset is one of the things about Hexbear and more specifically the news mega that rub me the wrong way the most.
The arguments in this thread about the tradeoff between sticking to socialist ideals and sacrificing longevity vs capitulating to the existing order and staying alive are a pattern that plays out in almost any sectarian split.
Yeah, that really sums up my feelings here too. It’s also a good reminder that geopolitical economy can still divide camps, even if they’re supposed to be ideologically aligned.
I think they also mention this in season 1. Blowback is a mindset, a vibe. It’s when the state takes the consequences of its actions to further it’s goals (so Iraq 1 allowing for Iraq 2 is fine actually!).