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.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    9 hours ago

    A large part of Chinese marxist scholarship, is analyzing the reasons for the USSR’s downfall. Some of the big ones are:

    • Being the anchor and banker for other revolutionary projects, which puts a considerable strain on your economy.
    • Getting directly involved and taking sides in international disputes, which forces you into an arms race and alienates trade partners.
    • Not opening up to the world economy, especially with the goal of drawing science and technology from the richer countries.

    Of course both the PRC and USSR had some major foreign policy mistakes, but the PRC since Mao has continued to be non-interventionist overall.