Comments by "Geoff Lepper" (@geofflepper3207) on "Macron's China Controversy Explained" video.

@johansmifthelry9307 it is very possible that if France had not assisted Washington's revolutionary forces then the United States would not have become independent at that time but it is not credible to say that the United States would still be a British colony today. Almost all of Britain's former colonies have now been independent for over 60 years and some such as Canada and Australia have been independent much longer than that and given its much larger population it is very likely that the United States would have become independent even earlier than Canada and Australia did. Not that I buy into the American myth that the American revolution was about freedom and liberty. The American revolution was about power and money which wealthy people like Washington wanted without being controlled by British laws and without paying British taxes regardless of what the British had done to benefit their colonies in America. In particular Washington and others were upset with new British laws that banned them from interfering in Indigenous territories, a restriction which was a danger to Washington's business interests.
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@dengist8172 after 75 years we can keep the illusion thst Taiwan is part of China even though it has been united with China for only about 4 years in the past 150 years and has never been part of or connected to communist China - not even for a second. But that doesn't change the fact that it is a completely different political entity than mainland communist China and should only unite with mainland China if a significant majority of people in Taiwan support that in a democratic referendum (something that seems highly unlikely) and if a significant majority of people on mainland China support that in a democratic referendum (something that seems even less likely as there have not been any democratic votes of any kind in mainland China since 1949). And we should remember at all times that whereas the leaders of Taiwan have credibility and legitimacy as representatives of the Chinese people because they were elected in democratic elections the leaders of communist China have no credibility and no legitimacy as representatives of the Chinese people because they have never been elected in democratic elections. They're just a gang of thugs who took over by the use of violence and who rule and oppress Chinese people by the use of force and violence and if they launched an invasion of Taiwan it would just be an attempt by this gang of thugs to use violence to gain control over more Chinese people and then to control and oppress those Chinese people by the use of force and violence just as they do in mainland China. Anyone who cares about the Chinese people would be horrified at the prospect of the gang of thugs invading Taiwan and then oppressing more Chinese people and would appreciate any efforts by any country to help the Chinese people of Taiwan to remain free of being taken over by the thugs running communist China. Don't you care about Chinese people at all? Why not?
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@danielhalachev4714 well for one thing countries in Africa and South America suffered horribly under European imperialism and colonialism so it would be reasonable for them to want to do what they can to help Ukraine soundly defeat Europe's last imperialist colonialist empire - Russia. A devastating defeat for Russia's imperialist forces might convince Russia (which keeps getting away with unprovoked genocidal imperialist invasions of other countries) that it's time for Russia to settle down like a normal country and give up on imperialist empire building and that would be the end of European imperialism and colonialism which would be a day to celebrate for people in Africa, South America and other places that suffered through European colonialism (with the exception of all the people in Asia who still live under the occupation of the Russian empire). . As well helping Ukraine win and achieve peace is of critical importance to people in Africa and in South America and other places because Putin's unprovoked war in Ukraine has devastated Ukrainian food exports and caused many vulnerable people around the world to struggle to pay higher food prices or to find food at all. Even this year many Ukrainian farmers can't grow crops because their fields are littered with land mines and unexploded bombs. That can't be fixed until Ukraine wins the war and Ukrainian refugees can return home and Ukrainian men can go back to their regular jobs and damaged farm equipment and buildings can be repaired or replaced and fields can be cleared of mines and unexploded bombs.
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@_Bjornfot in the past 3 decades Imperialist Russia launched at least 5 previous unprovoked genocidal invasions of other countries intended to steal territory from those countries and each time western countries said "That's ok. Let Russia keep the territory it wanted to steal. That will satisfy them and we can then have peace. Let's avoid war" and every time such a strategy did not lead to peace - it just emboldened Russia's terrorist imperialist Regime to launch another unprovoked genocidal invasion to steal land away from another country. It would be naive to think that the strategy that has backfired at least 5 previous times would work if tried a 6th time in response to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Just let Russia keep the land it stole once again and Russia will respond exactly the same way as it has the past 5 times - by launching another unprovoked genocidal invasion once Russia has rebuilt its military equipment and supplies. The only way to achieve real long lasting peace is for Russia to learn a lesson by losing the war badly and completely.
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@dillianwhyte443 though Hitler did declare war on the United States before the United States declared war on Germany. Presumably even if Hitler did not declare war on the United States Roosevelt would have declared war on Germany anyway.
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@ausoleil8269 that is a good question. The discussion about Macron's statements haven't really distinguished between the possibility that Europe sends military supplies to Taiwan and the possibility that Europe sends troops to defend Taiwan. And even for the United States it has never been explained clearly why the country is willing to send troops to fight against invaders from nuclear armed China but not to send troops to Ukraine to defend against invaders from nuclear armed Russia.
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cheveuxjaunes2782 Australian troops fought in South Africa in the Boer War, at Gallipoli in Turkey in WW1 and in northern Africa in WW2 (among other places). Canadian troops fought in South Africa in the Boer War, in Europe in WW1 and in Hong Kong in WW2 (among other places). We can argue about whether it made sense for Australians and Canadians to have fought in the Boer War and WW1 but I don't think it's unreasonable to consider the possibility that democratic countries might want to help another democratic country defend itself against an unprovoked invasion by forces from a country run by a brutal dictatorship, no matter where in the world such an invasion is occurring.
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@noahway13 I've heard the claim that one reason why Hitler invaded the Soviet Union when he did was because he believed that Stalin was preparing to invade Romania thus taking control of the region that supplied much of Germany's oil and thought that it was best to attack first when he would have the element of surprise. As far as what I have read there is dispute about whether Stalin was planning to attack Romania and/or Germany. And currently Stalin seems to be unavailable for interviews to clear up this dispute.
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@peterwang5272 if the leaders of communist China want to reunite China under the leadership of the government of Taiwan and if the people of Taiwan and the people of mainland China support that then that will be fine. Obviously the leaders of communist China have never been elected in democratic elections and just rule by force and threat of violence and thus have no credibility or legitimacy as representatives of the Chinese people and would need to step aside.
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@alganis3339 You're probably right but if the United States had not got involved in Europe I wonder if at some point Churchill would have decided to make the following offer to the militaries of Germany and Vichy France: Get rid of Hitler and other leading Nazis and British forces will fight alongside German and French forces to prevent communist Soviet forces from taking over all of Europe. Of course there were also forces from Romsnia and other countries fighting alongside German forces and Finland saw the Soviet Union as their enemy and as well there were significant numbers of Canadian and Australian forces fighting alongside the British. Hard to know how the Canadian and Australian governments would have responded to this idea. Also hard to know if the German military could have succeeded in overthrowing Nazi leaders or would have been willing to do so. Given the alternative of all of Germany being permanently occupied by the Soviet Union and all German generals going to Soviet prison camps or simply being executed by the Soviets maybe German generals would have agreed to this.
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