China seems to be the only candidate. But whatever happens it won’t be in the same way as before.

As for whether it is better for everyone, that question became a lot harder in just the last year. Who is «everyone»? And what do we mean by «better»?

With the US wanting to annex territory from its NATO allies, and engaging in extortionate tariffs, it is harder to argue that the US is good for Europe. Which is why Europe has already started to look eastward. Starting with a comprehensive trade deal with India.

What’s happening is good for Russia and China. Not so much for the rest of the world.

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michaelsshaw a day ago | parent [-]

I disagree that something good for China is necessarily bad for the rest of the world, which you seem to imply here includes only Europe.

China alone has a higher population than Europe and the USA combined. I'd say that even if things got worse for Europe, to humanity it still constitutes a net benefit. Lives aren't of less value just because they're in a (gasp) communist country.

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lm28469 a day ago | parent | next [-]

> communist country

New things need new words to describe them, I know people love to call bad guys "nazis" or "communists" and that everyone seems stuck with 1939 lingo but come one. 1950s china isn't 1980s china which isn't 2026 china, yet they're all ""communists""

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NoGravitas 19 hours ago | parent | next [-]

"Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" is the official name of the ideology of the Communist Party of China.

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AnimalMuppet 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

China is ruled by the Communist Party. It does not seem unreasonable to call them a communist country.

Yes, I know, they have moved away from historical communism, and it's more of a "brand name" than an ideological description. Still, it is their chosen name for what they're doing.

	▲	ryoshoe 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure but this is like calling North Korea a democracy because the official name of the country is the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"

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newsclues a day ago | parent | prev [-]

No words are not required.

Authoritarian. Totalitarian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_fascism is an OLD term.

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lm28469 a day ago | parent [-]

None of these are "communism"... people who don't know better use it as a "china bad" gotcha because it's about as far as their political education allows them to think but it really is way more complex than that.

> Authoritarian. Totalitarian.

Yes these apply, but they're not synonyms of communism. The Iranian government is authoritarian, totalitarian and absolutely not communist

> Red fascism is an OLD term.

But surely you see how dumb this sounds? Fascism is by definition a far right moment, communism is by definition far left moment. By definition fascism is opposed to communism... Of course if we start using literal American propagandists buzzwords ("red fascism") as a basis for modern political discussions we're not going to get anywhere...

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amanaplanacanal 19 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm not sure left vs right is that useful a distinction. Both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany called themselves socialist, and both claimed to be doing what was best for their people.

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triceratops 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The addition of "socialist" to the Nazi party's name was done in the early 1920s to appeal to socialist-leaning people. Hitler was against the change but was overruled by the rest of the party's leadership.

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krapp 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>Both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany called themselves socialist, and both claimed to be doing what was best for their people.

The Nazis weren't socialist. They appropriated the term as a propaganda tactic, a means of appealing to the masses. North Korea calls itself a democratic republic, but is obviously neither. One can't simply assume political labels to be correct. In terms of their actual policies and beliefs, the Nazis were vehemently anti-socialist.

https://www.britannica.com/story/were-the-nazis-socialists

	▲	Fnoord 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		One could argue fascism is a subset of populism.

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bborud 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I didn’t say or imply that.

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johnnyanmac a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Not necessarily. But China's aggression towards Taiwan and their recent rare earth metals move last year show that China does not have the worlds best interests at heart either. We're picking between two evils and China's evil is more predictable than the US's right now.

This goes for Asia in general. Korea, Japan, and China spent centuries fighting and making them the de facto super power makes it easy to resume the Korean war or try to overtake the (military wise) crippled Japan should they be emboldened by the faltering/collapse of NATO.

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newsclues a day ago | parent [-]

How much coal do they burn? Did climate change suddenly become NOT an existential threat?

Are their global fishing fleets sustainable?

Where do the precursors for fentanyl come from?

	▲	dh2022 19 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I have to say that China will probably be a major force in reducing carbon emissions. Yes, China burns a lot of coal; but they also produce and deploy a lot of solar, wind, and soon nuclear energy. Someone else said it better: future will run on China’s batteries.
	▲	bborud 14 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		They seem to have achieved peak coal and coal use is slowly declining. Its percentage of the energy mix has been declining over the last decade. That’s not great, but it is a positive. And certainly better than we feared a decade ago. The world isn’t static.
	▲	michaelsshaw 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> How much coal do they burn? Did climate change suddenly become NOT an existential threat? As in any developing country, China has relied on cheap fossil fuels for rapid growth. Now, China is a global leader in reducing emissions, essentially blowing every other country out of the water. > Are their global fishing fleets sustainable? Is literally anything about the US sustainable? > Where do the precursors for fentanyl come from? You mean the legal drug that is absolutely 100% necessary for use in hospitals? Yeah, don't care. It seems you're supremely focused on "China bad" gotchas as a desperate final gasp because you may be realizing that you don't actually have anything interesting to add to any conversation on any topic. Perhaps think more before opening your mouth.