Hasknewbie

"Apple’s market valuation is roughly equal to the national net worth of Denmark (...). In all but name, this is a superpower"

Denmark is a really nice country. Also, it is not a superpower.

This reminds me of a 'news' organization that promoted the pseudo-scientific book "The gendered brain" (which could be described as Peak Blank Slate Fantasy), including a fawning soft-ball interview with its author where she said that research into her claims would be unethical, because nothing says good science like "just comply with what I said". That same media then went on to put that book on their 'recommended reading of the year'.

That 'news' organization was, of course, The Guardian.

When I was working in the mobile industry, I was told repeatedly that a 100% FOSS phone would be impossible. Not only is the existing tech proprietary and patent-encumbered, even if somehow you could get past that your GSM radio must be certified before going to market. And if your radio is FOSS-based that means an end-user can toy with the baseband, therefore you will never get your cert, period. The stuff at the lowest level must locked down before being allowed on a public mobile network.

"I can't read the article"

"Chinese censorship is good, actually"

"Also it's easy to get around"

...Is this a parody account?

All major Hollywood movie studios pro-actively doctor their scripts to make them China-compliant, and you think basketball is somehow going to do better?

On a related note, this thread went from #6 on the front page to #105 (as of right now) in mere minutes. Maybe the mods, who are quite willing to pop in and tell people off whenever someone mentions astroturfing or censorship, would like to explain how a very recent thread with high upvote and comment count can sink so fast all by itself? It's not like users can downvote threads on HN. Threads mentioning China in a bad light tend to de-rank at astronomical speed, for some mysterious reason...

Beware: TheGrayZone is an 'alternative news' Web site. The type who claims that Uighurs internment camps are anti-Chinese propaganda, Maduro criticism and opposition are US-funded anti-Venezuelian propaganda, etc. Just skim their site and you'll get the idea pretty quickly.

Moreover Taiwan's transition to democracy was 'indigenous', as it was never effectively colonized by the West (barring some isolated outposts), therefore defeating all the silly talk of "democracy is a cultural norm imposed by the West and is not compatible with Chinese culture" that pops up every now and then, including in this thread.

>> Most of the complaints about the US focus on comparatively small mistakes

Taking down democracy in Iran. Supporting dictators in Latin America and Africa and assisting them in hunting down democracy activists. Financing terrorism in Angola for two decades. Fabricating an incident in order to attack North Vietnam, killing 3 millions people. Supporting "Asian Hitler" Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Tacitly supporting Pakistan's genocidal attack against Bangladesh. Selling weapons to the terrorist regime of Iran, and then using the money to support terrorists in central America. Fabricating a threat in order to invade Iraq (hundreds of thousands of dead, millions displaced). Supporting terrorist groups in Syria. Waging undeclared wars in (at least) seven countries at the moment.

"Small mistakes."

>> The good the US has done is also radically beyond any good that China has done.

"Dear members of the jury, I know what you are thinking: well it looks like this guy did napalm little children in Vietnam, and did sell weapon to terrorists, and did support violent dictators. But I urge you to take a second look at my client; consider all the occasions where he DIDN'T murder women and children, that ought to count for something! And there are also instances where he DIDN'T support some dictators and terrorists. Also he gives to charity. I rest my case."

I had the same question while reading TFA. The Khoisan ethnic group split from the main population an estimated 150k years ago, and although their clicking language is peculiar I don't think they have any issue with recursive grammar.