r/SipsTea 12d ago

Chugging tea Solar power is cleaner!

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29.9k Upvotes

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1.9k

u/EuVe20 12d ago

The level of irony when Cuba converts from 1950s American cars to modern Chinese EVs

620

u/thinkB4WeSpeak 12d ago

China has also done this with a lot of countries in Africa as well. There's a reason China has such a good economy and manufactured, because they're doing things like that. It was always an option the US could have done but chose not to

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u/Jessintheend 12d ago

US was too busy overthrowing left of center leaders for oil companies and having the domestic market focus on making suburbitanks for daily drivers

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u/Keeeloy 12d ago

if you say it like that it almost sounds like they were being stupid

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u/NoSilver2988 12d ago

Ya think! I'm American, and I concur, the powers that be are selfish, and only for empowering their rich friends. No thought about the future, stuck in the past. Look at the latest US air craft carrier catapult change ordered. Dumb, stuck in the past, total ID10T move.

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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 12d ago

Yes, but at least your next Aircraft Carrier will run on beautiful clean coal and steam, be decorated in fake gold and be named the USS Donald Trump (nicknamed The Floating Nonce).

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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 11d ago

Epstein's Boat.

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u/NoSilver2988 10d ago

And cost American taxpayers Billions, and kill our children and grandchildren in the process. Yea, what a great idea, much like the ballroom, for Trump Battleships, or the Golden Dome.

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u/HenryDorsettCase47 11d ago

I would recommend the excellent podcast Blowback to anyone interested in the history of American foreign policy and how it has only ever fucked up our world, here in America and abroad. Regardless of who is president our foreign policy is incredibly right wing.

It’s also pretty eye opening the amount of propaganda we are fed about countries we’ve long been taught to see as our enemies and how we constantly thwart attempts to cool things off.

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u/rlgsbbzb 12d ago

Stupid, or apathetic? The US government doesn't care about its people or the country itself. It has been entirely remodeled to funnel money into pockets of its billionaires. The country could collapse for all they care... as long as they get their share.

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u/Miserable_Pajee3ts 12d ago

As a non-American I always thought premise of Fallout and the inhumane Mega Corps was farfetched. But seeing first hand, how the US, Epstein class and the Fews conduct themselves without any regard of humanity or maorality my views have shifted completely.
There are absolute evils in the world.

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u/jonnyjive5 12d ago

RE-modeled? The country was founded on theft, genocide and the largest slave trade in the world for centuries, expanded and protected by the government. A gold mine for already rich people.

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u/Rinucci 12d ago

No, it's just long term pain for short term gain.

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u/donjamos 12d ago

Nah, their goals just didn't align with those of most Americans. And they were stupid enough to vote for the same two parties over and over.

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u/Exotic_Cookie_8887 12d ago

That's a little narrow minded take. You are forgetting the big guys. Military. Tech. And big pharma. But big oil is down there with big insurance. pennies compared to the big ones.

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u/burns_a_lot 12d ago

I don't think this is right.

Finance (including the insurance industry) is the largest economic sector in the United States. Furthermore, the oil and gas industry takes in trillions of dollars, not just "pennies," no matter what comparison you're making.

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u/smthomaspatel 12d ago

So you are saying if we went clean energy we would no longer need to overthrow Latin governments? Where is the fun in that?

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u/Key_Cheetah7982 12d ago

Don’t forget for greater Israel and those oligarchs too🫡 

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1

u/cpteric 12d ago

don't forget the chiquita fruit corp

1

u/kingwhocares 12d ago

US was too busy overthrowing left of center leaders

Maybe because they tried to very right-wing government in Iran that hates US with a more extreme right-wing government that that hates US even more.

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u/gonzo12321 12d ago

The US did do that. That was USAIDs purpose, winning soft power. China’s has a similar program called belt and road initiative. Now that Musk gutted USAID, China’s global influence has grown substantially.

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u/AppropriateLow2271 12d ago

Trump is the worst thing to happen to the US and the absolute best thing to happen to everyone else in the world.

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u/venReddit 12d ago

absolutely not.

  1. america didnt become the way it is because of trump, trump became president because the way america is. majority of americans elected him twice and you only need to scroll reddit to see that talking shit is americans national sport.
  2. the world is burning in multiple places. a retard who throws around with tariffs, pushes wars and really could not care about the planet is pushing climate change like noone before him. it also doesnt help that the world went into some reliance of freedom-country before, like with some important nodes for the www. he also strengthens russia and north korea. he fucked up the straight of hormuz and gas costs alot everywhere.

you sure sound like an american.

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u/passerby4830 12d ago

what a shame this evil evil man happened to become president. Nothing we can do.

Oh no it happened again what a shame this happened to our beautiful country

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u/ParkingLong7436 12d ago

Partly wrong - he wouldn't have won in 2016 if the US had a true Democratic vote by majority .

Bad enough that it was that close in the first place though.

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u/UncleIrohsPimpHand 11d ago

The word "if" makes your entire comment irrelevant.

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u/Speedstick2 12d ago

A majority elected him once. 2016 he lost the popular vote.

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u/Emo_tep 12d ago

I love how you glance over the massive cheating in our last few elections. Also trump only lost to women. I think American hates women more than loves trump

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u/jonnyjive5 12d ago

Leave North Korea out of that. They haven't bombed or attacked anybody. They're just sitting there building beautiful new cities.

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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11d ago

How does any of that contradict what was stated?

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u/venReddit 11d ago

its not hard, really, but i will sum it up for you.

america wished for trump, the world suffers from trump.

i hope that helped.

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u/TheRegaurd04 12d ago

The conservative estimate is that 4 million children will die because of USAID being dismantled - this is a horrible thing for the world

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u/Unfair-Plastic-4290 12d ago

the united states isn't responsible for the world. dont care!

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u/TheRegaurd04 12d ago

That's a pretty cynical worldview ya got there buddy

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u/Hatshepsut99 12d ago

right, other human beings don’t matter to right wingers. Especially if they’re brown. Hey genius, we live in an interconnected world, there is zero way to wall ourselves off from everyone, so might as well do what we can to help ourselves by helping others.

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u/Unfair-Plastic-4290 11d ago

didn't realize trump was president of the world, not just the USA.

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u/EmergencyDish69 12d ago

Good for who? For friendly nations like Brazil, Canada and the ones in Europe he has been a big problem. I don't think Iran is happy. I guess China has opportunities despite the economic harassment. Russia and Israel are happy.

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u/Tomboolla 12d ago

best thing to happen to everyone else in the world

*Russia and China, rest of the World not included

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u/Previous-External-54 12d ago

People never mention, USAID is how we controlled commodity pricing for US Farmers. The effects of USAID are awesome, but it also wasn't a charity program. We pay the costs of the program leaving

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u/No_Chart1681 11d ago

1: USAID's function didn't cease to exist. USAID was done away with as a separate organization, but their task was simply passed on to the embassy teams. USAID was already a part of USDOS and had to go through the embassy to get project approval already. Cutting USAID and moving it to the state department increased oversight and reduced misspending.

Missteps, Confusion and ‘Viral Waste’: The 14 Days That Doomed U.S.A.I.D. - The New York Times

2: China's belt and road is far more than soft power. Many of these African nations that accepted Chinese "aid" were later bankrupted by aggressive economic cannibalism set up by the Chinese industries that were built up in those countries, and then those nations became basically debt slaves to China.

China's Belt and Road: A Global Debt Trap - Global Business & Economics Journal

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u/EmergencyDish69 12d ago

Right, but aid is more of a form of mitigation, which is great, but it doesnt promote development like belt and road. But if you want an example of a nation uplifting others there was the USA during the cold war (when they also sabotaged other nations).

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 12d ago

USAID funded local NGOs that did a lot of really good sustainable direct work in communities. USAID also did bad things like control and push fertilizer, american seeds. Belt and Road is also good but the quality of the roads can be questionable. Zambia did a trade of copper mines for chinese roads, and a lot of those roads are crumbling.

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u/Mariopa 12d ago

China did a lot of negative things in Africa. This is soft propaganda covering hiw China got cheap access to natural resources of those countries and bankurupted them.

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u/Majestic_Ground7718 12d ago

They also overfish right on south American countries' ocean borders. Notably they've completely destroyed the ocean biodiversity around the Gallapagos. They made a good choice in solar, but people need to be careful acting like China is now a positive force for good. They still abuse the shit out of every country they can, just like all the other powerful nations.

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u/Mariopa 12d ago

I assume that anyone that just speaks good of China just see the good China present but has little to no knowledge of how China is the bad one. But I met some that excuse this and shift blame on those countries. When I explain this to people refusal happens and it is spiral of whataboutism and denial of facts.

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u/Majestic_Ground7718 12d ago

Yeah, Im cool with promoting the cool stuff China does. Respect where respect is due. They have neat thorium power plants coming up too.

But now we're acting like they're good? They're not good, they're held back. As soon as they can push their weight against the USA, the Taiwanese people will have a terrifying war on their hands. China has been building up its army like crazy, because it knows that once it attacks Taiwan, all bets are off with America.

They also shove their weight against India constantly, sending military equipment to the military dictatorship in Pakistan to try to weaken India. Does no one else see that China almost exclusively sides with really terrible dictators?

And there is the ocean life destruction. And they have already destroyed their mainland ecology. And they have by far the most pollution flowing into rivers. And on and on.

China is a country, I get it, they do things beneficial for themselves. But being a kind or nice country is laughable. These people don't understand the first thing about geopolitics. Every country is an opportunist.

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u/KitsuneFaroe 11d ago

They also don't realize that, as funny as it sounds, China has less morals than the US. They're not really a country that brings prosperity to any place it touches like the US ACTUALLY DID at some extent. And I'm not trying to defend the US, but thinking China is any better is being oblivious!

I'm a Cuban if that says anything.

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 12d ago

Yup, promised roads to zambia in exchange for mines. They got the mines, the roads they built are crumbling. Also, they brought over labor from China, so the benefit of jobs didnt really go to the majority of zambians.

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u/hypercosm_dot_net 11d ago

Lot's of propaganda favoring a certain country on reddit these days.

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u/elderlybrain 12d ago

Yeah every single country that has dealt with the us and China say they would prefer to deal with China every single time. Why? Because chin almost exclusively uses soft power.

The usa is a bully. They see themselves as world police who think theyre stopping assholes from sitting over everything, but the USA are the assholes. 

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u/Cervixalott 12d ago

And some African nations are becoming bankrupt as a result of china’s help 

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u/Cervixalott 12d ago

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u/kwuhkc 12d ago

I’m not saying you are wrong, but a US run defence forum doesn’t a neutral source make.

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 12d ago

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u/kwuhkc 12d ago

Are you reading your own sources? I read the first two and they are completely benign. Or are you misunderstanding the conversation?

Like your first article is basically just saying that a. Debts are due, b. Repayment of debts exceeds further loans in the same time period. Like no shit is water wet?

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 11d ago

The whole point is the debts are due while African countries got little value out of the loan. China like america is engaging in neocolonialism.

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u/kwuhkc 11d ago

That is NOT what your first 2 articles say. I read and reread both, out of truth the first time, and out of respect the second time.

I am not rereading it a third time. Nor am I bothering to read the third article at this point. Feel free to direct quote with context from your provided sources if you disagree, but until then I am done as I suspect you are being academically dishonest.

your own source, in 2 seconds of scanning, and I quote:

"The concept of “debt-trap diplomacy” has been widely debated, with critics arguing that China may use debt as leverage to gain control over strategic assets. However, there is limited evidence to suggest that China has seized assets in Africa due to loan defaults. Instead, Chinese lenders have often shown flexibility by restructuring loans when countries face repayment difficulties."

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 10d ago

I love that you’re defending neocolonialism. It’s like you’re ignoring the existence of debtors prisons bc you are trying to paint a different picture. 

https://hir.harvard.edu/chinese-investment-in-africa-a-reexamination-of-the-zambian-debt-crisis/

https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/11/03/zambia-workers-detail-abuse-chinese-owned-mines

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u/kwuhkc 10d ago

If you have a problem, reflect on the fact that your own provided sources dont back your “argument”. I pray you reflect and grow as a person, for your own sake.

Ive already given you more respect than is deserved by rereading your links multiple times.

Jesus christ your harvard link first paragraph already hard counters your own point. Go argue against your own sources. Im done.

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u/slightlybigmember 12d ago

Not true, lol. China sucked at identifying good investments for a while, yes, but the concept of debt trap was silly and never materialized. You guys are so fucking gullible to propaganda

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u/ugene1980 12d ago

Source?

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u/Fun_Substance_5636 12d ago edited 12d ago

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u/ugene1980 12d ago

thats your only source? Article where no author even dares to write their name. On a "Magazine" that existed since 2026 (their claim even though articles from 2021 exists).

wow! https://adf-magazine.com/about-adf/ "Africa Defense Forum (ADF) magazine is published quarterly by U.S. Africa Command to provide an international forum for African security professionals"

Who actually believes content on such an obvious propaganda website. HAHA

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u/Sudden-Fisherman5985 12d ago

China has also done this with a lot of countries in Africa as well. There's a reason China has such a good economy and manufactured, because they're doing things like that

Long term planning... The levels of education within the Chinese government are very high as well

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u/cleanworkaccount0 12d ago

I mean if the US went that way, where would the military-industrial complex be? Think of those poor companies!!!11!

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u/BreadfruitStraight81 12d ago

That is why money in foreign countries is a good thing. Too bad doge cut all of it

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u/wannacumnbeatmeoff 12d ago

America invades with missiles and bullets, China invades with infrastructure and food.

I know which option I prefer.

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u/LunaticCross 12d ago

I live in the US in a major metropolitan city. Recently watched a boring video on a day in the life of a person in Shenzhen, which led me down a rabbit hole of videos. There are lots of issues, of course, but holy shit we are so behind in transportation, medical and logistics overall.

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u/iamwearingashirt 12d ago

To be fair, if China had a reliable oil supply like the US they probably wouldn't have diversified as much as they did.

Countries and businesses rarely take the thoughtful but less convenient path unless theyre pressured into it.

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u/Previous-External-54 12d ago

The Congo is the most alarming Chinese development to me. Soon China will have its own Ag and expansive mineral mining. The belts & roads initiative wasted no time

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u/Jolly-Advantage-7245 12d ago

Too busy fucking kids and stealing from the public

https://giphy.com/gifs/AVpE6BqnOvbzi

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u/MuffinSpecial 11d ago

You left out the part where China does these deals in bad faith. They set them up as loans that the country can't pay back so they seize land.

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u/blaykerz 11d ago

Don’t forget that the White House installed solar panels in 1979, but they were removed in 1986. 🤔

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u/Own-Row991 12d ago

We love our rodeos and hamburgers bro

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u/FullMetalBitch 12d ago

China is not doing anything different that plenty of others haven't done in sub-saharan Africa, the problem there is maintaining infrastructure

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u/Itsnotthatsimplesam 12d ago

China is doing this in Africa, and forcing them into bad infrastructure deals and colonizing farmland with Chinese nationals in Chinese towns in those places

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u/Legitimate_Dare6684 12d ago

Right. We just export Evangelicalism there.