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Stop me when you know what country this is [1]

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Date: 2023-02-23  

I’m thinking of a country. I’m certain you’ll be able to guess what country I’m talking about, by the end of this blog post.

This country is an integral part of the New Cold War that’s emerging between the US, Russia, and China.

This country does not have a meaningful presence of opposition political parties internally. Forming an opposition party is practically illegal. Forming an independent labor union is definitely illegal. You can even get arrested here if you publicly sing political songs that are associated with a prior regime. Many people miss the prior regime.

Nationalism is very powerful within this country.

This country has spent many years being looted and oppressed by invading/occupying foreign powers, and there are many alive today who were alive when this country actually gained practical independence from dominant foreign powers. These foreign powers claim that they were simply “developing” the country and promoting economic integration, when in reality, they were establishing a satellite (or “colony”). Many people resent this period, and this resentment is a profound political force that drives today’s nationalism.

This country has at least one Ethnic Minority, which, according to some news sources, is relegated to a category of being Second Class Citizens (or worse).

This country used to have control over an economically-significant region located at the easternmost edge of its territory. But many years ago, they lost any practical control over this Breakaway Region. They watched helplessly as this Breakaway Region came into the orbit of an enemy superpower.

This Breakaway Region isn’t quite its own country, but it's also definitely not part of the parent country.

They stubbornly refuse to give up their claim over this Breakaway Region, and they have posed a military threat to this Breakaway Region ever since its inception. People in the Breakaway Region live in terror. They are even willing to fight a bloody war to maintain their phony claim over that Breakaway Region, they will never admit that it’s not part of their country.

They (correctly) realize that, if they formally cede any claim over the Breakaway Region, this just means that Enemy Superpower is knocking on their doorstep. So, in a sense, it makes sense that they would fight to the death to maintain their phony claim of control.

How do they justify their claim over the Breakaway Region, when they haven’t recently even collected any taxes in that region? Well, some would probably argue that it’s one country, there’s just 2 systems.

If they were to ever take back control over this Breakaway Region, there are many who fear that they’ll institute a period of punitive/murderous rule, scooping up and imprisoning every dissident (or worse). They’ll use their surveillance powers to figure out who was truly loyal to the Breakaway Regime, and punish those people.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/23/2154654/-Stop-me-when-you-know-what-country-this-is

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