You did not look it up, did you? We’re talking about today. Which country is worse for the world today?

If you want to bring up Mao, I could bring up Kissinger and Nixon’s bombings of Laos, or the obliteration of the cities in the Korean War, or the United Fruit Company.

See, I did not even mention South America in my question about the last fifty years. Look at the numbers, honestly compare. There have been millions of deaths in the Middle East from the US wars there. Sanctions have killed millions more. You have to realise that this actually happened if you want to honestly understand why people might see the US on the same level as China. It did not start with Trump.

I do acknowledge Mao’s killings, the killings of intellectuals and landlords and ethnic minorities who refused to submit, and dissidents who died in camps, and pregnant women given forced abortions, and gay people imprisoned for deviancy.

However, that was not the point of this discussion. The point is that things have changed.

The US is seen as the monster now, because it is more dangerous to other countries than China.

Also, China’s repression has slowed down a lot, so the increasing repression in the USA is alarming everyone who used to see the US as a reliable if warlike friend.