China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war • Hacker News Board

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#221

Post by whatshisface » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

qiskit wrote: post #174

hkmaxpro wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do your links [1][2] support the claim that Ukraine is developing “biomilitary activities” (as claimed in the title of the Global Times article)? They seem to point to medical research to fight against diseases, rather than “biomilitary activities”.

> They seem to point to medical research to fight against diseases, rather than “biomilitary activities”. They are dual use research. Just like research for nuclear energy is the same as research for nuclear weapons. Research for rockets is the same for icbms. It's why we are so keen on preventing iran from developing their nuclear energy program. It's why we are worried about north korea's "space" program. The same…

Researching viruses in general is not a dual-use activity. Most viruses spread everywhere when they get out. Pathogens like anthrax can't spread from human to human, making them plausible weapons and proportionally decreasing the urgency of researching them. (The labs may have been researching anthrax but the odds are fair that none of their research involved anything that could be a weapon.)

Edited to replace virus with "pathogen".

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#222

Post by CountSessine » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #147

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> win-win for them, no? No. Taiwan is seeing a massive increase in morale and defense interest [1]. The West has unified in a way not seen since World War II. If Xi sides with the baddies, he risks the stink rubbing off on him. [1] https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/in-taiwan-putins-war-in-ukr...

Western feelings of unity are of no importance on this topic. Large majorities in both mainland China and Taiwan are happy with Taiwan's current status. Nothing that happens in Ukraine will convince significant numbers of Taiwanese to sign up for a proxy war.

No one is suggesting that they'll sign up for a proxy war out-of-the-blue. But the Russians are clearly surprised by the hostile resistance they've met from ordinary Ukrainians. I think they really thought that they would be welcomed or at least met with indifference.

Every time I've heard a militant Chinese unification advocate talk about Taiwanese unification, they scoff at the idea that the Taiwanese would actually resist a PLA invasion. Now that possibility can't be ignored.

"You may not be interested in war, but war is very interested in you."

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#223

Post by stale2002 » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #89

hkmaxpro wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know about the ads, but here are their state media reports: They peddle Russia’s claim that US has bioweapons in Ukraine: https://www.newsweek.com/china-peddles-russias-claim-that-us... And here’s CGTN’s article on “biolabs” in Ukraine, citing Russia media outlets and officials: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1254330.shtml Edit: As pointed out by a commenter, the above article is from GlobalTimes, not…

The existence of biolabs is completely genuine. You can read more (from a .gov site) here [1]. They seem to have removed the fact-sheets from the site, but you can still access them on archive.org, like here [2]. The fact sheets don't have anything especially seedy on them but do confirm that the labs were funded by the US Department of Defense, and do work with pathogens. Point being you don't need the quotes. There…

This "implication" of what the fake news propaganda articles are trying to say, is that there is some WMD superweapon being developered by Ukraine to genetically target Russians. Like that disease in the new James Bond movie.

That is the part that is clearly the fake propaganda. The US and Ukraine are not working together to design a disease meant to genetically target Russians, like from the movie James Bond.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#224

Post by cmrdporcupine » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:45 PM UTC

pm90 wrote: post #60

DrinkWater wrote: post #5

I don’t know why China is so keen on helping Russia. Is this some kind of godfather deal and they want some massive ROI from Russia once things settle down a bit? Or is this some long-term strategy “against the West”?

The Trade war that Trump started is still ongoing if you haven’t noticed https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93United_States_... .

The trade war was inevitable. Trump only made it crude, jingoistic, and America-centric rather than getting a hemispheric alliance. He alienated his closest trading partners (Europe but Canada especially) while simultaneously undermining the trade relationship with China.

He was a blundering fool and his weakness contributed directly to the current situation in Ukraine, who he was willing to throw under the bus.

I think "the west" (if we can speak of that still, though maybe we can even more after this latest crisis in Ukraine) will likely need an internally coherent trading bloc to counteract the situation in the east.

That probably means a radical shift away from the China-Pacific trade push of the last 20-30 years and back towards a north-south and transatlantic route. My own country, Canada used to be a net food exporter, but now is a net importer, with large quantities of produce coming from China. It's going to have to change.

Billions have been spent trying (and mostly failing) to build pipelines to Pacific tidewater to export Canadian oil and gas (LNG) to China. We should have been sending it east. Germany could do with copious amounts of LNG right now, and the US and Canada could be providing it, but the planning wasn't there.

I can only hope the current crisis accelerates decarbonization in response -- but I fear the opposite will happen. All the "green energy" stocks I own are down, while oil and gas is up.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#225

Post by Mordisquitos » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

marricks wrote: post #111

supermatt wrote: post #8

Political propaganda has no place on these advertising platforms. Deeper pockets shouldn't mean a louder voice on these matters.

Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support? What is political propaganda is a very… political question.

>Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support?

I can't speak for the previous commenter, but I do not understand the implied complexity of bringing up those two examples. I would absolutely agree with removing them, just as much as removing propaganda ads from Chinese state media.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#226

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #215

thepasswordis wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://twitter.com/raczylo/status/1501324063926534148 Edit: "The US has an interest in biolabs in Ukraine" - I feel like this is a pretty useless nit to pick. (Sorry for the twitter source. It's a video of Marco Rubio, a US senator, talking to Victoria Nuland) The US is basically warning that Russia plans to release stuff from these labs and blame the Ukrainians for it. Kindof the same thing they were supposedly doi…

Just piggybacking on your great comment here. The U.S. also has biolabs in China, or funds them, or has enough involvement that it's equivalent to what they're doing in Ukraine so maybe Russia should invade China next using their own biolab justification.

[deleted]

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#227

Post by actuator » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #161

>Good WSJ article on Russia vs. China. In a nutshell, China miscalculated the situation. They will likely look to limit their bet (on Russia) for fear of becoming Russia 2.0 to the West. [1] The tweet is from Neil Cybart and WSJ. You may know him as one of the more accurate Apple analysts. And most people still to this day think either China miscalculated it, or China's official stance is somewhat unclear. ( Paul Gra…

Those cancerous Twitter login modals are not letting me read the whole thread but I don't agree that China has much to lose here.

They get a far weaker Russia much more dependent on them now economically. Russia is rich in fossil fuels which China lacks and has some advantages in defence and space tech which China can easily get their hands on.

CCP might not be that confident about taking Taiwan now but they get a massive economic boost and a possible big brother relationship with Russia now.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#228

Post by Mordisquitos » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #67

buo wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Ads should be limited to selling actual products or services.

Quoted post unavailable.

Yes. All of those are products or services, and therefore should be allowed to advertise.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#229

Post by marricks » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

Mordisquitos wrote: post #225

marricks wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support? What is political propaganda is a very… political question.

>Do you also think the US army should stop running recruitment ads targeting teens? What about BP advertisements which are really just to get political support? I can't speak for the previous commenter, but I do not understand the implied complexity of bringing up those two examples. I would absolutely agree with removing them, just as much as removing propaganda ads from Chinese state media.

Me too, I just don’t know if everyone else reading connects those dots.

Re: China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war

#230

Post by edgyquant » Wed, Mar 09, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

9wzYQbTYsAIc wrote: post #186

octopoc wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the Wuhan Institute of Virology was already engaged in some of the genetic engineering work described in the proposal Sure, but that doesn't point to America it points to China. > “The mail is filled with little envelopes with plasmid dried on to filter paper that scientists routinely send each other,” It seems unlikely the leak happened at the Wuhan post office, but even if it did, how does imply American incompet…

> how does imply American incompetence? 1 million dead people kind of makes it seem an “a priori”

Way to skirt around the fact that nothing points to it having come from America or being due to it. Even if incompetence allowed it to spread it was already global when it reached the US.