Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup • Hacker News Board

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#61

Post by djohnston » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:43 PM UTC

cheph wrote: post #13

myanmarthrow wrote: post #10

Posting this throwaway because I don’t want my residency canceled. That should give you a hint that I might know way more than the armchair experts. Any article that talks about Myanmar and doesn’t include the word “China” all over it, is probably propaganda of some sort. I won’t go more into this and I will allow people to do their homework and make up their own minds about the good and the bad of all of it, but Mya…

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. > This is a giant fuck-you to the West, and it’ll work, because the West has zero leverage. They won't work to fix Myanmar, but at some point the West has to ask itself if trade with China is worth it, for the future of both the West and all other countries that are not already in the grasp of China.…

TBF it isn't Germany that lacks a backbone but rather the entirety of the EU. Even if Germany wanted to make a statement I don't think they would risk dragging eastern EU members into a spat since they are already busy buddying up to China.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#62

Post by leesalminen » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:44 PM UTC

gtufano wrote: post #20

newbie578 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do we still try to equate China and the US? They are not the same, I don’t know if it is some kind of a self-hate issue, but the West has it better. Period. As long as I can go to jail for saying Winnie The Pooh, China sucks and we should not encourage such regimes.

It is currently probably way better (USA vs. China). Especially when seen from Europe (or USA)... looking at it from the point of view of a South-American citizen probably don't give the same result... and it's not self-hate, just history

In Chile, there has been a growing anti-China sentiment over the past several years as they began dominating the retail sector, pushing out many locals’ jobs.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#63

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #31

myanmarthrow wrote: post #10

Posting this throwaway because I don’t want my residency canceled. That should give you a hint that I might know way more than the armchair experts. Any article that talks about Myanmar and doesn’t include the word “China” all over it, is probably propaganda of some sort. I won’t go more into this and I will allow people to do their homework and make up their own minds about the good and the bad of all of it, but Mya…

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. At the end of the day, Myanmar is going to come out of this period looking more like China than like the British colony it was before — guess what that’s meant to prepare us for, in terms of the way the world looks by the end of this century? Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. The entirety of Mya…

>> Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would.

Southeast asia + tanks = bad mojo. Study the history. Tanks are white elephants in areas dominated by mountains and rainfall (both are tank kryptonite). Sure, US air power could dominate. They can use the same flightpaths they used in Vietnam, to the same ends. Myanmar is a country where light soldiers, guys with AKs and flipflops, are far more capable than a dozen tanks sinking into the mud.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#64

Post by thesteamboat » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:46 PM UTC

esperent wrote: post #42

enriquto wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You mean, if I (a person that lives in the US) sees someone lose a human right, I should shut up, because some other guy who also lives in the US, who I've never met did something that I never approved of or endorsed? No, of course! I agree with you: individual citizens should have the right to talk about anything, there's free speech after all. What I mean is that if you are too focused on the (truly horrible) inj…

Can you please for just a minute stop trying to make everything about the US? It's exhausting. Every single discussion on the internet, no matter what country we're talking about, there's always some American guy (usually several) that comes in and tries to change the topic to focus on the US. Other countries exist, and deserve to be discussed and criticised on their own merits. It's not always about you Americans.

I think you're out of luck simply because Americans dominate the English speaking internet. According to loosely eyeballed data [0], Americans account for over 20% of English speakers (a commanding plurality) and over 60% of native speakers. It might not be fair, and there are plenty of valid reasons to want to talk about other countries and other perspectives, but it's going to remain the default perspective of the English speaking internet unless demographics substantially shift.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-s...

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#65

Post by throwaway0a5e » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #31

myanmarthrow wrote: post #10

Posting this throwaway because I don’t want my residency canceled. That should give you a hint that I might know way more than the armchair experts. Any article that talks about Myanmar and doesn’t include the word “China” all over it, is probably propaganda of some sort. I won’t go more into this and I will allow people to do their homework and make up their own minds about the good and the bad of all of it, but Mya…

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. At the end of the day, Myanmar is going to come out of this period looking more like China than like the British colony it was before — guess what that’s meant to prepare us for, in terms of the way the world looks by the end of this century? Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. The entirety of Mya…

3-4 marine heavy brigades can easily stomp all tank battalions in Myanmar's disposal.

Yeah well unfortunately they're in the wrong hemisphere for that to be an geopolitically tolerable let alone domestically palatable.

The American public and international community could likely tolerate marines preventing regime change in some former bannana republic that otherwise seems to be on the up and up but ain't no way we're getting sucked into another jungle quagmire.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#66

Post by yorwba » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

myanmarthrow wrote: post #10

Posting this throwaway because I don’t want my residency canceled. That should give you a hint that I might know way more than the armchair experts. Any article that talks about Myanmar and doesn’t include the word “China” all over it, is probably propaganda of some sort. I won’t go more into this and I will allow people to do their homework and make up their own minds about the good and the bad of all of it, but Mya…

> I won’t go more into this and I will allow people to do their homework and make up their own minds about the good and the bad of all of it

I assume that homework includes learning Burmese and living in Myanmar for a few years to get a feel for local conditions? Probably more effort than most here would like to expend.

It's nice of you to share your conclusions, but it'd be even nicer if you could flesh it out a bit and share some of the observations that led you to these conclusions.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#67

Post by djohnston » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

sbmthakur wrote: post #49

baybal2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. At the end of the day, Myanmar is going to come out of this period looking more like China than like the British colony it was before — guess what that’s meant to prepare us for, in terms of the way the world looks by the end of this century? Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. The entirety of Mya…

What's the incentive for the US? There were clear objectives when US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Without those the invasion is anyway more trouble than its worth.

There are none as far as I can see. US is much better off letting China deal with this place.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#68

Post by chevill » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #53

oefrha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question I always ask when people suggest warfare, especially an invasion: will you personally fight in it?

The predominant part of HN demographic are young military age men. In case of any real conflict US will get dragged in, you will all be drafted, want you or not. Becoming a soldier after being a freewheeling young man with 6 digit income, and effectively loosing everything you put into your career, business, education, relationship with your woman is not a pleasant thing. But think, sooner or later US will be dragged…

>In case of any real conflict US will get dragged in, you will all be drafted, want you or not.

A conflict doesn't have to be a global war to qualify as "real conflict" by any sensible definition. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were a real conflict, yet there were no drafts.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#69

Post by samus » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:51 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #52

baybal2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. At the end of the day, Myanmar is going to come out of this period looking more like China than like the British colony it was before — guess what that’s meant to prepare us for, in terms of the way the world looks by the end of this century? Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. The entirety of Mya…

Ah, but the Panama intervention was all about American economic interests, and the Grenada one was about saving American lives. What economic or other interests does the USA currently have in Myanmar?

Limiting Chinese influence could be a goal by itself. Of course, boots on the ground would mean risking a Chinese intervention as well, like it happened during the Korean War. Different to that one and Vietnam though is, in Myanmar there is no comparable status quo ante belli. It is not at all clear whether the West has any support or some sort of stake in Myanmar. It would be like Irak all over again.

Re: Internet disrupted in Myanmar amid military coup

#70

Post by baybal2 » Mon, Feb 01, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #63

baybal2 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sanctions won’t work. They will just punish businesses that were stupid enough to work with Americans and Europeans. At the end of the day, Myanmar is going to come out of this period looking more like China than like the British colony it was before — guess what that’s meant to prepare us for, in terms of the way the world looks by the end of this century? Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. The entirety of Mya…

>> Sanctions won’t work, but tanks would. Southeast asia + tanks = bad mojo. Study the history. Tanks are white elephants in areas dominated by mountains and rainfall (both are tank kryptonite). Sure, US air power could dominate. They can use the same flightpaths they used in Vietnam, to the same ends. Myanmar is a country where light soldiers, guys with AKs and flipflops, are far more capable than a dozen tanks sink…

Yangon surroundings is a plain, with a lot of roads, and agriculture, and it is situated on the coastline.

The same is much with the rest of South Myanmar, where most of country's population, and economy is.