Is this a joke, ignorance or just being plain disingenuous? The issue of Chinese money disrupting regulatory bodies and academia in Australia and New Zealand is quite severe. China has fantastic power projection with far less restraint than the US. The power projection of the US armed forces is overt in active conflict zones in the third world, but China's power projection via economic means in the first world is clearly apparent, and I think the age where this does not impact individuals directly is rapidly drawing to a close.

One solution, beside bashing China, is to vote for a liberal agenda that would give more funding to universities. Guggenheim and other art institutions took money from the Sacklers, who started the opioid crisis. Because they need money. And universities need money. They have to get money one way or another.

I hate the Chinese regime more than you do. The problem here is by exaggerating Chinese power, right-wing rhetoric in the West is singing a war song against China, which usually carries a racist undertone. And the dictator in China would stupidly believe China is indeed powerful. That's how the trade war between Xi and Trump started.

> China has a limited overseas power projection

For a limited definition of 'power projection'.

I am of the opinion that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift from overt physical power to weaponized and atomized informational power.

That is to say, the use of information technology and very fine-grained details about individuals to achieve ends that suit those projecting power.

No. I'm not here to argue with anybody. I don't intend to change anyone's standing point. I realized long ago that online argument is more about sending pheromones so that the like-minded will come to you.

> Congrats on being a US citizen.

I apologize, I didn't mean to come off as snarky. What I mean is that it's my own country. If I was from say Sweden, I'd likely trust the Swedish government more as a Swedish Citizen.

No worries. It's true being a US citizen carries certain guarantee of basic rights that a citizenship of any other country does not.

You wouldn't believe. Sweden is really a high-trust society. You can look up any person in the country online, etc, etc.