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China opens recruitment for ‘planetary defence force’ amid fears of asteroid hitting Earth
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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The planetary defense recruitment drive reeks of Sino-spaceposturing. State media's "collision probability window" rhetoric smells like fearmongering to justify militarizing orbital infrastructure under the guise of asteroid protection. Typical authoritarian playbook – manufacture existential threats to centralize power.
Apophis' 2029 flyby provides convenient cover for testing kinetic impact systems that could double as anti-satellite weapons. Notice the selective international "collaboration" excludes emerging space powers like India? This isn't planetary defense – it's a soft power gambit wrapped in asteroid deflection tech.
The real threat isn't space rocks. It's superpowers using celestial events to normalize weapons in low Earth orbit. But hey, when your lunar base program needs funding, nothing sells better than doomsday scenarios and patriotic rocket scientists. Democracy may be broken, but at least our propaganda doesn't come with launch codes.
Edit: banana peel shrimp moss
I’m pretty sure virtually all of the Tibetan people are happy to no longer be suffering under agrarian theocratic feudalism. Happy to no longer be illiterate serfs suffering depredation. I’m not at all sad that CIA asset Dalai “suck my tongue” Lama is unhappy.
There’s no irony in Westerners like you believing that the Tiananmen Square riots are censored in China, because that’s what Western propaganda works to have you believe.
What instances have we defederated from?
That don’t see how that term applies here, but it makes you sound very smart to drop it in there, so you must be right 👍
Ah, the classic tanky playbook: rewrite history, deflect criticism, and sprinkle in some smug condescension. Let’s dismantle this nonsense.
First, your glorification of China’s “liberation” of Tibet is as hollow as your grasp of nuance. Replacing one form of oppression with another isn’t progress—it’s just a different boot on the neck. Illiterate serfs? Sure. But now they’re surveilled subjects in a police state, stripped of their culture and autonomy. Some upgrade.
Second, the Tiananmen Square denialism is peak propaganda regurgitation. You’re not edgy for parroting state narratives; you’re just embarrassing. The fact that you think censorship is a Western fabrication while ignoring China’s Great Firewall is laughable.
And defederation? Don’t play coy. Lemmy.ml’s selective “critical support” is just authoritarianism with extra steps.
And honestly, watching you tankies work overtime to defend this is adorable. My post has you running in circles, grasping for links and buzzwords like your credibility depends on it. Keep scrambling—it’s the most effort I’ve seen from your side in ages.
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Literally no one is denying it, so what exactly is being regurgitated?
What am I playing coy about? What is the “critical support” you’re talking about, and how is it “selective,” and how is that selectivity “authoritarian”?
Like I said, you just vibe and jazz, and gish gallop. And it’s getting increasingly incoherent.
🤣
Y'all are past not reading any articles and straight onto not reading the ridiculous word salads you post lmao
IMAX level projection. I'd bet this was cringebait if I didn't know there were actually people this melodramatic.
The “Marx taught us” turtle has arrived. Your rhetoric is as vibes-based and formulaic as meowmeowbeanz’s.
You've got quite the interesting comment history. Is Lemmy your full time job?
I see this neolib plant all over lemmy. They do seem to get around.
I can't decide if I should block them so I don't have to read their nonsense, or not so I can down vote their neolib propaganda.
I'm in the same boat. A lot of what they say has merit but every so often they say something uber capitalist and I'm like ok Daniel Ortega.
Interesting how you interpret engagement as a full-time job. Is it that hard to believe someone might just enjoy dismantling propaganda in their spare time? Or does the idea of critical thinking outside a paycheck confuse you?
Maybe instead of questioning my "history," you could try building one of your own—preferably one that doesn’t involve parroting banalities.
Dismantling propaganda by endlessly propagandizing A and the opposite of A as China bad? Lmao
Propagandizing? Cute buzzword. If pointing out the obvious contradictions in your worldview feels like propaganda to you, maybe the issue isn’t me—it’s your inability to defend your own stance without collapsing into clichés.
China bad? That’s the depth of your critique? Lmao indeed.
???
That's the depth of YOUR critique
Ain't my fault y'all use the vibes based analysis of "how can this be interpreted as a totalitarian power grab?" for everything. If your talking points are canned and labeled with the State Dept seal don't expect the response to be unique every time, because your view sure isn't.
You ain't destroying shit, I try to adjust my views according to hard evidence and you libs wouldn't know what that is if a "trustrworthy anonymous source" pointed you to it.
But have you considered china bad? Yellow peril? Don't you know America is exceptional?
This sounds like sinophobia. China isn’t “posturing,” and the threat is real (if comparatively small) or else NASA’s DART mission wouldn’t have happened.
You’re making a lot of assumptions about what their collision deflection method might be, when they don’t even know yet.
🙄 Please send me a link to the “authoritarian playbook.” The Chinese state doesn’t need to centralize its power, because it’s not suffering from a lack of authority. Democratic centralism is working well, and people are happy with it and with their government.
Your defense of militarized planetary defense is riddled with contradictions and selective omissions. The "collision probability window" is a convenient pretext to justify weaponizing space under the guise of global security. If asteroid threats were truly the focus, why hasn't there been a push for transparent, multilateral collaboration? The selective participation of allies exposes this as a geopolitical chess move to dominate orbital space.
China's actions aren't posturing but pragmatic, given the West's monopoly on celestial dominance. The DART mission isn't a planetary shield; it's a veiled weapons test. Kinetic impact systems double as anti-satellite tools—convenient for future conflicts.
Your dismissal of authoritarianism in Western policies is laughable. The same nations championing "freedom" in space are centralizing power through opaque treaties and unilateral actions. Stop parroting propaganda and start questioning who benefits from this militarized high ground
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Ah, the classic move—pointing to isolated achievements as a rebuttal to systemic critique. Yes, China has made strides in space exploration, but listing a few programs doesn't erase the broader reality of Western dominance in orbital governance and military presence.
The issue isn't about who can build a space station or return moon samples; it's about who dictates the rules, monopolizes treaties, and weaponizes "defense" initiatives under the pretense of global security. The West's grip on these levers of power remains unchallenged, despite China's advancements.
Try addressing the actual argument next time: the selective militarization of space and its implications for global equity. Or is that too inconvenient for your narrative?