Gutting aid, U.S. cedes soft power game to China

Court China's soft power and money at your own peril.

The two arent exactly comparative replacements.

MAGA actively working for China, one of America's biggest enemies. Trump probably hoping to get better deals on all his badly made merchandise.

When John F Kennedy created USAID, he pointed to the success of the Marshall Plan in rebuilding Europe and hoped that alleviating poverty would reduce the allure of the Soviet Union, the main adversary of the United States at the time.

It'd be nice to have very intelligent leaders again.

America's 'soft power' always was more convincing itself that wasn't a brutal mafia boss than actual aid.

China's 'soft power' is treating other governments as equal.

China, China, China! For a country with a supposedly collapsing economy and reportedly out of touch authoritarian leadership it is amazing how China looms so large in the minds of the Washington DC political class and Western mainstream media.

Good. Fix home and spend money on Americans first.

Yes, start with education.

MAGA actively working for China, one of America's biggest enemies.

What proof?

Trump probably hoping to get better deals on all his badly made merchandise.

Chinese merchandise is far worse

Article reads more as an opinion piece. Leaves out relevant context:

Opening premise of Cambodia fails to mention the major infrastructure projects - roads, rail, canals and ports etc - under construction and how this has been in the pipeline for decades, and any token project is unlikely to change the status quo.

Next up is the Cook Islands pop. 18,000. China has been the second largest foreign aid donor for a long time, donating over $10 million annually. The US, meanwhile, has contributed only $95,000 to the Cook Islands over 14 years. And the "cooperation" deal is not security related but trade cooperation, climate, tourism, and infrastructure.

Completely lacking context, moreover, a place like the latter (and former really) are looking to play off 'both sides' if anything. Hard to blame them...

There is a bigger problem looming if China becomes the main aid donor instead of the USA. I've seen first-hand how Chinese aid benefits politicians personally in some developing countries. China will set a standard that most developed countries are not use to. It'll be a case of "I don't care about my own people, what's in it for me" situation. The Chinese government is always more than happy to line the pockets of those politicians. The developed countries won't play a part in this game, so they'll be shunned by the developing countries accordingly. Once Trump is out of office, the next President won't find it easy to offer aid as they did before.

Once Trump is out of office, the next President won't find it easy to offer aid as they did before.

Exactly

Good. Fix home and spend money on Americans first.

As a result of cuts to the NIH, St Jude Children's Research hospital is set to lose out on 40 million dollars.

Why don't you just say what you mean: "spend money on billionaires first, and everyone else can fend for themselves and die".

Chinese merchandise is far worse

BYD is better than Tesla. DeepSeek is more competitive than OAI

When John F Kennedy created USAID, he pointed to the success of the Marshall Plan in rebuilding Europe and hoped that alleviating poverty would reduce the allure of the Soviet Union, the main adversary of the United States at the time.

It'd be nice to have very intelligent leaders again

There is a section of the electorate who’ve been told to dislike certain ‘elites’ ( there are other elites they have been told to like - certain billionaires, certain members of political dynasties etc. ).

Obama was disliked by some for being part of the educated elite and ‘talking down’ to people.

Some prefer a thundering ignoramus who doesn’t ‘talk down’ to them ( Spain a member of BRICS, conspiracy theories etc ). Maybe makes them feel better about themselves.

Anyway, very intelligent leaders aren’t trusted by a section of the electorate these days.

China is an interesting one on this score. The best and brightest in China used to join the CCP - other options were limited. These days, they tend to see better opportunities elsewhere. Maybe they’ll see less intelligent people at the top in the future.

Let China pay the 100s of billions of dollars that this supposed “soft power” costs.

we don’t need to PAY anyone to be our friend. They just taking money from China too, most of them.

Gutting aid, U.S. cedes soft power game to China

Exactly...it's all part of the payoff Xi made to Musk when he visited just after the inauguration...

Putin is no doubt involved too...

All part of the rise of China and Russia and the diminishing of the US...

Trump and his fellow felons get richer, our country gets weaker...

MAGA 2.0 - the vanishing of America...

Does it really cede to China?

As Larry Summers (Clinton’s Treasury Secretary) related two years ago, a leader in a developing country told him, “What we get from China is an airport. What we get from the U.S. is a lecture.”

American hegemony has crumbled in the past 20 years because USAID and other foreign aid spending has been so misplaced. Most of the money is being sucked up in graft. What little gets through is promoting the most obscene excesses of American culture, not actually fostering goodwill toward the U.S.

Except for with a handful of people who had their faces sink deep in the graft trough, I highly doubt that curtailing USAID will harm the U.S. any more than USAID itself has harmed the U.S. in recent decades.

Obama was disliked by some for being part of the educated elite and ‘talking down’ to people.

I remember reading an interview with Matt Groening, the creator of (inter alia) The Simpsons. He was a massive Frank Zappa fan, and in the interview he said something which has resonated with me ever since I read it. This is from memory and not necessarily word-for-word, but the point is there.

"Americans are really suspicious of anything cerebral, and Zappa doesn't hide his intelligence well enough".

Every politician needs a bogeyman. China serves the role for many among the D.C. class.

China, China, China! For a country with a supposedly collapsing economy and reportedly out of touch authoritarian leadership it is amazing how China looms so large in the minds of the Washington DC political class and Western mainstream media.

it's all part of the payoff Xi made to Musk

”without evidence”

“So what you are saying is….”

”why don’t you just say that….”

the common liberal redirections away from what was clearly said.

bass4funk

MAGA actively working for China, one of America's biggest enemies.

What proof?

Putting nearly the entire workforce on leave at the USAID. Means US cedes "soft power" to CHina.

Blacklabel

Let China pay the 100s of billions of dollars that this supposed “soft power” costs.

> we don’t need to PAY anyone to be our friend. They just taking money from China too, most of them.

How naive.

They call it "aid", but it's basically a collection of CIA fronts.

Dont waste our money on corrupt USAID grift and spend them $ on Americans in need first. You dont get that ? Why are libheads always tryin to put words in peoples mouths? Lame.

I quote my earlier post:

As a result of cuts to the NIH, St Jude Children's Research hospital is set to lose out on 40 million dollars.

Guess kids with serious illnesses don't count as "Americans in need" to you. Hence my comment. You just want the rich to get richer so you can...I dunno, fawn over them more for having lots of money?

Trump has unapologetically turned instead to hard power, wielding tariffs against friends and foes and threatening military force to get his way, even against NATO ally Denmark over Greenland.

The US was under soft leadership for the last four years. China isn't taking anything new.

And now we have a strong leader--who brought back a prisoner from Russia tonight; a prisoner who languished in his cell during the Biden administration.

So China stepped in and paid some miners in Cambodia.

Trump freed and brought home an American citizen.

All the gaps that the US has been leaving for decades will be taken by China to continue increasing its global influence..

Now with this new and toxic administration, it will be easier for China to reach the top spot in technology, military power, economy and development in the world. It's just a matter of a few more years..

New world order is coming soon..

Get used to it..

A needless and foolish defeat. Good for China, bad for the USA.

Is Elon Musk working for us or for them?

A needless and foolish defeat. Good for China, bad for the USA. 

Is Elon Musk working for us or for them?

Us

stormcrow

A needless and foolish defeat. Good for China, bad for the USA.

> Is Elon Musk working for us or for them?

Elon Musk is working for China.

What proof?

"Gutting aid, U.S. cedes soft power game to China"

It's right there in the title.

Chinese merchandise is far worse

Trump merchandise is made in China.

Is Elon Musk working for us or for them?

Us.

Hard to say. Musk is a businessman. Like Trump, he is interested in his bottom line. Loyalties don’t mean a lot.

I haven’t read half of the books ever written on businesspeople by the way. Just a sense you get with them.

Hard to say. Musk is a businessman. Like Trump, he is interested in his bottom line. Loyalties don’t mean a lot. 

I disagree, I think of this is that overall much better decision, is there any politician ever could or would

I haven’t read half of the books ever written on businesspeople by the way. Just a sense you get with them.

Yes, a sense, a hunch or a surmise

Trump and Musk are businessmen. Trump collects bankruptcies. Musk collects government subsidies.

Trump and Musk are businessmen. Trump collects bankruptcies. Musk collects government subsidies.

Which makes them formidable allies

Musk works for Musk mostly. Not for China, not for the US. And yes, he's a business man, so he takes business approach to government. Problem is: government isn't a business.