Macrotourists seem to love talking Kazakhstan right now.
But it seems China is the elephant in the room. Zero covid policy - and worse, doubling down - is a failure because its persistence is leading to higher costs.
(Preventably) rising food costs and lost jobs ==> 🤔 ???
On one hand, “The worse a situation becomes the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside.”
OTOH, the worse things get and persist, more difficult/costly choices enter the equation.
USA has major problems, but on a comparative basis, I think the USA is - relatively and incrementally - sitting pretty vs the rest of the world re: covid and managing the tough + delicate balancing act between covid policies vs normalization.
Let me translate “Myth 1”: the Chinese people went from starving poor 40 years ago, to poor but not starving, today. Depending on who you ask, this is thx to CCP or the Chinese ppl.
Starving ppl tend to worry more about making ends meet than the right to sh1tpost abt Beijing.
Also, when most of your people go from starving poor to poor (but not starving)…people tend to trust the system, give it benefit of doubt, and expect a better tomorrow vs today.