I don't oppose China's right to exist as a power. I do disagree with the US doing things like banning China from the ISS. I also am not blind to the IMF scheme and what it has done to the non-western world and I oppose that. I am quite opposed to the way that Israel has been handled and there clearly needs to be some kind of compromise with Palestine. I'm not even going to try to touch that issue in terms of the way right way for it to be handled, but clearly the solution isn't what they currently have. I am pro-NATO in how they've handled the war in Ukraine. I am pro-NATO in the sense that it prevents attacks on its member nations, which Ukraine in my eyes has been very clear evidence of the need for.

Like I said before, I think checking all the boxes in one political ideology more often than not leads to some shitty, lazy stances, so maybe labeling myself as pro-NATO was a mistake. It's fair to say that the world doesn't need one superpower. In terms of China, more than anything I just wish they allowed for more debate and opposition within their political structure. Again, democracy and censorship are my pet issues. I worry for any world where the mechanisms that allow us to express ourselves and correct our flaws are stifled. The US hasn't been some gold standard for the right way to do it, but I don't see anyone better stepping up to the plate yet.

In terms of my original comment that triggered this conversation, at the end of the day I think it is wrong to ban anyone for posting opinions that a moderator disagrees with. That's political censorship and it's shitty. If lemmy.ml had clear rules about their political stances and what's allowed, then that would be different. But as it is, I think they're misrepresenting what their community is if they're going to censor such content. "Orientalism" in their context implies that any conversations about another country not from within that country should be taken down. Should non-US articles about the US also be removed? Is anyone not from China allowed to talk about China?

As for my original comment about "anti-NATO bullshit", I confess that was a personal opinion that probably didn't belong next to my more objective opposition to politcal censorship. I personally wouldn't join lemmy.ml for their political stances. I objectively would recommend people not join that instance because of their political censorship.