Poor Sam is in strife again. They seem to be finding some incriminating stuff on him. How long can he last?

Are communists nice people now?

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/sam-dastyari-praises-incredible-work-of-communist-party-mouthpiece-peoples-daily-20160912-gred5n.html

plantagenet. Monday 12 Sep 2016 4:09:23PM.

You're probably a nice fellow [I trust I have the gender correct] and would be able to sustain a reasonable conversation on some historical subjects, but please be assured that regurgitating "facts" about China whose source are the second and third generations of the "robber barons" that you execrate is, to be kind, seen as somewhat indiscriminate and arbitrary.

In the west we grew up with such opinions, listened to them on the radio, later read correspondents' reports in the daily newspapers and viewed selected video clips on TV. Without being conscious of it we were being inculcated with a victor's version of recent international affairs, of whom the victor approved and of whom he disapproved. It became habitual to see the world as the victors saw it or, at least, how the victors wanted the man and woman in the street to see it.

Yes, none of us like communism and would not choose to live the communist life. I certainly would not, But the anti-communist hysteria that followed WW2 and assailed our consciousness for some 35-40 years since made me increasingly suspicious. And confirmation came after several friends and relations in business and diplomatic circles now and again discussed some political hotspots of the time, among which China figured significantly.

I learned that that much-used admonition "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" was not a well regarded tenet among news journalists, war correspondents, newspaper editors, politicians and film-makers. Like most of my contemporaries and friends, I wasn't "radicalised" as by an attack on any religious faith I may have but I was intensely resentful against those who treated us like gullible automatons.
Sometimes the capitalist view is wrong and sometimes deliberately so, simultaneously the opposition can be equally responsible for obfuscation and misrepresentation.

Histories are written by the victors but fortunately others write histories also. It is the "others", the opposition and the skeptics who live with the victors who receive much of my attention. In the end though any opinion I publish is my own.

Agree with some of the comments above.
When did communists become more or less OK? Why do we have to kneel down and give China whatever it wants? Which seems to be a lot, now it's turning from the South China Sea (so called) to Japan? God help little Australia.

Hi Pogi

Here's two things I have written on Chinese influence that were more serious than the Dastyari case:

- Embracing China involves risks for Australia http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7324

- The fall of Fitzgibbon? http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8745

As Defence Minister Fitzgibbon had access to Top Secrets, including many provided by the US.

Pete

Pogi

'Yes, none of us like communism and would not choose to live the communist life.'

That is very much a learned (brainwashed) belief in the West under capitalism, but it doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

I don't have any statisics for China, but there have been a few polls taken in Eastern Europe in recent years, which indicate otherwise.

In a 2013 survey by Russia’s Public Opinion Foundation, 59 percent of respondents believed there were more positive than negative aspects to communism.

A 2010 survey by Pew Research showed that a whopping 72% of Hungarians polled felt life was better under communism.

A 2010 IRES (Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy) poll found 63% felt life was better under communism.

A 2013 Der Spiegel poll in what used to be East Germany found that 57% felt life was better before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the 'East German' poll, one 48-year-old man made the comment that 'it was not until after German reunification that I saw for the first time in my life homeless people, beggars, and impoverished people who fear for their survival'.

I have friends who grew up in Hungary, China and Yugoslavia and they have no really negative feelings about life under communism. They do acknowledge that there were some restrictions on freedom, but not enough to make them unhappy. They all generally feel that this was more than made up for by the fact that virtually everyone under communism had guaranteed jobs, a financial safety net and were generally better looked after.

Well there will always be some people who think communism is the best.
Having seen East Germany and Czechoslovakia under communism- I have my own views.
No doubt people said they were happy under Nazism and Japan's militarists
Sadly, it looked grim and grey and I could hardly find any food.

Beats me how Communism rules China and yet capitalists make heaps and come to Australia to buy up apartments everywhere I look.

Sydney lately is awash with Chinese ...the wave of the future?

Someone is making heaps out of it all......