It should be said that he is not advocating for a “we need to hear both sides” sort of disingenuous argument common among right wing rhetoric but a sense of balanced intellectual humility (even if I believe the behavior and evidence strongly supports the view that Israel is aiming for something akin to genocide) - whether this is a hill he (Wales) should dying on is also another matter.
Ok an authoritarian regime allegedly being cyber-attacked by another authoritarian regime whose economy is significantly dependent on trade and renegades from that regime
Singapore is an interesting case because it looks great on paper but it’s arguably one of the worst/best form of authoritarianism. For example, ~80% of Singaporeans live in public housing, which they don’t technically own (99 year lease), whose rules are dictated by a government agency. Eg, there are police cameras right up to the apartment lifts and every entry/exit; the number of pets they’re allowed to own is regulated and interestingly less than those living in private property arbitrarily (without consideration for property size). Nevermind the complete lack of civil liberties and high gini coefficient/inequality.
Living in a police state can be awesome, if you don’t want to dissent. Way less crime, no homeless drug users living on the city streets, etc. For a law-abiding middle-class person, Singapore isn’t too terrible
If living in the US means contending with roving gangs of masked men snatching up people off the streets, looking at living conditions in other police states, like how their housing policy means ordinary middle class people can still afford a place to live, or how their healthcare system means medical bankruptcy is not a thing, seems like it would be possible to have a reasonable discussion about. If the US is no longer a place where a TV show host can no longer make fun of the President or else his show gets canceled, is it really that far off from China's handling of Pooh bear memes and Xi?
Singapore is addicted to cheap foreign labor so this seems like the natural progression. It does make one wonder the kind of data required for such models to have a chance of success. Most Singaporeans live in public housing with police surveillance right up to the elevators, coupled with a lack of privacy protections against the state, perhaps health initiatives using behavioural monitoring from surveillance cameras is next? It’s all for the benefit of the public needless to say.
The US city that I live in has literally zero murders most years. When there is occasionally a murder it's usually a domestic violence situation. There is very little police surveillance. I know some of the police officers, they spend most of their time on issues like drunk driving and minor property crime, as well as responding to medical emergencies before an ambulance can arrive.
The USA is overall a very safe country for most residents. The vast majority of violent crime is concentrated into a few neighborhoods of a few large cities that have been wrecked by decades of failed progressive policies. We should fix those places but increased police surveillance will only be a small part of the solution.
Fun fact: ~80% of Singaporeans live in public housing and all the entryways to those buildings are filled with (offical) police security cameras, including two in each lift. The cameras extends to the nearby carparks, carpark gantry (to ID the driver), bus stops (and on the bus) so all movement can be monitored. Private housing do not have such police security cameras because the estate is gated and have their own security guards, not that crime is much of an issue there. Dystopia for the masses?
India is extremely conservative due to Hindus being majority. What US considers far-right is considered left-of-center in India. US has gone so far to the extreme left that if Kamala had been elected you would have had full blown Communism next. It had gotten that bad. Too bad you guys don't realize how effed up it all looks from outside your bubble. Especially those countries who have already gone through that Hell (India went through that for 60+ years before we elected Modi). God saved America from total collapse today. That's all I'll say.
