this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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askchapo

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I'm a baby Marxist, and I'm not particularly knowledgeable on AES countries. I've really enjoyed finding effort posts debunking propaganda and talking about the actual state of them, but dredging them up with the search feature isn't particularly effective. I'd love to hear what people have to say, especially about China and the DPRK, since those are the ones that come up most frequently.

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[–] Blakey@hexbear.net 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would just caution you to remember just how utterly vile some of the lies the USA has been caught in, are. Trying to prosecute the soldier who attempted to prevent the my lai massacre. Saying Iraq had WMDs. Bribing a teenage girl to lie about seeing soldiers throw babies out of incubators. False flags to justify their various wars. Now, we shouldn't dismiss serious accusations out of hand, but we should expect genuinely independent verification of any claim that serves American geopolitical interests, and we definitely should not start from the assumption that any given American accusation is true.

[–] context@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Trying to prosecute the soldier who attempted to prevent the my lai massacre. Saying Iraq had WMDs. Bribing a teenage girl to lie about seeing soldiers throw babies out of incubators.

wow, colin powell was involved in all 3 of those

[–] Blakey@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Really? Yeesh. Man was speedrunning damnation.

[–] context@hexbear.net 9 points 1 day ago

definitely involved in whitewashing my lai and was chairman of the joint chiefs during desert storm, no way he wasn't at least tangentially involved in the nayirah testimony. yeah, your post reminded me what a piece of shit that dude was.

powell-propaganda

[–] Weedian@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago

im not good at effort posting but

China went from a feudal backwater having their country partitioned off to European powers and being genocided by japan to lifting 800 million people out of poverty in the span of 70 years

DPRK had at least 80% of their buildings turned to rubble to completely eradicating homelessness under the most extreme sanctions imaginable

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

I like the articles on Prolewiki as a starting point! They all have lots of sources you can visit and verify yourself. For the DPRK, make sure you also check out Korea before the split, the PRK, the ROK, and the DPRK. All of it is necessary, not just looking at the DPRK alone.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

How do you like to learn? Read, watch youtube videos, listen to podcasts, etc?

[–] bunnossin@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] jack@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

YouTube:

DPRK Explained

Geopolitical Economy Report has some good videos on Chinese socialism

Books:

Commune or Nothing by Chris Gilbert to learn about Venezuelan socialism

Socialist States and the Environment by Salvatore Engel Di Mauro

Socialism in Power by Roland Boer

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 7 points 1 day ago

Over on YouTube, Hakim has done several videos on the state of various AES states (and, historically, the USSR).

Specifically on Vietnam, Luna Oi has a bunch of videos on the implementation of socialism there and how it’s manifested today.

[–] SevenSkalls@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

Ya searching Lemmy is for old good posts is pretty hard. One big downside of this platform in my opinion.