That's a great point and that I can't believe I forgot to mention! To add to that, universities themselves use research as a cash cow (they take a large share of nearly every research grant of a faculty member) and as a marketing tool to get more students (tuition), prestige, grants, and so on. The fact that universities market themselves at all is ridiculous.
In the US they are also usually heavily financialized and local real estate behemoths.
Naturally it is, yes. Though those things are used for imperialism there.
Censorship is definitely a sign of authoritarianism, and a strong state might be too, depending on what you mean by it, but not necessarily?
In reality, despite what the dictionary says, "authoritarian" means, "organized group we don't like".
Censorship is ubiquitous it just comes in different forms. The most powerful and insidipus is the kind you don't even think it censorship. For example, will you lose your job for standing up for Palestine? Will you get paid to be a journalist if you are too critical of the ruling class? When the electronic commons is actually controlled by private corporations, do you really have online speech protections? Is sinophobia the only reason TikTok is getting threatened with a ban? Whose voices are heard at city council meetings? Who gets the ear of politicians?
These are all forms of censorship, but most of them are treated as normal, even righteous and justified.
States that fight for independence rapidly find that the global monopolistic empire automatically dominates all media narratives and funds NGOs to undermine their projects. Do you expect them to let that expand and destroy their country? Censorship is an expression of authority, but does that mean it is always wrong or particularly bad? Forcing out invaders is also an expression of authority, as is organizing defense, social programs, literacy campaigns.
and a strong state might be too
The strong states are usually just doing the functions of private industry in "non-authoritarian" countries but in a way that better serves the people and are resilient to US interference.
And as liberal democracy seem to be the 'goal' of states to achieve
Liberal democracy is the most effective producer of genocide in history and is really just rule by the capitalist class that pretends to be of the masses. States seeking independence from the US must eschew it by definition, as they will otherwise be coerced into the US-dominated order.
authoritarian is not at all a useless category since it's the opposite of democracy.
Liberal democracies are, in reality, the most authoritarian countries. They impose the interests of the capitalist ruling class based on military and financial power with little regard for the horrors it inflicts. But you are correct about how the term is used, what it means despite its definition - "this is what we do and it is good, the system we don't like is bad".
The ICC only goes after black African war criminals
Wahr, natürlich die Israelis.
Any country that maintains independence and an oppositional character must maintain a strong state, develop a military, and engage in censorship. All 3 get lumped in the vague and clearly now useless category of authoritarian, meaning the US will attempt to destroy your country and people and its citizens will think this is helping "freedom" and "democracy" and "defense" and just what smart people do. Or they will play the ancillary role of demonization while maintaining an anti-war pretense that somehow always means materially supporting American war criminals.
Despair is natural in the face of genocide, it means you are empathetic and aware. Despair like this is even more likely when one does not have an outlet, a course of action they can take in solidarity or comrades to talk to about it. Do you have anyone you could talk to or know a local group that also cares about this like you do? They might be organizing protests or vigils.
Whichever ones are active at any local protests or actions. If none are, then a socialist organization that does not mince words about support for the resistance. If you are in college there are anti-imperialist orgs organized specifically by and for college students.
I would be more specific but it's more important to find an active org with a good line on Palestine (e.g. one that opposes Harris, supports fighting against Israel) than it is to join one specific national org.
Sigh... we both know this isn't going anywhere. Neither of us will give in because both of us feel strongly about our positions and will not budge on them because of our feelings that we are doing the right thing (and no amount of saying I support genociders will change that).
No, this is not a principled disagreement. You have repeatedly had to deflect, ignore, and mischaracterize to dance around challenging points. I do not care about the "strength" or your beliefs, though it is clearly flimsy given this insecure behavior.
Anything you say that's less than Russia totally pulling out of Ukraine I can easily say is supporting genocidal dictators
Please refer to what I've already said about Russia and reply to it if you'd like to discuss that topic. I am not interested in discussing or defending your imagination.
Just remember, the average American is wildly less socially conscious than you'd like to believe
Oh? How socially conscious do I believe the average American is? When have we ever talked about anything like that whatsoever?
Ah, right, we haven't.
I guess we have reached a point where you will offer nothing more than straw men and patting yourself on the back. I hope that you someday have the courage of your "convictions" and can engage in good faith, especially when it comes to topics like support for genocide.
Okay but do North Ireland and London (only London) first for fairness.
Critical support to climate change taking out US military assets.
Why would you need to?