I find the best way to understand what happened in Xinjiang is to contrast it with Afghanistan.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Why? Because they're neighboring regions that faced very similar problems to which very different solutions were applied, with ultimately very different outcomes. pic.twitter.com/uf5mg9p7Zb
And like Afghanistan, Xinjiang faced big terrorism issues, which likely were inspired by the methods and tactics of their Afghan neighbors.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Starting from around 2007, the province descended into chaos with dozens of terrorist attacks, many of which were extremely deadly.
Afghanistan had Al Qaeda and the Talibans, Xinjiang had ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement).
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
ETIM wasn't only in Xinjiang but in Afghanistan too: they were a designated "terrorist organization" and the US regularly bombed them alongside Talibans 👇https://t.co/Fvjx0HaaOo pic.twitter.com/F20a8PW4HG
This was for the similarities: two neighboring regions with big radical Islam terror problems.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Now for the solutions. I'm not going to expand too much on what Americans did in Afghanistan as it is well known.
The typical American answer to problems: bombs and bullets.
The question was: what do you do with folks who've been radicalized or are on a path to be?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
a) Kill them?
b) Deradicalize them and teach them practical skills so they can go on a different life path?
(As an aside, which one is characterized by Western media as "genocide"? 🤔)
The results speak for themselves.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Again, everyone knows what happened to Afghanistan: the extremists won.
Weirdly enough it turns out that you strengthen people's will when you commit mass murders against their brothers and friends. How unexpected...
Not only did the terrorists win but after 20 years of US occupation Afghanistan is the poorest country in Asia with a GDP per capita of $509, even poorer than North Korea or Syria.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Worse still, since the US froze their central bank reserves Afghans now face a terrible famine. pic.twitter.com/DSWHBk5QPL
How does Xinjiang compare?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
GDP per capita now reaches RMB55k, which corresponds to roughly $9,000 or 18 times higher than Afghanistan's!
This is higher than the GDP per capita of countries like Thailand, the Maldives or Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/gIyyd3viZo
But, wait, the Uygurs, the genocide?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
The Uygurs are very much still there and their culture as well. What do you think all those tourists come see?
In fact according to official census data from 2010 to 2020 the Uygur population in Xinjiang grew by 1.62 million, or up 16%.
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