Re: How embarrassing can former PMs be?
Reply #14 –
Yep, I understand @capcom and his explanation, but it's a dangerous turn of phrase that can easily be mistaken for a more sinister and general perspective. There are plenty of ways to sledge Xi and criticise his politics without going down that path!
You'll probably align with this, but in my younger days spending time in RSLs I was sometimes taken aback by the comraderies on display around dates like today and Anzac Day. The RSL's I attended had diverse memberships, English, Italian, German, Greek, Pacific Islander, Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Japanese. All would come together and reminisce to decry war, probably across all venues you might find all nations. While some retained an underlying hatred that did surface occasionally, most enjoyed an understanding that war was war, the enemy was not the people now standing besides you having a beer but some abstract political or social concept.
I have a lot of close friends who now live in SE Asian or on the Asian Peninsula regions having fought in the Vietnam or Korean war, they don't associate the people with the conflict, and they embrace those cultures. I realise not all find peace in this regard.
Brought a tear to my eye reading this, Spotted One. As you no doubt realise, I have experienced this as well... in Asia and back home.