Gmail blocked in China
Not surprising considering the tricks they've been pulling of late.  What can be said here? The people have chosen an autocratic government and often, without me even provoking them, will tell me how superior is is to western values, the same way Russians will also do.  As an international traveler and sometimes international worker, this is fairly typical stuff. I see this kind of thing on VK and Facebook all the time. Everytime some autocratic regime cracks down the people go, "Please more sir! We dont need the Western pigs and their decadent values!"  They buy into the anti-Western narrative pretty deeply.<p>My personal take is that there's a great war for democracy going on right now and the final lines are being drawn.  The weaker autocrats have fallen (mideast, Ukraine, etc) and the stronger ones are falling (Syria) but the strongest have double-down on oppression (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, etc).  I think this political dynamic will be the defining narrative for quite some time.<p>I also think a balkanazation of the internet is slowly happening. China is certainly doing it and Russia might follow.  I personally don't have a big problem with this. Probably means less malware and cyberattacks for everyone.  I think its obvious that easy access to information isn't this revolutionary thing, at least in autocratic regimes.  People just seem to prefer state controlled media or narratives that fit in with their biases.  Once China sets the precedent others will follow, especially if there's zero economic fallout from it.