That Southern US usage dates back to at least the US civil war in the 1860s.

But yankee was used to refer to at least some people in what is now the US as early as the 1660s.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee

Another point here, Amazon has really thin profit margins on their core business (not counting AWS, etc. Just the online shopping). If it weren’t absolutely gargantuan, it would fail. It’s only profitable because of the logistical efficiency it has achieved, exploitation (of workers, cheap goods from China, etc.), and absolutely massive economies of scale. Similar to Walmart.

Recommended reading: People’s Republic of Walmart. All for nationalizing - would be better for everyone.

Yeah, this feels like an op to me, too. I’ve seen a LOT of negative stuff about China over the past 72 hours or so. Like suspiciously boosted on Reddit (mostly) and Lemmy (less so). No proof, but anecdotally, it seems like much more than normal, and current events make it extra sus.