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Posted on 02/25/2020 2:13:02 PM PST by RoosterRedux
How did Xi Jinping—the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, who has been consolidating his power since taking over the post in 2012—let things get to this point?
It might be that he didn’t fully know what was happening in his own country until it was too late.
Xi would be far from the first authoritarian to have been blindsided. Ironically, for all the talk of the technological side of Chinese authoritarianism, China’s use of technology to ratchet up surveillance and censorship may have made things worse, by making it less likely that Xi would even know what was going on in his own country.
*snip*
Since taking power in 2012, Xi has shifted back to traditional one-man rule, concentrating more and more power into his hands. He has deployed an ever-more suffocating system of surveillance, propaganda, and repression, while attempting to create a cult of personality reminiscent of the Mao era, except with apps instead of little red books.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Who'da thunk it.
Exactly why we don’t need socialism here. Doesn’t work. Never worked. Never will work.
Is the author at all familiar with CHERNOBYL?
Create a society where everybody is afraid to speak the truth.
THAT’S how these things happen.
Chernobyl is mentioned in the article.
They can't afford to let Bernie get the nomination.
Shoot enough messengers and people stop delivering messages to you.
Gorbachev wanted to remove the secrecy strangling the Soviet Union. Chernobyl was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
After that freedom of expression became the norm and as they say, the rest was history.
Whether the same thing eventually happens in China remains to be seen.
Are the Bernie Bros man enough to riot like Dems did in 1968? I doubt it. More likely to complain on twitter than fight in the streets.
Politico has a story about Bernie tanking Dems down ballot. FR doesn’t allow the link or I’d have started a thread. Shows they’re panicking.
Bernie’s going to have an “accident” or “health crisis”, either of which will eliminate him, permanently.
They recently made him ruler for life. Will be interesting to see what the party decides about that next.
[How did Xi Jinping—the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, who has been consolidating his power since taking over the post in 2012—let things get to this point?
It might be that he didn’t fully know what was happening in his own country until it was too late. ]
The thing about Chinese rulers isn’t that they think centuries ahead. In fact, their visions are much more constricted than those of Western rulers, because unlike in the West, their lives and the lives of their clans are always at risk if they lose power. And the Chinese propensity for successful coups mounted by rival elites and revolts started by the hoi polloi far exceeds that of any other civilization in recorded history.
What distinguishes Chinese rulers from others isn’t how far forward they look, but how far backwards they reach in looking for pitfalls and challenges that might lead to a disastrous end for them and their kin. Mao’s twin bibles during his successful insurrection against the ruling Nationalists were two works about peasant revolts that form half of China’s Four Classic Novels - the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (~1800 years prior) and the Water Margin (~900 years prior).
Xi Jinping is making a big deal about this not just for propaganda purposes. He’s also wary of domestic opponents, in and out of the Party, taking this as a portent of regime vulnerability, and making their individual moves. Both Xi and his potential challengers are all reading from the same historical playbook.
Individual revolts generally don’t have a huge chance of success. But China’s history isn’t of individual revolts. It’s of one large-scale failed revolt after another, each hammering away at the resources and loyalties of the regime’s supporters, while offering opportunities for advancement at the expense of the regime. Until the regime runs out of resources and loyal supporters, at which point it is toppled and its adherents and their kin are wiped out in a bloodbath.
The potential for a new cycle of revolts followed by regime collapse is why Xi Jinping worries about this disease, the way he worries about every aspect of Chinese society that might threaten his rule. The fact that it is now acknowledged as a very big deal means that potential Chinese rivals are now looking at challenging his rule. Big crises have traditionally been the equivalent of a dinner bell or the report of a starter’s gun for ambitious Chinese power contenders because they signal regime vulnerability. China is entering a period of potential regime collapse, and Xi knows it.
Are the Bernie Bros man enough to riot like Dems did in 1968?
↑ Click on the thumbnail above to see how calm it all is in China ↑
Must be Antifa. They show up then we could have actual ‘68-style riots.
It is hard for a system built on the BIG LIE to get the truth when it needs it.Bring Out Your DeadWho'da thunk it.
Hu indeed!
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.
There’s video of a Chinese woman who says she recovered from the virus but her husband was wrapped in plastic and taken away to a crematorium as he was still alive and ill. Hospitals full so I guess that’s their plan.
Don’t know how well BS bros are or are not connected to Antifa, but it was a high level BS bro that made the comment - carried here on local WISN talk. Later, BS’s champaign manager said much the same - violence, if BS not promoted
I believe I saw a comment to wit - allied mech units made good use of them. True?
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