[Enemy Of The State]

I agree with your assessments, its just that I dont think that China fits into the traditional meaning of a totaltarian regieme.

When Mao was in power, yes, but not now.

Again, I agree with your assessments, especially when it comes to the corruption that seems to flow endlessly from the top down but they have been doing their homework and things are slowly changing.

I would be more inclined to call Kim-Jong Il a totaltarian ruler. He could get away with an incident like Tiananmen, I dont honestly believe that the Chinese could pull that off again.

[Quix]

Guess, then, I'd agree with your qualifications of the term totalitarian.

Certainly NK is much MORE totalitarian.

Guess I've just construed it that the totalitarianism has 'merely' gone underground, gotten furlined gloves; put on a smiley face; etc.

But in your construction, definition, I can agree.

[Quix]

Could they pull off another Tienanmen?

Yes, THEY COULD.

What would THEN happen would be exceedingly up for grabs.

They could DO IT but I don't know that they could survive the aftermath.

Thanks for your kind words. I much agree with your China commentary routinely, too.

[adx]

I would be more inclined to call Kim-Jong Il a totaltarian ruler. He could get away with an incident like Tiananmen, I dont honestly believe that the Chinese could pull that off again.

Anyone have an idea of how many security cameras are in China? Some of stuff that we'd have a problem with here (facial recognition, biometrics, etc., with the capability of sifting through it to find useful stuff) would have a very receptive audience there. With the technology that's available (and stuff that's now coming out of the lab), China could probably create a surveillance society so pervasive that you won't have to do massive public crackdowns like Tiananmen Square. Anyone who looks like a subversive can be tracked and almost constantly monitored.

How do you translate Nacht und Neber into Mandarin?