Emperor Xi is having a very bad year:
China’s strongman leader can’t seem to catch a break. From the trade war with the United States to the crisis in Hong Kong to international criticism of his human rights record, President Xi Jinping suffered major setbacks in 2019, and his prospects for 2020 appear even worse.
Good. Couldn't happen to a slimier oppressive wannabe hegemon.
At the end of 2018, this bad year was telegraphed by his determination to control everything, no?
Xi wants the power to control "all tasks" in China because China's rulers sees a full spectrum of threats to Chinese Communist Party supremacy that goes from America's hard and soft power all the way to individuals in China who don't toe the line on all aspects of Chinese party demands. ...
The Chinese ruling class seriously view the inability to control everything to be a threat. And it isn't just the collapse of the USSR that scares them. They fear the French Revolution, too. Who knows what spark could set that kind of circular firing squad in China?
With the power to control all tasks comes the responsibility for all failures. Can Xi kill his way out of such a demand for accountability if it gains traction? Can he change course to avoid that?
Could Xi believe his shiny military offers a way out of domestic difficulties by rallying his people around him through nationalism?
Indeed, might the Chinese people suffering from poor economic prospects blame the foreigners for their problems and push a short and glorious war on a weakened Xi without the legitimacy to withstand the call to war?
As far as I'm concerned, Russia might be in as much danger as Taiwan given that Russia can't expect American and Japanese intervention on Russia's side.
I'd honestly prefer "China" as a geographic term rather than as a political entity. Of course, I prefer Europe that way. And I'd be happier with a looser federation in the United States of America than we've gotten over the last 60 years with a federal government that encroaches on more state and even local issues.
UPDATE: Honestly, the story of China's mass-rape program of Uighur women is hard to believe until you notice that the Chinese government doesn't deny the program--just the conclusion that it is a legalized rape program (tip to Instapundit).
What is going on?! Why is the Islamic world so silent on this issue? Why is Tom Friedman so quiet?
