A better article for being tentative as opposed to some that fix on a point of view too easily. China is at least coldly rational whilst Putin’s Russia is a basket case of dangerously irrational self pity and resentment.
Not sure how planning to invade Taiwan, using one of the most complex military operations–an amphibious landing–is “coldly rational.”
Nor is trusting the fate of over a billion people to the decisions of a single leader.
Xi is arguably far less delusional than Putin. But every regime needs people who can openly criticize it–and alternative leaders who can step in when egregious mistakes are made, a la the Politburo and Khrushchev after Cuba.
Otherwise, one-man rule inevitably leads to disaster.
Besides some exceptions like Tucker Carlson in the USA or Sud Radio in France, the kind of one sided narrative one hears in US-EU on Russia doesn’t reflect the self proclaimed freedom/democratic credentials of the west!! Shall we put the onus on the west too by saying: “The propaganda echo chamber does not produce good intelligence; if you only listen to your own propaganda, you can’t be surprised when it turns out to be wrong.”!!
Besides some exceptions like Tucker Carlson in the USA or Sud Radio in France, the kind of one sided narrative one hears in US-EU on Russia doesn’t reflect the self proclaimed freedom/democratic credentials of the west!! Shall we put the onus on the west too by saying: “The propaganda echo chamber does not produce good intelligence; if you only listen to your own propaganda, you can’t be surprised when it turns out to be wrong.”!!
Lizzie J
2 years ago
The rigour of the Shanghai lockdown, entirely due to China’s failure to vaccinate effectively, is indicative of how little people matter. My godson is locked into his tower block due to one case, tested every day and unable even to take the dog out for a whatsit. And it’s a big dog … I dread to think what will happen if he tests positive (my godson, not the dog).
It has nothing to do with vaccination. The vaccines are ineffective against omicron. As in the west, lockdowns are simply a form of totalitarian control.
Martin Logan
2 years ago
Intelligent Chinese are now keenly aware of how one-man rule has enabled the Ukrainian catastrophe.
Even if Putin’s intel people sincerely believed the Ukrainians would fold immediately, he should have encouraged opposing views. If a nation ever sleepwalked its way into war, it is Russia in 2022.
Like intelligent Russians, however, intelligent Chinese will probably be no more able to prevent similar miscalculations by Xi’s regime. Still worse, flights to Turkey may be limited.
It’s as if the post-Mao China of Deng and Chou has evaporated.
Friedrich Tellberg
2 years ago
Thank you. There are indeed signs that China’s leaders have not decided yet upon what to think of the war in Ukraine and how to act and that this is their way to let it show. Something unusual to us in the West.
The fact that China has largely, if not completely, sided with an outright aggressor, is not to its credit.
China did use to have a reasonably effective method, albeit undemocratic, for changing its leadership, which was anyway to a significant extent collective. With Xi’s rise to absolute power, that distinction has lost most of its meaning. China has reverted to becoming, as it was under Mao, a tyranny dependent on the whims and interests of a single individual. It also heavily represses any information or opinion on the world of which it does not approve.
I’m obviously not praising China. Xi might get a third term and develop an Emperor syndrome and they still harbour deep resentment for the ‘100 years of humiliation’. Russia, China, North Korea, all glowering away with huge chips on shoulders.
I was about to ask whether we in the West are allowed to have chips on our shoulders like the rest of the world, when I realised that of course some of us are expected to.
You can carry the chip only if you qualify for marginalized or victim status. In the US the chips will soon be issued via the federal government through SAAP (Supplemental Attitude Assistance Program) administered by HHS. Apply on-line, Form 88234, available at http://www.HHS.gov.
Last edited 2 years ago by Ray Zacek
Bryan Dale
2 years ago
The western powers have chosen to push Russia, and possibly Ukraine closer to China. Perhaps they’re indifferent to strengthening China’s influence because the western governments profit from China and are busy promoting a Chinese style social credit scheme to control their own populations.
Ian Stewart
2 years ago
I wonder if the CCP might now be more aware of the risks of one man rule evolving into demagogic misrule, and maybe block Xi’s reappointment.
Wise Chinese know the very long game suits them and Xi is starting, like Putin, to try and achieve a legacy in his own lifetime – Chinese are much more tolerant of patience.
Last edited 2 years ago by Ian Stewart
TERRY JESSOP
2 years ago
China “has been thinking about the Taiwan issue for years” and regards “it as a matter of internal politics, not an external breach of sovereignty. However, one revelation from the past month should surely have set alarm bells ringing: the massive miscalculation by Russia’s political and military elites about the nationalist sentiment and will for resistance of the Ukrainian people”.
Xi Jinping may well be as ruthless an authoritarian as Putin, but I will wager that he is a better chess or poker player than Putin, and quite capable of working out the odds. He is very certainly giving lots of deep thought as to whether an invasion of Taiwan could be pulled off, and my guess is that for the moment he will be drawing back from the brink. Taiwan may have a population of only 23 odd million people, but no doubt Xi has noted how the Ukrainians have demonstrated that the population of a country under dire threat can surprise with the vehemence of their resistance. Not only that, but Taiwan is not just a short drive across a land border. It’s miles and miles across open sea. Lots can go wrong. As much as Xi would no doubt love to roll the dice, my guess is that he won’t.
As for Covid lockdown in Shanghai and Hong Kong, it is not just a case of mismanagement. Despite recent protestations to the contrary by the Chinese vaccine manufacturers that “our vaccines work really well, honestly”, the reality is probably that they don’t.
A better article for being tentative as opposed to some that fix on a point of view too easily. China is at least coldly rational whilst Putin’s Russia is a basket case of dangerously irrational self pity and resentment.
Not sure how planning to invade Taiwan, using one of the most complex military operations–an amphibious landing–is “coldly rational.”
Nor is trusting the fate of over a billion people to the decisions of a single leader.
Xi is arguably far less delusional than Putin. But every regime needs people who can openly criticize it–and alternative leaders who can step in when egregious mistakes are made, a la the Politburo and Khrushchev after Cuba.
Otherwise, one-man rule inevitably leads to disaster.
Besides some exceptions like Tucker Carlson in the USA or Sud Radio in France, the kind of one sided narrative one hears in US-EU on Russia doesn’t reflect the self proclaimed freedom/democratic credentials of the west!! Shall we put the onus on the west too by saying: “The propaganda echo chamber does not produce good intelligence; if you only listen to your own propaganda, you can’t be surprised when it turns out to be wrong.”!!
That’s CIA propaganda. I recognize it because they’re making the exact same claims about Putin as they’d ID trying to undermine the Trump presidency.
Besides some exceptions like Tucker Carlson in the USA or Sud Radio in France, the kind of one sided narrative one hears in US-EU on Russia doesn’t reflect the self proclaimed freedom/democratic credentials of the west!! Shall we put the onus on the west too by saying: “The propaganda echo chamber does not produce good intelligence; if you only listen to your own propaganda, you can’t be surprised when it turns out to be wrong.”!!
The rigour of the Shanghai lockdown, entirely due to China’s failure to vaccinate effectively, is indicative of how little people matter. My godson is locked into his tower block due to one case, tested every day and unable even to take the dog out for a whatsit. And it’s a big dog … I dread to think what will happen if he tests positive (my godson, not the dog).
Surely he could sell the dog on e- bay?
I thought the Chinese were rather partial to dog, particularly boiled with noodles.
April Fool’s day anyone?
Ah yes – Steamboat breakfast puppy in Bugis Street Singapore. Just mouthwatering even after all those years. Its fair taken my mind back.
“….is indicative of how little people matter.”
Sounds like a new slogan. Little People Matter!
Orson Welles would disagree!
Yes, I do! All 5’4″ of me!
It has nothing to do with vaccination. The vaccines are ineffective against omicron. As in the west, lockdowns are simply a form of totalitarian control.
Intelligent Chinese are now keenly aware of how one-man rule has enabled the Ukrainian catastrophe.
Even if Putin’s intel people sincerely believed the Ukrainians would fold immediately, he should have encouraged opposing views. If a nation ever sleepwalked its way into war, it is Russia in 2022.
Like intelligent Russians, however, intelligent Chinese will probably be no more able to prevent similar miscalculations by Xi’s regime. Still worse, flights to Turkey may be limited.
It’s as if the post-Mao China of Deng and Chou has evaporated.
Thank you. There are indeed signs that China’s leaders have not decided yet upon what to think of the war in Ukraine and how to act and that this is their way to let it show. Something unusual to us in the West.
China bourgeoisie are an unhappy at present and risk averse. Nothing to be seen here…….for the moment.
The fact that China has largely, if not completely, sided with an outright aggressor, is not to its credit.
China did use to have a reasonably effective method, albeit undemocratic, for changing its leadership, which was anyway to a significant extent collective. With Xi’s rise to absolute power, that distinction has lost most of its meaning. China has reverted to becoming, as it was under Mao, a tyranny dependent on the whims and interests of a single individual. It also heavily represses any information or opinion on the world of which it does not approve.
I’m obviously not praising China. Xi might get a third term and develop an Emperor syndrome and they still harbour deep resentment for the ‘100 years of humiliation’. Russia, China, North Korea, all glowering away with huge chips on shoulders.
Justified ‘chips on their shoulders’????
Perhaps but a chip on the shoulder doesn’t lead to wise decision making.
I still prefer my chips with malt vinegar.
I was about to ask whether we in the West are allowed to have chips on our shoulders like the rest of the world, when I realised that of course some of us are expected to.
You can carry the chip only if you qualify for marginalized or victim status. In the US the chips will soon be issued via the federal government through SAAP (Supplemental Attitude Assistance Program) administered by HHS. Apply on-line, Form 88234, available at http://www.HHS.gov.
The western powers have chosen to push Russia, and possibly Ukraine closer to China. Perhaps they’re indifferent to strengthening China’s influence because the western governments profit from China and are busy promoting a Chinese style social credit scheme to control their own populations.
I wonder if the CCP might now be more aware of the risks of one man rule evolving into demagogic misrule, and maybe block Xi’s reappointment.
Wise Chinese know the very long game suits them and Xi is starting, like Putin, to try and achieve a legacy in his own lifetime – Chinese are much more tolerant of patience.
China “has been thinking about the Taiwan issue for years” and regards “it as a matter of internal politics, not an external breach of sovereignty. However, one revelation from the past month should surely have set alarm bells ringing: the massive miscalculation by Russia’s political and military elites about the nationalist sentiment and will for resistance of the Ukrainian people”.
Xi Jinping may well be as ruthless an authoritarian as Putin, but I will wager that he is a better chess or poker player than Putin, and quite capable of working out the odds. He is very certainly giving lots of deep thought as to whether an invasion of Taiwan could be pulled off, and my guess is that for the moment he will be drawing back from the brink. Taiwan may have a population of only 23 odd million people, but no doubt Xi has noted how the Ukrainians have demonstrated that the population of a country under dire threat can surprise with the vehemence of their resistance. Not only that, but Taiwan is not just a short drive across a land border. It’s miles and miles across open sea. Lots can go wrong. As much as Xi would no doubt love to roll the dice, my guess is that he won’t.
As for Covid lockdown in Shanghai and Hong Kong, it is not just a case of mismanagement. Despite recent protestations to the contrary by the Chinese vaccine manufacturers that “our vaccines work really well, honestly”, the reality is probably that they don’t.