Plenty of rakes to be stepped on in China. And I have no doubt that Xinnie-the-Pooh is stepping on a fair few right now, what with a major plague, an economic catastrophe, and now severe flooding all hitting at the same time. The fact that censorship is increasing in China indicates to me that the leadership is getting seriously nervous about its own position right now.

Didact

Nice to be back. Real life intervened:)

Fair enough about him not being a IYI. Nevertheless the constant skulldurgey still makes him narrow minded all is nothing but war and extrapolates this mindset to life. I worry he and other world leaders will step on a rake and set off a crisis

xavier

That would be a crowded room. Satan might well be chowing down on the remains of Judas Iscariot there, but Karl Marx and Lenin and Stalin would also be there, along with all of the other Commie bastards who did so evil.

Hey, good to see you back, it's been a while since I saw you comment on a post.

However, Xi strikes me what Nicholas Nassim Taleb calls intellectual yet idiot (IYI) Further given the craven, cringy sycophantic environment coupled by the mafia/secret society organization of the party, he's cut off from reality .

I am not nearly so sure. Xi Jinping went from party elite to political exile in a literal cave to the very apex of political power in modern China. That is no mere ivory-tower intellectual with no skin in the game and limited practical experience. That is a man who knows every dirty political trick in the book.

I don't consider Lee Kwan Yew as one of the greatest statesmen of the postwar 20th century. As someone who's lived there for many years, I was always unimpressed by him.
In any case, that Xi is a very smart man sure never underestimate your enemy. However, Xi strikes me what Nicholas Nassim Taleb calls intellectual yet idiot (IYI) Further given the craven, cringy sycophantic environment coupled by the mafia/secret society organization of the party, he's cut off from reality .

As you remarked, Xi is friven by protecting himself and his clan against the rival clans to ensure the party's pertual hold on power not the best interests of the country.
xavier