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| (Reuter's photo) |
The Economist decries the
cult of Xi Jinping. Excerpts: [bold added]
Mr Xi has acquired more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong...In three and a half years in charge, he has accumulated titles at an astonishing pace. He is not only party leader, head of state and commander-in-chief, but is also running reform, the security services and the economy.
he has flouted the party’s ban on personality cults, introduced in 1982 to prevent another episode of Maoist madness. Official media are filled with fawning over “Uncle Xi” and his wife, Peng Liyuan, a folk-singer whom flatterers call “Mama Peng”
there [has] been such a sweeping crackdown on critics of the party. Internet censors have been busy deleting messages posted on social media by outraged citizens in response to the vaccine scandal.
He is using the party’s own thuggish investigators to take on graft. But they have a greater interest in settling political scores than in ensuring laws are applied fairly.
he is providing neither the country with prosperity and freedom, nor reassuring the rest of the world with stability.
Worshipping the leader's personality, censoring dissent, investigating one's own scandals, using the government to settle political scores----thank goodness none of that can happen in America.
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