• Home
• About Alexander
• About Stirring Trouble
• Books
• Word From The Editor
• Living In America
• Pardon Me For Asking
• Contact

• Angry Rants
• Around The World
• Breaking news
• Business
• Consumer Watch
• Entertainment
• Let's Be Cynical
• Life In The UK
• Media
• Point Of View
• Sport

Want To Have A Successful Career In China? Become A Communist Party Apparatchik

Martin McCauley writes: Let me tell you something about China: there’s only a handful of people in the whole country of 1.3 billion people who yield all the political power. And that is why so many governments in the world keep a close eye on the political talent, rising to the top of the Chinese leadership, and the infighting that goes on there. The current struggle for power is taking place between the Communist Party apparatchiks and technocrats. If the apparatchiks win, it is likely that China’s modernisation will be slowed down. Why? Because the apparatchiks, career Party officials, lack the technical and scientific expertise to resolve the massive challenges involved in ensuring that China competes successfully with America and the rest of the developed world. The nomenklatura,... 

China Gripped By Conspiracy Theories

Martin McCauley writes: The Communist Party of China has long been sticking to one important rule: if something went badly wrong, the malevolent forces abroad were to blame. This has once again been the case with the violent riots in Tibet and, later, in Xinjiang that were supposedly ‘orchestrated from abroad’. This sort of attitude reflects a communist view of the world. Since the Party has convinced itself that it has created the conditions for the ‘harmonious development’ of the Chinese society, any violent disruption of this has to be a result of conspiracies that originate abroad. There is a certain twisted logic in this way of thinking. Promoting democracy, for instance, for many Chinese leaders, represents a Western conspiracy designed to weaken China. Human rights are... 

Corruption Is Fun. If You’re On The Right Side Of It

Martin McCauley writes: As the Chinese joke goes, corruption is fun, if you’re on the right side of it. But seriously, why is corruption so widespread in China? There are several reasons for that: the partially reformed economy, the reluctance to enforce legislation and the Communist Party of China’s refusal to conduct political reform. Countries in which the state is heavily involved in the economy have high levels of corruption. In China today the state still controls the commanding heights in the economy (heavy industries such as iron ore, steel, shipbuilding, etc.), with the private sector concentrating on consumer goods, especially for export. The state dominates banking, finance, power generation and natural resources. Many prices are state regulated as is the rate of interest... 

­Is China’s Middle Class Set To Dominate?

Martin McCauley writes: U.S. President Barack Obama once talked about the ‘ship of state’ being an ocean liner rather than a speedboat. He was trying to dampen expectations that he was about to solve all the nation’s problems in go and guide USS America quickly into calm waters. As President Obama prepares for his first visit to China next month, he needs to bear in mind that the Chinese leadership is also confronted with problems. The burgeoning middle class expects a higher standard of living and the freedom to shape their own lives. China is mindful of the fact that the middle class in South Korea and Indonesia have gradually demanded and won more room for political manoeuvre. A fact of life in China today is that the market is here to stay. It is up to the leadership to manage... 

The Chinese Communists Celebrate Their Rule. And The World Applauds

Adam Lovejoy writes: I bet you the Chinese communist leaders were saying to each other last week: ‘Well, I thought the 60th anniversary bash went really, really well. Not a bad word from any capital, foreign guests arrived in droves, the military parade went without a hitch and all our people stayed at home as they were told.’I do not know about you, but I was angry while watching the footage of all that military muscle flexing in Beijing last week and all those communist thugs, both past and present, waving to their loyal military. They sure have a lot to be proud of. In the 60 years they were in power around 100 million Chinese perished. No big deal for the commies in Beijing, considering that China has a population of around 1.4 billion people. Or maybe even more. So who cares about... 

China On The Horns of A Dilemma

(By Martin McCauley.) The party is about to end for the Communist Party of China (CPC). The climax came with the Olympic Games, followed by the Chinese astronauts blasting into space and returning triumphantly back. National Day celebrations begin on October 1 and would last a week. Then it’s back to reality. The Central Committee (CC) of the CPC convenes immediately after the festivities are over. It promises to be a volatile session. Ostensibly it is about agriculture but the effects of the world credit crunch and growing unemployment are bound to be broached. CC members – the second tier of Party power after the Politburo – are under tremendous pressure in their bailiwicks to bring back promises of money and credits from Beijing. The Chinese property market has taken an... 

Olympics? The Chinese Communists Have Other Problems On Their Minds

(By a leading expert on international affairs.) ‘Cadres decide everything’, was one of the wisdoms produced by the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. What he meant was that in a communist run state party functionaries on the ground should enable the leadership to exercise effective control over the masses. It is now becoming clear that this system, which has existed for decades in China, is now breaking down. The Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership is increasingly alarmed the growing number of incidents that have revealed that local Party officials are getting out of touch with the population. They have failed to anticipate and pre-empt public protests in five western provinces. First there were the Tibetan violent demonstrations, then came the uproar caused by the collapsing schools... 

Advertisements

 

 

 

Recommended Sites

BFBS Radio: Sitrep

Previous posts

• As US Troops Are Preparing To Cut And Run, We Ask: Will Democracy Triumph In Iraq?
• As ‘Dwarfgate’ Hits Britain, We Ask: Is The World Run By Shorties?
• Pearls Of Wisdom. From The Stirring Trouble Team
• Samantha Cameron Talks Candidly About Her Hubby. And Blows The Lid, Sort Of
• LibDems Pick A Porn Chick As Their Candidate. We Look At Other Options
• Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process? Now What Process Would That Be?
• The Cold War Is Back. But It’s Not As We Knew It
• More Breaking News. From The Stirring Trouble Team.
• Is There Any Point In Dieting? Nope, None At All
• Winning Hearts And Minds In Afghanistan. Even When They’re Detached From The Bodies
• President Ahmadinejad Reveals Iran’s Official Policy
• A Cynical Look At Life In Britain. And The Stiff Upper Lip
• As The British Press Sells Its Soul To The Devil, We Go Behind The Scenes Of One Newspaper
• From Now On The Met Office Will Express Doubt About Its Own Forecasts
• Pearls Of Wisdom. From The Stirring Trouble Team
• Live Coverage Of The Oscars Proves A Huge Hit. With Dozens Of People
• More Breaking News. From The Stirring Trouble Team
• Mossad Is Thinking Of Going Public. As A Plc
• Who Cares About Elvis Or Who Killed John Kennedy? Aliens Are Running Things Here
• TV Debates Between Party Leaders Will Include Product Placements
• Band Aid: Sir Bob And Friends Do Some Soul Searching
• More Breaking News. From The StirringTrouble Team
• President Zuma: The Man With The Plan
• The New Rich Have No Style, No Class, No Taste. No Anything
• Pearls Of Wisdom: From The Sirring Trouble Team
• About One Pine Tree. And Global Warming Written All Over It
• More Breaking News Items. From The Stirring Trouble Team
• BBC Cuts Costs: It’s Taking The Piss, But Not As We Know It
• A Case Of One Madman Blowing All The Money
• More Breaking News. From The Stirring Trouble Team

Copyright © 2010 Alexander Nekrassov - Stirring Trouble Internationally – A humorous take on news and current affairs

Website Design

Buy Cheap Software Adobe InDesign CS