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Xi Goes Full Stalin with Purge
- mytailorisrich 3y ago> The unexplained disappearance and removal of China’s foreign and defense ministers — both Xi loyalists who were handpicked and elevated mere months before they went missing This is not unexplained. Apparently the story with Qin Gang (foreign minister) is that he got compromised and sensitive information leaked to the US through him. If so, his case is not one of 'Stalinian purge' but one of an embarrassing national security breach. It gets even better as the rumor is that Russia tipped off China (true tip or elaborate machination?) possibly to influence its stance on Ukraine [1] [1] https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/China-up-close/Analysis-Did-Putin-s-tip-lead-Xi-to-purge-his-foreign-minister https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/China-up-close/Analys...
- jevoten 3y agoStalin's purges extensively utilized false accusations and show trials, so there being a plausible story for each individual disappearance/conviction doesn't make this not a purge.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoEqually, it's bad reporting to paint everything a Stalinian purge without the subtlety of the possible full story, not least when Russia may be involved. Edit: a purge as practiced by Staline was to increase and solidify his personal power. There may be a similar dynamic at play here but at least in Qin Gang's case it seems to be much more complex. Simplistic and sensationalist labels prevent us from digging deeper into the interesting bit.
- gargablegar 3y agoThey do make all the above points in the article - including that it’s hard to verify this information. Comparing it to Stalin is pretty apt - communist party with a figure head trying to hold onto power. Seems like more than just one person vanished and it’s all under totally opaque circumstances.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoIf the information is difficult to verify the correct way is to be measured. My main gripe here is the sensationalist take on complex issues, starting with the over-the-top title. This could have been a substantive and interesting discussion... Edit: I tried to look past the clickbaity title to get to the interesting part, which I think to find the reason for specific people being 'purged'. Alas it is apparently not possible...
- foldr 3y agoThe lack of information is the point. In a Western democracy, government ministers don't just go missing without any official explanation for their disappearance. (I am not suggesting that such official explanations are always true, but they at least exist.)
- MichaelZuo 3y agoHere's an example from Australia: "On 17 December 1967, Harold Holt, the 17th prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in the sea near Portsea, Victoria. An enormous search operation was mounted in and around Cheviot Beach, but his body was never recovered."
- foldr 3y agoHe went for a swim and drowned. The facts of his disappearance are known and fully acknowledged insofar as anyone has been able to discover them. That's hardly an equivalent scenario to that of, e.g., Li Shangfu.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoDid you even read the entire comment? It clearly says his body was never recovered, so 'the facts of his disappearance' are not fully known, by definition. Anyways, there's dozens of examples of presidents, prime ministers, ministers, deputy ministers, party leaders, etc., who've disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances. And that's just post WW2. Which anyone can find via a quick search online.
- warrenm 3y agoCue my surprised face in 3...2...1
- amadeuspagel 3y agoWhat is this title? Is this the english version of Bild now?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- polypos1s 3y agowell they were acquired by springer recently…
- denotational 3y ago*Axel Springer, not to be confused with Springer Nature; I’d imagine most HN readers outside Germany would use unqualified ‘Springer’ for the latter since they’re a big publisher of academic journals/texts, but the two are unrelated.
- atemerev 3y agoWell, WW3 is coming.
- tmaly 3y agoHow do you figure? I see it more likely the US gets a major electrical blackout right in the middle of winter due to some foreign state actors as a higher likelihood than WW3.
- squigz 3y agoIf you'd like to back this claim up with ... anything, go for it. Otherwise, this is meaningless FUD.
- atemerev 3y agoStalin’s purges were (of course, cruel and political survival-centered) his preparations for the war
- deleted 3y ago
- popilewiz 3y ago[dead]
- up2isomorphism 3y agoYes, but how about Biden’s sin?
- up2isomorphism 3y agoFor those who down vote this without even dare to explain why, if you did not see sin is a type of "son", it is OK. Otherwise you are piece of crap that deserves every bit of Xi's purge.
- mensetmanusman 3y ago? Your comments aren't clear which is why they are being downvoted.
- nvm0n2 3y agoI wonder if it's really wise for the CIA to be publicly saying they rebuilt their spy network. That seems very likely to trigger redoubled efforts in spy hunting, whereas if they had just said nothing, perhaps Beijing would still believe they had fully wiped out the spy network in 2012.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- klyrs 3y agoPerhaps they haven't, and they only seek to stir up a witch hunt.
- Wildliferanger 3y agoWhat if they said that after planting false trails or setting up people to spefically cause purges. Witchhunts tend to be a good time for the intel guys to set up people with just rumors and whispers with far less blowback than trying to assassinate them.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoThey can neither confirm nor deny whether it is true.
- s3rv3rsi7e 3y agoI watched the video of Xi's speech during his visit to San Francisco titled: "Xi Jinping on U.S.-China relations" in November. One of the most interesting things he said: > Our achievements, however great, would be very small when divided by 1.4 billion. But a problem, however small, would be huge when multiplied by 1.4 billion. To me this gives insight into Xi's way of thinking (and presumably his party). A problem, however small, means to be talking about problems of the individual - multiplied. Xi may have unintentionally highlighted the fundamental difference between American and Chinese systems in a meeting intended to bridge the gaps.
- tim333 3y agoThankfully 'full Stalin' is a bit of an exaggeration. Stalin's great purge killed a million or so https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge For what it's worth the BBC and Reuters articles on this suggest it's cracking down or corruption rather than on people leaking to the US, though I guess none of them really know.
- twiss 3y agoAnd similarly, the article claims that > Since his reign began in 2012, Xi Jinping’s endless purges have removed millions of officials
- LargeTomato 3y ago"Xi goes full Stalin" I hate clickbait titles.
- nusl 3y agoThis article reads like it was written by ChatGPT.