Who's In Charge ?

(Who's In Charge ?)

It can be lonely at the top, especially if one has a position of authority. If one has to assume absolute power, in that position of authority, competition to that position would need to be removed. That had been the practice of Stalin when he purged the Soviet Union. In the Nazi rise to power in Germany, there was also a trail of political prisoners. When Saddam Hussein came to supreme position in Iraq, in a televised spectacle, members of the Ba'ath Party that could possibly threaten Hussein were hauled away. to be immediately executed. And in China after the death of Mao, there was a struggle within the Chinse Communist leadership led to imprisonment and perhaps a few executions.

It is happening again in China. China's current Premier. Xi Jinping has just secured an. un-precedented third term. However, in order to make the post un-assailable, Xi publicly had his immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao, removed from the Communist Party Congress. The symbolism cannot be understated, not just to members of the Chinese Communist Party but also to the rest the world and especially for President Biden. Xi Jinping is cementing his power at home and that has the potential for future actions abroad.

Like Taiwan ? That has been a stated goal in one form or another of Xi's tenure. The humiliating removal of potential rival Hu, whose fate is not known at the moment (but one can guess), is like Stalin removing Kamenev or Zinoviev (who were executed). Who would now be the closest challenger ? As one not that familiar with the internals of CCP politics aside from the top echelon.

But the real question to be asked is what effect this shake-up in Beijing will be having in Washington ? How close is the Biden family via the activities of Hunter Biden ? The investments into several Chinese concerns by the latter, with a cut for the Big Guy, presumed to be the President. A further Investigaton of the junior Biden computer could be reveling in that regard and how much of Biden Administration policy is contingent on whether Biden has been compromised in a sense.

Xi has sense of history. He also apparently has a sense of destiny. He is one who thinks he could be the next Mao and do what even the Party founder could not, re-attach Taiwan to the Mainland. That prospect is even more evident now because of the weakness in the American Administration. But will decide the issue more than anything is how Russia deals with the Ukraine and it will be the outcome of that campaign that will give Xi the best idea about Taiwan.