I have yet to wait after midnight to watch this PBS video (rush hours), but it should be interesting. About that article on the NY Times, one of the comments posted in response was quite interesting:
Quote:
To what end is China ratcheting up the tensions over these islands? Well, the Chinese Communist Party realizes that it has largely lost its legitimacy. It dropped Maoism and its only remaining ideology is 'get rich any way you can.' China's citizens realize that the CCP is merely a nationwide money making racket, but as long as enough people are getting richer they seem willing to tolerate it. But now with their economy slowing, what else can the CCP lean on to legitimize its existence?
Chinese nationalism is all the CCP has left. So Chinese are bombarded from cradle to grave with stories about China's aggrieved history and imbued with a sense of national victimhood. The leadership calculates that by finding an outside enemy that they can distract their own people from the injustices of their own misrule.
Patriotism, the last refuge of the scoundrel.
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Thoughts?