>
> Ok. As long as we're clear that what's happening in China is
> the development of capitalism, and not the development of
> "socialism with Chinese characteristics," as they used to
> say (do they still?).
Yes they do. I see it used nearly every night in the state run Chinese newscast that I watch. The last time they had a big confab (about 6 months or a year ago -- can't remember if it was a Party congress or what exactly -- but rows about rows of bored looking officials), the coverage was positively hysterical. The English translations of what Jeing et.al. were saying sounded like that could have come from Chairman Al or some GE annual report. But they kept describing this neo-lib juggernaut as 'progression to socialism' with 'Chinese characteristics'.
Speaking of fun-loving state run TV, does anybody know which station(s) the Russian gov't still runs? On the same cable channel that I get CCTV, I also get a Russian newscast that is either directly state run or is run by apologists for the government. When Yelstin went tottering off to Beijing some time back, German TV (RTL-Aktuell sp?) showed him falling all over the place and being led around by a panicked looking Chinese official who seemed to be asking "why is this drunk Russian hanging onto my sleeve?" But things got worse when Boris was allowed to ambulate on his own and went wandering in various random directions. Well the Russian newscast I saw 1/2 hour later showed NONE of this, nor did CCTV.
--
Joseph Noonan jfn1 at msc.com
Keep on rockin in the Free World(tm).