There is an official summary of the remarks made by Xi Jinping to a recent meeting of Communist Party leaders which reveals a great deal of anxiety within the ruling circles of China. The remarks have not been published by the Chinese press, but it seems as if the summary is being passed around as a warning about the pace of change in China. Ominously, Mr. Xi raised the analogy of the Soviet Union as a lesson to be heeded when change outpaces ideology.
To add to China’s problems, The Guardian is reporting that North Korea has told China that it intends to test another nuclear bomb and another long-range missile later this year. So China has to deal with the backlash from other countries from these provocations, the loss of face because it lacks leverage over its ally, and the likely military buildup of its neighbors in response to the new threats posed by North Korea’s capabilities. This example is a classic case of the security dilemma gone wild.
Matt Taibbi is a reporter for Rolling Stone and one of the most dogged investigator of the behavior of big banks in the global economy. In his most recent installment he looks at how the British bank, HSBC, avoided prosecution for many years even though it was issued “cease and desist” by the US government over its role in money laundering to terrorist groups and drug cartels. It is a sordid story, and buttresses the diea that the biggest banks are clearly immune from the regulation that smaller entities and individuals expect and take for granted.
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