Think Gladiator, and then think Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian president, acting like a latter-day Roman emperor exercising power over life and death. As the world’s athletes get a thumbs up to perform at the “people’s games”, Emperor Xi gives his uncounted, unseen victims a callous thumbs down. Just as objectionable, and potentially more dangerous, it’s the prospect of a totalitarian 21st-century Chinese global empire. Following close behind comes the establishment of overseas military bases to secure and defend these new interests, with or without local consent. A Pentagon report last month predicted China will build a string of military bases girdling the world, including in the Arctic.

Source: The Guardian December 13, 2021 03:58 UTC