Influential academic journal, Dushu, publishes a daring essay, "How to Avoid Falling into the 4 Traps," by noted liberal economist Prof Zhang Weiying. The oblique attack on Xi comes w/ a warning 1/n
h/t @Cadeyrnewydd @You_Shu_China
#XiRegrets
#PRCfascism https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5pzEc0LXEB3RPydC0eFUJA

Zhang begins by appealing to the scientism & technocratic ideals of the political elite. His title makes that emphatically clear: "The power of reason cannot be overestimated"

What follows is an *oblique* indictment of Xi's dictatorial rule as irrational, fascist & doomed. 2/n

Zhang asserts that 4 types of irrationality, "the conceit trap, self-esteem trap, belief trap, & group thinking trap", adversely affect the course of human history. [By implication, they affect China's past and future as well.] 3/n

On the conceit trap, Zhang notes that Weimar Germany's conservatives took for granted that they could subdue a boor (low suzhi individual) like Hitler & use him for their own ends.

"Many Germans deeply regret what they did in the first place." [Many CCP elite regret Xi?] 4/n

The German CP, writes Zhang, was implicated in this "fatal conceit." Instead of allying w/ fellow Marxists, the SDP, against the Nazis, it designated the SDP as its #1 enemy. As a result, the Nazis were able to destroy both. [CCP elites hv also forged foolhardy alliances?] 5/n

The "fatal conceit" of Hitler & Stalin (2 totalitarian leaders) led to calamity & world war. [Re: India, , SCS adventurism]

Next, Zhang turns to what he calls the excesses of self-esteem: narcissism & paranoia. Obliquely, he condemns CCP politics & Xi's paranoid style: 6/n

CCP/Xi traits:

- won't accept criticism from lower status ppl
- quick to feel humiliated
- thirsty for revenge
- compounds mistakes through coverups
- abuses power

All of which brings disaster upon themselves & the nation [re: #WuhanCoronaVirus? ] 7/n

Zhang: "Hitler is a typical narcissist, even the biggest narcissist in human history. He has never tolerated criticism fr others, including criticism fr his most trusted man."
[Raises the audacious q in the reader's mind: will Xi wrest the narcissist from Hitler?] #hubris 8/n

Zhang: "Hitler ordered the German army to occupy Stalingrad at all costs, not so much for military purposes, as for the psychological satisfaction of Hitler himself." [Another oblique swipe at Xi, whose arrogant leadership style contrasts sharply w/ that of his predecessors] 9/n

Zhang, on the "belief trap": Citing the ex of Pol Pot's mass murder of intellectuals & even spectacle-wearers, Zhang observes: "Idealists always use the goodness of the goal to justify the means" [Re: we must destroy the Uyghurs to save the Uyghurs] 10/n
#Xinjiang

Zhang singles out [Xi's] nationalism and racism as rendering ppl especially prone to "belief traps" that lead [not to Xi's "Harmony"] but to conflict, bloodshed, even #genocide

The parallels with #PRCfascism couldn't be more clear. 11/n
#Xinjiang

Zhang pursues the analogy w Hitler's fascism/natl socialism:

"[HitlerYouth League] compiled a list of 'non-Germanic' books in accordance w Nazi ideological standards. The books were retrieved fr various libraries & piled up in the public square to be burned" 12/n
#PRCcensorship