It's a lot easier for officers high up in the military to be corrupt if the nation's flag they're carrying has the world believing that they span the globe in order to spread democracy. From there they can invade a country rich in opium, under the pretext of "liberating" them from one threat or another, and then make vast amounts of money in the heroin trade; especially if they have no qualms about selling it to their own people. One such target could be right on China's southern border - Vietnam. Another quite possibly could be to there west, like say, Afghanistan. Of course I'm just spitballing here, as no country would ever actually do something like that. But it would keep the upper echelon of the military fat and happy while the governing class could be preoccupied with it's own brand of corruption dealing with bankers and corporations. And if that gov't could keep it's population docile with things like silly trinkets (TV's, i-phones, gadgets in general) and a Prozac type drug like fluoride in their water supply then the corruption would hardly even be noticed by most of the peasants and business could go on as usual for decades..I wonder if there's any historical references to draw from?
"Evidence of wrongdoing has not been presented in ways likely to satisfy an American or British court, but corruption is nonetheless a real problem in China. All else equal, it is easier to be corrupt in a murky economy, with a legal system far from explicit, consistent, and impartial."
Oh, yeah, our legal system protects us from corruption. That's what my civics teacher told me, right? Must be so.
The whole point of passing the traditional examinations was to obtain an official position from which one could extract as much as possible from the lower-downs in order to pay off the higher-ups and still have enough left over to feather one's own nest. This is not corruption, it is standard Confucian operating procedure.
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It's a lot easier for officers high up in the military to be corrupt if the nation's flag they're carrying has the world believing that they span the globe in order to spread democracy. From there they can invade a country rich in opium, under the pretext of "liberating" them from one threat or another, and then make vast amounts of money in the heroin trade; especially if they have no qualms about selling it to their own people. One such target could be right on China's southern border - Vietnam. Another quite possibly could be to there west, like say, Afghanistan. Of course I'm just spitballing here, as no country would ever actually do something like that. But it would keep the upper echelon of the military fat and happy while the governing class could be preoccupied with it's own brand of corruption dealing with bankers and corporations. And if that gov't could keep it's population docile with things like silly trinkets (TV's, i-phones, gadgets in general) and a Prozac type drug like fluoride in their water supply then the corruption would hardly even be noticed by most of the peasants and business could go on as usual for decades..I wonder if there's any historical references to draw from?
Thank you for a great, timely, and interesting article. I had no idea any of this was going on in China. Another web site to add to my daily read.
"Evidence of wrongdoing has not been presented in ways likely to satisfy an American or British court, but corruption is nonetheless a real problem in China. All else equal, it is easier to be corrupt in a murky economy, with a legal system far from explicit, consistent, and impartial."
Oh, yeah, our legal system protects us from corruption. That's what my civics teacher told me, right? Must be so.
The whole point of passing the traditional examinations was to obtain an official position from which one could extract as much as possible from the lower-downs in order to pay off the higher-ups and still have enough left over to feather one's own nest. This is not corruption, it is standard Confucian operating procedure.
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