US intelligence officials baffled that politician who isn't a venal sex pest was somehow allowed to hold power.
this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2026
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Unironically yes; when you get to that level of power in America (if you're the sort who WOULD get to that level of power), neither you nor the people you rub elbows with have any recognizable morals; it will genuinely baffle you to meet people who legitimately have morals; not feel guilty mind you, just genuinely confused. These are people who see oppressed populations and oppressor allies and see a puzzle.
The Dollop just did a couple of episodes on how LA mayor Karen Bass started out as a community organizer who accomplished some great things, and then got into politics and spent a couple of terms in the house and came out the other side as a creature of the establishment. If you show up with morals, they make sure you toss them out.
Kind of like how good cops inevitably either stop being good or stop being cops.
I remember a quote along the lines of "you won't change the system from within, but it will change you."
Similar to "can't fight city hall"
reminds me of the first election after the counterrevolution in hungary, so 1990. a lot of starry-eyed idealists (with real morals) got elected and got filtered out or demoralized over the first 4 year cycle. by the second, it was purely just the slimy fucks getting elected.
Systems
I think most people with that arc were cynical and self-serving in their "community organizing" phase. Careerists, basically, gathering credentials and connections. There are a lot of people like that in "leftist" groups and unions and they are probably the most dangerous people in those groups, as anything disrupting their work (like a reasonable deliberation on what projects to focus on) threatens their personal trajectory. So they will fight, often in unprincipled ways, to keep that planned trajectory.
Why Zucc keeps trying to get Xi to name his kids and shit, the capitalists cannot imagine someone who can't be bribed, or "bribed" with some combo of literal cash, surreptitious illegal activities, and feudalistic intra-family connections
Even people who aspire to be like that act that way. People constantly are confused by me cause I actually refuse to fuck with my core principles. Which of course means I must be taking dark money from someone. The allegations don't last long when people realize I have 4 year old glasses.
"Guy with a wife doesn't want other women, he's got superhuman willpower!"
And unlike with Trump and other USian elites, his wife isn't a botox'd trophy wife 25 years younger than him
sir... bad news. the seseepee cannot be tempted by our paedophile financiers
He's an absolute goat.
This is genuinely starting to turn my into a China fan. We need to copy parts of what China is doing in the west
That's a beautiful summary! 
the reason for china's success is socialism. if you have the time to spare, i'd highly recommend reading socialist theory:
engels' "the principles of communism" is, imho, one of the best introductory texts, alongside the manifesto. marx’s "wage-labour and capital" and "value, price and profit" are very important for providing a theoretical understanding and are usually recommended to be read together. i'd also strongly recommend lenin's "state and revolution" and especially "imperialism", as well as luxemburg's "reform or revolution."
mao is also great for beginners, with an absolutely fantastic writing style, very concise and effective, as well as just enjoyable to read. i'd strongly encourage reading "on practice and on contradiction" (technically two works, but almost always merged into one), as well as the essays "oppose book worship" and "combat liberalism," with those two just helping one become a better person, imho.
for further reading, u/cowbee's reading list is a great english-language resource.
Thanks for linking the guide! This is a more concise version that I made later, with some restructuring.
always appreciate your efforts! <3
Thank you!
How the fuck did you find that. I have literally never posted a link to it.
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to be honest, i just searched "cowbee reading list" and was pleasantly surprised to find your site as the first result. really appreciate your library project, btw! <3
I realized shortly after I posted that it was probably that.
thank you.
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can you imagine what it's like to be one of those hardcore China skeptics as far back as a decade and literally every day you have to watch China win harder.
Truly he is the greatest of us. 
Why is WikiLeaks underlined?
Probably to underscore that its internal / leaked US intelligence information they circulate amongst themselves, not the typical external widely circulated disinformation.
https://wikileaks.jcvignoli.com/cable_09BEIJING3128
The full cable.
At the risk of exaggeration to the point of outright lie, there's an implication in this cable that Xi is a Buddhist wizard.
They're basically saying that while the other boys were partying, Xi was studying the blade.
I find the "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" shit to be a laugh, dude grew up living in a cave.
I mean he grew up in a traditional Shaanxi house style that's bored into a rock wall. Not opulent but also not what comes to mind when westerners say he grew up in a cave.
It's not just westerners saying "cave" it's literally CGTN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxw7FFvKMJ4
Still a house though
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I can kind of see where they're coming from but it's a load bearing "born", and rather generous "silver", especially seeing as he then grew up living in a cave.
we need :volcel-xi:
not to rain on anyone's parade but the guy is married, I'm also pretty sure he has kids, he's basically being a completely regular dude and US state officials are baffled
That's a volcel for politicians.
He's being what a married man should be. Loyal and content. Idk that I'd call it regular tho. It seems rare.
it is rare -- just look at the epstein files to see how common philandering is.
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