It’s a purge. Xi Jinping did it last year when he charged 200,000 bureaucrats with “corruption” when they were just doing their jobs. They weren’t loyal enough for his tastes.
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On the other hand, he didn’t purge Himmler, Goering, or Goebbels, any one of whom could have toppled him (especially Himmler, who essentially had his own private army in the form of the SS). I’m not sure if was because they were sufficiently loyal to Hitler, or had simply consolidated sufficient power of their own to keep him from purging them.
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Three distinctly separate powerbases - SS, airforce, people - meant that individually Himmler, Goering, or Goebbels didn’t have enough power. The net effect of that was seen in any one of the 20+ attempts to assassinate/depose Hitler, most notably the 20 Jul 44 bombing.
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On the other hand, isn’t Ajit Pai the next candidate for purging?
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If Reinhard Heydrich hadn’t been assassinated, I wonder how the balance might have been different?
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Of course all of the charges against him can be true. They can be some things that most or all high-ranking party members do - they just also provide a handy set of accusations for forcing someone out.
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Crown Prince Salman is doing that balancing act in SA.
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After the attempt on Der Fuhrer’s life in 1944, the Gestapo REALLY cleaned house, and many top officers who did not sing Hitler’s praises loud enough were purged. There was a political officer in EVERY military unit larger than a company.
May I ask your source for the certainty that it’s only a purge and has nothing to do with corruption (outside of well-deserved cynicism)?
I don’t know enough about China itself, and talking with various recent emigres (Toronto has a large 1st generation Chinese community) produces a wide variety of opinions about the anti-corruption efforts. I’m curious what underlies your analysis.
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Very apt comparison, although I have a feeling the knife blade he’s balancing upon is a lot sharper than Xi’s…
I lived in Beijing from November 2016 to July 2017. There’s lots of Chinese press outside government regulation, but not scrutiny. I heard things, I read things, I saw things. It’s also how the Chinese deal with dissent. Now ask me about the 10,000 police officers battling terrorism in Xinjiang (they’re there to suppress the Muslims not fight terrorism).
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What’s this about trading sex for power and going to excellent Party Clubs somehow going wrong? Offering Internet Powers makes all animals and plants of China healthy! They just had to throw a plot hole in; maybe they didn’t want to impugn him as a YouTuber or anything.
I rather like CGP Grey’s explanation of things:
They’re still figuring out the “your people are your true resource” thing. Then again, so are we. :\
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