CCTV FOLLIES 12.4 REVOLUTION AMISS?

Xi has made red China proud to be red again -Chinese people live happy life -Xi got off train -Migrant labor is joy and contentment -Israel wrecks Gaza -Yemen fires at US battleship -Ukraine, mapped.

Another day, another summit. Another summit, another supplicant.

Xi did most of the talking, and while he droned on, Alexander Lukashenko listened attentively while twirling his pen. When Lukashenko finally got a chance to speak, he said, and I quote:

“Under the leadership of President Xi, China has made great achievements in its development and over 1.4 billion Chinese people live a happy life, making an important contribution to the world.”

Cai Qi seems vaguely amused.

In other top news, Zhao Leji presides over meeting on constitutional matters where they mull over Xi Jinping’s instructions:

Xi calls for giving better play to Constitution's role in governance!

“Xi Jinping has stressed the need to speed up building Shanghai into a modern, socialist and international metropolis by focusing on the construction of international centers of economy, finance, trade, shipping and sci-tech innovation. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour in Shanghai that ran from Tuesday to Saturday. Xi urged Shanghai to accelerate building itself into a modern, socialist and international metropolis with global influence, and play a leading and exemplary role in advancing Chinese modernization. Xi inspected the Shanghai Futures Exchange on Tuesday afternoon as soon as he got off a train.” (Xinhua translation)

Model migrant worker alert!

“Xi said he was pleased to see city builders from all over the country living and working here with joy and contentment.”

When the CCTV microphone is thrust in your face, veteran watchers of CCTV news, including party hacks, state officials, patriotic professors and compliant businessmen know what to say and how best to parrot the party line.

But no one spouts the party line better than this man because whenever he opens his mouth and starts to talk his very words constitute the party line. Just as in Molière’s “Le Bougeois Gentilhomme” where the titular character wakes up one day to realize he can speak perfect prose, China’s grand gentleman has woken to the fact that he can speak perfectly fluent party propaganda.

The laobaixing, duly impressed, are kept at a safe remove from the remarkable one.

It used to be that clapping loud and long was enough. Now the thing to do is to raise your hands high over your head and clap excitedly that way. What’s more, though it was cut for Xinwen Lianbo’s news broadcast, other programs showed this very crowd propelled into motion upon Xi’s departure, jogging after departing leader as if they found it desolate and heartbreaking to be on their own again after being graced with His presence.

-Kim Jong-un handlers take note: You've still got the most absurd personality cult on the planet, but Xi’s people are wising up to this, watching your every move and gaining ground.

“Seeing the chairman was especially moving and made me especially happy!”

editor’s note: (Maybe the indomitable spirit of the chairman will breath some life into China’s sluggish exports as he gradually turns a great nation into a cult pariah state)

To be a first rate port…

We must deeply and thoroughly study the spirit of Xi’s important words…

We must build upon our proud red tradition and use it well…

History? Meet mister history. A contemporary red revolutionary contemplating the deeds of his red revolutionary forebears and red progenitors. He gets it.

Foreign news is all about Gaza again. It follows the usual pattern:

-Israeli footage of tanks on the move and IDF troop on the battlefield

-Generic footage of bombings

-Hamas footage of guerilla attacks on Israeli vehicles and IDF troops.

-A standup by CCTV’s Palestinian stringer Anas Nasir, telling China about the pain and suffering Israel has brought to his people

-Scenes of Palestinian suffering.

Hamas footage often includes helpful red arrows to show the gunner’s point-of-view as it locks on an Israeli target and fires.

Anas Nasir talks about how the people of Khan Younis are being asked by Israel to vacate their homes as it is turned into a battleground. He laments that this was supposed to be a “safe area” but then the truce ended and it’s dangerous now.

Russia continues to dominate the skies over Ukraine. In this Kremlin-provided footage, one can see Russia’s “Top Gun” pilots in action, firing missiles and flipping the jet around, leaving a trail of destruction on the ground.

CCTV maps of Ukraine are consistently shown with no borders, but here we can see a partial border of Ukraine in the West. Russia claims Eastern Ukraine as its own, a massive violation of sovereignty that China has tacitly supported from day one by refusing to condemn the Kremlin-led invasion and occupation of Eastern Ukraine.

Presumably CCTV was permitted to air this partial map of Ukraine, in the context of Hungary blocking shipments, because Crimea and East Ukraine are not in view.