Am certainly not beholden in any way to the CCP. You are now just shooting the messenger instead of addressing the facts and issues. Am born and bred westerner but just appalled at the inability of most in the west to understand what is happening- to ignore it is to betray any fealty you may have for western values like free markets and democracy, as compromised as they are in practice! The west is IMO sleep walking toward losing its hundreds of years of global hegemony. Remember 6-700 years China was the most advanced and wealthy economy and government in the world. I am much more comfortable with western values and culture ( I understand our culture better whereas Chinese culture is quite foreign) but not to the extent that I cannot see our decline and Chinas rise is a real current trend.