**BREAKING: Xi Jinping Exits Congress With Near-Absolute Authority

[SummerSnow]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/analysis-xi-jinping-exits-congress-near-absolute-authority-n814096?cid=eml_nbn_20171025


BEIJING — When Chinese President Xi Jinping strode into the room crammed with cameras and reporters on Wednesday, there seemed to be more curiosity about the six men who followed behind him.

They were the new Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, the most powerful decision-making council of China’s government. All handpicked Xi loyalists, they will implement his agenda for the next five years.

Collectively they sent the clearest signal yet that China may be entering an era of strongman rule.

None of them is an obvious successor to Xi. They are all aged in their 60s, and in five years would be too old to be considered for China’s top job.

“A new era needs a new look, and even more, needs new accomplishments,” said Xi, who spoke to a packed room in the Great Hall of the People with his leadership team standing rod-straight and silent.

Xi’s choice of men — the wider Politburo of 25 members includes only one woman — has fueled speculation that he may use his almost unparalleled authority to amend the constitution to allow him to rule an unprecedented third term as party chairman and China’s president.

Their debut came at the end of the 19th Communist Party Congress, a twice-a-decade event that offers a rare glimpse at the secretive realm of Chinese politics. The policies and decisions made over the past week will guide China for the next five years.

The World’s Most Powerful Leader?
Dubbed the “Chairman of Everything,” Xi has emerged from this Congress with near-absolute authority.

Xi spent the last five years consolidating his power by purging the Communist Party ranks of rivals, and tightening its grip on Chinese society with restrictions on education, culture, the internet, religion, activism, and the environment.

Importantly, the party voted to enshrine Xi’s name and political "thoughts" in its constitution. It means he is elevated in historical stature alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, long considered modern China’s most influential leaders. The message to officials: there is no questioning or disputing Xi Jinping or his ideas.

In one of the main takeaways of his address to the Congress, Xi said that if Mao made China independent and Deng made it prosper, then he would make it stronger. Welcome to the era of Xi.

The lack of an apparent successor is already raising concerns of political turmoil ahead if ambitious party members grow uneasy with Xi’s power.

[Adrahil]

1. And the world careens towards authoritarianism.

Will we ever recover?

[woodsprite]

2. The stuff Trumpy's wet dreams are made of. n/t