Som ett komplement till den färgrika artikeln FT hade om Bo Xilai och mordet på Neil Heywood som jag nämnde tidigare, har Perry Link ett bra inlägg på New York Review’ blog om den dimma och de obesvarade frågor som omgärdar affären. Under det kalla-kriget var kremlolog ett vedertaget epitet. Vad ska man kalla den gissningslek om vad som pågår i kvarteren runt Himmelska fridens torg?
“The Chinese Communist Party has always put great emphasis on smooth surfaces, maintaining political “face” through a decorous exterior. Men at the top dye their hair black and every strand must be in place. But sometimes there are cracks in the smoothness and outsiders are given a glimpse into the mafia-like world that lies behind it.
On July 26, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that Bogu Kailai and her personal assistant had been charged with murder. Since Bogu Kailai is the wife of Bo Xilai, a Communist Party “princeling,” the son of one of Mao Zedong’s closest associates and, until recently, a rising star in the CCP firmament, and since the murder victim is a British national, Neil Heywood, the word “embarrassment” has been used in press reports around the world. But I doubt that anything as mild as embarrassment is what fills the minds of Party leaders in Beijing. Much more is at stake.”