Day 52 of MUC and day 5 of MOC, and time to spend a little quality time with the bromancer ...

Malcolm Turnbull as Guy Pearce riding a hot toaster on Mad Max's highway to hell? Well it's an angle, and more angles at the papal follies here ...

Yes, the pond had to flip the image to get a better visual match, but there's something very satisfying about flipping Malware ...

That road toaster seems to sum up where we've reached on the fifty second day of Malware's unofficial call, and the fifth day of Malware's official call ...

The tabloids are already showing signs of distraction, their attention wandering to more comical road trips ...

Only the glorious reptiles of Oz remain steadfast and true to the cause, with another fear campaign blossoming from their fetid mushroom-laden straw ...

Well played Natasha Bita for a sublime outing ...

Now the pond isn't sure of the reptiles' ultimate point.

We should convert immediately to a dictatorship of the proletariat? Or perhaps a dictatorship of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China?

Should Malware become more Xi?

Luckily Andrew Nathan's review of a number of books at the NYRB, asking the question Who is Xi? is outside the paywall for the moment, so Malware could bone up on some of the more attractive aspects of a dictator running a command economy ...

As the members of the red aristocracy around Xi circle their wagons to protect the regime, some citizens retreat into religious observance or private consumption, others send their money and children abroad, and a sense of impending crisis pervades society. No wonder Xi’s regime behaves as if it faces an existential threat. Given the power and resources that he commands, it would be reckless to predict that his attempt to consolidate authoritarian rule will fail. But the attempt risks creating the very political crisis that it seeks to prevent.

Indeed, indeed, an excellent model, and the pond is grateful the reptiles should recommend it.

Of particular interest to the pond is the regime's commendable approach to difficult, pesky journalists who won't do what they're told and so must take their licks ...

A quarter of those jailed globally are in China, the world’s worst offender for the second year in a row; the 49 journalists in prison there are a record for that country. As President Xi Jinping continues his crackdown on corruption and as the country’s economic growth slows and its markets become more volatile, reporting on financial issues has taken on new sensitivity. Wang Xiaolu, a reporter for the Beijing-based business magazine Caijing, was arrested on August 25 on suspicion of “colluding with others and fabricating and spreading false information about securities and futures trading” after he reported that a regulator was examining ways for securities companies to withdraw funds from the stock market. He later appeared on state television saying that he regretted writing the story and pleading for leniency, even as it was unclear whether he had been formally charged with a crime. As CPJ has documented, televised confessions are a tactic repeatedly deployed by Chinese authorities for dealing with journalists who cover sensitive stories. (here with links).

Come on down Natasha, the pond has a cell reserved for stupid reptiles making specious and useless comparisons ... unless, of course, you'd prefer to work in a Chinese factory for a modest stipend. The pond is only too happy to see what it can arrange ...

But all this is just the hoarse douvers for the main course of the day, a sojourn with the bromancer.

The pond never spends enough quality time with a man renowned for his insights ... and the splash promised much ...

Say what? He's not saying that there's a hint of Sanders and Corbyn in Malware?

Relax, the reptiles are just doing their version of click bait for the Red Staters ...

Ah that's better, and so on to the feast ...

Unfair? Then why say it? Is it simply to show that the bromancer is an unfair scribe and that, worse still, he knows it, and is proud to demonstrate it?

And what's this mocking of Asian hermit kingdoms? Wasn't it the way forward at the top of the page?

Never mind, of course the whole point of running a disclaimer saying the comparison is unfair, is to allow plenty of time and space to demonstrating how fair the comparison actually is ... how being unfair can in fact be deeply fair.

And so it's time to suck deep and take a rich swig of undiluted, completely fair bromancer ...

Indeed, indeed. What we need are a flock of submarines that will be outdated before they're delivered, at vast expense ... that'll show a solemn commitment to maintaining the high standards of the Collins class ...

The trouble of course is democracy ...

At least the solution is clear enough here, thanks to Natasha.

We must embrace the Chinese way of governing and end this pesky emphasis on useless, frustrating democracy.

Fancy negotiating and doing deals and reaching compromises and solutions? Spend a little quality time with that unrepresentative swill?

Why bother, when onion munching and wall punching is so much more fun ...

But now it's time for a little balance, and so the bromancer turns his attention to Malware ...

At that point, the pond almost wept, the tears of frustration and impotence welling up and cascading down on its heaving bosom ...

The country's drifting, drifting towards a dangerous moment of democracy ...

Yes, we'll have a day of democracy and then where will we be? Why with schools that need a Chinse solution and a government that is too impotent to embrace the proper and correct Xi solution.

Even worse, the signs suggest the way to the fast ferry is in the other direction ... and so the potential of a glorious future leader is lost in the wake ...