i dunno man i just don't trust china watchers, china understanders, and prc-opposers in the west any more than i would trust joe schmoe of the prc to tell me about what congress is thinking

You think China doesn't have US experts? What you're doing here is saying that my opinions and insight are null and void because I'm not Chinese. Did you mean to do that?

i took a quick peek at nick eftia-what'shisname and he's been saying psycho shit about china, chinese people, and other culture war bugbears while writing for the epoch times and everything

Fer sure. You cruised around for long enough to find something to snark about. On the other hand, I read that book so long ago that I can say with confidence it's older than you are. Last time I talked to Nick Eftimiades was before The Epoch Times existed so it's not like we're buddies? But it's been 30 years and that book hasn't been discredited, no matter how much snark you mistake for insight.

So you can get all the dude abides about this shit but the reality of the situation is this: big chunks of the government spend all their time and money figuring out what other governments are doing based on what can be observed. For better and worse. And a lot - not all, probably not most - of what they're observing, those of us in a free society can observe as well.

Vibe out all you want but "it's cold war bullshit and it barely matters" isn't helpful, isn't insightful, gives you no real insight into what happens next and reveals your ignorance about what happened in the past.