This is John Batchel, a conversation with my colleague Grant Newsham, author of When China Attacks,

many years in the U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer, Colonel, retired,

commenting on how Xi Jinping thinks of himself and how the Chinese Communist Party works.

The straightforward analogy makes sense.

Mobsters.

Here's Grant to explain.

Also, what worries she?

You didn't think he was worried.

Well, he does all the time.

Here's Grant.

He does. I think mob boss is probably a little better, but you'll notice that even the bosses at the very top, all of them must wonder when

they go to sleep if they're going to wake up. Yes, they may have power, but they're always worried

about somebody else moving in or something happening.

And one thing that he does worry about when it comes to using force is not succeeding and not succeeding quickly.

If he has seen to sort of lost his Wasta, lost his mojo, and say they get bogged down in an attack on Taiwan or southern Japan or India,

the Philippines, wherever, and they're stuck.

And you're finding that economic sanctions are just piling up.

And it isn't working out the way it was supposed to.

At that point, you'll see the rivals start to reemerge,

and you will even see in China public opinion and the population actually turning against him.

And you got a whiff of that during the COVID lockdowns in China and the sort of the public

response to that. So that is one thing that worries him as much as potential

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