I think you misunderstood my comment. I'm saying the U.S. has a cultural problem preventing it from confronting the very real authoritarian excesses of China. I think your articles are excellent evidence of those excesses and I agree with you about the problems posed by their marketing and propaganda.

I'd say the US's cultural problem is they think it's their business to "confront" other countries on their domestic issues.

Ignoring domestic issues until they blow over into an international issue is irrational. Every country with the means projects influence. China, in the South China Sea it considers its own and in Africa and parts of Latin America, is no different.

> - China puts a freeze on burning coal, leaving millions of families shivering in the cold http://shanghaiist.com/2017/12/05/coal-ban.php

Love your arguments like this. How about the ban allows everyone to breath fresh air during winter instead of byproducts of coal burning? Omg, few families is going to be shivers. Many more will thank its government for that step. You are welcome to visit Beijing to experience constant smog yourself. I highly doubt you want your children to live in such environment.

If the ban had been such a great idea, why did they roll it back? Banning coal before the alternative (gas heating) was ready is just a classic example of ruling top-down without concern for side-effects.

Democracies are not immune to that, of course, but the effects are exacerbated when nobody dares to point out obvious flaws like that to avoid embarrassing the leadership.

Or you know, the government could just stop the polluting factories from polluting

Well, that's sort of what they did by shuttering the dirtiest coal-fired generators. It's kind of a hard spot they're in -- lethal smog vs. electricity shortages.