Fascinating article (in spite of the title). For all the humanitarian blah-blah of the West, this single hypocritical action, the agricultural subsidies in our developed countries, has caused more suffering in Africa than all the Chinese factory supervisors ... if there is any hope for Africa, it will come from the BRICS.

Interesting article, but I think too optimistic. All this "debate" we are seeing is probably just a reflection of internal struggle for power in the run up to 2012. As soon as the seats are assigned and the match is settled, these "debates" will die out and the leaders will go on with their business. They are not ideological driven leaders, but mostly pragmatic. <br><br>Looking at it from a different angle: if somethings works well, why on earth would they want to change it? China is still growing at amazing speed, the PEW surveys show high levels of satisfaction, the miracle is still in full force. I don't believe for a second that Bo and the others want to return to Maoist politics in any meaningful way. They want to maintain the status quo, and to increase their own power, that's all.

Interesting article, and a good warning by an old fox. This idea of a "next cold war" has been worrying me for a while, it is not at all impossible we end up that way.

And I agree.