The data was also shared with other countries as it helped them uncover foreign CIA spies, which shows that the program certainly had a counterintelligence purpose.
Such total conclusions are very rarely true. Here, they aren't.
This is absolutely correct, which frames my point in an even worse light. The whims and power of the Leader are the whims of subordinates to the leader, who are superiors to further subordinates. Western continental philosophy, Heidegger, Arendt, Levinas, all framed this concept under the term "The Totality." It's fascinating.
Politics might be flavored and seasoned by locale, race and culture, but the meat is all the same and always has been. To conclude otherwise, or make China a "special case" is probably racism. It also denudes the notion of universal human rights.
Of course, it's entirely possible that in many places everyone is corrupt to some extent, so who gets prosecuted is simply an expression of the factional power struggle.
He's certainly put on display just how horribly the system functions and it's clear he's more of a symptom than a cause of the dysfunction. There wasn't even a pretense of a good faith effort to try to cooperate and start cleaning house.
By virtue of beating Clinton and easily taking the nomination as the Republican candidate goes to show how hollow both parties were already. The void of competent and appealing politicians - that represent anyone - was begging for someone like him to enter the scene.
And that's why it's funny to watch all the horrified "decent" politics nerds of the establishment try to find the perfect insult or scandal that would destroy him - they don't get why he was elected. He was elected as an insult to Washington. Trying to insult or pick apart the insult is useless.