Emperor Xi

Xi is a pure and hard-core Stalinist, who destroys and purges friends and enemies alike, and whose affable smile and friendly demeanor are deeply deceptive, as Michael Sheridan asserts in his book Red Emperor .

This book seriously demonstrates that party, political, and military leaders always come from a circle that perpetuates power, generation after generation. Xi's father and mother were already important figures in the Party, despite having endured difficult times—everything always depends on the reigning emperor—and Xi Jinping's rise was characterized by internal struggles, leadership of quasi-state cities like Shanghai, and leadership of the Beijing Olympic Games, which required ruthless measures.

Xi (who dyes his hair black, like all other members of the political and military leadership) has a global aspiration: he wants China to be the dominant power in the world—or at least in most of it—through massive investment in the military, copying the best, relegating Russia to a secondary role, and approaching major countries currently in conflict with Trump, such as India and Brazil.

In the West, concern is growing about the ramifications of Beijing's power. Italy wants to drive Chinese companies out of strategic sectors, such as those also present in Portugal in the energy and banking sectors. Xi is far more dangerous than Stalin because he knows how to handle China's financial power, the globalization of its citizens, and its ability to paralyze world trade—and, therefore, the world itself—through the millions of products it manufactures for foreign companies and their subsidiaries. Xi will "be" in Alaska: if Trump yields to Putin, trying to hand over to Russia what it invaded in Ukraine, then China may consider Taiwan a "closed matter."