I think the problem with your stance is that you don't give the Chinese people credit for their own sovereignty.<p>Why is it not possible that Chinese leaders are not all-powerful despots who rule with an iron fist?  They do not have absolute power, and regardless of whether they have official democracy, power is largely decentralized and influenced by populist needs (notably channeling some of the coastal wealth to the country's majority who are extremely poor)...<p>You are, I think, falling into what I call the "Saddam Trap".  Saddam was a bad guy, most likely, but we were all told to hate him so that we'd support a war that killed hundreds of thousands of innocents.<p>I think a far more accurate and rational perspective is to realize that no ruler has fully centralized power and that by its nature decentralized power is essentially populist (if not somewhat democratic) in nature, even if there isn't an explicit constitution declaring it to be.  The Tienanmen square uprising offers evidence of vibrant currents of dissent within China, and so change is inevitable over time.  The question is why you think it must happen on your timetable or on the timetable of the Tienanmen protesters.<p>* * * *<p>Also, are you sure that the propaganda is not intended to make Americans view the Chinese people as broken saps held hostage by despots and worth sacrificing a few hundred thousand of should our leaders deem military action necessary?  For all the concern about Saddam's despotism, the myriad innocent Iraqi dead from our oil war don't make US headlines.