Contrarian Political Model

Day by day, the real world is unfolding before us. "The Post" says that

The United States does not consider China a military, security or intelligence threat. China is a very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals.

Moreover,

There are trip wires for the United States when it comes to China. Is China developing a blue water navy? Have they signed military base agreements? Are they training armies? Have they developed intelligence operations? Once these areas start developing then the United States will start worrying. The Chinese are dealing with the Mugabe’s and Bashir’s of the world, which is a contrarian political model.

What "contrarian political model" is the Post talking about? According to the Wiki, political model is the division into a spectrum of opinions. In a modern Islamic country, for instance, a political spectrum might be divided along the issue of the clergy's role in government. Those who believe clerics should have the power to enforce Islamic law are on one end of the spectrum, those who support a secular society are on the other; moderates fall at various points in between. In Taiwan, the political spectrum is defined in terms of Chinese reunification versus Taiwan independence.

A contrarian is someone who deliberately decides to oppose the prevailing choice of others. According to the Galam model of two state opinion dynamics, there is a rapid process by which all participants adopt the opinion of their respective local majority group and a stable collective state is reached. With the introduction of contrarians, stability cannot be reached and the resulting disordered phase the agents keep shifting opinions but no symmetry breaking (i.e., the appearance of a majority) takes place.

Deconstructing the cable a-la-Shanghai Chief Inspector Chen Cao, we learn that the Post is much worried by China, which he considers a deeply distabilizing player. Alternatively, the Post has no idea what is the meaning of the words he is employing. I never attribute diabolic sofistication where mere stupidity provides sufficient explanation. Looking at the world through the cables, the world is full of bizarre and uneducated political leaders (and top diplomats) (See pic). But we knew that, didnt we?