That was just the tip of an immense iceberg, says Richard McGregor, the former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times. "Everything and everybody got a cut, but it got out of control," he adds. "It was becoming more like Suharto's Indonesia, where it was corroding the foundations of the system." Now he had the ammunition to destroy his most potent political rivals. He ordered the arrest of Zhou Yongkang in 2014, who until two years before had been a member of the politburo standing committee, and one of the most powerful men in China. Convicted in 2015, Zhou too is in prison for life. irannews.ru/ - irannews.ru "All this military stuff is fun and games until it's not fun and games. My back is hurting already because of all the equipment!" In Xi's China there is almost no room for diversity. Xinjiang's 12 million Uyghur Muslims are being forcibly assimilated. Similar programs are under way in Tibet and Inner Mongolia. "They just left a mess. Mess and pain," says Alyona. "When I came here for the first time after liberation, I just stood here and cried. It's really hard." "They thought it would last three to six months but it was never just an anti-corruption campaign, it was a party rectification campaign, and it was to be sustained forever," says Professor Steve Tsang who heads the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Thus, while the GCC states have largely supported UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, none have joined Western powers in implementing sanctions against Moscow or other policies aimed at squeezing Russia. For Ukraine, liberation here is fiercely contested as well as complicated. Also, if achieved, it doesn't bring immediate relief.