Hundred millions of immigrant are working the the coastal areas, all from perished and alienated regions. Most choose to better their lives by hard work, not pocket-picking and robbery. If there is stereotype of Uighurs, it is unfortunately created by a few bad apples (but unusual higher proportion than other ethnic groups) of Uighurs who tarnished the image of Uighurs as whole.

Convince Andrew McCarthy to cheer on the communist regime.

You really just can't make this shit up. But you can breathe a sigh of relief that he's no longer on the federal payroll.

An authoritarian regime with the will to crush dissent and the wherewithal to do so can stay in power indefinitely.

I would caveat that statement with the condition that the economy remains viable and that the basic needs of the population is met. Once the social contract is broken for basic needs, then all bets are off. East Germany in 1989 is an example. There wasn't any slacking in the East German's efforts to crush dissent until the very end when the flood of East Germans leaving and demonstrating became too great to turn back. Even North Korea may reach its breaking point if conditions become even worse and the Kim's hold on power is threatened by others in the regime.

You haven't described removing an authoritarian regime. You've described changing the placecards.

Who knows what will happen in the long term? For the foreseeable future the regime will stay in power. The only thing they really need to worry about is economic downturn.

Hmm, kind of a tautology? Hinges on wherewithal I guess. Depending on how far back you go in history, there are lots of authoritarian governments that were overthrown while they were still willing to rule. Probably most military coups fall into that category. If the authoritarian regime has a relatively small nucleus, they can be eliminated by a relatively small, ruthless group. Granted, that usually leads to another authoritarian regime.

My longer view on China is that the net/cellphones are slowly eroding the Chinese authoritarian style. It's a much different country than in the days of the cultural revolution. Talk with some Chinese who live here, but travel home a lot.

Steve