Gwen,
I agree that the "good cop/bad cop" thing is the best way to go about it. It's a good PR thing (the West thinks there're splits between the two to exploit, as Tom said), plus it's useful as a means of domestic control.
To make a Draka analogy (I'm sure you'll appreciate this), it's like Erik Von Shrakenberg as Archon--the WestTHINKS he's nice and reforming, but they merely want the Good Guys to fall asleep so they can whack 'em with a hammer.
The Sino-Soviet issue, however, is a big complication. Mao thought Khrushchev wasn't hard-core enough; someone like "Comrade X" would be utterly despised from the get-go? What if China (remember, this is Mao here) tries to pull its own version of the Brezhnev Doctrine on the Soviet "apostates"?
I agree that the "good cop/bad cop" thing is the best way to go about it. It's a good PR thing (the West thinks there're splits between the two to exploit, as Tom said), plus it's useful as a means of domestic control.
To make a Draka analogy (I'm sure you'll appreciate this), it's like Erik Von Shrakenberg as Archon--the WestTHINKS he's nice and reforming, but they merely want the Good Guys to fall asleep so they can whack 'em with a hammer.
The Sino-Soviet issue, however, is a big complication. Mao thought Khrushchev wasn't hard-core enough; someone like "Comrade X" would be utterly despised from the get-go? What if China (remember, this is Mao here) tries to pull its own version of the Brezhnev Doctrine on the Soviet "apostates"?