I recall you once mentioning the Civilization franchise. It seems to me that Chita could be one of those cities that decides to join a neighboring country, and there ain't a damn thing the original country can do about it. Chita might very well turn "chinese" very soon.

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot of Civilization. While it has its flaws in how the world works, maybe we should put those ambitious people who vie for public office to a Civilization test.