My comment:
(a) The quotation above is author’s answer to her own rhetoric. I know nothing about her and seldom reads her articles. On one hand, generally speaking (and thus not limited to her) I feel that research on China--as far back as in Taiwan decades ago-- has been like Kremlinology, reading tea leaf. On the other hand, judging from this article, though, she may be a swashbuckler, but likely on to something (real).
(b)
(i) swashbuckler (n)
Online Etymology Dictionary, undated. www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=swashbuckler
(ii) swashbuckler
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swashbuckler
(explaining “buckler”)
(c) The article attempts to explain some phenomena that appear unrelated or mysterious.
(d) The first is--and I am quoting the article:
* I also noticed the phenomenon (and it was true that “并 非《纽约时报》旧文重刊”), was puzzled for days (when the phenomenon lasted) but ascribed it to an error in the ranking algorism (computer software).
* I was mystified when the report 被六四改变命运的商人肖建华 showed up (in the front page of the English edition, no less). I glanced at it--and saw it was about decades-old Tiananmen Square massacre and his (肖’s) choices then. I was unaware whether he was a big shot then or now in China. But his choices were common in that era. So? In my haste I did not see 齐桥桥.
* 李東生落馬「死因」向彭博社爆習黑材料. Hong Kong: 蘋果日報, Dec 30, 2014
hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20131230/18571616
* www.tomogroup.com
("明天控股有限公司成立于1999年,是国内最早从事股权投资的公司之一,也是国内投资行业的骨干力量,致力于打造受尊敬的、可持续发展的全球投资机构。 明天控股公司总部设于北京")
* 余兰, 明天集团针对时报报道发表声明. 纽约时报中文网, June 5, 2014.
cn.nytimes.com/china/20140605/cc05xiao/
* Ms 何清涟 also endeavors to attach meaning (and significance) to
傅才德, 习近平亲属退出多项商业投资. 纽约时报中文网, June 18, 2014.
* 作者:Ibn FADLAN (译者:易言), 令狐事件与帝国政争; 节选自《一个大食使节的长安见闻》(Khumdan Travelogue). 壹库社, June 30, 2014.
mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NTc3OTE2MA==&mid=200389840&idx=1&sn=55db69d622cac1aa2f0eaa1ece90092b
* The website had deleted this essay by the time I arrived this morning, leaving only “此内容被多人举报,相关的内容无法进行查看。” HOWEVER, Google made a cache of it and makes the cache available.