Kyoto, Japan (CNN) -- The newspapers and television news blaze with shocking images of crowds energized by fury, of buildings set aflame, of diplomatic missions under assault. It sounds very much like the Middle East, but it's happening in China, and the target of the mob violence in scores of Chinese cities is Japan and the Japanese. In both cases -- in the Middle East and East Asia -- the anger reflects a genuine, deeply felt indignation, but the protests have another powerful dimension. Political groups have turned religious or nationalist sensitivity into a weapon to further their objectives. Politicians are riding the tiger of popular wrath, hoping to guide it, to control it, to make it attack and wound their enemies, so they can gain an advantage and further their agenda. It's a perilous exercise. The tiger cannot be easily controlled.
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Furious protests denouncing another nation are happening in China as well as the Mideast
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Chinese protesters are taking to the streets, enraged by Japan's purchase of disputed islands
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Ghitis: In Mideast and China, the powerful are manipulating protests
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Ghitis: It's a risky business to use populist rage to gain power; the rage is not controllable
As protests spread to a hundred Chinese cities, one sign chillingly suggested, "We must exterminate the @placeholder."