Beijing is also driving wedges in the transatlantic community by cultivating poorer countries in southeastern Europe that sometimes have illiberal governments.
Poorer countries do not just exist in southeastern Europe, they are made.
When you are mistreated and exploited by the west for so long who wouldn’t prefer the alternative.
It is a shit alternative, but I see the appeal, and I see the stance on China and Russia change around me as we speak.
This is an overly simplified narrative imo. It is true that autocracies like China and Russia are using (also) legitimate critique - but not to improve the system but to exploit them for their own ends.
The ‘appeal’ is, therefore, a false one, if and when it even exists. Foreign malign influence -disinformation and misinformation campaigns, arson, cyber attacks, and other acts of sabotage - wouldn’t even be necessary if people in poorer states in Europe and elsewhere would deliberately prefer China and Russia as an alternative. But people simply don’t.
I personally think that people know well that their future lies in democracies and the often cited rule of law, which is why dictatorships spend billions for campaigns, and use coercion, intimidation, repression to pursue the dictators’ - not the people’s - benefit.
Moldova is a good recent example where foreign influence has failed, Taiwan is another one not long ago. It’s everything but sure, as we all know, that the future is as bright. Europe and other free nations must urgently develop a tougher stance against these malign tactics imo.
I do agree that it’s a false hope, but I do not agree that people don’t prefer it. There are plenty of pro-russian parties here and people like them, they like the idea of change. It is misguided and basically stupid but…
About pro-china there aren’t as much political movements, but the sentiment is swaying. China is giving people jobs here by building factories and is also giving them cheap goods.
And you may say that the polling numbers are still pro-west but that is because the turnout is abysmal is the whole region.
Poorer countries do not just exist in southeastern Europe, they are made. When you are mistreated and exploited by the west for so long who wouldn’t prefer the alternative.
It is a shit alternative, but I see the appeal, and I see the stance on China and Russia change around me as we speak.
This is an overly simplified narrative imo. It is true that autocracies like China and Russia are using (also) legitimate critique - but not to improve the system but to exploit them for their own ends.
The ‘appeal’ is, therefore, a false one, if and when it even exists. Foreign malign influence -disinformation and misinformation campaigns, arson, cyber attacks, and other acts of sabotage - wouldn’t even be necessary if people in poorer states in Europe and elsewhere would deliberately prefer China and Russia as an alternative. But people simply don’t.
I personally think that people know well that their future lies in democracies and the often cited rule of law, which is why dictatorships spend billions for campaigns, and use coercion, intimidation, repression to pursue the dictators’ - not the people’s - benefit.
Moldova is a good recent example where foreign influence has failed, Taiwan is another one not long ago. It’s everything but sure, as we all know, that the future is as bright. Europe and other free nations must urgently develop a tougher stance against these malign tactics imo.
I do agree that it’s a false hope, but I do not agree that people don’t prefer it. There are plenty of pro-russian parties here and people like them, they like the idea of change. It is misguided and basically stupid but…
About pro-china there aren’t as much political movements, but the sentiment is swaying. China is giving people jobs here by building factories and is also giving them cheap goods.
And you may say that the polling numbers are still pro-west but that is because the turnout is abysmal is the whole region.