I know it's reality and it's not new or surprising, but it's also cowardice and hypocrisy, or at the very least unfair inconsistency. The message is "We publicly pledge to support democracy and human rights UNLESS there are any possible negative consequences to our own economic interests, and then fuck it we'll just grumble a bit then go back to business as usual."ali baba wrote:Welcome to reality Edwardo where countries full of oil, natural gas and massive markets have more negotiating power than small impoverished countries.
The Chinese government killed many of it's own citizens in Tiananmen Square in 1989 who were part of the pro-democracy protest. Afterwards, the US "debated" sanctioning China, only to back down to their agricultural lobby and ended up doing absolutely nothing. Anyone who thinks Russia and China have been sanctioned by the West over lack of democracy or human rights abuses of their own citizens in any impactful way whatsoever are the naive ones.