Autocrats vs the weak West: can we push them back?

August 12, 2024 6 Reactions

Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
by Anne Applebaum | Doubleday, 2024, 210 pages

Anne Applebaum’s newly released Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, follows on neatly from her last book, Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends.

As with her last book, Autocracy Inc. has been released in an American presidential election year, probably a conscious choice on the part of this distinguished journalist and historian.

Unlike Twilight of Democracy though, the focus here is not on the populist right or illiberal democracies within the West.

In a short and readable account of recent developments, Applebaum examines the array of autocracies — Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran and so forth — which are posing an increasing threat to freedom globally.

Marriages of convenience

Autocracy, the author maintains, has changed. Interconnected networks of financial power have been built up, and the autocrats are working together closely.

“[T]his group operates not like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies bound not by ideology but rather by a ruthless single-minded determination to preserve their personal wealth and power: Autocracy Inc.,” she writes.

Their alliances are not ideological, but instead transactional.

“Unlike the Fascists and Communist leaders of the past who had party machines behind them and did not showcase their greed, the leaders of Autocracy Inc. often maintain opulent residences and structure much of their collaboration as for-profit ventures. Their bonds with one another, and with their friends in the democratic world, are cemented not through ideals, but through deals. Deals designed to take the edge of sanctions, to exchange surveillance technology, to help one another get rich.”

This is not an ideological battle akin to the Cold War, with the world’s free peoples facing off against a coalition of Communist states.

Iran’s regime is ostensibly built on a fundamentalist form of Shia Islam, whereas Venezuela’s rulers are Bolivarian socialists, but it is enough for both to recognise the United States as their key enemy.

Even those regimes which work most closely together are not very similar. Consider the case of China, the Marxist and atheistic "Middle Kingdom" whose rulers aspire to rule all around them, and Russia, where the government’s ideology is a toxic blend of Soviet nostalgia and Tsarist imperialism, blessed by the eternally supine Russian Orthodox church.

No cohesive unifying ideology could be shared by today’s China and Russia, but none is needed.

Opposition to the American-led West is sufficient, and Applebaum explains that this has led to both regimes attacking the rules-based order and the concept of universal human rights.

“The leaders of Autocracy Inc. know that the language of transparency, accountability, justice and democracy will always appeal to some of their own citizens. To stay in power, they must undermine those ideas, wherever they are found,” she writes.

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Domestically, the goal of remaining in power involves a steady propaganda effort by dictatorships to persuade their people of the evils of the West.

Putin’s Russia has become a key practitioner of this model both at home and abroad, and Applebaum challenges the idea that the Motherland is a bastion of piety and traditional values by noting the pitifully low rates of church attendance there.

Autocracies devote ample resources to supporting their fellow tyrants when they are challenged from below. Applebaum outlines cases where fraternal assistance has been crucial in saving the regimes of Nicolás Maduro, Alexander Lukashenko and Bashar al-Assad from the wrath of their oppressed peoples.

In the case of Assad, this assistance involved full-scale intervention by the Russian and Iranian militaries and massive air strikes against Syria’s opposition and civilian population alike.

In Venezuela and Belarus, the methods did not need to be so heavy-handed. Often, assistance has come in the area of surveillance technology.

China has created a sophisticated and dystopian surveillance state and social credit system, which has been most brutally applied to police the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang region. Elements of this are now being exported and copied.

Defence of the unfree world is only one part of the autocratic approach — offence is another.

Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine — enabled by China and supported by Iran, North Korea and others — is the most obvious example of how the established order is being challenged by military force.

Mercenaries and independent proxy groups are another increasingly important element of the autocratic attack force, with Russia’s Wagner Group being used to advance the Putin regime’s goals in Africa and elsewhere.

“A world in which autocracies work together to stay in power, work together to promote their system and work together to damage democracies is not some distant dystopia. That world is the one we are living in right now,” Applebaum explains.

Myopic

How we have come to this point is another matter. The West and the autocracies are economically interconnected in a way that was not true of the West and East during the Cold War.

Applebaum traces the origins of this situation to decisions which were taken in the Ostpolitik era where West German Social Democrats sought to build economic ties with East Germany and others in the Communist bloc, against the advice of many in America’s security establishment.

To her eternal shame, Angela Merkel became a key exponent of that myopic approach, supporting ever closer ties to Russia in the energy sphere even after they first invaded Ukraine in 2014.

She is criticised here along with the former US President Bill Clinton, who dismissed the possibility that a rising China could ever effectively limit internet freedom.

The belief that economic ties between free societies and hostile powers were a win-win for both parties is now rightly being replaced by de-risking and decoupling.

Unfortunately, it is not just Merkel who has refused to look reality in the eye. When describing the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party in recent years, Applebaum attributes this to Russian disinformation without so much as acknowledging the role of mass Islamic immigration caused by Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders in 2015.

Russian disinformation is given too much credit here and in other places by Applebaum. The divisions in Western societies are not caused by zealous Russian keyboard warriors spewing hate and promoting conspiracy theories from the comfort of their homes.

The West has, to an alarming degree, lost much of the cultural self-confidence from which political strength could flow. As long as this situation persists, external enemies will be emboldened.

The author’s call for democrats across the world to unite is worth listening to, and her proposed solutions, such as a crackdown on the financial misdeeds of the autocrats, are sensible.

For all her gifts as one of the most insightful commentators of our times, Anne Applebaum is continuing to avoid too many important questions.

Where do you think our world is headed? Leave your comments below.

James Bradshaw writes from Ireland on topics including politics, history, culture, film and literature.

Image credit: Pexels

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David Page commented 2024-08-18 10:26:04 +1000

Kenneth, we forced Russia to invade the Ukraine? That is truly adorable. It reminds me of bthe abusive father or husband who blames his victims for his violence. “You made me do it!” What absolute nonsense. Russia was offered the chance to join NATO, with the caveat that they remain a democracy. To them democracy was the deal breaker.
Steven Meyer commented 2024-08-16 10:29:52 +1000

I’m a great fan of Anne Applebaum and had already downloaded the Kindle version of her latest book tho’ not started reading it yet.

Here is the reality. The contemporary Republican Party, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, AfD are as much part of Autocracy Inc as Putin, Xi etc.

The so-called “Rules Based Order” has become a sham.

Here’s how all wannabe autocrats work.

There’s a “strong man” – rarely a woman – who promises to sweep away all complexity and resolve all your grievances, real or imagined. They’ll put things right in a jiffy. They’ll “drain the swamp”. They’ll protect you against all your enemies, real or imagined.

They’re invariably light on the detail of how they’ll make your life better. But they’ll fix it, be it inflation, high energy prices, or affordable housing.

What they’re specific on is who you should hate. The rest of the world is emptying it’s jails and lunatic asylums and sending them across the Rio Grande. So hate everybody crossing the border. A judge born in Michigan of Mexican ancestry should not sit in judgement on the Great leader. Crime is soaring and the United States is now a “Third World Country.”

It’s all flapdoodle of course but people who feel desperate often make bad choices. MAGA and the impoverished people of Venezuela who put their trust in Hugo Chavez – who also promised to sweep away the corrupt semi-democracy of that country – are equally gullible.

So are the people who put their trust in Nigel Farage.

None of this is to excuse the extreme stupidity of the so-called “left”. They are supposed to be the party that stands up for the interests of the not-powerful regardless of race, creed or anything except the status of being not-powerful. I’ve always warned my leftie friends, “Don’t play identity politics. It’s a game the right will always win.”

And, of course, they’ve won it. Donald Trump is the most successful identity politician in the recent history of the United States. Nigel Farage is trying to be the same in UK. Keir Starmer will not be able to deliver. so I think he’ll get his chance.

At this stage I cannot resist adding a bit about Georgia Meloni. “I am a Christian, an Italian and Mother” she proudly proclaimed. It was music to the ears of the Catholic Right.

Unfortunately none of these enabled her to tackle Italy’s fundamental problems. Here are two of them:

1) Nothing much can be done until Italy ditches the Euro and this will be incredibly painful in the short term. No politicians has the courage to say, “I’m going to inflict five years of misery on you”.

2) Italy is really two countries – North and South. Maybe the best solution is a peaceful divorce. That might also enable them to avoid having to ditch the Euro.

Melon’s motherhood does not seem to have inspired motherhood among Italian women.
Kenneth Ndehi commented 2024-08-14 14:28:59 +1000

A wise old man once pointed out to me that so long as western weapons are made by private companies that need to keep growing profits, there will never be any peace. Weapons are durable but highly destructive goods. There is, therefore, every incentive to avoid using them on a large scale, i.e. war, by engaging in diplomacy. This however, would put private military industrial complexes (MIC) in a situation where they have an upstream without downstream. A clearance sale, war, is therefore needed to clear existing stock of weapons so that they can be replaced with more expensive ones.

Trump, in his first term, dodged the bullet of invading Iran delaying a much needed clearance sale. By forcing Russia to invade Ukraine to avoid the latter, which contains Russian lands in the East and South, from joining NATO,, the western MIC got a super sales promotion. Not only were existing stocks of weapons cleared but there are big orders of costly equipment like the F35. Furthermore, if they succeed in selling Russia as a bogeyman, they can get Cold War 2.0. The beauty of a cold war from a private MIC perspective, is the arms race narrative that drives arms sales without the shedding of blood.

While the above may sound like a conspiracy theory, kindly google the 50 year stock price charts of MIC companies such as  Lockhead Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon. How can such steady rises in stock value be compatible with peace?

Furthermore, some of the so called “autocrats” like Putin, Xi and Iran have significantly improved the manufacturing base and standard of living of their working class while the so called “Democrats” are pursuing deindustrialisation in the name of climate change.
Jürgen Siemer commented 2024-08-12 15:36:07 +1000

Sounds like another Victoria Nudelman, sorry Nuland.
Michael Cook followed this page 2024-08-12 10:33:31 +1000
James Bradshaw published this page in The Latest 2024-08-12 10:32:00 +1000

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