#axisofdespots — Public Fediverse posts

World's democracies condemned the crackdown in Hong Kong, but did nothing to impose costs on the CCP dictatorship. Instead business (read: Chinese exports) only grew and grew. Gotta empower them despots! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hong Kong's pro-democracy struggle presented an opportunity for democracies to stand up against dictatorship, but we failed miserably.

Giving the #CCP yet another free pass (after its repressive occupation of Tibet in 1950-1951 and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre) surely emboldened #putin to invade #Ukraine in 2022.

Repression of Tibetans, Uighurs, South-Mongolians, Hongkongers... or a billion+ voiceless Chinese brought no consequences, but at least the invasion of *European* Ukraine gave us Europeans a limited wakeup.

It's not enough. We could have aided developing democracies when the Soviet empire fell in 1989-1991 and *not aided* repressive regimes. Instead we doubled down on doing business without limits and empowered the likes of Chinese dictatorship.

There are things I love about Europe, and things I am deeply ashamed of. Talking about human rights while empowering despots belongs in the latter category.

Some foreign individuals did "Stand with Hong Kong" though. At least one here in Mastodon is, as always, still busy fighting authoritarian takeover. Now in her homeland of the USA.

“Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.“
— Nelson Mandela

#Hongkong #Tibet #Uighurs #ccp #china #EuropeanDefence #AxisOfDespots

☝️ Question to the #EUCommission: If the values enshrined in #UnitedNations (#humanrights) declarations are considered truly important, why are all the democracies financing, industrializing and otherwise empowering hostile #authoritarian regimes?

There are basically zero incentives for governments and elites of developing countries to choose #democracy over #authoritarianism... 👀

💥 Why not establish a global trading system where authoritarians and despots face serious tariffs and embargoes, and military-expansionist or even genocidal regimes actually face at least *some* real world consequences over their crimes? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meanwhile trade and financial, industrial and technological assistance should be reserved for countries with at least *minimal* adherence to the most basic #UN ideals.

Why is this simple concept so difficult? Reward good, not evil.

Is it really hard to fathom *why* the post-1989 world rewarded greed over democratic values? In 1989, only months after the #TianAnMen massacre, trade delegations were queueing up to kowtow the #CCP #dictatorship... They got the message, as did #putler a decade later.

#WTO #MFN #MostFavoredNation #china #russia #AxisOfDespots #brics #SCO #EuropeanUnion #HandelOhneWandel
@EU_Commission

Or alternatively, imagine if free people in free countries just, you know, *chose* not to do business with genocidal, military-expansionist dictatorships... 🤔

I know it's a really weird idea, especially if you personally aren't currently being genocided by that particular regime.

The Polish freedom fighters had a word for this odd phenomenom though. They even founded a rather successful labour union named after that concept. Without #solidarity between peoples, would the #soviet #russian #dictatorship have crumbled when it did?

Another thing is that the various #despots and #authoritarians are increasingly networking and joining forces to fight the evils of #democracy and #humanrights globally. Aiding, abetting or doing business with any of them makes all of them more powerful.

#democracy #Solidarnosc #boycott #imperialism #AxisOfDespots #CCP #alibaba #jackma #collaboration #appeasement #sovereignty #selfdetermination #Uighurs #Tibetans #Mongolians @tekkie