France is somehow a full democracy, even though in the past 6 years every protest has been blasted by the police, and laws with 20% popular support have been adopted without letting the national assembly vote them.
It's so two-faced. Imagine the nerve it takes to sit in a meeting with representatives of these 'hybrid regimes' and 'authoritarians'. At least the writers have the humility to call the US a flawed democracy (their freedom and democracy cheerleaders aren't going to like that lol; the rivalry between the limeys and yanks is still alive).
The Anglo-Europeans are lucky the rest of the world is so much more civilised and willing to be the better person in the room. If I was an official for Mexico or Turkey I'd start every meeting with a recent news story and ask for an explanation to watch my democratic counterpart squirm.
I have the feeling that this is how China is starting to respond to this shit. Glorious to see. Unfortunately, it assumes that Angleuros are capable of shame (Angloeuros? – I'm coining a new word).
They’re Bri*ish, so they can afford a jab at their former colonies who have been pretending “their own democratic institutions succeed, whilst those of other countries fail” since the country began (Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 457)
China is starting to respond to this shit. Glorious to see.