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irishmolly72 Thank you! Yes, I see your point, and since I posted that reports on President Putin's TV appearances have made his character a lot clearer.
Basically, though he's probably not as paranoid and cruel as Hitler and Stalin were, he still wants to be surrounded by mere yes-men frightened to question him. Or who find it advantageous in business terms to be yes-men.
I used "capitalist" really to make the point that the Russian Federation is not Communist, whatever else it is. I could not really think of a suitable word that encapsulates the contrast.
In the end though, it does not make much difference within their own lands. Russia and China have never been democracies, and the 20C Russian and Chinese Revolution, and then the collapse of the USSR, only replaced dictatorial ideologies with other ones.
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Regarding China, I do wonder if the West fell for a huge con-trick. After Chairman Mao Tse-Tung's death, the government realised his "Cultural Revolution" had been a gigantic mistake - never mind also immensely cruel, as that would not bother them - and also that the country needed to open up a bit to the outside world.
It seemed to be turning into a freer country with a welcoming economy, and ever so happy to become the world's leader in mass-produced goods. Even major Western European and American companies started having their goods manufactured in supposedly free-economy firms in China, with much lower labour and overheads costs.
It's very likely whatever you are reading this on, was designed in the USA or Europe and carrying that firm's badge, but made in China - possibly, and ironically, on production-machinery made in the West.
Then the Party Line changed, Britain had no choice under treaty and international law but to return Hong Kong to China, Xi's rule hardened. Although the factories are still busy making products for Western companies, Beijing's dislike of the "West".
With the strategic advantage of a strong and coherent regime of harsh single-party rule, a country can plan a long way ahead. Those three, perhaps four, decades of apparent open-ness had given China her opportunity to gain vast international power and influence. She can now do whatever she likes at home, and try that abroad too, probably judging she has sufficiently weakened the opposition.
The West helped her, too, unwittingly, by so believing in the old "inward
[sic] investment" canard that vast chunks of countries' industries and even public services are now owned by foreign companies, Russian and Middle Eastern oligarchs, and indeed
nations - including the People's Republic of China.
So, I wonder if China's domestic and international situation now was the planned result of policies created long ago, back when President Nixon made his famous visit to the country.
(Russia seems to have missed her equivalent chance, with Putin more interested in restoring his country's old Eurasian imperialism than gaining world-wide power.)
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A pint of beer would be very good, thank you!
