As Domestic Unrest Hits the West, the World Pushes Back
As Domestic Unrest Hits the West, the World Pushes Back


                        
            
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                        
            
            

            
                        

            

                                        
            
            
            
                                        
                            Well, that sure escalated quickly!
The first meeting between American and Chinese diplomats in March in Anchorage, Alaska didn’t go as planned.
The U.S. side started by reiterating its concerns (and the world’s, it said) about China’s policies in Xinjian, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and cyberspace. The senior Chinese diplomat, Yang Jiechi, replied that American democracy really isn’t all that, accused the U.S. of hypocrisy, and declared “[T]he challenges facing the United States in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years, such as Black Lives Matter. It did not come up only recently.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan differed with Mr. Yang, but the exchange was quickly broadcast and China’s “wolf warrior” response to the U.S. side framed news coverage of the meeting and made heroes of the Chinese delegation.
In November 2020, in the midst of the clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan for Nagorno Karabakh, Azeri president Ilham Aliyev was interviewed by the BBC. In reply to questions about media and political freedom in his country, Aliyev parried by asking about the jailing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and what that says about media freedom in the U.K.
Aliyev mocked the reporter’s assertion that she couldn’t name a source with “if you couldn’t name that means you are just inventing the stories.” When she tried to steer the interview he said, “You like only to accuse, only to attack. But look at the mirror. I told many times. Before coming and lecturing us and in your question accusing me. It’s not a question, it’s an accusation. You talk like a prosecutor.”
Twitter noticed and promptly gave the interview over 3.5 million views.
Messrs. Yang and Aliyev aren’t plowing new ground, but are channeling Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, who has regularly accused the West of failing to live up to its own standards and, memorably said “BBC is supposed to be, well, the standard of freedom of speech but all they do is politics.”

What gives?
The pushback from China and Azerbaijan against the U.S. and the BBC (“the West”) was likely inspired by the breakdown in public order in the U.S. in the summer of 2020, the violent demonstration at the U.S. Capital on 6 January, the inability of Europe’s technocrats to promptly procure COVID-19 vaccines, the failure of Western coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the effort by Big Business, Big Labor, and their confederates in Big Tech to “fortify” the 2020 presidential election.
The BLM riots in the U.S.  were quickly followed by apologies from business and political leaders for…something or other. Notably, many police officers “took a knee” in solidarity with the protesters concerns, though hopefully not with their methods. U.S. leaders publicly apologized to their favored constituencies, forgetting that nothing is “for domestic consumption only” anymore.
Foreign leaders took note and interpreted the leaders’ prostrations not as sincere regret at America’s imperfect history but as a failure of state institutions to maintain public order, and that the U.S. leadership will fail to defend America’s interests because its only interest is accommodation.
Mr. Yang’s attack wasn’t unbidden; he would have been negligent if he ignored the opening America gave him.
The U.S. won’t always get public pushback but, instead, a recitation of local concerns that prevent cooperation with Washington. For example, the U.S. is fishing for locations for a military base near Afghanistan, but Uzbekistan was quick to refuse citing its policy prohibiting foreign military bases on its soil, and Tajikistan hinted that Russia would have to be consulted due to treaty obligations.
Many foreign leaders probably won’t use U.S. weakness as an opportunity to crack down on their opponents, but to point out U.S. shortcomings as they will more mileage from that than jailing some bloggers. And it’s more satisfying to mock the Western establishment, then, à la Aliyev, use social media to broadcast the put-down.
China is a rising power seeking to secure its position in Asia and globally and doesn’t think it should be taking direction from the United States, which its sees as spreading disorder in its wake. Countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, which must balance between big powers, will see now as a time to tilt away from the U.S. and the West and toward China and Russia.
2020 was unusually tumultuous for the U.S. with COVID-19, BLM riots, and a bitter presidential election, which knocked it off balance. Unfortunately, the leadership level in the public and private sectors flinched in the face of adversity and failed to defend all that is right about America as many calculated there was political or business advantage in mouthing BLM-inspired calumnies. 
A movie villain said, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Many of America’s friends had the same thought as they surveyed the tattered American leadership class, then prepared to accommodate “the strong horse.”
The West has long hyped the “rules-based order,” as if that ever really existed, when it was really the West’s rules and everyone else’s order. Hopefully the U.S. will regain its footing, but it will have many more unpleasant encounters with Mr. Yang if it fails to do so.
James Durso (@james_durso) is a regular commentator on foreign policy and national security matters. Mr. Durso served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years and has worked in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. 
            
                                            
                            
            

        