The generalized version of this lesson “that cooperation/collusion favors the good guys—ie those aligned towards humanity” actually plays out in history. In WW2 the democratic powers—those with interconnected economies and governments more aligned to their people—formed the stronger allied coalition. The remaining autocratic powers—all less aligned to their people and also each other—formed a coalition of necessity. Today history simply repeats itself with the democratic world aligned against the main autocratic powers (russia, china, north korea, iran).
I don’t want to enter a history debate, but I’m not at all sold on that view, which seems to rewrite history. The european part of WW2 was mainly won because of the USSR, not really a “democratic power” (you could argue that USSR would never have had the means to do that without the financial help of the US, or that without England holding up, Germany would have won on the eastern front, both of which are probably true, but the point still stands that it’s not as simple as “democratic vs autocratic”).
Regarding the present, I’m not sold at all on the “democratic world aligned against the main autocratic powers”. Actually, I’d even make the case that democratic powers actively cooperate with autocratic ones as long as they have something to gain, despite it being contrary to the values they advocate for: child labor in asian coutries, women’s rights in Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and so on. So I believe that once we look at a more detailed picture than the one you’re depicting it’s actually a counterargument to your take.
USSR originally sided with axis, then switched to allies, but yes obviously the coalitions are not pure.
“democratic world aligned against the main autocratic powers” obviously doesn’t mean that democratic powers don’t also cooperate or trade with autocratic powers—obviously we still have extensive trade with china for example. I meant “aligned against” in a larger strategic sense. Clearly we are at near proxy war with Russia already, and we have recently taken steps to try and cripple china’s long term strategic—and especially—military power with the recent foundry-targeting embargoes.
I don’t want to enter a history debate, but I’m not at all sold on that view, which seems to rewrite history. The european part of WW2 was mainly won because of the USSR, not really a “democratic power” (you could argue that USSR would never have had the means to do that without the financial help of the US, or that without England holding up, Germany would have won on the eastern front, both of which are probably true, but the point still stands that it’s not as simple as “democratic vs autocratic”).
Regarding the present, I’m not sold at all on the “democratic world aligned against the main autocratic powers”. Actually, I’d even make the case that democratic powers actively cooperate with autocratic ones as long as they have something to gain, despite it being contrary to the values they advocate for: child labor in asian coutries, women’s rights in Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and so on. So I believe that once we look at a more detailed picture than the one you’re depicting it’s actually a counterargument to your take.
USSR originally sided with axis, then switched to allies, but yes obviously the coalitions are not pure.
“democratic world aligned against the main autocratic powers” obviously doesn’t mean that democratic powers don’t also cooperate or trade with autocratic powers—obviously we still have extensive trade with china for example. I meant “aligned against” in a larger strategic sense. Clearly we are at near proxy war with Russia already, and we have recently taken steps to try and cripple china’s long term strategic—and especially—military power with the recent foundry-targeting embargoes.