Dictators crush dissent. Then they hire these U.S. firms to clean up their images.

[AlRay]

From the Washington Post. Excellent, sobering article.

“At marquee events during his first 100 days in office, President Biden cast the challenge of our times in stark terms. When the history of this era is written, Biden said at his first White House news conference, it will be about “who succeeded: autocracy or democracy?” The president reiterated that theme during his first address to a joint session of Congress. It’s apropos, because three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a moment celebrated as the triumph of democratic capitalism and even “the end of history,” freedom of expression is under attack around the world, including in established democracies such as our own.

But even if Biden’s ambition to reestablish the White House as a champion of human rights is a welcome break from the Trump administration’s dictator-coddling, his efforts to pressure countries on freedom of expression are being systematically undermined in Washington, where some nations that are the worst offenders have powerful advocates. Representing those countries is a lucrative business here in the home of the First Amendment.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/dictators-crush-dissent-then-they-hire-these-us-firms-to-clean-up-their-images/2021/05/07/679bcb54-adec-11eb-ab4c-986555a1c511_story.html

Countries mentioned: Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, China.

There are obviously many more examples.

[KPN]

1. American exceptionalism!

Exceptional at making money regardless of the means, absent any morals.

Thankfully, there is also all of us who would define “exceptionalism” in other terms, guided by morals. We are the majority. So keep the faith folks.