Authoritarian states are “trying to shape and influence domestic politics in ways we are not prepared for.”
This morning’s next guest on “Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips” is journalist and author Ann Applebaum.
With intelligence from both Russia and China, Trevor begins by asking whether we are headed for a new Cold War with “dastardly acts.”
She replies: “I don’t think it’s quite the same as the Cold War, because what we’re facing is not a single enemy with a single ideology.”
She explains that there is a “network of authoritarian states, including nationalist Russia, communist China, theocratic Iran, Venezuela, Belarus, and, until a few days ago, Syria.”
Although they have “completely different ideologies,” they are “starting to cooperate opportunistically.”
“They started doing this because they all have a common enemy, and that enemy is us,” she says. “So the enemy is the world of liberal democracy, the language we use, the language of rights, the language of the rule of law.”
As Russia and China develop relationships, especially around the world, we ask whether they are winning, but Ms. Applebaum cautioned that “victory is a difficult word to use,” adding, “Some of them… “This is a very fragile state,” he said, citing Syria as an example.
“But they’re always changing tactics,” she explains. “And they’re trying to shape and influence our internal politics in ways that we’re not used to, and we’re not ready for that.”
But the fall of Syria’s Assad regime is a “blow” for the authoritarian state’s network, she says. And if other countries supported by Russia and China collapse, it will have a “negative impact” on them.
