[grecy]

I'm not sure why you are being downvoted, you are absolutely correct.

I would argue that many of the world's billionaires are not particularly nice people, but that doesn't stop them being immensely rich and powerful.

I see no reason the same can't be true for a country. If it has an immense amount of wealth, it will be powerful, irrelevant of human rights, etc.

[scandox]

Political power is not something you can bank. It cannot be stored. It cannot be measured statically at a particular moment in time. It is rooted in networks of people and in ideas. Very rich people can exercise political power only by proxy in our culture: by effectively buying it from people who have the real thing. This is both expensive and limited. It can evaporate in a moment.

[crispyambulance]

    > It can evaporate in a moment.

I think that's the most interesting weakness about power without democracy. China, obviously, has not collapsed and it is going stronger than ever but there are changes in progress.

Are the motivations that precipitated the Tienanmen Square protests still present in the minds of the people? I think so.