[Gibbon1]

> the U.S. consistently underestimates the degree of corruption in many other countries and the degree to which the "state" that is ostensibly our ally is actually a fiction, with the majority of actual daily life ruled by family, ethnic, or business ties

A related comment in that vein is people the west often don't get that people other places correctly see their corrupt semi-authoritarian governments as their best real option.

[ahartmetz]

You mean it's not a good idea to remove said government and bring (a naive attempt at) democracy? Yeah.