[BLKNSLVR]

It further erodes any case 'the West' has to argue against the behaviour of China.

And that is a sad indictment on the path the 'victors' of WWII have followed.

(Edited to add: if the account given in the article is relatively accurate)

[whamlastxmas]

The US having a corrupt and unaccountable elite class of politicians is not equivalent to China having a single dictator whose whims are law

[knocte]

It is not equivalent, it is worse, because in the west people have a false sense of security.

[deelowe]

> It further erodes any case 'the West' has to argue against the behaviour of China.

Can we just stop with this? Bringing this up distracts from the issue at hand, which has nothing to do with China or 'The West's' opinions of it. Regardless, is it not quite clear at this point that the issue is the elite of the world and not one specific nation?

[BLKNSLVR]

I was hesitant to make the comment. However I decided to post it because the current political climate makes it relevant. The situation in Hong Kong, democracy, human rights abuses, it's all part of the current discussion-fabric of politics, and the treatment of Julian Assange fits perfectly as a piece in that puzzle, as does Snowden.

China are just the Eastasia of the moment, which is why that example was chosen.

Yes, the 'elite' of the world are a problem, if not THE problem. I'm trying to point out that the soft-power that 'The West' had, as a point of difference, as a rallying cry for the moral high-ground, is rapidly disappearing, and the lines separating Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are blurry at best and non-existent at worst.

I've said before, there are no good guys in the world of major political powers. It's sad, but it appears to be fairly plain fact, and potentially a human inevitability.

That's the issue at hand. The treatment of Assange is a symptom of it.