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by che_shirecat 1465 days ago
that's the thing, they don't break free without some exogenous factor that forces a total reckoning. e.g. China with opium, getting humiliated by western powers in the opium wars. this sort of thing always marks the end of a declining empire. even after the opium wars, it took a century before resurgence. stuff like trafficking drugs in China now are punishable by death, they've learned their lesson for sure.