Opinion | Strongman leaders are on the rise. Blame it on the West’s moral cowardice
- Christopher Johnson says double standards and hypocrisy have undercut the erstwhile moral authority of the West, leaving the door open for authoritarian rulers to strut on the world stage
A clear pattern has emerged in recent years as strident nations such as China, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia increasingly exploit weakness in the doormat diplomacy of the United States, Canada, Germany, France and other Western nations losing clout on the world stage.
Machiavellian strongmen such as Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mohammed bin Salman are taking advantage of voters’ fetish for “cute” compliant leaders: the boy wonders Emmanuel Macron, 41, and Justin Trudeau, 47; the impish media circus clown Donald Trump; and so-called progressive, “open-minded” wunderkinds such as Angela Merkel, blamed for upsetting the post-war status quo in Europe.
These hypocritical, wishy-washy Western leaders lack moral authority. They say one thing, do the other, and evade responsibility. Why should China and others respect that?
