What the Collective West has vastly overestimated is the currency of 'democracy' and 'human rights'. Everyone knows that the West is happy to do business with the dirtiest scumbags on the planet with the US being at or near the top of the list for human rights violations. Russia didn't get any applause for its SMO in Ukraine but earned a great deal of kudos for sticking it to the USA.

We are seeing a pragmatic shift as world leaders are no longer constrained by the West's dubious moral code and discredited democracy.