Irony and satisfaction among Trump's friends and enemies
In Russia, China, Brazil, Turkey, Iran and the Middle East, the invasion of the US Capitol is mocked to put their own repressive methods and lack of democracy into perspective.
Trump supporters' invasion of Capitol Hill sparked irony, criticism and renewed support for the incumbent president in "illiberal democracies," among the enemies of the United States, dictatorships and billionaire's partisan regimes. American.
The decline of the American Empire has been evident to the Kremlin for years, much to its satisfaction. And the images of the Capitol stormed by demonstrators who do not recognize the outcome of the presidential election is the last proof, if any. "The celebration of democracy is over," proclaims a senator. Gone are also the moral lessons taught by Washington for years on how Moscow manages its own "managed democracy". “This is the bottom. And I say it without a shadow of malicious glee. America is no longer setting the tone, and as a result, it has lost all right to set it. And even more to impose it on others, "wrote on Facebook Konstantin Kosachev, who chairs the committee for international relations of the upper house. Since the election of Donald Trump four years ago, in which the Kremlin participated with an aggressive campaign of interference and disinformation, Russians have reveled in the institutional and political mess into which America has sunk.
In China, "scenes similar to Hong Kong"
In China, the nationalist daily Global Times pinned to its Twitter feed a montage of images of the invasion of the US Capitol on Wednesday and the invasion of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco) on July 1, 2019, at the after a demonstration. "Similar scenes in Hong Kong and Washington DC, a blatant demonstration of double standards."
In response to reports on riots in US, China hopes that Americans can enjoy peace, stability and security as soon as possible, Chinese FM spokesperson said, urging people to reflect on why some people and media in US gave different narrative on social turmoil in Hong Kong in 2019
The state media and Chinese authorities, engaged in an intense campaign to prove to the world that the authoritarian "Chinese model" works better than Western democracy, are enjoying this apparent parallel.
As with any subject that serves the political interests of China, the social network Weibo, yet subject to very heavy censorship, gives free rein to criticism of the chaos on Capitol Hill, which already totaled more than 570 million views this Thursday morning.
For her part, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunying, considered the scenes "familiar" with the events in Hong Kong: "The reaction of some people in the United States, including some media, is completely different. At the time, when they described the violent protesters in Hong Kong, what words did they use? "A" beautiful spectacle "". "It remains to be seen whether Nancy Pelosi [the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States] will say the same about recent events on Capitol Hill," the Global Times quipped.
Contrary to what most Chinese commentators lead us to believe, it was the huge citizen and peaceful demonstrations of 2019 against the repression carried out by the Chinese central power, which Nancy Pelosi, whose office was occupied on Wednesday, had called "a beautiful spectacle. », And not the Legco vandalism scenes. Even if the images of occupation of these two symbolic places of democratic institutions resemble each other, the two episodes are profoundly different. Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to defend their freedoms.
The arrest of 53 elected officials, activists, journalists, Wednesday in Hong Kong, accused of "conspiracy" and "subversion" for having organized the opposition primaries for the legislative elections, is a new stage in the crushing of the Party -Chinese state of the democratic process enshrined in the Hong Kong constitution. The irruption of young people in the deserted Legco was intended to protest against the stranglehold of central power over democratic institutions, while the irruption of Trump supporters in the Capitol was intended to forcibly interrupt the democratic transition.
In Brazil, a more discreet "tropical Trump"
In Brazil, the "Tropical Trump" did not fail to speak out on the events in Washington. Since coming to power in 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro has shown unwavering support for his American counterpart. But, contrary to his habit, Bolsonaro was discreet, Wednesday evening, on social networks. However, he could not help but reaffirm his support for Donald Trump.
“I followed everything. You know I'm close to Trump. You know my answer. There has been a lot of evidence of fraud. I had already said it some time ago, ”he replied to one of his supporters who questioned him near the Brazilian presidential palace on the situation in Washington. He had however recognized in mid-December, well after all the leaders of the G20, the victory of Joe Biden. Faced with supporters, the Brazilian president took the opportunity of the American chaos on Wednesday evening to draw a parallel with his own election, marred according to him by fraud, without which he would have "won in the first round". A theory he had already mentioned during the 2018 campaign, and which has never been proven.
American “fragility” in the Middle East
"The spectacle of the Great Satan's civilizational collapse," according to a tweet from a Lebanese Hezbollah supporter during the attack on Capitol Hill has bound to arouse enthusiasm among anti-Americans in the Middle East. “America is not a democracy and it is much weaker than you think,” writes one of Iran's trolls, mobilized on social networks. Thursday morning, Tehran reacted officially through the voice of Hassan Rouhani, who underlined “how vulnerable and fragile Western democracy is”. In his statement on official television, the President of the Islamic Republic warned against the "rise of populism" by designating supporters of Donald Trump.
But one of the very first countries to comment while the assault on Capitol Hill was still underway on Wednesday night was Turkey where the government called for "moderation." In a statement in particularly moderate terms too, published by the official Anadolu news agency, "Turkey calls on all parties in the United States to overcome their domestic political crisis".
