Will the year 2023 resolve the conflict between democracy and tyranny?

This week brought bad news for China and Russia, heralding a difficult year for leaders of the anti-Western democratic camp.

This week brought two bad news to China, the first is the decline in the growth of the Chinese economy in 2022 to one of its worst levels in nearly half a century, and the second news is the decrease in the population of China in 2022 by 850 thousand people compared to its population in 2021, and this is the first time that China has witnessed a decline, Experts do not see it as healthy, in its population at all.

At the same time, the United States and Western countries emphasized continuing to supply Ukraine with everything it needs so that Russia does not succeed in its invasion of Ukrainian lands.

The past year brought doubts about Western democratic models of government, stemming mainly from the great blow that the United States received, which is the heart of the most important democratic experience in the world today.

Its former president tried to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 elections, which questioned the integrity of the electoral process itself and the effectiveness of voting, as well as the integrity of the judiciary and the rule of law.

Former President Donald Trump's refusal to accept the election result prompted thousands of his supporters to storm the Capitol building, in an attempt to reverse the election results.

However, the position of most Republican politicians saved American democracy from an attempt to hijack it, and stability quickly returned to the political and electoral process, which was evident in the smoothness and routine with which the midterm elections took place last November.

This should not be understood as the absence of sharp polarization between the Democratic and Republican parties, or the end of the political legacy of former President Trump, as he is still a candidate for the 2024 presidential elections.

The United States and democratic countries have adopted transparent policies in the face of the major chaos that resulted from the closures of the economy and society due to the Corona virus.

As despite what these countries witnessed from the rise in the number of infections and deaths, and the accompanying economic, social and political turmoil, they finally succeeded in facing all this, and developed an approach to deal with the Corona virus, which has not completely disappeared .. and perhaps it will never disappear.

And during several trips within the United States recently, and while it can be noted that some male and female travelers wear a health face mask as a precaution, travel and movement between states has returned to normal, and students’ attendance at schools and sports activities has been regular, and life has returned as it was before the emergence of the Corona virus. Sweet and bitter.

In contrast to what the United States and democratic countries are witnessing, China is currently witnessing great chaos and a very high infection rate due to the adoption of repressive policies to confront the spread and spread of the Corona virus, especially through the Chinese government's adoption of the strict "zero Covid" policy, which President Xi Jinping demanded to be imposed. It ended in a fiasco, accompanied by the exit of thousands of Chinese people in unprecedented demonstrations, demanding a change in those policies, which was what it was.

There are no explanations about why the Chinese president adopted this strategy to confront the epidemic, a policy that the government changed radically after the popular protests took place, and announced a partial opening of the economy and lifting travel and quarantine precautions and wearing face masks, at a time when government officials expect deaths and infections with the Covid virus. -19 to record numbers, estimated by some to cause tens of millions of deaths over the next two years!

And with China continuing to have a modest health system with its capabilities to deal with 1.4 billion people, there was a very large increase in virus infections, which renewed closures in a number of the country's centers.

The Chinese Communist Party’s arrogance also caused the use of vaccines that the West reached and proved to be very effective, such as “Pfizer”, “Moderna”, “AstraZeneca” and others, in the absence of significant immunity among the Chinese people, despite receiving the Chinese vaccine, whose limited effectiveness appeared. .

And after many experts expected the Chinese economy to overtake its American counterpart in 2023, this is now a thing of the past.

Many around the world support the Russian invasion of Ukraine for various reasons, but they remain unconvincing reasons.

Some hoped that the Russian invasion would be swift and decisive, with which the Western democratic model would be shaken, especially at a time when neither the United States nor NATO could intervene militarily to help Ukraine.

No one knows how the Russian president made his decision to invade Ukraine, or how the deliberations were about it, especially at a time when many opponents of the Russian invasion are being killed among the sons of the Russian financial and economic elite, and the West was pushed to provide support to Ukraine, which prolonged the war, which was close to a full year without Clarity of a way or mechanism to end it.

Military experts envisioned that the Russian army would resolve the fighting within a few weeks, but this did not happen. Rather, the matter developed into major military confrontations that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, after which the Kremlin resorted to striking the Ukrainian infrastructure of power, electricity and water stations in order to humiliate Ukrainians during the winter, without this resulting in huge military victories at the same time, but the economic and life hardships of the Russian people increased because of the sanctions imposed on Russia.

In addition to this, the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland to apply for NATO membership, and to ask Germany to purchase advanced F-35 aircraft, with a pledge to build the largest army in Europe within 4 years.

Democracies flounder and go through multiple crises, but in the end they prove themselves worthy of facing them, learning from their mistakes, and adjusting their policies.

On the contrary, and compared to the ways authoritarian regimes in Russia and China deal with their crises and problems that erupt mainly from the nature of tyrannical and individual rule, it has been proven that what is best for societies is enjoying the grace of the rule of law, freedoms and transparency, despite their disadvantages.

And at a time when Beijing and Moscow see the US elections as an opportunity to try to undermine the US global position, sow discord within Washington, and influence decision-making and American voters, the year 2022 has proven that repeated free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American power, unlike What autocrats in Russia, China and others around the world believe.