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It is always amazing to experience the chutzpah with which authoritarian rulers carry out their propaganda stagings in the West.
The latest example is Xi Jinping, China's dictator, who sang the praises of multilateralism at the virtual summit of the Davos World Economic Forum and said it was vital to remain committed to international law and rules instead of striving for "dominance" - by which the West was meant.
This is what the most powerful ruler since Mao says of a country that continually blatantly violates international law and regulations.
After all, Xi is the one who ordered a cultural genocide against the Muslim Uyghur minority, seriously violating the UN Charter of Human Rights.
He is responsible for ensuring that China continues its illegal land grabbing attempts in the South China Sea, even though the International Court of Arbitration has clearly denied the Chinese claims.
Xi is also responsible for the suppression of the freedom and democracy movement in Hong Kong and thus for a blatant violation of the international agreement with Great Britain on the return of the former crown colony.
And he's the top representative of the country that tried to make WHO the bailiff for its own cover-ups over the corona outbreak in China, which has slowed the response to the pandemic around the world.
Not to mention Beijing's unfair trading practices, including state-sponsored intellectual property robbery.
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And if you want to know who is actually dominated by the dominance, you just have to look at Beijing's crude pressure policy towards Australia in recent weeks.
In short: Xi is a hypocrite and only finds international law good if it serves his communist party.
It is not the first time that Xi has used the World Economic Forum to stage propaganda.
It is true that one must remain able to speak internationally.
Formats such as the Munich Security Conference or the Davos World Economic Forum offer a platform for the necessary diplomatic contacts.
At the same time, however, appearances like the Xis promote the agenda of autocrats and dictators - and should therefore not simply remain unchanged.
It is time to do more to counter the creeping normalization of rogue regimes.