Chinese ambassador sparks European outrage over suggestion former Soviet states don’t exist

While this is clearly just a slipup, a diplomat accidentally saying the quiet part out loud, this shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone who has been following recent geopolitics. There are a few different axes that major powers seem to be splitting down right now, and one of them is "Whether it's okay to invade/meddle with smaller neighbor states" sometimes with a "If you previously controlled them" tacked on to the end, but mostly the first half is the important part for many authoritarian powers like Russia, China, Iran, and to a smaller extent countries like India and Turkey who both have territorial disputes/ambitions on their neighbors.

I see it mostly as an extension of the greater culture war, the clash between a rapidly modernizing, globalized identity that sees all local, democratically formed countries as legitimate and untouchable, and the older, more realpolitik view of the world, where any country without sufficient reason and means to exist must inevitably succumb to a neighboring empire or alliance and cede it's independence. Generally the former suits individual citizens much better, because they don't have to worry about going to war or being invaded, but the latter suits authoritarians and oligarchs much better, because they have justification to reap the rewards of the conquest of their neighbors.

The more I learn of historical geopolitics, the more I realize that no grand empire or state has ever come about without treading on the backs of it's neighbors. Rape and Pillage is an essential component of traditional geopolitics, and until recently there has always been a dubious 'other' part of the world that could be 'silently' exploited to fuel the development of the technological centers of empire. Now, when we can actively SEE all parts of the world, and see the exploitation, we want this type of thing to stop. But the leaders of authoritarian countries recognize that without said suffering they can't maintain their grip on power, so they lobby to keep it with all their might, up to and including going to war to try and ensure that the old system stays in place, in the case of Ukraine and Russia.

I see reflections of this struggle in the struggle between oil companies and those desperately trying to save our planet. You have people who are trying to help, and those who recognize that such 'help' will cut into their bottom line, and thus do everything they can to prevent the solution to the issue from being enacted.