I have no bones to pick with what you wrote, to wax lyrical..

How The Mainland's policies and how The European Union's affect life in there orbits, there's little difference to observe on the surface. In either domain, life is civilized, much as you'd expect, especially the ubiquity in any major city. I think how all these once disperate places with there once nuanced approaches to law and values are merging into a more micromanaged arrangement, is not fully appreciated, and this tends to skew the vantage point looking outward.

Whether the lofty pretense of 'an international rules-based order' resonates more, or an equally pious rejection of it with historical references reaffirming preordained sovereinty of a mandate from heaven, the fact is that we all share one planet and nobody likes to be micromanaged. IMO, to borrow someone else's words, all policymakers are practicing capitalism on the way up, and socialism on the way down. Economics doesn't care if its Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Evergrande.

Extreme policies tend to appear in these 'emergency situations', and I think we all felt some uncomfortable authoritarian undertones. Some of it endured longer until critical mass finally rejected it. Others were needlessly perfunctory and unpleasant, militaristic and baseless. These are hints at the true natures of governance.

How governments conduct themselves internationally might also be an seen as an indication of its truth. In overt policies and external interference, but also, I suspect there's subterfuge exerted in more subtle ways, but no less destabalizing.

Sorry, long monologue. Next time I'll cap it to microblog.