Meanwhile, back in the real world
Thanks to Covid I'm shut in, sort of, and I'm starting to suffer from what you could call "un-travel sickness". (I'm retired so I'm supposed to be out and about seeing the world.) To compensate instead of watching TV I poke around youTube and the like looking at videos from around the world. Many of them are home made travel videos, goPros or similar stuck at the front of a train or car as it transverses somewhere scenic. Some are from places we can't visit easily even pre-Covid -- puttering around on a motorcycle in Kashmir, walking the streets of Pershwar and scenes fom driving across Pakistan, Iran and Iraq on a pilgrimage. What I learn from these videos is that despite the pontifications of Western governments life is proceeding very miuch as usual in even the most out of the way places, and its largely enabled by countries like China who supply the manufacturered goods that they need and we're either unwilling or unable to supply.
According to our governments we're supposed to be formed into armed camps that stare warily at each other, suspicious of every move, treating every initiative or even casual contact as potentially hostile. Cold War mode, in fact. Governments in many parts of the world might appear to be going along with the program, especially if there's something in it for them, but on the ground at least its like we don't exist, we're a far off presence like a gently menacing volcano that you keep a watchful eye on, 'just in case'.
Put simply, I think that the UK government (especially) and even the US government (probably) are delusional, they're living in a dream world of their own fabrication. They don't represent stability and 'rules based order', they're nothing but trouble. This might be why many in the West are so cynical these days.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
