A U.S. government that defends the free expression of the far right. That is obsequious to Russia and appeases China. A government for whom the villains are the soft liberal democracies of Europe, and an invaded country, Ukraine, is as guilty of its occupation as the aggressor, Moscow. This is not a dystopia created by George Orwell in 1984 or Philip K. Dick in The Man in the High Castle.
In his speech, Merz painted a picture of a world order in which firmly held convictions are being challenged almost daily. "What we have called the liberal world order is now under pressure from many sides, including from within the political West. A new systemic conflict has already broken out between liberal democracies and an axis of autocracies that is actively seeking open systemic competition with our democracy," he said.