So you’re a tough guy / Like it really rough guy / Just can’t get enough guy/ Chest always so puffed guy. Billie Eilish wrote those lyrics about a romantic relationship, but they could just as easily work as an international anthem for dictators and autocrats who are more aligned and connected than ever. “Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services (military, police, paramilitary groups, surveillance), and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources—the troll farms that promote one dictator’s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another—and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.” Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic: The Bad Guys Are Winning. “If the 20th century was the story of a slow, uneven struggle, ending with the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologies—communism, fascism, virulent nationalism—the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse.”