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Yea, imagine some Soviet apparatchik in late stage of really existing socialism defending the system in open, unscripted debate with dissident, even crazy one (or just ordinary disgruntled citizen).
For long time, failures of the system were masked by fact that Western world was legitimately the only game on the planet, the best place to be despite all faults. If USSR liberated the workers of the whole world and imposed its system everywhere, it could also easily swat away any criticism "What are you complaining about? You live far better than medieval serfs!".
Not any more.
Now you can ask: "Why in Dubai or Shanghai people have the same wealth and comfort as in Western cities, and in addition complete safety, where they can walk the streets at any time unmolested and being stabbed or shot by deranged drug addict is as thinkable as being eaten by tiger. Why can't we have it too?" And the system has no answer than "But we have democracy and human rights!" (not much talk about "freedom" these days)
You picked the wrong examples. Dubai is a soulless worthless hellhole. Shanghai is a nice place in many ways, but it's quite poor, crowded, and not very comfortable compared to many western cities.
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