Yes,they are both foreign powers. But one is a undemocratic dictatorship.
- Starting dubious wars against foreign nations? We've had Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Spying on and criminalizing citizens? We're having Five Eyes and possibly much more than we don't know about.
- Treating whistleblowers against our standards of human rights? We're having Manning, Snowden and Assange. And probably many more we haven't heard about.
I'm not repeating some whataboutisms trying to relativize, e.g., the horrible attack of Russia against Ukraine or the Chinese Social Scoring system. I'm just asking about the meaning of "democracy" in the Western world is, if our gov'ts are sh*tting on our values any time they need.
Like the Arab nationalists being waterboarded in Guantanamo Bay?
Although some of them the US realized it picked up the wrong guy and released them.
Incidentally, Guaantanamo Bay is occupied by the US military against the wishes of Cuba.