There's an interesting history behind the madness of the left. In London around the time of the Russian revolution, all of the progressives favored British imperialism, because they thought it lifted backward races up toward civilization and helped bring them into the future. I know this in part because some of my English ancestors were progressives in London, and in fact one of them went to the Soviet Union after the revolution.That was generally true until the Soviet Union started backing nationalist independence movements as a means of undermining the West, after the Second World War.
At that time, anticolonialism became the new leftist dogma. And so it has been ever since. In other words, Stalin taught the left to love African and Arab dictators and tyrants. Naturally the left all saluted their great master and obeyed. In effect, they are still obeying Stalin.
That's fascinating, Cicero! That (and this article) are further proof that the world's road to recovery after collectivism's mass poisoning of the well during the 20th Century will be a long one. (Collectivism poisoned the well in just about every subject or social debate it ever touched.)