I wonder if we could apply this kind of reasoning to the shift of economic and cultural power in the US from the Northeast to the West and South? While not engaging in military expansion and classic totalitarianism, much of the intelligentsia of the West seems to be down with cultural, media, and corporate authoritarian tactics.
Europe has made this mistake before. Appeasing a totalitarian, expansionist dictator works well, abruptly to the point at which it doesn't.
To be clear, this is an attack on the sovereignty of a fully democratic nation with a population the size of Australia's.
Some things are more precious than "corporate profits".