Cuba has fair elections, and maintains extremely close ties with China out of solidarity. China has been providing solar panels and other means by which to help alleviate Cuba's energy crisis right now.

The Nordic Model relies on imperialism to function. The social safety nets are funded by plundering the global south, and control of industry is kept in the hands of capitalists. They are less democratic than countries like Cuba and China, and serve as plunderers of the global south, unlike Cuba and China.

As such, the Nordic countries are declining alongside the general decay in western imperialism, while socialist countries like Cuba and China are rapidly improving.

I respect Cuba 1000x more than China.

I think the most telling indictment of the Chinese government is its failure to extend aid to its ideological allies abroad, whether that's Cuba or Kashmir. But when you're lifting 200M people at home out of poverty with industrial improvements and agricultural modernization, its hard to complain. Beijing has done an amazing job of not-getting-into-wars. More than the Russian Soviets managed by a long shot.

Unfortunately, they’re still a one-party state without free and fair elections.

You could say the same thing about California or Florida. What's annoying is that "one-party state" is held up as some kind of indictment without regard to how popular the party is. Like, I hate Texas politics, but I'm not naive enough to believe the state lacks a Republican majority. I'm not going to hold Cuba to a higher standard, simply because they're venerating Che Guevera instead of T. Boone Pickens.

Imagine being this much of a western leftist, where you're so racist you can't recognize AES and just repeat the most obvious propaganda