It could be my point of view but it seems different this time. Authoritarianism was the only way for big civilizations for a long time, then we started building up artillery in the late 19th century, and the damage a dictator could do grew exponentially. After WW2, small wars were used as proxies for the powerful.
From my viewpoint, religious leaders were quiet except for a few exceptions like Thich Nhat Hahn who convinced MLK to speak up, and we know how that went. Business continued to support oppression, going off shore if needed.
But regulations started to corral all that. Religions argued with each other, and internally. Even the jokes about the “casting couch” in Hollywood stopped being a joke.
Question is, will all of these changes make this battle, this coup, one that doesn’t wipe out major cities and reduce landscapes to moonscapes?