Doesn't even have to be an international power imbalance, a municipal one is sufficient.

Notice how the federal secret police is attacked in this thread, but as soon as I turn the conversation to the abuses of local police, HN consensus turns against me. People in the upper-middle class are afraid of the former, but have far less issue with brutality from the latter. The power imbalance it maintains is largely comfortable for us.

I find it quite hypocritical, but that's also not something that democracy makes any guarantees about.