It's a straightforward case of "my enemy's enemy is my friend" isn't it? The values of NYT are so opposed to those of Putin's Russia or Xi's China that they sup

It's a straightforward case of "my enemy's enemy is my friend" isn't it? The values of NYT are so opposed to those of Putin's Russia or Xi's China that they support those standing against those views uncritically. It's a fairly rational thing to do, even if it is hypocritical. Any port in a storm, to use yet another metaphor. In the US I think you'd say that prevailing views are more closely aligned to the NYT and this affords them some ability to be more critical.