I, for one, believe that this kind of tactic is detrimental to the country in the long run.

Their objective is clear and a "legitimate" even thus not "ethical" attempt to protect "the country".

However, this only works for a while. While nobody sympathize with your cause anymore, the artificial barriers and protection are useless, as information will leak literally everywhere, since everyone wants to you see you fall.

This seems to be a common way for countries to fall after reaching their apex.