gets thrown around way too much, imo. Saying you support this or that state doesn't mean unconditional or blind support.
I think the reason it's overused is because we are a minority and our opinions and positions go against the dominant ideology, so we feel a need to take a preemptively defensive position. It's like there is a fear of being ridiculed or called a shill or something.
I just think we can voice our support without prefacing it with "critical".
Also instead of saying extremely critical support to signal your disapproval of something done by an AES state, you could just voice your criticism or disapproval in a more direct fashion.
It means that while you disagree with some state's general politics, you support a specific action done by them that have positive outcomes for the working class.
It should be distinguished to support a capitalist country in its struggle for self determination for example, and to support an actually socialist country for making progress in its development.
Unfortunately its use is not confined to this.
Then people need to learn what the phrase means