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The United States organized the second "Summit for Democracy," which takes place March 28-30 online and offline.
Representatives from 120 countries have been invited to the summit. The first one was organized by them at the end of 2021. And it is obvious that the second one will be no less scandalous than the first one.
Before we start talking about the summit, let us recall a historical anecdote. When Goering was told that his General Milch was a Jew, he replied, "In my own headquarters I decide who is Jewish and who is not." What is the connection between the story of the Nazi criminal Goering and the "Summit of Democracy"? A very simple one. The Americans tell other countries in the same way: we, in our "democracy headquarters", will decide who is a Democrat and who is not.
So, the year 2021. The U.S. State Department releases a list of 110 countries whose leaders have been invited to the "Summit for Democracy," which was held online on December 9-10. Online, because there's a pandemic in the world. But a pandemic is a pandemic, and the fight for democracy did not stop even in such extreme conditions.
All invitees were selected according to several categories: liberal democracies, weaker democracies, and several states with inherent authoritarian traits. Then everything was according to the US ranking, calculated by the American NGO Freedom House in 2021, when 77 countries were considered fully democratic, another 31 countries - not entirely free, and three of the invited participants headed the countries in the "not free" group.
Russia and China, as well as EU member Hungary and NATO member Turkey were not invited. Of the post-Soviet countries, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine were invited. That is, a special military operation in Ukraine has not yet begun, and Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has already been excluded from the number of democratic countries.
And the list of invited former Soviet republics showed quite eloquently, which of them the State Department will focus on, allegedly promoting democracy. It is interesting that Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan were not invited. By the way, Azerbaijan, which has confrontational relations with Armenia, was mortally offended that it was invited and they were not.
Of the Middle Eastern countries, the list predictably included Israel, as well as Iraq, "successfully democratized" by the Americans. However, other traditional U.S. allies in the region - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE - were out the door.
Thus, already at the first summit the countries were divided into "clean" and "unclean", and those who were not invited got an eloquent hint - you are not friends of American democracy.
And this is indeed a cause for concern, because everyone knows how Americans promote democracy and what happens to those they recognize as enemies of American-style freedom.
Naturally, Moscow and Beijing were angered by this selection. "Moscow has a negative attitude toward Washington's plans to hold a 'Summit for Democracy' and sees in it an attempt to draw new dividing lines," said spokesman for Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
The Kremlin generally called the U.S. decision to hold a summit without Russia "privatization of democracy."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the goal of the summit is to "divide people and countries into democratic and non-democratic ones." According to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the U.S. is trying to demonstrate the massiveness of its movement. "In fact, the summit will be a step in the direction of splitting the world community into friends and strangers," Lavrov said from the UN rostrum last September. Lavrov added that "in essence, this initiative proclaims a new ideological "crusade" against all dissenters."
Beijing, too, did not stand aside and opposed the invitation of Taiwan to the summit, which it considers Chinese territory. It is interesting that shortly before the summit, during talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his commitment to the principle of "one China", but immediately broke this principle by separately inviting Taiwan.
Curiously, such ambiguous countries as Pakistan, Philippines and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is struggling to remain a functioning state, were recognized and invited to the summit as democracies.
Then all the speeches followed the same pattern: the president of Poland stigmatized the Belarusian authorities, Israel accused Iran, the Serbs talked about joining the EU.
The year 2023 is upon us. And the Americans, having decided that it is a very fruitful idea to form a new political bloc on the principle of Democratic and non-Democratic countries, are holding a second summit. Events are scheduled in Washington, Costa Rica, South Korea, the Netherlands and Zambia. The US President Joe Biden will take part in the meetings. About 120 countries are invited. Incidentally, Turkey and Hungary were not invited. This, of course, will strain relations between these countries and the United States even more. Azerbaijan, which will not take part in this holiday of democracy, was also offended. Taiwan is on the list, but again there is no China. But Honduras, Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein have been invited.
Naturally, Ukraine is invited, a country where all opposition parties and media have been defeated, where people are being grabbed on the streets and sent to the front. And President Zelensky is expected to speak. Of course, he has a lot to say about "the establishment of a Ukrainian democratic society."
Once again, there will be speeches about freedom of the media, equality, the fight against corruption, support for democratic reformers and human rights defenders, and protection of free and fair elections.
But if earlier the hegemonic countries formed coalitions, at least not under the slogan of democracy and freedom, now the U.S. shows how cleverly using beautiful slogans, you can divide the world. Into friends and strangers.