More than 100 nations’ presidents, prime ministers and kings will virtually meet at the Summit of Democracies on December 9 and 10. It is the first such meeting in history, where the application, or the ostensible application, of the democratic principles in the governance of
You also forget how many of the countries attending the summit are only nominally democracies now. The idea that Narendra Modi, the Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister of India, can be called to a "Summit of Democracies" to protect democracy is so risible and farcical an idea that I bet he would attend it only to get the last laugh. Don't even let me get to some of the worse countries present on the list: Brazil, Israel, Pakistan, and Philippines.
Not only is the inclusion of these countries, where "democratic backsliding" or rising authoritarianism is at its most evident, such a joke, but it can also be extremely dangerous - serving as propaganda for these leaders who can now use this as a pretext for their "democratic" credentials. Although I agree with your assessment of the geopolitical impact of this summit, I feel you've missed out the most important part of it: unless this summit becomes the most banal thing in existence, the strength and audacity of these despots is only going to increase from here.
To hear that Modi, the leader and whose party have been trying to convert India into a Hindu Nation that terrorises its minorities, getting a free pass from the world's oldest democracy is genuinely infuriating.
Cited you in the lead to this article: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/12/14/us-cold-war-with-china-first-stop-equatorial-guinea/ See first paragraphs: In the first Cold War, the Truman Doctrine laid out the premises for prioritizing an anti-communist crusade that lasted an entire generation and served as the pretext for U.S. support for apartheid South Africa and countless other anti-democratic regimes around the world. Last week’s Democracy Summit, noted CUNY Presidential Professor Branko Milanović, is most likely “a prelude to the creation of an unwieldy association of states that will be used by the United States to spearhead its ideological crusade in the escalating geopolitical conflict with China and Russia.” I have long respected your work, but just discovered this substack blog and subscribed.
It's well-put, your conclusion. The language coming out of American elites is getting stupider and more obtuse as it gets equally more and more megalomaniacal. For ex, the annual "Reagan National Defense Summit" was held this week, and the main headline coming from this summit of political and military leaders is that, if a conflict erupts with China over Taiwan, we can expect "a wave of significant cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure that could disrupt day-to-day life." In other words, the people who make decisions about which conflicts we engage in are telling us, any military engagement with China would likely, overnight, become a 21st century "total war," with civilians at home becoming targets for military technology immediately.
In light of this, they did not discuss at this summit - as I'm sure they won't at the "Democracy" summit - whether Americans as a whole would be willing to suffer casualties to defend an island off the coast of China from China, to sacrifice civilian life at home to defend every last inch of American prestige and empire abroad, whether they think it's worth the human cost to "demonstrate our strength" to deter other nations from having an equal say in the international order.
Instead, as one politican from Wisconsin, Mike Gallagher, said: “I just fear we’re not attacking this with a sense of urgency. I feel like unless we change course, that we’re going to lose World War III before it begins.” No sense of urgency around *not* having World War III, only about getting it started as soon as possible, before China achieves parity in C4ISR (see https://tomdispatch.com/countdown-to-world-war-iii/, "War With China in 2027?").
If American/Western democracy were anything other than a smoke-screen for an economic order run by and for elites, they'd at least stop to ask whether the demos *wants* war with China, then try to persuade us to; instead, World War III or a new Cold War is becoming the "natural," inevitable future in elite discourse.
You also forget how many of the countries attending the summit are only nominally democracies now. The idea that Narendra Modi, the Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister of India, can be called to a "Summit of Democracies" to protect democracy is so risible and farcical an idea that I bet he would attend it only to get the last laugh. Don't even let me get to some of the worse countries present on the list: Brazil, Israel, Pakistan, and Philippines.
Not only is the inclusion of these countries, where "democratic backsliding" or rising authoritarianism is at its most evident, such a joke, but it can also be extremely dangerous - serving as propaganda for these leaders who can now use this as a pretext for their "democratic" credentials. Although I agree with your assessment of the geopolitical impact of this summit, I feel you've missed out the most important part of it: unless this summit becomes the most banal thing in existence, the strength and audacity of these despots is only going to increase from here.
To hear that Modi, the leader and whose party have been trying to convert India into a Hindu Nation that terrorises its minorities, getting a free pass from the world's oldest democracy is genuinely infuriating.
Cited you in the lead to this article: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/12/14/us-cold-war-with-china-first-stop-equatorial-guinea/ See first paragraphs: In the first Cold War, the Truman Doctrine laid out the premises for prioritizing an anti-communist crusade that lasted an entire generation and served as the pretext for U.S. support for apartheid South Africa and countless other anti-democratic regimes around the world. Last week’s Democracy Summit, noted CUNY Presidential Professor Branko Milanović, is most likely “a prelude to the creation of an unwieldy association of states that will be used by the United States to spearhead its ideological crusade in the escalating geopolitical conflict with China and Russia.” I have long respected your work, but just discovered this substack blog and subscribed.
What the world outside the US, China, and Russia needs is a new non-aligned countries movement.
Truly intellectual and anti-human divisionists/racists/colonisers.
It's well-put, your conclusion. The language coming out of American elites is getting stupider and more obtuse as it gets equally more and more megalomaniacal. For ex, the annual "Reagan National Defense Summit" was held this week, and the main headline coming from this summit of political and military leaders is that, if a conflict erupts with China over Taiwan, we can expect "a wave of significant cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure that could disrupt day-to-day life." In other words, the people who make decisions about which conflicts we engage in are telling us, any military engagement with China would likely, overnight, become a 21st century "total war," with civilians at home becoming targets for military technology immediately.
In light of this, they did not discuss at this summit - as I'm sure they won't at the "Democracy" summit - whether Americans as a whole would be willing to suffer casualties to defend an island off the coast of China from China, to sacrifice civilian life at home to defend every last inch of American prestige and empire abroad, whether they think it's worth the human cost to "demonstrate our strength" to deter other nations from having an equal say in the international order.
Instead, as one politican from Wisconsin, Mike Gallagher, said: “I just fear we’re not attacking this with a sense of urgency. I feel like unless we change course, that we’re going to lose World War III before it begins.” No sense of urgency around *not* having World War III, only about getting it started as soon as possible, before China achieves parity in C4ISR (see https://tomdispatch.com/countdown-to-world-war-iii/, "War With China in 2027?").
If American/Western democracy were anything other than a smoke-screen for an economic order run by and for elites, they'd at least stop to ask whether the demos *wants* war with China, then try to persuade us to; instead, World War III or a new Cold War is becoming the "natural," inevitable future in elite discourse.