At the end of March 2023, the US will host a second "Summit for Democracy." The US Department of State will send out invitations to leaders of partner countries, as well as representatives of "civil society and the private sector."
"Building on the first Summit for Democracy held in December 2021, this gathering will highlight how democracies deliver for their citizens and are best equipped to address the world's most pressing challenges," the summit said in a statement.
The main purpose of the event is expected to actively promote the American idea of "the right of the free world" led by the US to assist democratic movements in authoritarian countries. But it is de facto about creating and formalizing the "basis" for a broad Western bloc of countries to participate in the global confrontation. And not only with "obvious" Russia and China, any state or group of states, which Washington and its "democracies" will subsequently define as enemies.
The first "Summit for Democracy" was held back in the Covid year 2021 and assembled representatives from 111 countries and regions in a virtual format. The event was spread over two days and covered the themes, including democracy support in Covid-19, fighting corruption, defending against authoritarianism, media freedom, etc.
US President Joe Biden spoke at the opening and closing of the summit. His speech focused on the promotion of American democracy and its leadership on the world stage. Russia and China condemned the summit, saying it was an attempt to artificially divide the global community by selectively inviting participants.
Indeed, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit index, the level of democracy in many of the countries invited leaves much to be desired, to put it mildly. First of all, this applies to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
If you look at the map, the picture of who Washington is ready to include in its block in the confrontation with Russia and China is quite clear. The US sees in its block: Anglo-Saxon countries; Latin American states; European countries; Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines in Asia; Israel and Iraq in the Middle East; the main former African colonies, for some reason without French colonies, except for Niger and Senegal; and post-Soviet countries that have defined their anti-Russian agenda. At the same time, the Americans have demonstrated that they are ready to use the new bloc to put pressure on their alliances. NATO members Hungary and Turkey, independent in their foreign policy and ideology but democratic enough, were ostentatiously not invited.
However, not all of those invited took part in the forum. South Africa and China-oriented Pakistan declined, while Malaysia and Mongolia, countries with a high democracy index, did not attend.
The forthcoming second "Summit for Democracy" on March 29-30 promises to be much more severe. Firstly, it is likely to occur in face-to-face mode and will not resemble pointless and chaotic online conferences on the Internet. In-person participation is much more binding and guiding than online.
Secondly, the essential issue is that the new summit will already take place under the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine. This fact predetermines the stricter nature of the emerging bloc, which will oppose "non-democracies", and "authoritarian" regimes from the SCO and BRICS blocs that continue to take shape.
Accordingly, the American idea of "the right of the free world", led by the United States, will be used to provide military assistance to "democracies", as well as to interfere in internal affairs and "help" democratic movements in authoritarian countries. Moreover, this will affect not only "enemy autocracies" but obstinate states of the democratic group like Hungary, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Israel and others.
Moreover, the "democratic bloc" will not be static and solid in its composition. Any country or a group of countries can be declared undemocratic at any time and turned into an enemy.
In the difficult years preceding the Second World War, the main enemy of the entire Western world was the Soviet Union, for which not only Nazi Germany but also the British Empire, France, and the United States, standing behind all of them, were preparing for a decisive battle. The winter war between the USSR and Finland, assisted by the Western countries, demonstrated "unity and unanimity." However, the military rise of Germany and the outbreak of the great war "broke" the Western camp. They led to a brief period of cooperation between the "democracies" and the Soviets.
A similar situation may develop now when the United States, through anti-Russian sanctions and the most severe pressure on Europe, is destroying the German economy and leading to the radicalization of Berlin. For the West, Germany and its European allies may become radicals and enemies in a reasonably quick historical perspective.
