Second U.S. Summit for Democracy
An Even Paltrier Version of the First
On March 29, U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Canada, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Zambia opened the second Summit for Democracy in Washington, DC. The first was held in December 2021. According to Biden, the intent of the Summit was to gather leaders from around the world "to spur further action to strengthen democratic resilience, demonstrate how democracies are delivering for citizens, and highlight how democracies are best equipped to address the world's most pressing challenges."
The U.S. is said to have invited 120 leaders to the Summit which met mostly virtually and managed to muster 65 "governments and authorities from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America to develop an intergovernmental coordination body." Biden announced an additional $690 million in funding on top of the $400 million announced at the last summit for his "initiative for democratic renewal." Biden pledged that "over the course of three years, my administration intends to work with Congress to commit $9.5 billion across all our efforts to advance democracy around the world."
The poster boy for democracy was Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine which is mired in corruption and so undemocratic it does not even pass muster to qualify for membership in the European Union. He gave the keynote address March 29. He spoke in an irrational manner, saying, "Democracy must be able to act -- and act in advance. Democracy must learn to be uncompromising in the face of evil. The spirit of democracy is to find a compromise, but this only works for internal freedom in a given country. We should get rid of the illusion that compromising with evil can give something to freedom. The enemies of democracy must lose, and only this can be the basis of true security for democracy." He ranted and raved against Russia saying "...what is the strategy of the free world in relation to totalitarian Russia ... evil must lose the war.. First. We should not think how to save Putin's face in order to allegedly reduce the cost of fighting him. We should think how to preserve respect for democracy in those countries where freedom has yet to win... Second ... the defence of democracy must have all the weapons that will reliably guarantee the defeat of the aggressor. Third. Russians must contribute to protecting the world from the Kremlin, whose impunity they have tolerated. It is necessary to look for, freeze and direct for recovery not only individual assets of the aggressor state and individual related parties, but all assets of Russia and Russian wealthy who have traded silence for increasing their wealth. They must have a motive to act in defence of freedom, and to bring an end to this aggression and the Kremlin's terrorist rule. ...Democracy needs a victory. Now! This year! Not some other time. Not over time. Now!"
President Yoon Suk-yeol from south Korea co-hosted the Summit and together with Biden issued a vacuous joint statement. It claimed that since 2021, "the Summit for Democracy process has brought together hundreds of leaders from governments, civil society, and the private sector committed to strengthening democratic governance, protecting human rights, and advancing the fight against corruption. Participating governments have made hundreds of commitments to reform laws and policies, bolster transparent and accountable institutions, and contribute additional support to democratic reformers, journalists, and activists. Non-governmental organizations have used the Summit for Democracy platform to expand their own vital work of protecting the most vulnerable and holding their leaders to account. Corporations have taken action to improve democratic resilience through their business practices and engagement with workers, communities, and other stakeholders."
This shows that the Summit is merely an instrument of the Biden administration to get the U.S. recognized as undisputed leaders on matters of democracy and human rights, the state of affairs in the United States and its crimes at home and abroad notwithstanding. Global Times pointed out that the Biden administration's "ambition to pull more countries into its interest camp to contain its rivals, especially China and Russia, has been interwoven into the agenda of the event and is too obvious to hide."
Canada's Contribution to Bogus Summit
On March 29, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and various members of his cabinet participated in the second U.S. Summit for Democracy. Trudeau spoke in a "leader-level plenary on Democracy Delivering Inclusion and Equality." A news release from the Prime Minister's Office informs that at the Summit, Trudeau "reaffirmed Canada's commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law [and] announced over $50 million in funding support of initiatives that promote and protect democracy at home and abroad."
The funding includes a $2 million grant to increase Canadian support for the U.S. Department of State's "Emergency Assistance and Capacity Building Programs," $3 million having been contributed at the 2022 Summit for Democracy.
Funding for the National Endowment for Democracy
Such funding for interference in the affairs of other countries to advance U.S.-led interests is not new. Both the Trudeau Liberals and the Harper Conservatives before them have provided many grants to the International Republican Institute which describes itself as "one of the core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), with a mission to advance democracy worldwide." As of March 21, public listings of government grants and contributions show that under the Harper and Trudeau regimes, Global Affairs has provided the International Republican Institute just under $18 million.
Among the most recent projects of the International Republican Institute is the one announced on March 23. The Institute's "Center for Insights in Survey Research" conducted a poll in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama, described as "countries that have seen large financial investments from Beijing." The poll was to determine the "knowledge and perception" of the people in these countries about "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence." It concluded that the survey results provided "the knowledge-gaps and opportunities for resilience against the authoritarian influence of the CCP in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)." Referring to the People's Republic of China as the Chinese Communist Party has become the agreed upon terminology of the Five Eyes police agents. In no other case are the activities of a government referred to as the activities of the political party leading the government.
The survey laments that even though China has been expanding its influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank providing more than $138 billion in loan commitments since 2005, "people were generally unaware of the financial activities of the Chinese government." It reports, for instance, that "this was highest in Panama, where 62 per cent did not know of any major Chinese investment."
The Institute sees this as a problem because "without this knowledge, [of China's involvement in their countries] the public is unable to put pressure on their government against unfavorable investments and loans." "As governments in LAC become increasingly tied to the CCP, it is essential to assess public understanding and opinion on the CCP involvement in their country," it concludes, thereby providing other wings of these police agencies direction for their work.
The Liberal government's increased funding for Canada's involvement in the multi-faceted campaign of the U.S.-led NATO and member countries' policing agencies and its attempt to justify it in the name of high ideals shows that in today's deteriorated and expiring liberal-democratic institutions, hypocrisy and shamelessness on the part of its ruling elites have no bounds.
Against the backdrop of the escalating hysteria about Chinese interference in Canada based on police leaks to media, the Canadian government of police powers is pursuing a strategy of creating tension and fear about foreign agents who are allegedly aiming to undermine the country's political and electoral systems. While doing this they are extending their overt and covert interference in the internal affairs of the countries they have declared are "hostile" and not part of the "like-minded" nations of the world and persisting in their relentless anti-social offensive against their own people.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 5 - March 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53059.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca