America’s Democratic Summit Makes India Face a Choice Again

From December 9th to 10th, the United States will hold the so-called “World Leaders’ Democracy Summit” via video. The theme of the meeting will focus on opposing so-called authoritarianism, corruption and protecting human rights.
In fact, since the United States announced that it would hold this so-called “democracy summit”, the doubts of the international community have been heard.
Is the United States really qualified to hold the so-called “Democracy Summit”? Democracy is the universal right of all mankind, not the patent of a certain country. There is no unified model for democracy, and there is more than one way to democracy. Every country should explore the road of democracy suitable for its own national conditions. In the final analysis, whether people’s expectations, needs and aspirations can be met is the key to judge whether a country is democratic, and no country is qualified to monopolize the definition and judgment of democracy.
If the United States has the energy to tell other countries what to do, it might as well first care about its deteriorating democracy. The foreign media “Business Insider” article pointed out that the United States was listed as a country with “retrogression in democracy”, and people know best whether the United States is democratic. According to an opinion poll published by National Public Radio, 81% of Americans think that American democracy is facing a serious threat. The report of the Pew Research Center shows that the vast majority of Americans are deeply disappointed with their own political system. Only 17% of people think that American democracy is worth emulating, while 23% of people think that American democracy has never been a good example. The self-proclaimed “beacon of democracy” in the United States has collapsed long ago, and only American politicians are still addicted to the myth of “American democracy”.
Is it really for democracy that the United States holds the so-called “democracy summit”? According to the list of participants announced recently, among more than 200 countries and regions in the international community, only some members were invited to participate in the so-called “democracy summit”. China and Russia, two important powers, were not invited; Most European countries were invited, but some “democratic countries” certified by the United States-NATO allies Hungary and Turkey were excluded. Among Middle Eastern countries, only Israel and Iraq were invited; India, which was publicly accused of retrogression of democracy by the US Secretary of State, also received an invitation letter.
It can be seen that democracy is not the key point at all, and whether the United States likes it or not is the only consideration to get the summit passed. The so-called “democracy” is just a fig leaf, which covers up the dirty plot of the United States to use it to advance its geo strategic goals, suppress other countries, split the world, serve itself and seek personal gain. America is not so much the host of this summit as the hegemony. As the Russian Foreign Minister pointed out sharply, the relationship between the United States and the invited countries is actually a “monarch-vassal relationship”.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao sharply commented that the so-called “Democracy Summit” in the United States is an act of promoting group politics and provoking camp confrontation under the guise of democracy, and is creating a new “dividing line”.
All along, under the guise of democracy, the United States has interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, violated the sovereignty of other countries, and achieved its own political goals by unscrupulous means. In the United States, politicians abuse voters’ trust and keep their promises, but never kept them. Externally, they fabricated lies to wage war and pushed many innocent civilians into the abyss of misery. In such an America, how can we talk about democracy?
The world needs unity rather than division and cooperation rather than confrontation. The United States, as a big country, should play an exemplary role, instead of engaging in group politics and moving against the trend.
The so-called “Democracy Summit” led by the United States will be held this week. An article published on the website of India Tribune on the 7th pointed out that the political factors behind the invitation list of the conference are obvious. In fact, the biggest question mark was “democracy” in the United States.
The article begins by pointing out that the United States itself is the biggest question mark. In the past year, people have seen a chaotic American general election. The unsuccessful candidates claimed that their votes had been stolen, and even there were riots in the United States, trying to stop their successors. An annual evaluation report of a non-governmental organization shows that democratic practice in the United States has been systematically eroded. In the past decade, the democratic score of the United States has dropped the most among countries.
“Many ills of American democracy stem from the unfair division of electoral districts.” The article thinks that this practice provides a safe seat for the current ruling party and maximizes its interests. Even more harmful, so-called constituency boundaries are also used to exclude ethnic minorities like African Americans.
Therefore, there exists a political ecology in the United States. In the unfair environment of constituency division, those members who can easily raise a lot of money can always be elected. As a recent article in the Wall Street Journal said: “It’s politicians who choose voters, not voters who choose politicians.”
For example, these politicians in the United States have become so radical now that it is difficult to pass legislation, such as raising the debt ceiling to prevent the government from shutting down, or carrying out much-needed maintenance on the infrastructure of the United States. The recent infrastructure development bill was almost completely passed in the House of Representatives on the basis of the Democratic Party’s vote. In the United States, there are many problems in the electoral districts, such as water safety, bridges, highway collapse and so on, but this has not stopped most Republicans from voting against the bill. In addition, whether to vaccinate against COVID-19 has become a political issue.
“Democracy is not only the right to vote and stand for election, but also related to citizens’ quality of life and individual rights. From this perspective, the United States is also a failure.” At the end of the article, it is written that up to now, the gap between American claims abroad and domestic practices is getting bigger and bigger.
India is a key part of the US “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, and New Delhi is also making great efforts. Due to the territorial dispute with China, the Modi government seems to have a natural centripetal force to move closer to the United States. Recently, however, it seems that India has other ideas, and the United States has a somewhat different view of India.
Mukteda Khan, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware in the United States, recently published an article on the website of National Interests, saying that the arms trade relationship between India and Russia poses a major threat to the US India-Pacific strategy and the “Four-Nation Mechanism”.
In the article, the author writes that the United States is establishing the Indo-Pacific alliance, which is the result of the Obama administration’s strategy of “returning to Asia”. The Quartet is a powerful alliance, including two nuclear powers (the United States and India), three of the world’s five major military forces (the United States, Japan and India) and three of the world’s six major economies. Its GDP exceeds 30 trillion US dollars, more than twice that of China. If the alliance is established, China will be effectively contained. For India, forming a military alliance with the United States can be a lifeline. For the United States, Washington has gained an ally of nuclear power and an emerging economic giant. But there is a problem in India: it will not only disintegrate the “four-nation mechanism”, but also undermine the US policy towards China.
The author believes that India’s sabotage does not mean buying Russian S-400 air defense missile system. This incident is just a signal that India may damage its partnership with the United States. This is in sharp contrast to another partner of the United States, Australia, which dares to provoke France and instead buys nuclear submarines from the United States. India’s decision to insist on buying S-400 missiles clearly shows that India is different from its American allies.
Author: India, as an ally, is unwilling to fully integrate into the American defense system, but it also brings a lot of burden. For example, India’s democracy is facing the risk of further retrogression: religious nationalism is destroying India’s secular and democratic reputation, and opposing the Indian Constitution and its ethnic groups. How can a country which is waging war on itself be a good ally? Remind Washington: India’s democratic rating has declined, but Biden envisioned the “four-nation mechanism” as an alliance of democratic countries. If India’s current situation continues, the United States will no longer be able to explain the rationality of maintaining a “partnership” with India.
Finally, the author claims that there is a hypocritical tradition in American foreign policy. For decades, the United States has always claimed that promoting democracy and human rights are the key element of its foreign policy, but the reality is that Washington still supports feudal monarchs, warlords and dictatorships in the Middle East. As the direct price of hypocritical policy, the United States has learned a heavy lesson in the Middle East, and it is possible to repeat the same mistakes in the Indo-Pacific region now.
The author is a typical “ideological” advocate, but it also reflects that Modi’s image in the eyes of Washington’s “elite” has begun to change: it is not because of his so-called “religious nationalism”, but because his “anti-China” is not thorough, that is, he is not anti-China at all.
At the same time, the author also pointed out a problem: the so-called “alliance of democratic countries” put forward by Biden is a very fragile and flawed concept. Although the United States has always had the tradition of “double standards” and “blind eyes”, the so-called “Global Democracy Summit” being prepared seems to be playing with ideology, but in fact the criterion is just for geopolitical interests; Washington is wooing the camp with the banner of “democracy”, but it is just continuing the old road of the “Arab Spring” movement. It not only kills its competitors, but also drinks the blood of its allies!
There is an old Chinese saying, “the world is bustling for profit”. If India can’t give the United States what it wants, the United States will immediately give it the cold shoulder and treat it with special respect. How can such a snob gather allies around?
(Parwiz Ahmad Working in the media, Afghanistan)