By Ayya Lmahamad
The U.S. hosts "the Summit for Democracy” on December 9-10, to which 109 countries have been invited.
By what criteria the list of invitees was made is still a topical issue. The list does not include, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and other Turkic-speaking countries, the vast majority of Muslim countries, as well as China and Russia.
The fact that the U.S. did not invite such countries is a clear example of double standards and is proof that Washington is using the democracy factor for its own political purposes.
U.S. dividing world into "friends" and "aliens"
Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko has told local media that the U.S. has clearly divided the world into "friends" and "aliens".
“‘Friends’ are mostly henchmen, those who are ready to carry out any instruction of Washington. Of course, in the light of everything that is going on, Armenia’s behavior is surprising, because it is a member-state of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] and has allied relations with Russia. Against this background, Armenia is taking part in an anti-Russia event,” he said.
The expert underlined that the fact that Russia, China, Azerbaijan, and several other countries were not invited to the summit, shows that those states are headed by strong, self-sufficient leaders who do not allow foreign interference in the affairs of the countries they lead.
Korotchenko noted that the Washington-hosted so-called democracy summit is an anti-Russian event that is held under the auspices of the U.S.
The expert stated that the post-Soviet countries invited there were states where the norms of democracy are not only not respected, but also suppressed.
“The invitation of Armenia is a good example. As for democracy in Armenia a year ago we saw that a crowd of people in Yerevan dragged [former] Armenian Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan out of a car and beat him. Apparently, these standards of democracy today contribute to inviting Armenia and allowing it to participate in this summit,” he said.
Korotchenko also recalled the constant clashes among Armenian MPs, in which it is common practice to throw mineral water glass bottles or kick each other. He stressed the question of how can a country, where the prime minister was hiding from the crowd of people in an underground bunker under the Defence Ministry building, be invited to such a summit.
“But they are invited since Yerevan has the largest U.S. embassy, non-profit organizations sponsored by the State Department and numerous American foundations operate in Yerevan. [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan and his team are Soros' representatives,” he said.
“Therefore, everything is obvious. This clearly demonstrates the cynicism of Washington, which diligently classifies a number of countries, while stubbornly ignoring the problems with democracy among its accomplices,” he added.
"Summit of Washington vassals"
Political scientist Anton Bredikhin said that the democracy summit is in fact a summit of vassals – Washington's vassals, which are either within the U.S. sphere of influence or interested in it.
He noted that Armenia, invited to the summit, seeks to pursue a Western-oriented policy.
“And of course, after the U.S. invited Yerevan to attend the summit, Pashinyan, seeing in this platform another opportunity to review the results of the Karabakh war, the decisions adopted in Moscow and Sochi, will seek to convey his position in the meeting, because he needs the U.S. and France to join the process, and for further decisions to be made solely in Armenia's interest,” he said.
Bredikhin stressed that the summit is not so much deliberative in nature. He considered it to be rather in the nature of the fulfillment of the U.S.wishes.
"The Americans will present a number of their requirements, which will have to be fulfilled by all the participants of the forum. Both the deadlines within which these requirements must be met and the areas in which they must be implemented by each of the parties will be presented,” he said.
The political scientist believes that Biden will make a number of statements that the new sanctions are needed against Russia and that each of the countries participating in this summit will be the party either proposing these sanctions or the party that will support these sanctions.
"So we are waiting for another batch of Western sanctions on Russia… Of course, at the end of the summit, Biden will announce that he can now rule the half-world. This half-world includes the invited countries, regardless of their regime or religious component, and now they will be obliged to fulfill all the wishes that will come from the White House," he said.
No credibility
Former US ambassador Matthew Bryza said that it is difficult for the U.S. to have credibility in claiming to be a global leader on democracy when they themselves have faced a serious challenge to their own democratic system. He added that it is not a good time for the U.S., in terms of its reputation, to hold a democracy summit.
“Because to do so, the U.S. government needs to decide which democracies are good ones and which are bad ones that don’t deserve to be invited,” he said.
Bryza stressed that given the threats facing democracy in the U.S., most notably, the insurrections, riots against the U.S. Capitol on January 8, it is not a time when the U.S. has great credibility as a leader of democracy.
“In fact, we still have one of the two major political parties in the U.S. falsely claiming that the last election was stolen from Donald Trump when it is absolutely clear that it is not the case,” he said.
The selective choice of countries invited to the so-called democracy summit, clearly shows that it has been drawn up from the U.S. geopolitical interests and that America is fundamentally distorting the concept of democracy.