‘Renewing our democracy ... requires constant effort’
| 'Renewing our democracy ... requires constant effort'  Democracy, in essence, is all about finding answers to the toughest questions.
Joe Biden is finding this out after opening his two-day virtual summit dedicated to the idea that people should get to choose their leaders. The meeting, highlighting the President's belief that there is an existential global contest between democracy and autocracy, has triggered controversy over its purpose, guest list and chances of making any difference.
To start with there's a big red, white and blue elephant in the room: How can the US preach to others about democracy when its own is increasingly tattered? It's hardly a stretch that a US President might hold a summit of democracies. But no one would have thought it would follow a coup attempt incited from the Oval Office. This haunting reality is exacerbated by Republican attempts to deny ex-President Donald Trump's insurrectionism and to make voting harder and election-stealing easier.
"I wanted to host this summit because ... here in the United States we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort," Biden said.
You think?
Hosting a democracy summit was always going to poke some in the eye. Some democracy activists in the US complained the President isn't living up to his own standards, by failing to agree to end Senate filibuster rules that make it impossible to pass laws safeguarding fair US elections. And China and Russia, among the most flagrant transgressors of democratic principles on Biden's list, have mocked and condemned the summit.
Some invited guests are also raising eyebrows. India, for example, is the world's largest democracy. But the rule of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has eroded press freedoms and human rights and has featured discriminatory policies against Muslims. On the other hand, nothing says "people power in action" like the months of protests that forced Modi to climb down over hotly opposed farm laws. The Philippines and Poland are also involved in the summit — perhaps on the basis that their democracies need a boost. However, Hungary, whose ultranationalist leader, Viktor Orban, is a hero of the Trump gang, didn't get an invite.
Still, it's easy to carp. And Biden's point remains important: Global democracy is under assault. And on more days than not, it seems that the autocrats and extremists who want to kill it off are winning. The world and America New Zealand plans to ban smoking for the next generation.
And someone paid more than $7,000 for school papers graded by Elon Musk.  'Teeny tiny and symbolic' French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he would rather do something with "a useful effect" than sign on to the US's diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
"We have to be clear, either we say we will do a complete boycott and we won't send any athletes, or we say we will try to reengage in things and try to have a useful effect," Macron said. "We should not politicize this subject, especially when it is to take teeny tiny and symbolic measures."
The Biden administration has said it will undertake the boycott in protest of human rights abuses against China's Uyghur minority. It has been joined by the UK, Australia and Canada.  Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Thursday proudly tweeted a video of herself pushing the button to implode Scotland's last coal-fired power station, "marking the definitive end of coal power" in the nation, she wrote. (Source: Twitter/@NicolaSturgeon) Thanks for sticking with us through the week.
On Friday, Biden convenes the second day of his democracy summit. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Germany's new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at the Elysée. Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov are expected to receive their awards at an in-person ceremony in Oslo. On Saturday, the UK hosts the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and the EU for the G7 foreign ministers meeting. Environmental groups are expected to demonstrate for a third weekend outside Serbia's parliament over land laws.
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