{"id":121358,"date":"2021-12-20T18:30:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T01:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121358"},"modified":"2021-12-20T18:30:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T01:30:52","slug":"superpowers-superior-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/20\/superpowers-superior-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Superpower\u2019s superior democracy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sangadasa Akurugoda<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

US President Joe Biden\u2019s much-advertised \u2018Summit for\nDemocracy\u2019 held in early December, is an example of how the\nchampions of so-called democratic world misuse the name of \u2018Democracy\u2019 to\npromote their geo-political interest. As pointed out in an article appeared in\nThe Sydney Morning Herald, the composition of the summit reflects a combination\nof an anti-China geopolitical agenda and attempt to punish specific\ndemocracies, sighting why the countries with significantly higher democracy ratings from Freedom House\n\u2013 including Hungary, Singapore, Bolivia and Sri Lanka \u2013 did not receive an\ninvitation. (https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/north-america\/congo-in-china-out-biden-s-democracy-summit-guest-list-raises-eyebrows-20211209-p59g7f.html)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remember how western superpowers attempted to save the LTTE\nleader Prabhakaran during the closing stages of the Eelam War in 2009. We also remember how the US State Department\u2019s\nspokesperson Robert Wood has called on LTTE rebels surrender to a third party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Almost\nall statements released, one after the other, by the blue eyed white skinned\npoliticians, diplomats, spokespersons etc throughout the world at the 11th hour\nof the eradicating terrorism indicated nothing other than their sinister motive\nof giving a fresh life line to the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and dragging Sri\nLanka back into an on-going war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the chances of dividing Sri Lanka on\nethnic lines by military means are no more, the next issues, often raised by\nthese interested parties are \u2018war crimes charges against our war heroes\u2019 and \u2018violation\nof human rights\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War crimes and violation of human rights are not\nnew to Western Superpower imperialists. Although US strongly opposes the\nInternational Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, and thus does not accept ICC\njurisdiction over its nationals, the way massacres were done , use of torture\nand violence against civilians and non-combatants were committed by the US\narmed forces  in Philippine (Philippine \u2013\nAmerical War), in Haiti (1915-1934), in Japan (World War II), in Korea (Korean\nWar), in Vietnam  (1960-1972), in\nAfganistan, in Iraq etc are summarised in https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_States_war_crimes#Banana_Wars<\/em><\/a>.  <\/em>The\nUS Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan along killed between\n129,000 and 226, 2000 people, most of whom were civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US government, instead of\nintrospecting on its own terrible human rights record, keep making\nirresponsible remarks on the human rights situation in other countries,\nexposing its double standards and hypocrisy on human rights.  The most recent (in May 2020) death of an\nunarmed black man, George Floyed, after being brutally kneeled on his neck by a\nwhite police officer, is a typical example. The entire world has seen a\nbystander\u2019s video showing the murder which triggered massive demonstration in\ncities. The US suppressed demonstrators by force, and more than 10,000 people\nwere arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do not have to go that far to find out the war\ncrimes records of another superpower, UK, who is always trying to teach us\ndemocracy and human rights. We are fully aware of how British beheaded\nKeppetipola Disawe and massacred the entire able bodied male population, and\ndestroyed cattle and other livestock and all most all private property\n(including homes and the burning of rice paddies). It is estimated that around\n500,000-1000, 000 people who were children, women, elderly died due to this\nsuppression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us examine what Winston Churchill, who played an important role\nin defending Europe against the spread of Hitler\u2019s Nazism and remains\npopular in the UK and the Western World, has said about democracy as appeared in the website of\nInternational Churchill Society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this\nworld of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.\nIndeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except\nfor all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.\u2026\u201d (https:\/\/\nwinstonchurchill.org\/resources\/quotes\/the-worst-form-of-government\/<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When comparing democracy against other\nforms of government, no doubt, Churchill must have make use of his own experience.\nJoe Biden\u2019s \u2018Summit of Democracy\u2018is an example of how the champions of\nso-called democratic world misuse the name of \u2018Democracy\u2019 to promote their geo-political\ninterest. As sighted in the said in The Sydney Morning Herald,        Like the Quad [grouping of the\nUS, Australia, India and Japan], the summit can\u2019t be understood outside an\nattempt by the US to build an anti-hegemonic \u2013 read: anti-China \u2013 coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing at a new crossroads, mankind is\nfaced with new, grave challenges. It is hoped that the Western Superpowers lead\nby the US will show humility and compassion for the suffering of its own\npeople, drop hypocrisy, bullying, and double standards, and work with the rest\nof the world to build a community with a shared future for humanity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sangadasa\nAkurugoda<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sangadasa Akurugoda US President Joe Biden\u2019s much-advertised \u2018Summit for Democracy\u2019 held in early December, is an example of how the champions of so-called democratic world misuse the name of \u2018Democracy\u2019 to promote their geo-political interest. As pointed out in an article appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, the composition of the summit reflects a combination […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-s-akurugoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}