ian, in the context of this contest or tension anne described, the biden administration has held a big democracy summit. what do you make of that? is that the answer? i mean, it would be nice if it was the answer. there are a lot of reasons why it isn t. one is, of course, the united states cannot be ideologically consistent in the allies it chooses around the world. some are based on common values. some are based on real politic and they are not democracies at all and how do you pick who shows up? the much deeper problem and more central problem is the united states is not seen as an example of a well-functioning democracy by anyone around the world right now. very different than when the wall came down in 89, when of the soviet union collapsed in 1991. it makes a lot of sense for the g7 as common advanced industrial democracies working together in
opportunities. so they have ways of working together, of getting around sanctions, pushing back against, not just against western diplomacy, but against western ideas. they have a common one common thing, which they all fear the language of democracy and they fear the democracy movements inside their own countries, which are larger in some places than others, but they re enough of a problem for them to care about them. so it s really in their interest as a group, even though they don t have much in common ideologically, to seek to undermine western institutions, to push back against western language about human rights and to do that in a concerted way. you can absolutely see that in a number of places around the world. ian, in the context of this contest or tension anne described, the biden administration has held a big democracy summit. what do you make of that? is that the answer? i mean, it would be nice if