IF the rhetoric of US President-elect Joe Biden about “democracy” and “human rights” is to be an indicator as to where our future relationship is headed, then Pinoys– and other countries too- better get ready to be destabilized anew by US Imperialism.
In his first major foreign policy speech, Biden, on Sunday (Philippine time) said he wants “democracy” and “human rights” to be the “cornerstone of US policy” (a throwback to the Jimmy Carter years in the late ‘70s).
And who is Biden now calling out? The Philippines, Turkey and Hungary—all “US allies,” by the way but countries which he described as “heading towards authoritarianism.”
I really don’t know about Turkey and Hungary but insofar as I am concerned, ours is a democracy and only the Dilawan, the Reds and the real enemies of democracy – would insist that we are heading towards authoritarianism.
Before the US presidential election was concluded over the weekend, there have been lots of “speculations” by the ever-positive among us and the rest of the world that a Biden presidency would be good for all as he intends to mend fences with other countries whose relationship with America had been bent, if not broken, by the “unilateralist” policy (America First) policy of Donald Trump.
But with Biden’s speech—and which would soon be the “cornerstone” of US foreign policy—such illusion should be immediately cast away; as was our fate since US troops invaded our shores in 1898, we would be again forced, nay, compelled, to swallow the tutelage of what democracy and human rights is all about—their version only of course.
And the saddest thing about it all is that the bowing down to the mighty White House would, once again, be led by most of our so-called ‘national leaders.’
Translation? The gasping breed of the Dilawans, our modern day Ilustrados’ would certainly roar back to life, along with their fellow destabilizers, the Reds.
Translation again? Expect a more heated and again divisive, 2022 elections.
On the other side of the world, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, must have been also already squirming on his chair over Biden’s win; even as a candidate, Biden is never ashamed in telling the Turkish president that his administration cannot get any support from a Biden presidency and that it would be better for the Turkish opposition to remove him.
Meaning? Meaning of course that the Democrats’ plan for regime change in Turkey (first planned under President Obama) could only accelerate under Pres. Biden.
In other words, despite all his paeans for such motherhood statements such as “friendship,” “democracy,” “rule of law,” “importance of alliances,” blah, blah, blah, US Imperialism is back to where it is really good at: foreign intervention, destabilization and regime change in any shape or form.
Be that as it may, Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, in a tweet reported by DW News, hit the nail right in the head when he said, “The analysis of Turkey by @JoeBiden is based on pure ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy.”
This response, to our mind, is so near to the truth, considering the state of the United States today and the many embarrassments to the meaning of democracy that has attended the recent US presidential election.
As for us, we should be prepared for more turbulent times ahead.
