The Biden White House is desperate to export its identitarian ideology.
\nSamantha Power, head administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), arrived in Budapest last week with one mission \u2013 to save Central European nations from themselves. Her main target was Hungary.
\nAccording to a press release issued by USAID to accompany her trip to the Hungarian capital, Power wants \u2018to help support democracy in Central Europe\u2019. And she wants \u2018independent media to thrive and build new audiences\u2019. \u2018[A] free and diverse press is a cornerstone of democracy\u2019, she tweeted, \u2018and in Hungary, independent journalists are facing real challenges\u2019.
\nBy a \u2018free\u2019 and \u2018independent\u2019 media, what Power really meant are outlets that freely propagate the worldview of the Biden administration. Central to this worldview, it seems, are LGBT rights. That\u2019s why USAID\u2019s press release explicitly told the Hungarians that the US will \u2018continue to stand as an ally with LGBTQI+ people and all marginalised groups in their struggle for equality\u2019.
\nPower\u2019s attempt to impose the White House\u2019s obsession with LGBT issues on Hungary is not especially surprising. It is worth remembering that one of Biden\u2019s earliest foreign-policy initiatives was to send the State Department a memo \u2018to ensure that US diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons\u2019.
\nBut of course, it\u2019s not just LGBT rights driving the US\u2019s intervention in Central Europe. Last December, when USAID announced its Central Europe programme, it also claimed it was going to support \u2018new locally driven initiatives in Central Europe with the goal of strengthening democratic institutions, civil society and independent media, which are all pillars of resilient democratic societies\u2019. For USAID, these \u2018locally driven initiatives\u2019 refers not to any grassroots organisations, but to NGOs. And through these NGOs, USAID claims it is building \u2018the watchdog skills of civil society and media to enhance rule-of-law observance, combat corruption and increase access to justice\u2019.
\nThe use of the word \u2018watchdog\u2019 is telling. As is well known, a watchdog usually has a master \u2013 and one does not need a PhD in political science to guess that this watchdog\u2019s master is not a million miles away from 2201 C Street Northwest, Washington, DC \u2013 the home of the State Department.
\nUSAID\u2019s promise to \u2018support democracy\u2019 and \u2018strengthen democratic institutions\u2019 is entirely cynical. In practice, USAID wants to use local NGOs and other institutions to translate Washington\u2019s cultural narrative and political priorities into a local language. This is to create the impression that what\u2019s \u2018made in America\u2019 appears as locally grown. In reality, of course, it\u2019s nothing of the sort.
\nThis represents a clear attempt on the part of Washington to erode the sovereignty and exert influence over the democratic decision-making processes of Hungary and other nations in Central Europe. The US is effectively assuming the role of a moral guardian of democratic life in Central Europe.
\nThe arrogance is breathtaking. It seems that the Biden administration believes it possesses an inalienable right to influence the political and cultural life of Hungary and other Central European nations. The US State Department is certainly in no doubt that Budapest is a legitimate target for its propaganda. Back in 2019, its mouthpiece, the New York Times, reported that \u2018Radio Free Europe\u2019, the Cold War-era US radio station formerly broadcast to Soviet states, \u2018is poised to return to a less free Hungary\u2019.
\nFor the US to pose as the liberator of a \u2018less free Hungary\u2019 is an insult to the people of Hungary and an affront to Hungarian democracy. It treats Hungary as a benighted nation whose wayward citizens are in need of civilising. Indeed, if you strain your ears, you can hear Power and her friends over at Radio Free Europe muttering sotto voce about the desirability of regime change.
\nNo doubt Central European nations need to have good relations with the US. But if they want to preserve their sovereignty and way of life, they must resist the attempts by the Biden White House to impose its ideology on their societies.
\nspiked-online<\/p>\n
Tags\uff1aBiden policy, Hungary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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