WHAT PRICE DEMOCRACY ?

Where do we go from here? 

I post a paragraph I found on the net:

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued a stark warning to the United States and President Donald Trump, stating the ongoing war with Iran threatens global peace and could escalate into a Third World War. In a major press conference, Lavrov accused the US of triggering the conflict by unilaterally abandoning the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) and blamed Western powers for disrupting regional normalisation between Iran and Arab states. He cautioned that NATO is being drawn into the conflict, expanding beyond its mandate, and warned the war is destroying vital energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf. Lavrov concluded that the conflict, which he termed US aggression, risks the collapse of international law and could stimulate a global nuclear arms race as more countries seek atomic weapons for self-defence, prompting Russia to push for a UN Security Council resolution to end the hostilities.”

The sentiments and views expressed by Mr Lavrov (if correctly reported) smack of such hypocrisy that it is impossible not to laugh in derision. The remarks appear to be quite a reasonable and probably correct point of view; however, for Russia to be calling for the UN Security Council to produce resolutions or the kind Russia has consistently ignored is, what your average Eastenders might say, taking the pis. 

In any event, the current analysis of events in the Middle East conflict, particularly relating to the the oil crisis and economic fall out, continues non-stop. There is, as expected, a good piece from Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian dated Friday 13 2026 at 17.18 GMT:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/13/donald-trump-iran-war-total-disaster

His concluding paragraph states:
“To confront the Iranian regime was to walk, with a lit match, towards a tinderbox soaked in gasoline. If it were to be done at all, whether by military or other means, it had to be done with the greatest care. But Trump has blundered in, crushing and trampling all before him, making a bad situation worse. He does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. He does not deserve his war to be assessed charitably. He deserves our contempt.”

The chaos that Trump’s war, promoted by Netanyahu, has engendered, is engulfing the globe. Not a day goes by without the disastrous effects rumbling on with no clear end or solution in sight. Indeed, one wonders if there is any concept of lucidity or intelligibility at all in the current government administrations of the, so called, leading nations. There is much talk of ‘transparency’, combined with a derisive tone, as if the statement itself was so obvious,  how could anyone have any doubts. 

The frequency with which Mr Trump’s press secretary and attorney-general claim that he is the most transparent president in the world goes unchallenged, and, in a way, he is. There has never been anyone so self serving, egotistical, venal and power hungry as Donald Trump occupying the office of President of the United States in 250 years. That fact is so glaringly obvious and transparent that one is almost blinded by its clarity. Beyond that, there is nothing but stupidity and murkiness surrounded by a haze of imprecision. Everything is deflection and obfuscation, accompanied by insult, effrontery and anger. This is what politics in America has become. 

There is a sadness that this exemplar of ‘clarity’ is probably becoming the modus operandi of many countries. I exclude the already established dictatorships among nations as they have made their position quite clear. I say this as my attention was drawn to a report published by the Varieties of Democracy Institute Report, or V-Dem Democracy Report 2026 which can be found at:
https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf

The institute claims, inter alia:

Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on democracy with over 32 million data points for 202 countries and territories from 1789 to 2025. Involving over 4,200 scholars and other country experts, V-Dem measures over 600 different attributes of democracy.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in the Democracy Report do not reflect an official position of the larger V-Dem Project, the V-Dem Steering Committee, or theV-Dem Institute. Authors are responsible for the content.

I post below, the Executive Summary of the Report.

 

Just for emphasis one should note the current view of the situation in the United States:
* Under Trump’s presidency democracy in the USA has fallen back to the same level as in 1965. Yet the situation is fundamentally different than during the Civil Rights era.
* President Trump’s second term can be summarised  as a rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency.
* The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history.
* Legislative Constraints – the worst affected aspect of democracy – is losing one-third of its value in 2025 and reaching its lowest point in over 100 years.
* Civil Rights & Equality before the Law, and Freedom of Expression & Media are now at their lowest levels in 60 years.
* Electoral components of democracy, however, remain stable – for now.

 

What is even more disturbing is that the research reveals that the share of the world population living in liberal democracies in 2025 was only 7%. So I ask again where do we go from here? Never before has the importance of voting in the November elections of 2026 been so vital. If you don't want to loose it, vote. I would also recommend your reading the report.