Former President Barack Obama is set to deliver an address Friday that will focus on the invasion of Ukraine and the incident on Jan. 6 as events that "clearly manifest the dangers to democracy."
Obama will speak at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit before a meeting with dozens of Obama Foundation leaders from around the world Saturday. His address to the summit will reportedly focus on threats to democracy, according to Politico.
Ben Rhodes, a longtime foreign policy adviser to Obama who worked on the speech, told Politico: "I think the two events that most clearly manifest the dangers to democracy in the world today are Jan. 6 and the Russia invasion of Ukraine. The Russia invasion of Ukraine represents the danger that autocracy poses to human beings and global order. Jan. 6 represents the danger to democracy from within. Those are related challenges."
Jonas Parello-Plesner, whose group, the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, is organizing the event where Obama is scheduled to speak, added that "this is an inflection point. It is not just Ukraine’s fight but a fight for liberal democracy."
Parello-Plesner added: "You're speaking to a convinced trans-Atlanticist. Yes, this has been a hard moment for America … but show me the vice president in China or Russia who would stand up to their leader and say, No, this is not how this should be done. So you're a bit shaken. But the checks and balances are still there in the American system."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.