The Washington Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued a Declaration on July 10, 2024. The Declaration displays a myopic view of NATO’s mission, far from “the dialogue of civilizations” that is being convoked by the leaders of the Global South and East. It identifies five villains on the world scene, namely Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It proclaims its commitment to the defense of the territory of the member states of the Alliance, based on the shared values of individual liberty, human rights, and democracy. Here it affirms the perceived right of the world powers of the North to politicize the issue of human rights and to interfere in the internal politics of nations developing political systems approaching people’s democracy and that insist upon their sovereignty.
The Declaration interprets Ukraine as a nation that is heroically def…