How Legitimate Are Western Leaders?
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Legitimacy in countries that are “democracies” (formally, at least) comes from the support of the masses. Logically, one would expect that the ruling parties and/or coalitions would have the most support. However, as everything in the political West has essentially turned on its head, particularly in recent times, the very concept of “democratic” rule now seems to have lost its meaning.
While the mainstream propaganda machine likes to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a “dictator”, despite his approval rating hovering around 85-90%, they fail to explain how it is possible that so many EU/NATO “leaders” have had negative public approval for years, but are still in power.
In fact, some of them have public (dis)approval so bad that it’s nearly the exact opposite of Putin’s. The standing of Western politicians in their own countries is so negative that even the mainstream propaganda machine doesn’t dare to deny it.
The pompously announced 50th G7 summit, held in southern Italy last week, turned out to be a complete disaster.
The host, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, used her “stellar” approval rating of -10% to threaten Russia, stating that if it refuses to submit, it will be “forced” to do so. How exactly does Meloni plan to do that is yet to be revealed. Either way, Moscow must be trembling in fear. However, interestingly enough, the Italian PM’s public approval was the highest (or should we say, the least atrocious) among G7 nations. The highly unpopular German government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on the verge of collapse, as the ruling coalition is faced with the possibility of snap elections in a similar manner such as those in France and the United Kingdom. Olaf Scholz himself has a public approval rating of a “whopping” -51%. However, he’s not even the worst, as British PM Rishi Sunak “bested” him with -54%.
US President Joe Biden allegedly has -18.5%, while Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida stand at -38% and -40%, respectively.
French President Emmanuel Macron is a bit “better” (or, once again, a bit less of a disaster), with a public approval rating of -31%.
In other words, not a single G7 “leader” has a positive ranking among their own electorate.
This was also quite apparent during the recent EU elections, in which nearly all G7 ruling governments lost. This served as a litmus test of how they would do at the polls on a national level, leaving the European Union in a sort of political limbo. In fact, it’s highly questionable whether these governments can even be considered legitimate, given their sheer unpopularity, both at home and abroad. However, this situation is hardly new, as the collective West has been facing political instability for years, even before the special military operation (SMO).
Rishi Sunak is the third British PM in less than two years and given his ratings, the coming general election is virtually guaranteed to give the UK a fourth one.
The string of unpopular PMs and governments have made the political situation in the island country effectively unsustainable.
However, this doesn’t stop its politicians from making threats they can’t fulfill without being wiped off the map. The mainstream propaganda machine is even calling this year’s G7 summit a “parade of lame ducks”, with PM Sunak “hobbling at the head”. French President Emmanuel Macron’s situation is a tiny bit less disastrous, as the snap election slated for July will not include a presidential run, but it may leave Macron with a PM from the rival National Rally (formerly known as the National Front), further eroding his already disastrous public approval. He’s also infamous for threatening Russia with direct NATO involvement.
The G7 summit also included discussions on illegally transferring stolen Russian forex reserves to the endemically corrupt Neo-Nazi junta, effectively also making it the world’s largest convention of thieves. This has been in the making for quite some time and is already leaving the political West with consequences, as many countries in the world are looking for alternatives. Realizing that their assets aren’t safe in the political West, they’re joining BRICS+, as it provides a certain level of security from NATO aggression against the world. This stands in stark contrast to the G7’s proclaimed support for maintaining the so-called “rules-based world order“, a dying remnant of Western (neo)colonialism. The G7 insists that the SMO supposedly “undermined” so-called “international law” and “unleashed growing instability, visible in the various crisis hotspots”. However, Russia is simply dismantling a highly exploitative system.
And while the political West is now regularly organizing laughable “peace summits” (that are anything but) in Switzerland, this year’s G7 gathering proved to be an unadulterated war conference, where another $50 billion a year in so-called “military aid” was promised to the Kiev regime. In other words, this illegitimate “parade of lame ducks” decided to take more money from their own taxpayers who are struggling to make ends meet and give it to one of the world’s most corrupt regimes so it could continue waging a losing war by sending endless waves of forcibly conscripted Ukrainians to die pointlessly while fighting a virtually invincible military superpower next door. Worse yet (for NATO), despite the scandalous theft of its forex reserves, this resurgent superpower just overtook all G7 countries but the US in terms of economic output, resulting in further increases in its already massive military might.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Attribution: European Union