Ignatieff calls middle powers the backbone of the free world — Korea Herald
In a column for the South Korean Korea Herald, Michael Ignatieff wrote that Canada, European states, and the democracies of Africa, Asia and Latin America must preserve the ideals of freedom and democracy amid changes in U.S. policy. In his view, these countries must also strengthen their own economic and security resilience.
Criticism of the concept of the free world
The author recalled that during the Cold War, the concept of the “free world” included states that opposed communism, although authoritarian regimes were among them. He mentioned Iran under the shah, Chile under Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco’s Spain, which, he said, were not free but belonged to this political camp because of their anti-communism.
Ignatieff also writes that in the 1970s and 1980s, residents of Portugal, Spain and Greece considered the idea of the “free world” contradictory, since NATO and the United States cooperated with their regimes. He separately mentions Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines, where societies overthrew U.S.-backed authoritarian regimes.
At the same time, in the author’s assessment, this idea fostered solidarity with Soviet dissidents, Poland’s Solidarity movement and the participants of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Ignatieff writes, made this ideal more real for many people in Central and Eastern Europe.
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The United States, Ukraine and allies’ independence
Ignatieff links the subsequent decline of this idea to failed democratic projects in the Balkans and in Russia, an aggressor state. He argues that Vladimir Putin has suppressed freedoms in Russia and is waging war against Ukraine to prevent it from joining the “free world.”
The author criticizes U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing him of a favorable attitude toward autocrats and pressure on allies. Ignatieff also writes that Trump downplays the importance of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, treats Ukraine’s president dismissively and, according to the columnist, denies Ukraine missile defense capabilities to protect civilians.
He cited Canada as an example: according to him, Prime Minister Mark Carney halted trade negotiations with the Trump administration, refusing to agree to coordinate the country’s foreign economic policy with the United States. In Ignatieff’s view, states must protect key industries, invest in infrastructure and reduce dependencies in supplies and resources, as they can be used as instruments of pressure.
