WHY BIBI AND THE SA'UDS ARE PANICKING:

President-elect Joe Biden has promised to host a gathering of the world's democracies next year, hoping to show that a post-Donald Trump America will be committed to democracy abroad and at home.

Biden's pledge, though, has left many foreign officials pondering a thorny question: Will their country be invited? [...]

An Arab diplomat questioned whether it's a good idea to set the bar for admission too high, especially when the world faces so many transnational challenges.

"Honestly, it depends on the agenda," the diplomat said. "If Covid-19, technology or climate change is on the agenda, how effective will it be if it's a small tent?"

Perhaps the most critical signal the gathering will send is that, under Biden, the U.S. won't shy away from defending democratic norms under attack from rivals like communist-led China and Vladimir Putin's Russia, some foreign policy analysts argued. That will be a welcome change from Trump, who openly curried favor with strongmen, they added.

"The subtext is that there's been competition from the illiberal forces out there in a different direction, and it behooves the United States to get into the contest," said Derek Mitchell, president of the National Democratic Institute, which promotes democratic institutions abroad.

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