In creating an invite list that seems to divide the world into good guys and bad guys — despite a strong denial by the White House of any such intent — the administration has prompted tensions and anger from various countries, while highlighting that the globe is hardly binary. Some of the invitees have undisputed democratic credentials, and some of those omitted are clearly authoritarian, but many countries fall into a murky area.

By the State Department’s own account, the governments of both Pakistan and the Philippines, another invitee, are responsible for “unlawful or arbitrary killings.” Not making the cut are Hungary, a member of the European Union, and Turkey, a NATO ally, both of which have seen their democratic safeguards crumble in recent years…

The Hungarian Embassy in Washington said the Biden administration’s decision was “disrespectful.”

“Hungarian-American relations were at their peak during the Trump presidency, and it is clear from the list of the invited countries that the summit will be a domestic political event,” the embassy said in a statement to The Washington Post. “Therefore countries that were on friendly terms with the previous administration were not invited.”