Politics

The lorries have no drivers. The supermarket shelves are emptying. The poor are having their subsidies cut. The British government ties itself in knots trying to square what is a circle in Northern Ireland. Brexit–the leaving of the EU–is failing the nation. But Europe itself is not failing. In fact, it is about to get stronger. Writing in 1751 Voltaire described Europe as "a kind of great republic, divided into several states, some monarchical, the others mixed but all corresponding with one another. They all have the same religious foundation, even if divided into several confessions. They all have the same principles of public law and politics unknown in other parts of the world."

One must accept that international politics as we read about and knew it then has died a natural death since the coming down of the Berlin wall leaving us with only the Chinese wall. This means, there is no need for President Joe Biden’s Administration to pursue either his own foreign or national policies or the “Make America Great Again” policies of former President Donald Trump. A few months ago, there were images at the US border with Mexico which spread on social media which were not different from those seen during the Trump Administration.

Wednesday, September 15, was the International Day of Democracy. It was established through a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007, encouraging governments to strengthen and consolidate democracy.

 

Guinea has been in the news lately because of a military coup which took place two weeks ago. When I saw the breaking news on Al Jazeera about that daring event, I remembered a popular 1960s Ghanaian highlife tune by ET Mensah whose lyrics extol Ghana, Guinea, and Mali as “the nucleus of the great union” namely, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) founded in 1963, and the African Union founded in 1999.

The Soviet Army invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 and withdrew, exhausted and demoralized, 10 years later. In Moscow a joke had long circulated: “Why are we still in Afghanistan?” Answer: “We are still looking for the people who invited us”.

The same is true for the Americans and NATO who are now moving through the exit door. They came to obliterate Al-Qaeda after 9/11, 2001. 

The proposed new Danish immigration policy is to receive zero refugees.  The idea sounds insane, but if Denmark succeeds in making it work, it could be the future of Europe’s immigration policy. In the last few days, the Folketing–Danish Parliament will decide whether to adopt the Social Democratic government’s very radical proposal, which has already incurred the wrath of the UN, Save the Children Fund and Amnesty International.

After being in office for less than a month, in a virtual conference with Western World leaders, President Joe Biden, excitedly declared that “Diplomacy is back”. 

 

International law had its beginnings with the sixteenth century Dutch jurist, Grotius. Over the centuries, it evolved slowly, outlawing slavery, piracy and the use of certain weapons in warfare. But until the Nuremberg trial of prominent Nazis at the end of the Second World War, punishment by international treaty was not incorporated into any nation’s law.