Politics

When the Cold War ended in 1989 with a slew of arms limiting agreements these people in the Blob were effectively unemployed. While they were down and out this should have been the time for both superpowers to get rid of all their nuclear weapons. What were they needed for? Lying around, albeit unused, they could be picked up and deployed again if relations turned for the worse–which they did. Simply put, this was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Africa has been depicted as the "hopeless continent" by Western media and the public. But Africa is more diverse and bigger than most people think, with a land area exceeding Europe, the United States, and China combined and a three trillion-dollar economy. According to UNDP, Africa has 1.34 billion people (17% of the world pop), home to some 30 % of the world's mineral reserves, 40 % of the world's gold, 90 % of its chromium and platinum, 12 % of the oil reserves, largest reserves of uranium in the world and 65 % of the world's arable land. Despite such a long list of natural resources, Africa can't fully feed itself.

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.