Will it be Multi Nationalism or Multilateralism?
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S LEGACY:
As President Biden speaks at the funeral of Madeleine Albright, a former US Secretary of State, one could read the type of world that existed when the Berlin Wall fell and the people of Europe began to feel more secure in a continent that will embrace multilateralism in Europe and abroad, and an end to narrow nationalism which gave birth to both the first and second world wars.
Unlike the first and second world wars, there are no colonies to win as the booty of war.
Hence the narrow nationalism of today cannot be accompanied by any spoil of war. It will only mean wars of attrition where adversaries will mutually destroy each other’s properties and kill each other’s neighbours. That is not the type of legacy President Biden will like to leave.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, one could read the fear of Ukraine joining Nato but after the invasion without Nato joining in the fight, it became clear that Nato could not be a threat to Russia, that is armed with nuclear weapons. What now is the purpose of the war.
Narrow nationalism is developing in Russia and Ukraine. Their populations are beginning to be infected with hatred for each other. Monuments of friendship are being torn asunder.
The war is now being utilised to get the most modern weapons produced by Russia and Nato forces all on Ukrainian soil. It is very evident from the escalation of missile attacks after the sinking of a Russian ship, that is sending missiles produced by European powers to hit Russian soil, that an Americo-Eurocentric war is likely to escalate to the detriment of the progress that has already been made in making the peoples in these countries freer, happier and more prosperous, despite gaps between the rich and the poor.
Such a growth in conflict will give birth to more protectionism in economics, nationalisation of industries of adversaries and ultimate elimination of ruled based order with institutions like the World Trade Organisation, IMF and the World Bank monitoring diverse economies.
President Biden should not be misled by advisers who are allowing their minds to lead a cold war. The US is not at war and is not under threat. The European Union is not at war and is not under threat. It is Ukraine that is at war. It is Ukraine that needs to be rescued. This could not be done by rallying the US and Europe into the war that could only lead to the destruction of Ukraine, and in the worst case scenario, bring about Americo-Eurocentric war between Russia and the rest.
What is evident to all scholars and citizen analysts is that the world cannot be divided into autocrats and democrats. The world can on only be divided into interest groups. They are the monarchs of Saudi Arabia and other mid-east countries; they are the Afghanistan under the Taliban; they are the Chinas under one party state; they are the Indias and Pakistans, populist states with religious leanings. Even in Europe there are states with their monarchies like the United Kingdom.
The democratic agenda is the ideal but it is not imposed on countries. The international conditions are the basis of for its consolidation as the sovereign peoples take charge of their destiny and build their own sovereign republics. If there is to be world peace the trade relations established by countries which created an independent world should be consolidated and maintained and all those who aim to disrupt the sovereignty of people and nation will fall into the international fabric of nations of the world.
This is the only way world peace can be consolidated in an era of multiple systems of government. If President Biden takes note of this reality and acts in accordance with its dictates he will leave a legacy of consolidating world peace. If he continues to promote the creation of a polarized world the end result would be the escalation of war among those who side with Nato and those who side with Russia.
Instead of a cold war where nuclear threats never featured we will have a hot war where all those nations which possess nuclear weapons will daily threaten how to use them in their way and may accidently use them to put vital places in the world in flames and thus nullify the very basis to form the UN. Give peace a chance. It is not too late to a have peaceful settlement in Ukraine. War is not an option.
