In a Topsy-Turvy World

Arshad Khan

In our time now, the sheer complexity of the world political matrix, its fluidity of alliances and the absence of straightforward solutions, make the whole pregnant with amorphic ideas much too lacking in form to translate them into positive action.

Within the US alone, there is Donald Trump who has announced a run for president in the 2024 election.  His answer to a pressing problem is simple:  deny it exists.  Climate change is a hoax to keep climate scientists in a job; on Ukraine?  He says that’s not our problem; it’s local, to be decided between Russians and Ukrainians; leave them alone, they will settle it themselves.  They probably will … at the point of a gun.

On the other hand, the warring parties had once agreed to a negotiated settlement until Biden moved in and yanked Zelensky out of the talks.

Any attempt at engaging Russia appears to be unacceptable to Biden even to the point of blowing up a Russian gas pipeline (Nord Stream).

The world might have changed, but our cold-war warrior seems intent on making it a hot one.  He seems to be harking back to George R. Kennan who developed the cornerstone of US foreign policy known as the Truman Doctrine during the 1940s.  But the world has changed.  Russia is no longer the Soviet Union, and for evidence, we have all the new countries loosened from its yoke.

So what is the consequence of the Rip Van Winkle approach to foreign policy?  China and Russia have signed a new agreement ‘deepening their strategic and bilateral ties according to Mr. Xi.  Mr. Putin claimed all agreements have been reached presumably referring to the subject matter of the talks.  He added economic cooperation with China was a priority for Russia.

In 2016, Iran and Saudi Arabia broke formal ties after the latter executed Shia leader Nimr-al-Nimr and Shia protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.  The relationship deteriorated further during the Yemen civil war with the rebel Houthis, backed by Iran, fighting a government supported by Saudi Arabia.

As a consequence, Saudi suffered Houthi attacks on its cities and oil facilities, and at one time in 2019, its Aramco oil output was cut in half.  A UN panel of experts concluded Iran supplied key missile parts allowing the Houthis to develop a lighter version of Iran’s Qiam-1 missile and others.  It is all in the past for Iran and Saudi Arabia have now signed a deal brokered by China.

China and Pakistan have always had close ties and a Pakistani representative met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang for reassurance after a noticeable improvement in its relations with India.  In our topsy-turvy world, China is now acting as a peacemaker encouraging the two sides to resolve their differences.  Bilawal Bhutto, the Pakistan foreign minister has been in India for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization defence ministers.

While the world squabbles, Shanghai has just reported the hottest day in its history, and it seems we are all going to hell in a handbasket as the saying goes.