US President Donald Trump is no Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, nor even a mere echo of Theodore Roosevelt, who was for ‘talking softy and carrying a big stick.’ Trump’s oration – for want of a better word - could have been delivered by the CEO and managing director of a crime syndicate. It was crude bluster, which frequently bordered on the absurd and drew titters from the assembled delegates at the General Assembly of the United Nations, especially at the claim that his administration had accomplished more in two years than any previous regime in American history.
President boasted that American defence spending would be increased by 50 billion dollars to the present 700 billion, operating 800 military bases worldwide. What dividends have emanated from exalted ambitions. The insurgency in Afghanistan continues apace, vast swathes of the Middle East are a ruin, with a flood-tide of disposed humanity clinging precariously to cockle shells in their desperation to reach European shores for the elusive redemption life and the forlorn pursuit of happiness. The President read out a list of countries dear to his heart for their accomplishments, including India for its poverty reduction. The Indian media, embarrassed for the most part at sharing an approved list with Poland, Saudi Arabia, a militantly anti-Iranian Israel [India and Iran have an exemplary cordial relationship].The Indian media ignored the Trump plaudits, with the Times of India reducing the encomia to a few short lines in an obscure corner of an inside page.
It was interesting to compare the US President’s abuse of Iran as the principal purveyor of the world’s myriad ills, and his call for an international sanctions regime against Tehran, even as the Italian EU Commissioner set next to the amicable Iranian Foreign Minister, promising European trade with Iran and respect for the nuclear deal with the country, to which the Great Powers, including the United States had signed up to, which the Trump administration seeks to abort. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu charged Iran of building five warehouses for the storage of its nuclear weapons, yet it is Israel that has a considerable nuclear weapon capability unmatched in the region and on par with other nuclear powers save the United States and Russia whose stcckpiles and delivery systems dwarf the rest of the world.
Only last year, President Trump referred derisively to President Kim Jong un of North Korea as ‘little rocket man’, and threatened to blow his country off the face of the earth. A year later he held a pioneering summit with him in Singapore in a blaze of publicity.
The President’s Rottweiler John Bolton chipped in with his expected contribution to world peace by a menacing scowl and growl on Iran. The Iranian leadership appeared unflappable in face of these broadsides, their response firm but courteous, without a trace of abuse. The pedigree of an ancient civilization was telling.
The theatre of the absurd has spread to America’s domestic politics, most notably to the administration’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the bench of the Supreme Court. Women from Kavannagh’s past have accused him of sexual misconduct against themselves. However, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused Russia of being the malevolent orchestrator of the controversy that had so bitterly divided the nation. Routine warnings of dire retribution followed. The apoplectic Senator, clearly in need of a tranquillizer, is the living answer to the Boon and Mills circus. The Trump-China showdown has developed into a war of words, no holds barred, on contentious tariffs. President Trump reviled globalism, multiculturalism, climate change, socialism, while extolling muscular patriotism and America First much else in the common currency of jingoism.
The issue before the world is reinventing the America’s sacristan narrative of democracy, human rights and the rule of law into the disfiguring reality of violence against the native Indian population, now nearing extinction in designated Reservations, the horrors of black slavery and the numerous wars of aggression the Republic has waged against countries near and far in its bid to maintain unchallenged global supremacy. The Washington consensus is in tatters. Notwithstanding Uncle Sam’s avuncular image, his Empire is moving to its sunset.
Maldives blowback to freedom
The people of the Maldives have come up trumps. Against widespread expectations at home and abroad, they took the bit between their teeth and voted out the usurping president and tyrant Abdullah Yameen and voted in the united opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohammed Solih as President. Abdullah Yameen accepted the result with surprising grace. It’s a new dawn for the Indian Ocean state.
The Maldivan Ambassador to India, Ahmed Mohammed, told the local media, ‘As has been in the past, the Maldives is capable of holding credible, free and fair elections.’ Assuredly so. There was an impressive voter turnout, with the winner elected to power with a thumping majority. There had been threats of economic sanctions against the Yameen government by the European Union and the United States, but quite possibly, the statement by the country’s army chief that the people’s verdict had to respected and obeyed tilted the scales for democracy and the rule of law.
Abdullah Yameen played the Islamic and Chinese cards, seeking aid from Pakistan and China, and publicly spurning India and losing no opportunity to direct his barbs at Delhi. Wisely, India kept its cool against such provocations, despite calls for military intervention from a host of armchair strategists. Patience has delivered its just rewards. The revelations of thuggery, assassination, press censorship and false imprisonment under the Yameen dispensation are emerging as people walk and talk freely, disclosing their personal experiences of the dark days of the Yameen dictatorship.
In his first public address, Mr Solih said: ‘The will of the people had spoken. For many of us it has been a difficult journey; a journey that led to a prison cell, or years of exile. It’s been a journey that led to the complete politicization and breakdown of public institutions. But it’s been a journey that has ended in the ballot box because the people willed it.’
Former Maldives President, Mohammed Nasheed said: ‘India remains our natural partner. I can’t speak for the coalition, but my own views remain the same.’ Mr Nasheed has suggested that Chinese projects in the country would be subjected to review. In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Foreign Minister Wang Yi had congratulated the new Maldives government as the elected voice of the Maldivian people and hoped economic cooperation between their two countries would continue. The EU and the US have welcomed the return of democracy to the Maldives, saying that they looked forward to working with new regime when it formally assumes office. The outcome of the Maldives Presidential election does represent a geopolitical shift. Future developments in the country will be watched with interest.
Bangladesh’s loss more than India’s win
The Asia Cup that there to win by Bangladesh was eventually lost to India. In what was perhaps the most dazzling batting display of the tournament, Bangladesh opener Litton Das tore the formidable Indian bowling to shreds, with star-studded strokes to every corner of a massive ground. He was finally dismissed on a marginal stumping for 121, the rest perished to whim, fancy and impetuosity, when steadiness was called for, and the 222 included -run total, with only two batsman reaching 32 and 33 respectively was a miserable tale. The opening partnership of 120 blazing runs flattered to deceive.
India got off to the expected rollicking start, with captain Rohit Sharma in prime form, but with the dismissal of the three, the weak middle order suffered indecent exposure once more. Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s excruciating 35 was compiled from 67 balls, his partner Dinesh Karthick’s laborious 37 from 54. The somnolent pair eventually fell, mercifully in quick succession. Jadeja and Kumar restored some momentum to the Indian innings, and the limping Kedar Yadav, with his torn muscle, scrambled India over the line with a boundary off the final delivery, and a solitary run neded for victory. It was a humdinger of a contest. India deservedly emerged the victors for their all-round consistency; their top order performed fabulously with the bat, the bowlers were testing, the catching and ground fielding superb. Sharma’s leadership was outstanding in skill and sportsmanship.
For the West Indies series, openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal and pace men Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur are Test debutants. Batsman Shreyas Iyer was unlucky not to make the cut, making way for proven mediocrities with Test match experience.
