by Eze Eluchie,
A few months
ago, all that was required to get any errant ‘tyrannical’ State which had supposedly
flouted recognized international human rights principles back on track, was for
any Western Government to express concern over such violations. Worries
expressed by relatively tiny Western countries such as Luxembourg or even the
Principality of Liechtenstein, was enough to send chills down the spine of Governments
across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and wheresoever. The Government being targeted
with such outwardly expressed concern would, at the very least, roll out mechanisms
to defend or justify its positions and except with the case of perceived extreme
States such as North Korea, China and a few others, strive to explain its
position or
That was
before Donald Trump happened.
Nowadays,
the pendulum has shifted. The ideological unity that made the West a formidable
global force has waned. A chink has appeared in the all-for-one-and-one-for-all
armour that once served to embolden otherwise minion States to talk down on
other states far removed from their immediate geographical spheres. The spectre
of a unified Sword of Damocles, personified in the likelihood of economic and
political sanctions and international ostracization, hanging over errant States,
which had hitherto served to keep non-Western countries on edge and ‘in-check’,
was no longer in existence. Countries elsewhere now feel at liberty to assert themselves
in the face of ‘lectures’ on their economy, human rights and social issues. The
genie was out of the bag.
Clearly,
when it expressed ‘concern’ over the detention of Saudi human right activists,
Samar and Rafi Bardawi, The Dominion of Canada had not factored in the new global
realities – the fact that in the Trump-era, every Western State is on its own. Reliance
on previous Western solidarity in addressing issues of concern in non-Western
States was no longer the norm or a foregone presupposition. For each and every
such moves, you either await the early morning views of the President of the
United States as expressed on Twitter or risk going it all alone. This lesson,
Canada is learning the hard and long way.
The robust aggressive
response of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Canada’s ‘expression of concern’ was
simply not anticipated. Sacking the Canadian Ambassador; stopping flights from
the Saudi national carrier (Saudia) to Canada; withdrawal of Saudi citizens on scholarships
to Canadian educational institutions and with any more escalatory measures set
to be rolled out, the Saudi authorities appear intent to set a defining tone to
interference in what it considers its domestic affairs by Western countries. The
deafening silence from the European Union and EU member States and the ere
advice from the White House that both Canada and Saudi authorities should handle
the matter with care, has left Canada feeling terribly lonely and like an
island.
The new development
marks the onset of very worrisome and trying times for freedoms, activists and
liberals across the globe, the protection of fundamental rights across the
world is now very much in question. Tyrants will try to exploit the situation
to undermine fundamental rights and the commonality of humanity. Western
countries, using the instrumentality of their combined, unified and cohesive
angst against infractions on human dignity and rights, anywhere in the world,
had served, to a great extent, as a bulwark against the excesses of dictators
and oppressive regimes.
The exchanges
between Saudi Arabia and Canada will no doubt, be observed with great trepidation
and concern by progressives and activists in emerging societies, and concealed
joy and expectations by dictators in far-flung territories.
President
Donald Trump is really changing, for the worse, the face and modus of
international cooperation and relations as the world had known it.
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