No, this is not a piece about my highly eccentric great-aunts
(that pleasure is for another day!) but rather a reaction to the peculiar affinities
recently created in public life between unlikely mates. Some of these are so
unlikely and exotic that I find myself rubbing my eyes and pinching myself to
check that I have not carelessly strayed into a parallel universe.
Inevitably my first stop is Donald Trump, who despises every
historic relationship forged by the USA since 1941 and substitutes his own to
boost his insatiable egoism. Thus he, the President of the United States,
beacon of democracy and freedom, rushes to Singapore to hobnob with Kim Jong
Un, ruthless dictator of nuclear-armed, yet impoverished, North Korea, a pariah
state since 1954.
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| Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, the best of pals |
The meeting might be worth it if Kim renounced nuclear
weapons, freed political prisoners and eased his isolation – but none of this
was forthcoming, other than vague promises. Trump announced, without
consultation, that he would suspend US joint military exercises with South
Korea – a coup for Kim, a blow to the South and a worry for Japan. Trump of
course hailed this half-baked effort as a diplomatic triumph and an example of
his matchless deal-making skills. Not in my book, Donald!
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| Trump upsets old friends at the G7 |
The flip-side of Trump is his careless ability to offend his
friends. He is the heir to Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and
Ronald Reagan but this tradition counts for nothing in Trump-land. He has
embarked on a savage trade and tariff war, initially aimed at China, but since
extended to the EU and his neighbours Canada and Mexico. Now many criticisms
are possible of world trade imbalances, but negotiations are the way to resolve
them not the sudden slapping-on of large tariffs. A tit-for-tat trade war looms
damaging to the West, unlikely to save US rust-belt industries or promote
stable growth. The US is economically strong and may prevail, but are these
rational policies? Trump’s idiotic and undiplomatic tweets demonising Trudeau
and slighting May, Merkel and Macron are in every respect self-defeating.
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| The Remainer Conspirators - Grieve, Soubry and Clarke |
Odd bedfellows are also a feature of the Brexit struggle in
the UK. Fanatical Remainers like Dominic Grieve (surely a linear descendent of
Benedict Arnold) allied to ghastly and shrill Anne Soubry are both classic
Tories by trade but now make common cause with the extremists of Jeremy Corbyn’s Momentum-driven Marxist Labour Party to derail Brexit at all turns.
The UK electorate is sick to death with Brexit and have turned off from the nuances of the debate. It just wants
Brexit to happen soon and irrevocably with Brussels, Germany and France removed
from disturbing our front parlours. If that means a UK walk-out without an
agreement, so be it. The first post-Brexit election will see a blood-bath of
the smug Remainers, fully deserved.
In Europe itself radical discontent with European policies
has spawned many odd populist alliances. Loony-left Greek Syriza works with
nationalistic Independent Greeks: Hard right La Lega gets into bed with soft
left Five-Star Movement in Italy: in Spain new Socialist Premier Sanchez will
have to steer a course acceptable to anti-austerity Podemos, though Spain
remains loyally European. Hostility towards EU immigrant quotas has animated
cooperation between Poland’s Jaroslav Kaczynski and Hungary’s Victor Orban who
resent what they see as the EU’s political meddling and instead advocate the
classic Gaullist Europe des Patries
as opposed to further unification. In truth ideologies have lost their magnetism,
wider matters are sidelined and domestic issues set the agenda.
I suppose we should not be surprised if the certainties of
20 years ago fade away and new relationships take their place. Politics evolve – the terms Left and Right no
longer mean much while always in Yeats’ words “Things fall apart, the centre
cannot hold”.
SMD
16.06.18 Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2018
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