DEMOCRACY, POWER AND JUSTICE

The war in the Middle East increasingly justifies the action of the powerful against the weak, argues Dayo Sobowale

Global reaction has been one of unbelievable shock to the Hamas invasion of Israel  on October 7, 2023,  50  years after 1973 October war in very similar circumstances when Egypt and Syria surprised Israel with unexpected speed and fury of their attack  at  the start of the Yom Kippur war .That  reaction to the horrors inflicted on Israel this October  and the retaliatory bombing of Gaza by Israel  has however crystallised  into  an unbelievable fiasco  that  brings to mind  the old theory of ‘ might is right’ , the Hobbesian theory  that glorifies violence and justifies the action of  the powerful, merciless and victorious at the expense of  the weak, truth and justice into sharp  focus.

 I will illustrate this observation with the reactions of the EU president Ursula von der Leyen, the Irish president Michael Higgins, and the American  president Joe  Biden to the invasion and bombings. I will seize the opportunity to compare the state of democracy and diplomacy in the three  global powers namely the US, China  and Russia as the Israeli  bombings continue with the planning in place by Israel for a ground invasion of Gaza. Just as China is hosting the 10^th anniversary of its Belt and Road Initiative in China with the Russian  president Vladmir Putin very  much in attendance. Both leaders  seemingly  oblivious,  at least diplomatically, of the ongoing carnage  and human tragedy in Gaza

Let me start with some specific observation. Both the EU and the American  president blamed Hamas for its invasion   without any  thought on what motivated  or incensed Hamas for its horrible  action  in terms of human  cost  of lives. The  EU  president  condemned Hamas roundly but was called to order by the President of Ireland  who said she  did not have the mandate of Ireland for what she had said . The Irish    president said he had  listened  to debate  on the crisis  in the Irish  Parliament  and what the EU  president said did  not  reflect  Irish  opinion  and   thinking   on the matter .  He even accused the EU president of violating international  law  and diplomacy  on her utterances on the Gaza imbroglio .

  Whilst this was going  on,  the lawmaking body in the US   the   House of  Representatives  was literally headless  without a  Speaker  in the best  example  ever that  portrays  democracy , especially  in a presidential  system  of government  as  the next  thing to anarchy . Showing the inability of the majority  to have its way when the minority  has had  its  say  and is  now laughing at a majority that is groping in the dark  to have its way and elect a Speaker. Such is the  pathetic  situation in the US House of Representatives  today between the Republican Party  which  has the majority , albeit a slim one in the House , and the Democrats , the   minority who  are  watching the saga of the incapability  of the majority to elect a Speaker as expected in the  House . I doubt if  the world has ever  seen such  a mockery of  the concept of majority rule as the  saga of an unelectable  candidate for the office of Speaker in  the one going debacle  in the Republican Party of the US right  now .

On the Gaza  saga it is clear that in America’s  eyes Israel  can  do no wrong in its dealing with  the Palestinians . The American president visited Israel in the midst of the Hamas  rockets and pledged American  help to fortify the Iron Dome against rockets  and gave orders for powerful American  war  ships to  move towards Israel  to protect it . On its part Israel  meekly asked for a 10 billion dollar  aid.  Obviously the Palestinians are like orphans  in their quarrel with Israel and Hamas intervention and invasion has brought untold hardship and violent  deaths to this people , who  biblically and historically,  are kith and kin with the Israelis now bombing them .

Yet, the Palestinians  could have had a godfather at least diplomatically if China and Russia had not been preoccupied with showing solidarity  at the Belt and Road Initiative conference in China .  Both nations  are  at  odds  with US  on  many  issues . Russia more particularly because of   the US   support for Ukraine over its invasion  of that nation about a year ago . China  is trying at the Belt celebration to showcase   its rivalry with the US globally in providing loans and infrastructure for developing nations who  historically  have been tied to the apron strings of the IMF and World Bank in getting funds for economic growth and development . Nigeria is eating and smiling  from both sides of the  mouth  in taking  advantage of this  global  rivalry between the US and  China in their  solidarity  to dominate the world politically and economically .Nigeria was led by the Minister of Finance to the recent World Economic Summit and the Vice President has led another delegation to the Belt Conference in Beijing, China .

However, what is important in all  these is judicious and   accountable use of the loans  from both  sides with  affordable  repayment arrangements that do not lead to inhuman  social  conditions which can spark human  suffering   or generate social  anger and provoke avoidable political  instability.

Meanwhile on the Gaza  bombings,  Iran has boldly spoken  up for the Palestinians in Gaza even though the world knows it is a  staunch  ally of Hamas . The Ayatollah has warned that Iran cannot fold its arms in the face of Israel’s relentless  bombing of Hamas  positions  in Gaza . But Iran is literally shouting foul from a safe distance and is wary of American  power when invoked to protect Israel and Israeli  fury  when provoked. Especially with  a leader it considers crazy like  Benjamin Netanyahu who has vowed that Iran will never be allowed to acquire the nuclear arsenal, still in power and now in charge of Israel’s  new war in Gaza. In a bizarre development though , former US president Donald  Trump  has been  vilified for saying that Hamas  was smart . Which  some have condemned as praising Hamas but  which was no more than a grudging respect  for Hamas as  the little   biblical David and  Israel as the Goliath in the ancient biblical  fight between  the two in which the Hobbesian theory and its practice of  ‘might is right ‘ has been  playing out since  the state  of Israel  was created in  Palestine in 1948  by  the victorious Allies of the  Second  World War .  

Sobowale is a News Analyst with Arise News