Published
December 19th, 2010
Men and women, who get into political office either by hook
or crook, quickly adopt counter-insurgency measures to
remain in power. These measures range from military
intelligence operations, diplomacy, geo-politics,
realpolitik, dirty tricks, scheming, intrigues, subterfuge
and hortatory political statements that permit hopes, but
which are not meant to be dashed without apologies. It is
universally acknowledged that the great instruments of
political power are the army, the revenues and the courts.
When disastrous political failures deal a coup de grace on
the government’s career, such a government hardens its
political stance, throws caution to the winds and resorts to
muzzling the opposition parties, individuals and then turns
on some states in the international community to demonize
them, as a way of making her citizens to look away from its
bad policies.
Unfortunately, there is limit to human intelligence. The
governments ‘measures are soon seen as counter-intuitive by
the populace because of the countervailing effects on
government policies and on the nation.
In the last one month, the world has been inundated with
diplomatic secrets, military intelligence operations, and
glib statements by not-well-cultured diplomatists and
politicians, who did not seem to mind their choice of
diction.
These educationally and diplomatically subnormal operatives
have played into the hands of people, who are in the
journalistic sensation business.
Mr. Assange, who impresses me as someone with a Cromwellian
disposition, has an effete mien that harbours a will as
steely as Kruppstahl.
He has embarrassed the World diplomatic community, in no
small measure. But how necessary the whole exercise is, will
be put to subjective and objective analyses as the events
unfold.
Assange was effusive in his condemnation of the information
he distributed world-wide
His effrontery was very confident but also, at once rude and
without any feelings of remorse.
How correct is it that America has control over our national
affairs? Some WIKI LEAKS disclosures are disturbing. If we
are adopting consensus candidates, federal legislators to be
automatic members of their parties and that “there is no
vacancy in ASO ROCK, “then why should we waste time and
money organizing elections in 2011?
While world leaders were gathered in Cancun, Mexico, to
rehearse old slogans on climate change, chilly weather and
floods were ravaging Northern Europe.
I once lodged an appeal to the United Nations that a
multilateral agreement be concluded allowing people, who
live in inhabitable geographic regions to move to and
develop some arid areas of the Sahara Desert in Africa.
These areas can be leased for one hundred years from the
African Union. The Sudan, Chad and Niger, will benefit from
such a deal. Also Japan will expand more to put its
ingenuity to better use, within a big space!
World diplomats, who should be thinking positively on how to
prosper humanity, have been engaged in the promotion of wars
and manufacturing formidable, atomic, nuclear and
thermo-nuclear devises in arrogant display of their love for
power politics and geo-political prowess.
Post -Second World geo-politics has been based on utmost
hatred between Western and Eastern European states and the
United States of America.
Mutual espionage, insulting the intelligence of opposing
states, hostile news dissemination, disinformation,
misinformation, blatant lies, fabrications, distortions of
facts were the norm.
Luckily for me, I understand Russian, German and English.
These have enabled me to weigh in on where the truth lay in
the information they always disseminate.
The inherent advantage and disadvantage of propaganda is
that since these distortions flow from man’s puny
intelligence, they have limitations.
No matter how adroit a man is in telling lies, because his
life has a limit, his lies will live after him. Those, who
take joy rides in lying, are not heaven bound.
No dirty tricks diplomacy, will be hidden forever, because”
There is nothing hidden under the sun”
The Russians scored a brilliant, diplomatic victory in their
bid to host the FIFA World Football in 2018. I hit the
bull’s eye when I correctly guessed in a dispatch to CNN’S
INSIDE AFRICA programme that RUSSIA would be given the slot.
On October 12, 1962, I landed in Moscow from Paris, France,
in a World War 11 refurbished jet plane. I learnt the
Russian Language, studied Law and Diplomacy at the
University of Kiev, came top of the Class of 68 and
proceeded to the University of Cologne in West Germany( as
it was then) where I earned to degree of Doctor of
Jurisprudence. The experience has been very useful in
appreciating the geo-politics of Euro-American and Russian
states.
While in Russia, the press defended their state system
(socialism). In West Germany, the press supported
capitalism. The ideological, geo-political disputations were
conducted at the highest intellectual level.
I had access to TIME and NEWSWEEK magazine s and I still
enjoy their vibrant defence of the American way.
That Britain and the USA were absolutely furious about
FIFA’s decision to award the Russians the honour of hosting
the 2018 FIFA WORLD FOOTBALL COMPETITION brought to the
fore, the long-existing antagonism between imperialism and
communism. Their newspapers were rife with rancour.
It can be recalled that when the Soviet Union was permitted
to host the 1980 Olympic Games, the United States and some
allied states, engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activities
and successfully boycotted the games and the Russians
retaliated by equally boycotting the Olympic Games in the
United states in Atlanta, Georgia.
With the cordial relations Obama and Medveev have been
trying to establish and which has permitted hopes that the
ancient attitudes have been RE-SET, it would appear that old
animosities tend to die-hard.
When Queens and Kings ruled Russia, American intellectuals
were not well disposed to Russia since America was under the
oppressive sway under King George 111. Then came the
Socialist Revolutions in Russia and China engineered by
titanic intellectuals like V.I. Lenin and Mao Zedong.
American intellectuals influenced their governments to
unleashed diplomatic pressures on Communism, an idea
propagated by Lenin and Mao, which was to form the ideology
of government in Russia and China.
The diplomatic attacks were to become strident as the
Communist parties in Eastern Europe insisted on a World
Socialist Movement that would extend the socialist ideology
to Africa, Asia and Latin America.
That was how diplomacy took on the cloak and dagger hatchet
culture. It is remarkable that the post-world war investment
on war-games and hostile geo-politics did rob the states of
the needed resources to sustain decent living for their
citizens.
They frittered away the human and material resources in
armaments and geo-politics.
The unwarranted disclosures of military/industrial,
diplomatic information are proving very embarrassing.
Anyone who has acquaintated himself or herself with the
Russian language, literature and history, will appreciate
the rich Russian culture and its spirit of survival.
“The Slavs are first heard of in the lands North of
Carpathians. In the 7th century, some of them moved west to
the Oder and Elbe, some moved over the Danube, while some
moved to the Dnipier and north to Lake IIem.
From the “Times of Trouble” (1598-1618) to the appointment
of Michael Romanov (1613-45) and later the rule of Peter the
Great (1682-1725), which brought in advanced statecraft
ideas from France, England and Holland, Russia was
struggling until Peter the Great’s metropolitan attitude
changed Russia.
Russia and China have suffered from British, French,
Japanese, German occupations, at various times in history.
In later centuries, Russia and China have learnt to
accommodate the diplomatic onslaught of Western nations.
As a result, there is a RUSSO-CHINESE rapprochement,
Chinese-DPRK closeness and ASEAN co-operation, which leans
towards China and Russia.
International economic diplomacy should replace war
diplomacy. The enemy mentality should be jettisoned, so that
progress can be achieved world-wide
In spite of pretensions by powerful men and nations, they
are usually not amused when opposing views are triumphant.
One man’s dissident is another man’s hero.
Man’s ability to think, learn and understand in a logical
way is always hampered by self-interest, ego and sinister
world-view. Man relies more on artificial intelligence
rather than spiritual insight.
So, man is prone to erroneous calculations. When God’s Light
floods the soul of any man, he will not pursue mundane
objectives like being the President of a country, in order
to govern man he did not create and does not understand.
He will be watching, he will waiting for the dawn of that
glorious day, when our Saviour with all his Saints, will
come down in bright array.
As a curious researcher, I am finding it difficult to
reconcile Liu Xiaobo’s defence of freedom of speech and
information in China with Wiki Leaks defence of freedom of
information and free speech in the free world. Well, it
depends on where one is squatting on the imbroglio.
Mrs. Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt will host us in Cairo
soon for discussions on Human Trafficking. I will use my
presence to raise the issue of political trafficking that
affected the Muslim Brotherhood Party very much.
Egyptian diplomacy has played a strategic geo-political role
in Middle East politics but its internal political systems
need critical review.
Diplomacy of extreme romanticism was practiced by Russia,
when the King sent three diplomats to Britain during the
reign of a noble Queen.
The names of the diplomats were Stroganoff, Putyatin and
Neveroff. The Queen thought they would be formidable
diplomats.
A Russian diplomat was asked by a Turkish politician,” Is it
true that Russians are stupid?” The Russian diplomat
answered that in Russia, every stupid man is called a Turk.
Diplomats can often talk rubbish especially when the
diplomatic party is nearing its end and the bottle has taken
effect.
Diplomacy is regulated by Diplomatic Law, especially by the
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Practice of 1961 and the
Vienna Convention on Consular Practice of 1963. These are
norms of “Jus Cogens “and no derogation is permitted, no
matter how powerful the state is
Professor Dr. Emmanuel Omoh Esiemokhai, a Writer and
Academic is the President of the proposed Afemai University,
Fugar, Edo State.
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