Those who claim to be the rulers of the world are struggling to find their own capable rulers. The first round of debate between President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump in Atlanta on June 27 night exposed the fragility of the democratic setup up which otherwise the United States is trying to thrust on other countries of the planet, especially in Russia, China, and North Korea.
Why talk just about the United States, Britain, and France, the two colonial powers of the past, are passing through political uncertainty? The irony is that England and Ireland had in recent years produced Indian origin Prime Ministers while Scotland had till a few months back a Pakistani-origin First Minister.
The big question is: What are the original people of these countries doing? After all, till a few decades back they were real masters of large parts of the globe yet today they are unable to produce their rulers—though they still project themselves as those who are holding the destiny of the world.
France is going to elect its 577 members National Assembly on June 30 and July 7 while Britain goes to elect a 650-member House of Commons on July 4.
Israel–the creation of the US, UK, and France—has a misplaced delusion of being the ruler of the world. Yet it is the fact that the present government is 37th in 76 years of its existence. The present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting a war in Gaza and is about to open a front against Hezbollah in Lebanon simply because the day he halts the military operation his coalition government may collapse.
He too has been indicted by the court on a corruption charge.
Germany and Italy remain in the news for political instability and the rise of rightist and fascist forces. Japan, the imperialist power of the Eastern Theatre in the early 20th century, changed governments almost every year.
Spain and Portugal the western-most European countries with huge colonies had the worst form of dictatorship for four decades in the middle of the 20th century (till the mid-1970s) yet the democrats of the West were then more busy preaching the virtues of democracy, liberalism, and equality to the Third World, and Communist countries. It is another thing that the same United States and its allies were backing the brutal dictator in the neighbourhood in Taiwan and South Korea. Mind it, they are new converts to democracy.
Sorry facts
The sorry aspect of the US democracy is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are capable of fielding any better leader than old, ailing, corrupt, and convicted Biden and Trump. While Biden’s performance in the debate was simply disastrous—as he was faltering and unable to speak—Trump is a convicted Presidential candidate. The story is akin to the kettle calling the pot black as Biden’s son Hunter has recently been convicted.
Anxious and panicky Democrats were shocked to see the painful performance of their Presidential candidate in the 90-minute debate telecast live throughout the world.
Voices started emerging from within the party that 81-year-old Biden should be replaced by someone else, even Vice President Kamala Harris.
Republicans are, however, not bothered about the conviction of their 78-year-old Presidential candidate. So, what if he is convicted, the US Constitution does not debar anyone from holding the position of President until he or she is convicted in a case related to insurrection.
In that case, Trump can be forced to quit only when convicted on the charge of inciting rebellion of January 6, 2021. The verdict of this case is yet to come.
Western indifference
It is not that scholars and journalists are not anguished over this state of affairs in the Western democracies, especially in the United States. Yet what is surprising is that they are busier questioning the system of election in Iran, which went to poll on June 28, just after Biden and Trump were finishing their nasty wordy duel. The quality of debate between a current and a former President was simply deplorable.
The tragedy is that even in the ‘export’ of democracy the West is selective. They would never thrust it on good friends Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, etc., and in Egypt, the same West openly encouraged and supported the overthrow of the first-ever elected government under Mohamed Morsi.
If the brutal dictator of Egypt is openly defended in the West, in the rest of Africa France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Belgium are fomenting civil war and social strife to achieve their own goal.
Similarly, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is painted as a dictator yet the West always backed the Turkish military which in 1960 staged a coup and subsequently hanged the elected Prime Minister Adnan Menderes as well as his foreign and finance ministers.
Without holding any brief for anyone, may one ask the champions of democracies in the West to look inward as fascism and intolerance are growing much faster in their backyard than anywhere in the world.
Be prepared for the crisis emerging after the election of Trump, who appears to be ahead in the Presidential race.
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