Judul : Drifting Issues
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Drifting Issues
We say that young people are less patient than those of us who have lived much longer. That is true, but it is also often the case that when we have become older, we may take stock of what has happened in our life and feel that we want to count good results. If too many things still drift along unresolved, we certainly become impatient, perhaps more than young people, because we want to see results while we are still around.
When I recently watched some debate programmes on Norwegian TV from the 1980s, I realised that many issues have been left unresolved and drifting since that time, and most arguments and opinions on issues remained the same or similar till today. I felt there was more optimism, though, a generation ago, especially in Norway where the oil production off the coast had made the country and people become wealthier than before, in a country which was alright before that too, thanks to fishing, shipping, forestry and farming. But the recent oil and gas boom from the 1970s had made it possible to take bigger steps ahead. It was before today's clearer consciousness about the negative effects of fossil fuel on the environment, climate change, and global warming, and that was sheer luck to the Norwegians-otherwise they could not have become so rich so fast, becoming the blue-eyed sheikhs. The gas production is more acceptable, and besides, after the Russian supply of gas to Germany was stopped as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Norwegian gas comes in 'very handy' and a third of all gas to Europe is now supplied by Norway.
Some criticise Norway for making a very high profit on the gas export as a result of the war in Ukraine, and they want more of the profit to go to assistance to Ukraine during the sad war which has now lasted for over three years and for reconstruction when the war finally ends. It should be mentioned that Norway provides major support to Ukraine and has guaranteed long-term assistance too, as other European countries also do, mostly from less affluent economies than the Norwegian. Like the other NATO countries, Norway has also accepted to increase its defence budget from less than two percent to five percent of the GDP in the coming decade. Norway can afford it, but many European countries will have difficulties doing it-and to me, it is wrong to let the military spending skyrocket, especially when there are many other challenges in the European economies, indeed such related to the environment and climate change, and social issues. Better integration of the high numbers of immigrants will need major funding, as well as education and employment programmes for the youth, and also better conditions for the elderly. Instead of reducing the development aid there should be major increases.
In the some 30-year-old TV programmes that I recently watched, there was no talk about increased military expenses; I became nostalgic when I saw that the opposite was the case after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. People were hopeful about the future and the Scandinavian countries abolished or reduced the duration of the old system of conscription, and made the defence expenses smaller. In addition, there were negotiations and peace talks between the West and Russia, including nuclear weapons reduction, which had even begun in the Soviet time.
That time, there was hope for closer cooperation between Europe and Russia and the other CIS countries. Sadly, the opportunities were missed in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. A peaceful Europe, to include Russia, could and should have been built that time-instead we have now ended up with a massive rearmament spiral, worrying to the long-term relations between the West and the East. Much has been spoilt, and the war between Russia and Ukraine should never have happened; I agree with President Trump on that score. I fail to understand why NATO and Russia don't go all out for peaceful cooperation and prosperity.
It is always important to draw attention to the Palestinian issue, now with a two-year-old war in Gaza, where Israel seems not to follow any laws of war and humanitarian aid. It is terrible for the Palestinian women, children and men; it is also making Israel's own future uncertain. The Oslo Agreements of 1993 advocating a two-state solution should have been followed up immediately after it was signed on the lawn of the White House in Washington D.C. in the presence of the then outgoing American President Bill Clinton. Unfortunately, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat did not realise the golden opportunity that the Palestinians (probably) had that time. Now, a generation hence, the situation looks worse than ever, and none of us can tell what the future holds for Palestine and Israel.
Of unresolved conflicts, attention must be drawn towards the current civil war situation, or rather the top leaders fighting each other, in the Sudan. Terrible scars are on the leaders in the countries and also their international partners in the West, the Middle East, and in Africa, including the African Union (AU). Furthermore, demonstrations have erupted again in Kenya, and the police and government's handling make us worry about the country's future-a modern African state in many ways, with the capital of Nairobi housing UN world headquarters and regional offices, and great businesses and tourism resorts run by locals, including the large Asian minority and Europeans. The land of hard-working and well-educated people has a future ahead only if the leaders can become more democratic and inclusive, reducing the class differences and the graft of the ruling upper classes.
In neighbouring Tanzania, a less developed country as compared to Kenya, we thought it was kinder and softer in many ways. Sadly, the government has become rougher towards opposition politicians. The current President Samia Suluhu Hassan (65), one of very few women at the very top in African politics, had been tipped to do better-and she should have kept alive the vision of the country's legendary founding father Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (1922-1999). President Suluhu has been nominated to stand for re-election in October 2025.
I have worked for a good number of years in both countries, and I pray they will somehow find ways out of the current problems. I don't know how to correct things, but I know that the people themselves must be properly involved, indeed new people, including ordinary, poor, young people. It seems few of the well-educated upper-middle classes have done the right things for those that they represent. There should also be better international help, in quality and in quantity. The Brits, the major Scandinavian donors, and as always, the USA, the only superpower, plus China nowadays, must indeed do better to help the real transition of the young African states into democracy and social and economic development.
Last week, I wrote in my article about the need for a worldwide New International Economic Order (NIEO), referring to the efforts of the UN and UNCTAD in the 1970s. Alas, the promises came to nought, and I am afraid the recently ended summit in Sevilla, Spain, will have the same fate unless drastic measures are taken soon to rescue the many great ideas and wishes from the meeting. We seem not to learn from history-well, if the rich and powerful countries, companies and organisations really want to change the unfair world, from the economic structural violence of today to true fair and peaceful relations between the North and the South, and within countries. It is indeed about time, now two to three generations since the end of the direct imperialistic colonial era. We must develop a new roadmap for a better future for all-so that our grandchildren can be proud of their world and time, not having let key issues drift-and make more hopeful TV debate programmes and podcasts than we can today.
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