Crises, wars, firebrands: where is the world heading?
Growing global inequality, the climate crisis, wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and (almost forgotten) in Yemen and Sudan, the rise of anti-democratic forces. The list of crises and wars across the globe is long with few solutions in sight, prompting commentators to wonder whether the era of international efforts for peace and justice has finally come to an end in 2024.
Back to might is right
Neue Zürcher Zeitung laments the instability of the global situation:
“Autocrats around the world are no longer afraid to do things that violate international law. We are back in the age of pure power politics, in which the strongest determines what is right and what is not. An age in which wars are once again becoming the norm. Wars over borders or resources, wars that quickly take on international dimensions. In this age, international organisations and courts are increasingly losing their relevance. ... Democratic countries that do not want to live in a world where only might is right have no choice but to close ranks and expand their alliances with the US.”
Darwin, here we come
La Stampa agrees:
“International law, the law of war and humanitarian law no longer exist. They are a postulate, a normative gesture not reflected in reality. Not because some all-consuming international villain or furious demagogue has succeeded in rendering them inapplicable by amassing cruel capabilities. Isolated initiatives do not bring down the system, but only strengthen it. ... The wound goes deeper: no one has any regard for the law when acting in international combat or issuing orders to soldiers and guerrillas. ... There is an explicit acceptance of the inexorable reality that we all live in a Darwinian way under the law of might is right.”
The time of monsters
Global injustices are now simply accepted without question, laments Kostas Vaxevanis, investigative journalist and publisher of Documento:
“We are living in the time of monsters described by Antonio Gramsci. The old world is dying, or rather rotting away and contaminating everything around it, but the new has yet to be born. This period is the time of monsters. ... And monsters prevail and are justified only because there seems to be no way out. ... Inequality is the way the world works today. In the face of these enormous inequalities, the need for them to be eliminated is not articulated, but instead acceptance is cemented and manipulation is tolerated.”
Disciplined resolve is called for
Political scientist Jonathan Holslag warns in the weekly EW, formerly Elsevier, against cynicism in the face of the global situation:
“Sometimes it appears to be a better survival strategy to hoard wealth for oneself and one's children. Let the professionals manage the world outside. Of all survival strategies this is perhaps the most obtuse. With fearful opportunists, any kind of wealth and power goes to waste. ... We must take up the fight against the supposed bravery and sobriety of cynicism that is spreading like a virus through these cold times. We need disciplined resolve, a balance between idealism and realism, between strengths and challenges.”