Quote of the month

by | Aug 17, 2011 | Cooperation and coherence, Global system

Philip Zelikow nails it in the FT:

In the past foreign policy mainly consisted of adjusting relations between states – what they will do with or to each other. Now foreign policy mainly consists of adjusting the domestic policies of different states – of what they will do with or to their own people.

Conclusion:

Urgent agendas of domestic renewal on every continent turn out to be a common agenda, for global renewal.

Foreign aid policy a la Heritage Foundation

by | Aug 13, 2011 | Economics and development

Lest you think international development faces a tough political context here in the UK, let’s pause for a moment to check in on the latest thinking on foreign aid over at the right-wing Heritage Foundation in the US:

Countries that receive U.S. foreign aid routinely oppose U.S. diplomatic initiatives and vote against the U.S. in the United Nations.

While linking humanitarian and security aid to support of U.S. policy priorities would undermine the purposes and effect of that aid, the effectiveness of development aid in improving economic growth and development among recipients remains dubious.

Therefore, the U.S. has no compelling reason preventing it from explicitly linking disbursement of development assistance to support for U.S. policy priorities in the United Nations.

QED!

The Horn of Africa doesn’t need the UK’s teenagers

by | Aug 12, 2011 | Africa, Cooperation and coherence, Economics and development, Off topic, UK

There is no shortage of post-riot commentary pieces about what to do with Britain’s under-educated and unemployed teens.  The prize for most dangerous proposal so far goes to Mr. Mark Street of Doha, Qatar, an expat Brit who writes to the Financial Times to express his “shame at these disgraceful scenes.”  A lot of us share that sentiment.  But I’m not quite so keen on Mr. Street’s proposed solution:

My suggestion would be to introduce legislation to create a compulsory two-year “national service” for young people leaving school with minimal qualifications. Not a military service, but one with military discipline, the objective of which is to help the less fortunate in places such as the Horn of Africa, building basic infrastructure or distributing food aid. That would give some purpose to their lives, and showing them how well off they are in relation to so many people in the world might teach some lessons that our education system has so profoundly failed in doing.

To which one can only say no, no and thrice no.  I suppose I just about grasp the “moral education” argument here.  But does anyone really think it would be feasible – let alone advisable – to ship thousands of narky British teenagers into a famine-stricken and violent part of the world like the Horn of Africa?  Who would protect the truculent little fellows from bandits and Islamist militias?  Would this army of hoodied road-builders have to be housed in a sort of gulag archipelago of work camps?  How resistant would they be to disease?  How many vats of high-factor sun cream would we need to ship through Mombasa to protect these pale-skinned sons of Britannia from the glaring African sun?  Has anyone noticed that the Empire is dead yet?

And so on and so forth.  While I am always sympathetic to conservative nostalgia, Mr. Street would probably be best advised to advocate more practicable old-school policy options, such as putting rioters in the stocks and pelting them with offal.

Could Iranian peacekeepers survive in Liverpool?

by | Aug 12, 2011 | Conflict and security, Cooperation and coherence, Middle East and North Africa, UK

Iran has made a generous proposal to the people of Britain:

Commander of Iran’s Basij Force says it is ready to deploy peacekeeper forces in London as the unrest in the British capital drags on despite tightened security measures. “The Ashura brigades of Basij forces are ready to be deployed to London as peacekeeping forces,” Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi said on Thursday, Fars news agency reported.

Naqdi criticized the British authorities for their harsh crackdown of protesters and describing them as rioters and hooligans.

“Unfortunately the crimes and violence of the autocratic British kingdom continues against the country’s deprived [population] and not only the advice of well-wishers has no effect on the conduct of the regime’s repressive police force but we witness the deprived people of this country are being called a bunch of thieves and looters,” he regretted.

Naqdi expressed disappointment with the UN Security Council as invariably supporting oppressors.

“If the UN General Assembly approves, the Basij Organization is ready to send a number of Ashura and al-Zahra brigades to Liverpool and Birmingham as peacekeepers to monitor observation of human rights laws and deter use of force,” he added.

Naqdi referred to UK Prince Williams’ lavish wedding and the high cost of its live coverage and described the recent uprisings in Britain as the result of “big mistakes” by British officials and warned them of even more severe consequences.

I’m really not sure the Iranians would last long in Liverpool.