When we look at the actions of Russia, China, North Korea, Israel, Iran and now the US in recent years, there is a tendency to close our eyes tightly, pull the covers over our heads and wait for the madness to die down. The rules-based order we thought was here to stay after 1989 is no longer something we can count on, if ever it was – as the recent actions of the US president and his sycophantic gang make clear.
Gordon Brown’s play (As Trump threatens Greenland, this much is clear: The free world needs a new plan – and inspired leadership, January 20) offers a hopeful antidote to the chaos after the continuing collapse of postwar regulation. That regulation gave rise to international bodies such as the United Nations, NATO and others that aim to develop and maintain democratic values. Brown wants to breathe new life into such bodies, essentially by reiterating and reformulating the founding principles.
There is nothing in his proposals that honest democrats disagree with. The trick is how to get there and how to maintain the global order that continues to crumble as strong nations continue to dominate weak ones.
Only in the last few inches of Brown’s column is the enormous elephant in the room recognized. He recognizes that what has happened so far, and is likely to happen again without clear boundaries, is that global elites agree to balance their power.
The power of these elites has become widely recognized in recent years as enormous multinational bodies (eg big tech, big oil, big pharma, big defense) control elected representatives. But even worse is the growing power of individual multi-billionaires, whose wealth can exceed the GDP of mid-sized countries. This is not healthy.
It will take a lot more than pretty words to get the corporate and individual genies back in their bottles. But here must be the serious effort, to reduce their illegitimate influence before we try to give real meaning to any fine words we use to describe the role of new or repurposed global institutions. We definitely have to try it very soon, if it’s not already too late.
Alan Healey
Baschurch, Shropshire
• Not, as Gordon Brown says, “over the last few weeks” the promises of the US-led Atlantic Charter were broken, but over the past two years, when US presidents gave Israel carte blanche over Gaza and now the West Bank.
It should not be Greenland that “marks the end of the world looking to the US for leadership” after US presidents funded and supported Israel’s policy of collective punishment leading to what most of the world considers genocide against the Palestinians. It should have been when it became clear in early 2024 that Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy was to destroy almost every building in Gaza, regardless of injuries and loss of life.
Unfortunately, what most of the Western world did was to remain silent or join in, such as Britain, which shamefully continued to sell vital parts for the Israel Defense Forces’ F-35 fighter jets, instead of calling for sanctions against Israel. How can critics accuse Donald Trump of breaking international law regarding Greenland when they have done just that for the faith of beggars in Gaza.
Now, their silence is deafening as Israel escalates its illegal settlement in the West Bank, demolishes the remaining buildings in Gaza and East Jerusalem, limits humanitarian aid, continues deadly airstrikes during the supposed ceasefire, and continues to deny access to the world’s media. International law was abandoned long before the Greenland crisis.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool
• Gordon Brown says “The US has abandoned its longstanding support for the rule of law, human rights, democracy and the territorial integrity of nation-states. Gone is its former support for humanitarian aid and environmental stewardship.” Serious? Does he really think the US ever had these qualities? Has Chile forgotten? Indonesia? Panama? Nicaragua? Guatemala? El Salvador? Afghanistan? Libya? Iraq? Iran? Israel/Palestine? Lebanon? The list is long.
America has been a malign influence, ruthlessly pursuing its own economic hegemony for over a century, all the while masquerading as the land of the brave, the home of the free. Democratic regimes have been undermined and overthrown. Funded coups. Hideous armed and trained militias. Vicious dictators activated. The US has been aided in this by a parade of compliant allies, led by our own country.
Gordon Brown needs to re-read some Noam Chomsky and shake his head. Indeed, we must “choose diplomacy and multilateral cooperation over aggression and unilateral action,” but until the UN Security Council is reformed and the vetoes of its permanent members are abolished, it will continue to be the simulation it has been since World War II.
Steve Razzetti
Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria
• Gordon Brown, an honorable man, strained hard with the current crisis and came up with… a book. I’m sorry, Gordon, but it doesn’t make me laugh. We have enough books and statements to fill a library. The critical problem is that they are not being implemented – multilateralism took hold before Trump embarked on his campaign to test it to destruction. What is needed is a radical restructuring of the UN Security Council and an all-out diplomatic effort to reform the UN mechanisms so that they produce hard results – laws and rulings rather than “declarations” and waffles, while bringing more countries and interests into the decision-making process, making the UN more inclusive. This would offer the best hope of counterbalancing the stranglehold that great powers have on the UN’s fulfillment of its existing charter.
Neil Blackshaw
Alnwick, Northumberland
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