isolationism

Friday March 13, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 13, 2020

Trump’s European Travel Ban Doesn’t Make Sense

Last night, a few thousand Atlético Madrid supporters crammed into a corner of Liverpool’s Anfield stadium to watch their soccer team knock the reigning European champions out of the continent’s premier competition, the UEFA Champions League. As they woke in their hotel rooms and Airbnbs this morning, they discovered, as Madrileños, or, more important, Europeans who live in the no-border Schengen Area that operates on the continent, that they are now barred from traveling to the United States. The 50,000 Liverpool fans who were also in the stadium last night, or at least those who happen to be British or Irish, awoke chastened by their team’s defeat—but not banned.

January 13, 2018

If there is an award for the most absurd spectacle capturing the arbitrariness of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, this surely wins it.

President Donald Trump’s decision to ban most European citizens from traveling to the U.S., except those from the United Kingdom and Ireland, appears to make no sense, and to inject past grievances and prejudices into delicate scientific and political equations. In this spiraling thriller–cum–horror novel, Trump’s emergence, full of hostility and conspiracy, with warnings of foreign viruses, heralds a darkening turn—an early indication of the power of a pandemic to infect global decision making and international relations.

December 16, 2019

Politics, domestic and international, is already morphing under the strain of the coronavirus, and all signs indicate that it will continue to do so. Some governments will rise to higher ideals, to duty and justice, equity and science; others will simply be unable to meet the test or, worse, disgrace themselves. Some systems will allow combinations of various measures, and some political leaders will take decisions in good faith, based on good science, but still get it wrong. This, though, is the stage when politics comes to the fore, when the values of those with power are revealed. More than that, this crisis is becoming a test of the international order, formal and institutional or informal and cultural, to cope with the pressures placed on it by nationalism, quackery, corruption, ignorance, and malevolence.

Yesterday, the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, slashed interest rates in a coordinated stimulus effort with the British government. He declared that 2008 had revealed the danger that the new globally integrated financial system posed, but that today this very system could help, not hinder. In his world, global institutions and a culture of coordination had developed. The giants of the financial crash had learned the lessons from the 1930s and moved quickly and globally in the knowledge that a beggar-my-neighbor policy in a global depression beggars everyone in the end. Today, it is sobering simply to wonder whether anyone is applying this lesson to the pandemic—an even more obvious case of the stupidity of petty nationalism.

November 14, 2019

And yet, as ever with the American president, the rationale for his decision carries its own peculiarly Trumpian worldview, exposing both how he sees the world and the weaknesses of who he sees as his adversaries. Trump is nothing if not alive to the flaws of his enemies. In this case, it is not without logic to treat the European Schengen Area as one country. While it clearly isn’t one and doesn’t overlap neatly with either the euro or the European Union (Norway, which is not an EU member, is part of Schengen; Ireland, which is both an EU member and part of the eurozone, is not), it is a core feature for almost all EU member states, a common travel area in which there are no internal checks. Schengen is one of Europe’s core strengths and accomplishments, but also a structural weakness that continues to challenge its legitimacy in the eyes of many of its citizens.

The EU is a proto-state. It has the institutions of a state, a central bank and parliament, currency and court. And yet it is weaker than a conventional state, mostly unable to take effective collective action in times of crisis, whether diplomatically, fiscally, or militarily. Its weakness is in handling migration and debts, refugees and Russian aggression. The worry today is that this weakness will be exposed, even though the coronavirus is exactly the type of cross-border challenge that highlights one of the EU’s fundamental strengths: its ability to coordinate continentally. (Continued: The Atlantic) 

 

Thursday December 1, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday December 1, 2016 The world according to Trump, and the peril ofÊisolationism We have yet to see the shape ofÊDonald Trump's foreign policy. But as we wait, so do nervous leaders across Europe, Latin America, Asia andÊAfrica. With his arrival in the Oval Office, American alliances and policies forged over decades may well be in play. Meanwhile, in Moscow,ÊPresidentÊVladimir PutinÊsmiles at the election outcome. Hmm. That would be worrisome enough if the U.S. role in geopolitics would start from scratch on Inauguration Day. It won't. PresidentÊBarack ObamaÊalready has reduced America's global involvement and influence. That backward lean is a key reason why Trump will inherit so many foreignÊpolicy predicaments. An America that on his watch slips further to the sidelines, an insular America that regards trouble on the other side of the world as someoneÊelse's problem, would risk eroding diplomatic partnerships and defense pacts. That would imperil American interests overseas and at home:ÊConflicts elsewhere often make themselves felt here. Witness theÊIslamic State-inspired attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. OrÊremember 9/11.Ê(Continued: Chicago Tribune Editorial)Êhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-trump-foreign-policy-obama-putin-russia-edit-20161110-story.html This cartoon was colourized from the same image published on September 13, 2001. https://mackaycartoons.net/2001/09/13/thursday-september-13-2001/ USA, maps, wall, isolationism, isolationist, terrorism, security, America, 9/11, Donald Trump

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 1, 2016

The world according to Trump, and the peril of isolationism

We have yet to see the shape of Donald Trump’s foreign policy. But as we wait, so do nervous leaders across Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. With his arrival in the Oval Office, American alliances and policies forged over decades may well be in play. Meanwhile, in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin smiles at the election outcome. Hmm.

That would be worrisome enough if the U.S. role in geopolitics would start from scratch on Inauguration Day. It won’t. President Barack Obama already has reduced America’s global involvement and influence. That backward lean is a key reason why Trump will inherit so many foreign policy predicaments.

An America that on his watch slips further to the sidelines, an insular America that regards trouble on the other side of the world as someone else’s problem, would risk eroding diplomatic partnerships and defense pacts. That would imperil American interests overseas and at home: Conflicts elsewhere often make themselves felt here. Witness the Islamic State-inspired attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. Or remember 9/11. (Continued: Chicago Tribune Editorial)

This cartoon was colourized from the same image published on September 13, 2001.

Marvellous Maps

 

Thursday September 13, 2001

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday September 13, 2001 The World Goes on High Alert The French air force went on highest alert, with pilots at the ready in their jets. Governments across Europe sent troops to guard airports, train stations, border posts and nuclear plants. Commercial flights over London were banned and in Athens, security plansÊfor the 2004 Olympics were being reviewed. The devastating terror attacks on the United States occurred oceans away, but they sent shudders throughout the world - of sympathy but also fear. ``We are all Americans,'' wrote the French newspaper Le Monde.Ê Many wondered how they could ever feel safe, if the mighty United States could be harmed so swiftly and drastically. ``Why couldn't it happen here?'' asked Daniel Cohen, who works at a dry cleaner in a posh sector of Paris. ``Here, Japan or anywhere thatÊcrazy people want to attack.''Ê As far off as Asia, special security forces and soldiers with bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled government buildings and airports, and international schools canceled classes Wednesday. Thousands were evacuated from the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas TwinÊTowers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a bomb scare.Ê In Germany, the Foreign Ministry was evacuated in a similar scare and threats targeted the tallest building in Frankfurt, the Messeturm. In London, journalists were ordered out of the prime minister's office during a brief security alert.Ê While all those threats appeared baseless, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta warned that terrorists might be planning a strike against American interests in Indonesia. (Source: Hamilton Spectator) This cartoon was updated and colourized for December 1, 2016. USA, maps, wall, isolationism, isolationist, terrorism, security, America, 9/11

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 13, 2001

The World Goes on High Alert

The French air force went on highest alert, with pilots at the ready in their jets. Governments across Europe sent troops to guard airports, train stations, border posts and nuclear plants. Commercial flights over London were banned and in Athens, security plans for the 2004 Olympics were being reviewed.

The devastating terror attacks on the United States occurred oceans away, but they sent shudders throughout the world – of sympathy but also fear. “We are all Americans,” wrote the French newspaper Le Monde.

Many wondered how they could ever feel safe, if the mighty United States could be harmed so swiftly and drastically. “Why couldn’t it happen here?” asked Daniel Cohen, who works at a dry cleaner in a posh sector of Paris. “Here, Japan or anywhere that crazy people want to attack.”

As far off as Asia, special security forces and soldiers with bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled government buildings and airports, and international schools canceled classes Wednesday. Thousands were evacuated from the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a bomb scare.

In Germany, the Foreign Ministry was evacuated in a similar scare and threats targeted the tallest building in Frankfurt, the Messeturm. In London, journalists were ordered out of the prime minister’s office during a brief security alert.

While all those threats appeared baseless, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta warned that terrorists might be planning a strike against American interests in Indonesia. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

This cartoon was updated and colourized for December 1, 2016.