The environment in Eastern Europe is not good

President Vladimir Putin keeps playing tough ball on Ukraine. And he is also raising the stakes in his response to the Western sanctions. Both decisions are serious challenges to peace in Europe.

It would be a mistake to take peace in our continent for granted.

But even if this only part of a gambling approach to international relations, we should not forget that the decisions that are now being implemented carry important economic costs. And we should also keep in mind that when the political leaders are ready to sacrifice the economy that means a lot. One should then redouble the security precautions. Better be alert and prepared. 

Portugal could have been brought down by a single man

Ricardo Salgado, the top man at the Portuguese bank Banco Espírito Santo (BES) had been called by his countrymen the “owner of everything”. He was indeed a very influential fellow. Now, it has been concluded that his bank was in shambles and that the gentleman, who had friends in almost every corner of the political, economic and academic elite chessboards, was about to bring the Portuguese economy down, not just his bank and business empire. His business interests were wide and covered several sectors. The misjudgments, the malpractices and the cover-ups have therefore a very wide impact. The true measure of this collapse is yet to be fully grasped. For the time being, only the bank side of the story has been safeguarded. But an initial lesson that can be learned from this saga is that when a banker is also a major business actor, in a relatively small economy, things can go very wrong. 

Ghana is not moving in the right direction

For a number of years Ghana has been a model country in West Africa. It has managed to move from chaotic politics and poor economic management in the Eighties to democracy and growth in the Nineties and thereafter. But recently things started to move in the wrong direction as the government gave up to extraordinary demands for salary increases and accumulated a high level of fiscal deficit. These actions were taken because the party in power thought they would bring in popular support. They brought economic bankruptcy.

Now, the situation turned to the worst, with the national currency losing value at a rapid pace and the state being unable to meet its commitments. The government had to call the IMF in. This will mean quite a number of public budget cuts. I do not think the Ghanaian public servants are ready for any type of salary reductions.

We might therefore see some political instability coming back to a country we would like to keep calling a model nation.   

Fighting Ebola requires more public information

The international community is now paying attention to the Ebola epidemics in West Africa. And that´s good news. It would be a dramatic mistake to underestimate the risks of a very rapid spreading of Ebola to other countries in Africa and elsewhere.

WHO, the UN World Health Organization, is in the lead. That´s how it should be. Its Director-general, Dr Margaret Chan has been to the region to participate in a summit with the Presidents of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the countries most concerned. This was a high profile initiative. As it is the decision to allocate 100 million USD to fight the disease.

Local populations are still very confused about the epidemics. There is a serious need to invest more on health education and on public information. That´s also part of the combat. 

Ebola

The West African states of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia continue to be confronted with Ebola, a major public health challenge. Death rates are above 90% of those infected. And the national health infrastructure in these countries is too poor to be able to respond in a big manner. Furthermore the areas that are particularly affected are very remote, in a beautiful but extremely isolated countryside. The local populations are deeply superstitious. They do not understand the Ebola virus issue and believe this is brought in by the medical teams that are there to help. All this makes the epidemic a major issue. Europe, among others, needs to take a much more proactive view of the problem. And to provide greater help.   

Putin is helping the EU to unite on the external front

The relations between the EU and the US, on one side, and Russia, on the other side, have now reached a point that brings the world back three decades at least. There is a very serious level of tension between the two blocs. President Putin, who has some friends in Europe, never thought that the mistrust that has been growing in certain circles in the West would go as far as it went today, with the approval of a new set of financial sanctions against Russia´s economic interests in Europe. He misread the politics. Europe needs a glue. Putin is, in many ways, providing it. 

I appreciate John Kerry´s efforts

Copyright V.Angelo

Israel should be reminded of some basic principles of international law

Hamas is certainly an extremist group included in the Western list of terrorist organizations. It needs to be fought and its actions ought to be stopped.

But fighting Hamas is not an excuse for Israel to behave as a State that does not respect the laws of the war, the principle of proportionate force, and the overriding rules about the protection of civilians and the interdiction to inflict collective punishment on innocent populations.

These norms should guide the actions of any civilised State, even when that State is exercising the right of self-defence. In all legislations, self-defence has its limits and needs to be advised by a great sense of restraint. That´s what the modern world is about. 

Little minds

There are so many new headlines from Gaza to Ukraine, from the planes that crash here and there, and then the Summer recess, that we just forget that the Nigerian school girls have not yet been freed, after several months in the hands of Boko Haram, and the Central African Republic is still the murderous chaos it was a few weeks back. And that the elections in Afghanistan are yet to be sorted out, long after the polling day. Not to mention Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, and so on...

War crimes are being committed

When the law of the war is not respect – and one should be reminded all the time that wars have their own body of international law that ought to be followed – war crimes are committed. And when they are committed the key leaders of the international community have to speak the words and say the right things. Leadership is about that. To call a spade a spade.