EDITORIAL: When the empire turns the gun on itself
Donald Trump’s erratic return to power has jolted the world out of its comfortable hypocrisy. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, panic is the order of the day. Global leaders, now staring down the barrel of Trump’s gun, are suddenly finding their voices - crying foul and preaching the gospel of “international order”.
Yet in truth, there has never been international order. What the world has long practised is selective morality. When international law is violated by allies, powerful nations look the other way. When non-allies dare to step out of line, they are swiftly disciplined with sanctions, trade barriers, and the threat - or reality - of war.
Then the unthinkable happened. Trump was elected for a second term, and the system that once protected itself through double standards found itself exposed. The Don decided the world, including NATO allies, must bend at his feet.
Friends were told to accept, even endorse, imperial ambitions such as the annexation of Greenland, or face punishing trade tariffs. Suddenly, imperialism was no longer something exported to the Global South. It had knocked on the doors of the West itself. And now, the outrage is deafening - because Trump’s gun is pointed inward.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the brutality continues uninterrupted. Gaza bleeds daily as Israel’s Zionist regime unleashes destruction with impunity. Children lose limbs. And from the so-called guardians of human rights in the West, there is no meaningful condemnation - only more weapons to Tel Aviv, ensuring the carnage continues.
Trump is a conman - borrowing from the rich vocabulary of his own secretary of state, Marco Rubio. But he is merely the grotesque reflection of a Western world that perfected the art of moral fraud long before he arrived.
Yet in truth, there has never been international order. What the world has long practised is selective morality. When international law is violated by allies, powerful nations look the other way. When non-allies dare to step out of line, they are swiftly disciplined with sanctions, trade barriers, and the threat - or reality - of war.
Then the unthinkable happened. Trump was elected for a second term, and the system that once protected itself through double standards found itself exposed. The Don decided the world, including NATO allies, must bend at his feet.
Friends were told to accept, even endorse, imperial ambitions such as the annexation of Greenland, or face punishing trade tariffs. Suddenly, imperialism was no longer something exported to the Global South. It had knocked on the doors of the West itself. And now, the outrage is deafening - because Trump’s gun is pointed inward.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the brutality continues uninterrupted. Gaza bleeds daily as Israel’s Zionist regime unleashes destruction with impunity. Children lose limbs. And from the so-called guardians of human rights in the West, there is no meaningful condemnation - only more weapons to Tel Aviv, ensuring the carnage continues.
Trump is a conman - borrowing from the rich vocabulary of his own secretary of state, Marco Rubio. But he is merely the grotesque reflection of a Western world that perfected the art of moral fraud long before he arrived.
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Namibian Sun
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