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19.04.2020 Feature Article

Clash Between Donald Trump And WHO: The Geopolitical Narrative

Clash Between Donald Trump And WHO: The Geopolitical Narrative
19.04.2020 LISTEN

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman had his fingerprints all over the planning and execution of the plot to callously murder Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Ankara-Turkey, chopped his dead body into pieces, carried in plastic bags into the ambassador's residence and dissolved in acid.

But because Mohammed Bin Salman is in his good books, and also, the US had then secured a multi-billion dollar deal to supply Saudi Arabia with military equipment, Donald Trump turned a blind eye to such a callous murder, and continued his cozy affairs with MBS., with an invitation to the white house, in the offing.

Global hegemony

But Donald Trump, a president of the United States of America, the global hegemonic superpower and sole military/economic superpower, with the best technological wherewithal to predict global calamities and fashion appropriate remedies thereof.

As a result, Trump's blaming of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, for Covid-19 taking hold in America, to say the least, is a way besides the point.

The truth is; Trump is only using this as a smokescreen for disregarding intelligence and warnings by experts and totally downplaying that existential threat posed by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Blame game

After being in office for close to three and a half years, Donald Trump still blames his predecessor, President Barack Obama, for leaving the coffers empty, health facilities in shambles, strategic stockpiles non-existent and even the military with no AK-47s.

Instead of collaboration with State governors in efficient and coordinated handling of the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping across America, Donald Trump is rather on a collision course with them.

Donald Trump is currently calling on Americans of some States with Democratic governors, to defy the lockdown restrictions and come out to engage in their normal daily activities, at the time experts from his own Covid-19 Task Force team are warning against relaxing the restrictions until massive, aggressive and sustained nationwide testing programe is in place to identify and isolate hotspots.

At a point, he threatened to open the economy by, unilaterally, lifting nationwide lockdown restrictions, only to be educated that the American constituition doesn't give him that authority. He didn't even know the Federal authority has no overriding powers in matters at the State level when it comes to matters that are not of national magnitude.

Geopolitical dynamics

One thing is very clear: Donald Trump's actions against this global body, WHO, is borne out of the fight along the lines of geopolitics where China is actually on the verge of outstaging America, by way of socioeconomic influence in countries of the global south, where the world's natural resources are embedded, and markets for finished products abound.

Donald Trump, whose ideological inclination is firmly-rooted in Realism which places emphasis on self-preservation through the vehicle of economic and military might, is scared China, which is of the Liberal inclination where soft power through trade and cooperation are the main tools of engagement, is having cozy relations with the WHO.

And to make matters worse, WHO is currently headed by a personality who, obviously, is not in good books of Donald Trump so the man is clearly on a warpath to undermine his credibility by branding him China-centric, and to a large extent, chip away his authority by withdrawing America's $450m annual contribution to the organization.

Ideological battle

Unquestionably, this is a clear campaign against Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with subtle intent to getting him out and possibly replaced with an American of the Trump ideological stock.

THE ANTICS OF DONALD TRUMP TOWARDS THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH CHINA-CENTRICISM, BUT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE THEORY OF REALISM BY HANS MORGENTHAU WHICH TALKS ABOUT ANARCHICAL WORLD WHERE EACH NATION DEPLOYS ITS POWER, ECONOMIC, AND MILITARY, TO SECURE ITS INTERESTS AND EXERT INFLUENCE.

THE CURRENT DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ONLY HAPPEN TO FIND HIMSELF IN A PLACE OF CROSSFIRE OF GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL SHENANIGANS.

Newton-Offei Justice Abeeku

email: [email protected]

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