Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/714702
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 AUGUST 2016 15 Interview The US Presidential election may radically transform how the US interacts with the rest of the world. But America's ambassador to Malta, GLENNA KATHLEEN HILL, is confident that America will remain a global leader, regardless of the outcome PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAPHAEL FARRUGIA there are still a lot of other com- ponents to the ship that cannot be ignored. In this regard, I think this keeps us to a certain extent steady. It's an entire system of checks and balances. Our priorities may change to a certain extent… but I've found, at least in my 20+ years of government service, that the top four or five priorities are always the same; they just get into differ- ent rank order. There will always be a concern with security; there's always concern on economy, and with human rights. What we focus on within those broad categories might change with each adminis- tration, but the overall focus – be- cause it is based on our values as a country – doesn't change hugely." On the subject of security – and to briefly move closer to home – the United States is currently involved in a number of military activities, including in Libya. Recently, an agreement was announced where- by the US would use Italian air bases to conduct strikes… which indirectly means that the planes will have to fly across Maltese air- space to reach their targets. Has there been any agreement or talks with the Maltese government to this effect? "Not that I know of. Nothing. It has been reported in the press that the US have talked to Italy about the use of their facilities as bases for strikes, as part of the limited activities we are doing in Libya. Nothing with Malta, however…" At the same time, however, there has in the past been considerable communication between our two countries on the subject of inter- national security. The US embassy cables, for instance, seemed to sug- gest that Malta was considered a strategic hub for the international illicit arms trade; and our prox- imity to Libya alone made Malta play a prominent role in the 2010 evacuation. Does the US still regard Malta as a strategic location to focus on is- sues related to counter-terrorism? "The US will work with all of its partners to combat terrorism… everybody who will work with us… because we see terrorism as a threat around the world. And we're determined to address the threat; I would like to say we're determined to eradicate it, but that's a big job… This is one of the reasons you see us reaching out to all countries: to partner with every country to combat terrorism. We're working to help countries to monitor their borders more effectively; we're sharing information with Europe- an countries. It's been a hard road, because we don't agree on the ba- sic tenets of information sharing. It's an ongoing negotiation, as with many other things. But we co-op- erate with everybody. All govern- ments around the world recognise the inherent threat of terrorism: the chaos and the randomness of it. What you're seeing is a push, not just with Malta, to help up- grade security systems so that we can all face up to the challenge of terrorism…" This raises another issue which is of relevance to the ongoing election campaign. Earlier, the US ambas- sador cited human rights as a top priority. But as the experience with immigration and terrorism – in America as in Europe – illustrates, the need to bolster security often clashes with respect for human rights. We see this in the treatment of asylum seekers, in the surveil- lance implicit in counter-terrorism activities. Are we witnessing the erosion of this human rights prior- ity on the basis of security? "This question is being debated worldwide. It's a difficult ques- tion, because it goes at core values for so many countries, including USA. Human rights, due process, the rule of law… are all critically important. I think if we lose those, we lose our core identity. At the same time, we have to secure our borders, and protect our people. So it's a constant balancing act that nations have to go through to de- cide where they want to be on the scale. It's never perfect. The scale tips one way or the other, then you have to rebalance it again. But there will always be an overlay of human rights concerns when you are trying to implement policy on issues related to terrorism. You always have to recognise that they must go together and that policies must be balanced between both sides. It's a constant struggle." Coming back to the campaign: we have so far concentrated mainly on Trump and Clinton, but anoth- er striking aspect so far has been the meteoric rise in popularity of Bernie Sanders. This is turn points towards fundamental differences between American and European political attitudes. Sanders was heavily criticised for being a 'So- cialist'… but that, in itself, would not be considered criticism in Eu- rope. This suggests that 'socialism' is traditionally a no-go area for US politics (and there is much history to support that view). Yet Bernie Sanders still gave Clinton a cred- ible run for her money. Is the US attitude towards so- cialism changing? And if so, could this also be a reflection that the progressive elements were dissatis- fied by the change promised (some would say not entirely delivered) by Obama? "I can't offhand remember all the promises that were made in 2008…. but Obama did deliver a fairly radical healthcare agenda for the US, which he had promised in the campaign. In that regard there has been significant change under the current Obama administra- tion, especially in domestic policy. The reform had started under [Bill Clinton], but it wasn't successful at the time. With our system of checks and balances, the White House can propose, but the Con- gress has to fund. There is always a balance going on." This balance, she adds, will con- tinue to be in place regardless of the election outcome. "There is a lot of change going on in the world; one could call it an evolution of ideas. But I think there is also a lot of good stable activity going on as well. I think America, because its interaction with the world is so broad and deep at so many levels, I think that brings a certain balancing factor to the equation, and a certain stability to it as well."