Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/767061
maltatoday, SATURDAY, 24 DECEMBER 2016 3 2016: Looking back lobbying Farage to oppose windfarms next to his golf course in Scotland. Perhaps it is the new way of doing politics, where leaders help each other out in their private affairs. Perhaps this is where Vladimir Putin comes in the pic- ture as the Russian godfather of the far right international. The Putin international Trump and Farage are also united by admi- ration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, an authoritarian despot who actively supports anyone keen on destabilising western liberal democracies and the European project in par- ticular. For the brand new world may well be char- acterized by great power diplomacy, of leaders who rely on court and palace diplomacy rather than on multilateral institutions like the EU or the UN. It may well be a world where diver- gent interests are resolved by restoring spheres of influence. Yet such a world would be endemically un- stable. For while Trump may like Putin, he is at odds with China – which is geopolitically clos- er to Russia over trade and Taiwan. Trump has also promised to scrap the sanctions deal with Iran – another key Russian ally – and a vital lifeline for the Assad regime in Syria. Any right wing international is bound to fracture into competing national interests where the only antidote (or path) to war will be the chemistry between individual strong men. Moreover suggestions that Russia might have intervened in the US elections by hack- ing accounts of Democratic party officials, puts pressure on Trump to prove himself as a defender of his own country's interests, espe- cially when these come in conflict with Rus- sia's. A foretaste of things to come is the tur- bulent relationship between Turkey's Erdogan and Russia's Putin – two autocrats who may be friendly at times while coming close to war in the Syrian quagmire. The recent assassination of the Russian am- bassador in Ankara is a case in point. Tensions may even flare closer to home. It remains to be seen whether Trump will renege on NA- TO commitments, giving Putin a freehand to destabilize the Baltic States, who as EU mem- bers will rightfully expect fellow members to step in if Trump looks the other way. Bring on the apocalypse It is also clear that the strategy of Islamic ter- rorists is to strike at the heart of tolerant Euro- pean cities like Berlin with the sole aim of stok- ing a radical Islamophobic reaction. The sight of Germans welcoming refugees from Syria was a major cultural defeat for Isis. Attacks on the eve of elections in France and Germany may well be aimed at securing a victory for the radical right and create the right climate for the apocalypse which radical Islamists yearn for. Crucially one major test to Trump's foreign policy would be his reaction to a terrorist at- tack on American soil. For while like George W. Bush Trump was elected on a platform of withdrawal from the world stage, Trump who also hyped xenophobic Islamophobia may well over-react. If Isis wants an apocalypse it clearly knows what it has to do to get the reaction it wants. A Kodak in a world of Instagram And where does this leave the opposition to Brexit, Trump and the transatlantic hard right? Both the Democratic Party in the US and the Labour Party in the UK are at a loss. For while Clinton's moderate brand left many underprivileged voters cold, offering nothing but a continuation of policies which contributed to rising inequalities, in the UK Corbyn's party seems condemned to folkloris- tic irrelevance, torn between the expectations of cosmopolitan remain voters and insular leave voters. Nothing could symbolize the quandary fac- ing Labour than Jeremy Corbyn's weak per- formance in the referendum (where he only sounded passionate defending freedom of movement, the very thing which irked leavers in his party) and his subsequent triumph in a leadership of a party which has become aller- gic to Tony Blair's toxic legacy. Bernie Sanders's – a self declared socialist – unexpected strong challenge to Clinton fits the pattern; a rejection of third-way politics by elder politicians whose movements have yet to come up with a convincing alternative to neo liberalism. For in the UK Labour seems to have lost the ability to communicate outside its ideo- logical bubble. And even that bubble seems to be imploding, with leftists like Peter Tatchell and Owen Jones openly questioning Corbyn's timid stance on the Russian bombardment of Aleppo. Trapped in a frozen cold war "anti imperialism" leaders like Corbyn have no clue on how to deal with an aggressive imperialist Russia. In this sense Justin Trudeau's triumph in Canada's election on an inclusive and liberal platform coupled with a promise of a stimulus plan which defies the logic of austerity, stands as an interesting exception to global trends even if it may be too early in the day to judge his economic performance. Across the channel the left risks not even making it to a second round where the staunchly conservative Fillon is expected to be the rival of Marine Le Pen. Split between the law and order message of Manuel Valls, the radical centrism of Emmanuel Macron and the far left Jean-Luc Melenchon, the French left seems heading to irrelevance. Further south Matteo Renzi may have given Beppe Grillo a golden opportunity after doing a Da- vid Cameron; gambling his personal future on a referendum which saw the electorate reject- ing his constitutional offer by a 60% margin. Of the current crop of centrist leaders it is Angela Merkel, who may survive as the leader of another grand coalition in Germany (or in alliance with Liberals or Greens). This for the simple reason that the social- ists are making no inroads while the right wing Alternative for Germany can't possibly win. What is sure is that the left has been dis- credited for lurching too much to the right in the past 25 years but becomes a caricature of its own self when it presents itself as a fading Kodak image of its glorious years in a world of Instagram. the new normal Above: the new normal in Brussels, where terrorists targeted the airport, and right, the Berlin Christmas market attack, where a car-jacked truck was used to plough into dozens of market-goers. Left: Russian president Vladimir Putin, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, and US President Donald Trump. Below, Europe's far-right: Italy's Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini, France's Front National leader Marine Le Pen, the Netherlands' Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders Crucially one major test to Trump's foreign policy would be his reaction to a terrorist attack on American soil. Elected on a platform of withdrawal from the world stage, he hyped xenophobic Islamophobia and may well over-react