Donetsk region To what extent should people be allowed to govern themselves in the manner they choose? I think this is one of the most important questions of our time. When you look at many of the conflicts around the world, you find that after WWII the allies drew borders for most of the world. They didn’t take into account historical boundaries or the preferences of the people.
Many boundaries were established to keep a region politically weak or provide the allied countries with access to the natural resources of other sovereign nations. When we look at Eastern Europe, we see that traditional boundaries were ignored after WWII when the real estate was carved into nations. To complicate their issue further, the USSR did some significant gerrymandering.
Now we are faced with conflict around the globe and instead of looking back to say those people in the past made a mistake that should be corrected, our current leaders follow the same arrogant, self-serving path that the allies did at the end of WWII.
The world would do better to acknowledge past injustices and set protocols through the United Nations for addressing the issues of break-away nations. Will they have enough resources to be self-supporting? How did they reach their current position? Can the UN protect borders and provide the strong leadership needed to keep order until the issues of forming a responsible government are met?
The curious thing for me as someone who writes political fiction is what happens in reality when the unhappy nations attempt to correct the errors of the past. Oh My! The press turns into a bunch of drama queens. People scream and point fingers. They would do better to read my M’TK Sewer Rat books where I describe the societal breakdown when a government fails and the challenges facing a nation struggling to rebuild. Struggling nations need support, not finger-pointing. Leaders of surrounding nations would do better to acknowledge the forces of reality and admit their own role in creating the inevitable tragedies.
My heroes were able to change their country’s form of government without civil war. This is the way most governments do change. However, to keep my story simple, Jake’s country is of no economic use to anybody. They have few natural resources and little industry. They did not face the manipulations of the Allies, much. Sadly, not every would-be nation is blessed with obscurity so they suffer the consequences of meddling from neighbors who covet their resources.
The price we pay for failure to support governments supported by their people is tragically high as we’ve seen with the Malaysian airliner. The tragedy was not surprising. Whenever a government collapses or loses validity among the people or surrounding nations, certain predictable events occur. Some citizens just need the threat of a strong central government hanging over them to make them behave in a civilized manner. If you remove the central government as happened in Somalia, the Ukraine, Donetsk and to a certain extent with our own crippled congress, those individuals who cannot discipline themselves form into roving bands of outlaws. It happened in my books. It has happened in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and it has happened with the Bundy Ranch in Nevada. It is common and inevitable. Why leaders act surprised and point fingers is beyond me. At this point, I should acknowledge that while common wisdom points fingers at the roving bands of outlaws on the Donetsk frontier, there is no hard evidence that they shot down the Malaysian airliner, and there is enough dysfunction in Ukraine to account for any lapse of judgment in official government policies.
Restoring order to a struggling nation is a challenge that isn’t met overnight. It hasn’t happened with the Bundy Ranch and it hasn’t happened in Donetsk. The respective governments need to be generally validated, a process that falls largely on the press, which brings me back to the question of do people have the right to govern themselves as they see fit?
The press pretty much agrees that anybody they don’t like does not have the right to govern themselves. Clive Bundy’s answer is no, the people of the US do not have the right to make laws that might effect him. International corporations agree that people do not have the right to govern themselves. Of course the World Bank insists that people do not have that right. NATO is dedicated enforcing the boundaries created by the allies. Even the United Nations is slow to acknowledge the legitimacy of a nation’s desire to govern itself.
Still, there are a few small voices, like mine, that cry out with a resounding, “Yes!” Yes, people do have the right to govern themselves as they see fit. We should be able to form governments that protect us from roving bands of outlaws. We should be able to make laws that promote prosperity for everybody. We should be able to set standards that allow for the freedom of speech in whatever language you choose to speak. We should be allowed to govern ourselves.
May God bless those nations that are seeking political freedom.
Note: During my research for this article I came across a pearl of great price—a real journalist, who researches his subject and reports what he sees. Thanks to Mark Mackinnon for his report on the Donetsk People’s Republic. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/was-i-a-wanted-man-in-the-donetsk-peoples-republic/article19703103/
Many boundaries were established to keep a region politically weak or provide the allied countries with access to the natural resources of other sovereign nations. When we look at Eastern Europe, we see that traditional boundaries were ignored after WWII when the real estate was carved into nations. To complicate their issue further, the USSR did some significant gerrymandering.
Now we are faced with conflict around the globe and instead of looking back to say those people in the past made a mistake that should be corrected, our current leaders follow the same arrogant, self-serving path that the allies did at the end of WWII.
The world would do better to acknowledge past injustices and set protocols through the United Nations for addressing the issues of break-away nations. Will they have enough resources to be self-supporting? How did they reach their current position? Can the UN protect borders and provide the strong leadership needed to keep order until the issues of forming a responsible government are met?
The curious thing for me as someone who writes political fiction is what happens in reality when the unhappy nations attempt to correct the errors of the past. Oh My! The press turns into a bunch of drama queens. People scream and point fingers. They would do better to read my M’TK Sewer Rat books where I describe the societal breakdown when a government fails and the challenges facing a nation struggling to rebuild. Struggling nations need support, not finger-pointing. Leaders of surrounding nations would do better to acknowledge the forces of reality and admit their own role in creating the inevitable tragedies.
My heroes were able to change their country’s form of government without civil war. This is the way most governments do change. However, to keep my story simple, Jake’s country is of no economic use to anybody. They have few natural resources and little industry. They did not face the manipulations of the Allies, much. Sadly, not every would-be nation is blessed with obscurity so they suffer the consequences of meddling from neighbors who covet their resources.
The price we pay for failure to support governments supported by their people is tragically high as we’ve seen with the Malaysian airliner. The tragedy was not surprising. Whenever a government collapses or loses validity among the people or surrounding nations, certain predictable events occur. Some citizens just need the threat of a strong central government hanging over them to make them behave in a civilized manner. If you remove the central government as happened in Somalia, the Ukraine, Donetsk and to a certain extent with our own crippled congress, those individuals who cannot discipline themselves form into roving bands of outlaws. It happened in my books. It has happened in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and it has happened with the Bundy Ranch in Nevada. It is common and inevitable. Why leaders act surprised and point fingers is beyond me. At this point, I should acknowledge that while common wisdom points fingers at the roving bands of outlaws on the Donetsk frontier, there is no hard evidence that they shot down the Malaysian airliner, and there is enough dysfunction in Ukraine to account for any lapse of judgment in official government policies.
Restoring order to a struggling nation is a challenge that isn’t met overnight. It hasn’t happened with the Bundy Ranch and it hasn’t happened in Donetsk. The respective governments need to be generally validated, a process that falls largely on the press, which brings me back to the question of do people have the right to govern themselves as they see fit?
The press pretty much agrees that anybody they don’t like does not have the right to govern themselves. Clive Bundy’s answer is no, the people of the US do not have the right to make laws that might effect him. International corporations agree that people do not have the right to govern themselves. Of course the World Bank insists that people do not have that right. NATO is dedicated enforcing the boundaries created by the allies. Even the United Nations is slow to acknowledge the legitimacy of a nation’s desire to govern itself.
Still, there are a few small voices, like mine, that cry out with a resounding, “Yes!” Yes, people do have the right to govern themselves as they see fit. We should be able to form governments that protect us from roving bands of outlaws. We should be able to make laws that promote prosperity for everybody. We should be able to set standards that allow for the freedom of speech in whatever language you choose to speak. We should be allowed to govern ourselves.
May God bless those nations that are seeking political freedom.
Note: During my research for this article I came across a pearl of great price—a real journalist, who researches his subject and reports what he sees. Thanks to Mark Mackinnon for his report on the Donetsk People’s Republic. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/was-i-a-wanted-man-in-the-donetsk-peoples-republic/article19703103/
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