Respect

I grew up in a world where respect was expected. I don't think there was a concept of earning respect. As a child & a teenager I was expected to respect my parents, teachers & adults in general, regardless of whether they were worthy of that respect. You didn't interrupt, you certainly didn't answer back or have views of your own about situations. You "knew your place" in the hierarchy & it was very low down. As a child you were "seen & not heard".

I'm glad to say that has changed. In some ways for the better, we do expect people to earn respect. But also there is the growing trend for a complete lack of respect for people & concepts that seem to me to be necessary for the smooth running of society.

In part that is because what seemed black & white is now several shades of grey. The world we live in is highly complex. For example respecting the borders of sovereign countries. 

Take the USA invasion of Venezuela - Maduro did not win his countries election, so was an illegitimate president. In 2021 the ICC opened an investigation into what was happening in Venezuela. Does that give the US the right to capture Venezuelan ships, bomb Caracas & extract Maduro to the US? I am unpersuaded. I think this is simply Trumps transactional, deal making, bullying, personality. In simple terms he want to control the oil production & minerals, notably bauxite, coal, gold, iron ore. The state controled most of the country's vast mineral reserves, Trump wants that control & the cash that goes with it.

He has no respect for the rule of international law only Trumps law. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 is now the Donroe Doctrine. He is open about aspirations in Greenland, Columbia, Iran, Mexico & Cuba. The chances are that the aftermath of this will follow the pattern of the history of American intervention abroad, as warned by the International Crisis Group & the New York Times in October. The fall of Maduro could lead to violence and instability, the prospect of violent chaos as armed factions competed for power.

If Trump succeeds & is not openly challenged the flood gates open for Netenyahu, Putin & Xi Jinping to do even more than they already have. They have shown no respect for sovereign boundaries, human life & infrastructure. Trump is not the only leader with delusions of grandeur, avarice & power. At the moment politics & politicians simply do not know how to deal with these "leaders"  

We have to return to a world where there is respect for people, culture, boundaries, resources & the world we live in. If we don't we are simply self destructing.