The ‘Bandung spirit’ lives on in the new multipolar world

[sufi]

The ‘Bandung spirit’ lives on in the new multipolar world

China’s huge growth and trade success have driven the expansion of the Brics alliance — now is a good time for the global South to rediscover 1955’s historic Bandung conference, and learn its lessons, writes ROGER McKENZIE

morningstaronline.co.uk

1. Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and the principles of the charter of the UN.
2. Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
3. Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small.
4. Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country.
5. Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself singly or collectively, in conformity with the charter of the UN.
6. (a) Abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers,
(b) Abstention by any country from exerting pressures on other countries.
7. Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
8. Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties’ own choice, in conformity with the charter of the UN.
9. Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation.
10. Respect for justice and international obligation.

The new hope provided by the Brics bloc of nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, supplemented recently with Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and, from last week Indonesia — can also trace their lineage to the spirit of Bandung.But Brics must learn the lessons of Bandung on how best to handle the backlash from the Western nations that have ruled the roost for centuries.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

That BRICS selection is like a basket case case. Them insisting on the equality of nations is like wife-beaters insisting on the equality of husbands.

 

[sufi]

The U.S. is endangered by the current strategy of primacy... Primacy makes the U.S. less secure by design, and it “heightens the risks of the United States sleepwalking into a disastrous confrontation with a great-power rival.” To avoid that calamity, the U.S. needs to retrench, and in order to retrench it must reform itself at home.

“Simply put, programmatic attempts at retrenchment are doomed to failure in the present context because there are too many Americans who profit from militarism, who regard primacy as a means of promoting their values abroad, or who would be across-the-board retrenchment as an assault on their sense of national identity.”

How to overthrow America's war cartel

A new book calling for retrenchment says the country needs a radical overhaul of domestic politics, including elections and Congress.

responsiblestatecraft.org

 

[luka]