Amin Maalouf's ‘Labyrinth of the Lost'
In addition to his literary achievements, Maalouf also serves as the Secretary General of the Académie Française. Amin Maalouf's book delves into the complex and evolving relationship and often conflict between the West and its historical adversaries, particularly in Southeast Asia, including China and Japan, as well as Soviet Russia and the West's dynamic with the New World, specifically the United States. The book traces the trajectory of these global powers, beginning with Japan's Meiji era, which astonished the world with its rapid industrial development, Soviet Russia, which posed a serious threat to the West for nearly three-quarters of a century before its eventual collapse, and China, which has emerged in the 21st century as the West's primary competitor in global influence, due to its vast population and unique philosophical foundations.
Maalouf also highlights the rise of the United States, especially after World War I, and its dominant global role following its decisive victory in World War II, emerging as the most advanced and powerful nation, and arguably the only one capable of defending global stability against external threats. When Maalouf completed his book two years ago, before the outbreak of the Gaza conflict and its repercussions, he predicted a significant decline of the West, particularly embodied by America. What we are witnessing today confirms this prediction, manifesting as political and moral bankruptcy. However, this does not imply that the West's adversaries or challengers are in a better position.
Neither side currently holds the capacity to lead humanity out of the complex maze it faces. Even the United States, once a symbol of moral and material hope for many nations globally, is now experiencing setback after setback. America spent billions of dollars on its war in Afghanistan but did not build a single school or clinic there, a stark contrast to its honorable record with Japan and Germany after World War II. Its direct and indirect interventions in dozens of countries worldwide have tarnished both its credibility and the legacy of its founding fathers. The scandals and defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan, along with the consequences of the Iraq invasion, which many viewed as a defeat, have deeply affected the prudence and humanity of the American administrations. Maalouf concluded that it is not in humanity's best interest to be led by a hegemonic power, whether from America, China, or any other nation, because such dominance inevitably turns that country into an arrogant tyrant, ultimately leading to its downfall, as has occurred with empires throughout history.
The solution lies in genuine cooperation within respected international organizations where all voices are heard. It is absurd, for example, to witness America's relentless push to establish an 'International Court of Justice,' only to demand, insist upon, and secure exemptions for its citizens from being held accountable before it. What we are witnessing from the current U.S. administration was foreseen by Maalouf in his insightful book. Maalouf concludes by stating that the huge problems facing our planet require collective action through a system of global solidarity. This is the only way to avoid future dangers, especially now that the world's sole superpower has lost its 'moral legitimacy.'
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Arab Times
7 hours ago
- Arab Times
Is this thing on? Accidental authenticity of Trump's hot mic moment is latest in a long global list
LONDON, Aug 20, (AP): Behold the power of the humble hot mic. The magnifier of sound, a descendant of 150-year-old technology, on Monday added to its long history of cutting through the most scripted political spectacles when it captured more than two minutes of U.S. President Donald Trump and eight European leaders chit-chatting around a White House news conference on their talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The standout quote came from Trump himself to French President Emmanuel Macron even before anyone sat down. The American president, reflecting his comments after meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand, as crazy as it sounds.' How politics and diplomacy sound when the principals think no one is listening can reveal much about the character, humor, and humanity of our leaders - for better and sometimes for worse. As public figures, they've long known what the rest of us are increasingly learning in the age of CCTV, Coldplay kiss cams, and social media: In public, no one can realistically expect privacy. "Whenever I hear about a hot mic moment, my first reaction is that this is what they really think, that it's not gone through the external communications filter,' said Bill McGowan, founder and CEO of Clarity Media Group in New York. "That's why people love it so much: There is nothing more authentic than what people say on a hot mic.' Hot mics, often leavened with video, have bedeviled aspiring and actual leaders long before social media. During a sound check for his weekly radio address in 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously joked about attacking the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. "My fellow Americans," Reagan quipped, not realizing the practice run was being recorded. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.' The Soviet Union didn't find it funny and condemned it, given the consequential subject at hand. Putin, too, has fallen prey to the perils of a live mic. In 2006, he was quoted in Russian media joking about Israel's president, who had been charged with and later was convicted of rape. The Kremlin said Putin was not joking about rape and his meaning had been lost in translation. Sometimes a hot mic moment involves no words at all. Presidential candidate Al Gore was widely parodied for issuing exasperated and very audible sighs during his debate with George W. Bush in 2000. In others, the words uttered for all to hear are profane. Bush was caught telling running mate Dick Cheney that a reporter for The New York Times was a "major-league .....' "This is a big .... deal,' then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden famously said, loudly enough to be picked up on a microphone, as President Barack Obama prepared to sign his signature Affordable Care Act in 2010. Obama was caught on camera in South Korea telling Dmitri Medvedev, then the Russian president, that he'll have "more flexibility' to resolve sensitive issues - "particularly with missile defense' - after the 2012 presidential election, his last. Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's rival that year, called the exchange "bowing to the Kremlin.' "Sometimes it's the unguarded moments that are the most revealing of all,' Romney said in a statement, dubbing the incident "hot mic diplomacy.' Live mics have picked up name-calling and gossip aplenty even in the most mannerly circles. In 2022, Jacinda Ardern, then New Zealand's prime minister, known for her skill at debating and calm, measured responses, was caught on a hot mic tossing an aside in which she referred to a rival politician as "such an arrogant pr--' during Parliament Question Time. In 2005, Jacques Chirac, then president of France, was recorded airing his distaste for British food during a visit to Russia. Speaking to Putin and Gerhard Schroder, he was heard saying that worse food could only be found in Finland, according to widely reported accounts. Britain's King Charles III chose to deal with his hot mic moment with humor. In 2022, shortly after his coronation, Charles lost his patience with a leaky pen while signing a document on a live feed. He can be heard grousing: "Oh, God, I hate this!' and muttering, "I can't bear this bloody thing … every stinking time.' It wasn't the first pen that had troubled him. The British ability to poke fun at oneself, he said in a speech the next year, is well known: "Just as well, you may say, given some of the vicissitudes I have faced with frustratingly failing fountain pens this past year.' The American president is famously uncontrolled in public with a penchant for "saying it like it is,' sometimes with profanity. That makes him popular among some supporters. But even he had trouble putting a lid on comments he made before he was a candidate to "Access Hollywood' in tapes that jeopardized his campaign in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race. Trump did not appear to know the microphone was recording. Trump bragged about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who were not his wife on recordings obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News and aired just two days before his debate with Hillary Clinton. The celebrity businessman boasted "when you're a star, they let you do it,' in a conversation with Billy Bush, then a host of the television show. With major supporters balking, Trump issued an apology "if anyone was offended,' and his campaign dismissed the comments as "locker room banter.' On Monday, though, the chatter on both ends of the East Room press conference gave observers a glimpse of the diplomatic game. Dismissed unceremoniously from the White House in March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now sat at the table with Trump and seven of his European peers: Macron, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump complimented Merz's tan. He said Stubb is a good golfer. He asked if anyone wanted to ask the press questions when the White House pool was admitted to the room - before it galloped inside. The European leaders smiled at the shouting and shuffling. Stubb asked Trump if he's "been through this every day?' Trump replied, "All the time.' Meloni said she doesn't want to talk to the Italian press. But Trump, she noted, is game. "He loves it. He loves it, eh?" she said.
Kuwait Times
7 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Putin may not want to make a deal on Ukraine, Trump says
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It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal,' said Trump, who has previously threatened more sanctions on Russia and nations that buy its oil if Putin does not make peace. Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump's promise of security guarantees to help end the war during an extraordinary summit on Monday but face many unanswered questions, including how willing Russia will be to play ball. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the talks at the White House as a 'major step forward' towards ending Europe's deadliest conflict in 80 years and setting up a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump in the coming weeks. Zelensky was flanked by the leaders of allies including Germany, France and Britain at the summit. His warm rapport with Trump contrasted sharply with their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February. But the path to peace remains deeply uncertain and Zelensky may be forced to make painful compromises to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Analysts say more than 1 million people have been killed or wounded in the conflict. Russian attacks While the Washington talks allowed for a temporary sense of relief in Kyiv, there was no let-up in the fighting. Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, the largest this month. The energy ministry said Russia had targeted energy facilities in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine's only oil refinery, causing big fires. However, Russia also returned the bodies of 1,000 dead Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow received 19 bodies of its own soldiers in return, according to the state-run TASS news agency. 'The good news (from Monday's summit) is that there was no blow-up. Trump didn't demand Ukrainian capitulation nor cut off support. The mood music was positive and the trans-Atlantic alliance lives on,' John Foreman, a former British defence attache to Kyiv and Moscow, told Reuters. 'On the downside, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the nature of security guarantees and what exactly the US has in mind.' Ukraine's allies held talks in the so-called 'Coalition of the Willing' format on Tuesday, discussing additional sanctions to crank up the pressure on Russia. The grouping has also agreed that planning teams will meet US counterparts in the coming days to advance plans for security guarantees for Ukraine. NATO military leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, with US General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected to attend the meeting virtually, officials told Reuters. 'We are now actively working at all levels on the specifics, on what the architecture of the guarantees will look like, with all members of the Coalition of the Willing, and very concretely with the United States,' Zelensky said on X. 'Tiptoeing around Trump' Russia has made no explicit commitment to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow did not reject any formats for discussing peace in Ukraine but any meeting of national leaders 'must be prepared with utmost thoroughness'. Putin has said Russia will not tolerate troops from the NATO alliance in Ukraine. He has also shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Russia's military control, following his summit with Trump last Friday in Alaska. Neil Melvin, director, International Security at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said Russia could drag out the war while trying to deflect US pressure with a protracted peace negotiation. 'I think behind this there's a struggle going on between Ukraine and the Europeans on one side, and the Russians on the other, not to present themselves to Trump as the obstacle to his peace process,' Melvin said. 'They're all tiptoeing around Trump' to avoid any blame, he said, adding that on security guarantees, 'the problem is that what Trump has said is so vague it's very hard to take it seriously.' — Reuters
Arab Times
8 hours ago
- Arab Times
US destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims to pressure drug cartels
WASHINGTON, Aug 20, (AP): The United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump's effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, according to a US official briefed on the planning. The USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson are expected to arrive soon, said the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. A Defense Department official confirmed that the military assets have been assigned to the region in support of counter narcotics efforts. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, said the vessels would be deployed "over the course of several months.' The deployment of US destroyers and personnel comes as Trump has pushed for using the US military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into American communities and for perpetuating violence in some US cities. Trump has also pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico's cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico's sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention by the US military. Trump in February designated Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, MS-13 in El Salvador and six groups based in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations. His Republican administration has also stepped up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members. The designation is normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group that use violence for political ends - not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels. But the Trump administration argues the international connections and operations of the groups - including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and violent pushes to extend their territory - warrant the designation. Earlier this month, the Trump government announced it was doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world's largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
