By Rabi Raj Thapa
Democracy is like a hat that fits all types of heads. Democracy is also like a shoe where only the wearer knows where it pinches and how.
On June 10, 2024, the UN Security Council backed the US proposal for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
On Sunday, Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister for a third term. However, the elections saw a resurgence of India’s opposition but could not topple Modi in what they had strived for. Leaders from India’s neighboring countries-–Presidents of Sri Lanka and Maldives, Vice-President of Seychelles, and Prime Ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mauritius and Nepal, attended the grand ceremony. People may have asked why only seven were invited and what the reason for that.
Now Parisians are shocked to see French President Emmanuel Macron announcing snap-legislative elections where far-right parties marginalized his party by half. The question may arise of what is happening to the democratic countries of the whole world at large.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in Germany to rebuild Ukraine while his soldiers are dying due to lack of ammunition and while Ukraine is burning he should be with his soldiers and people on the battlefield like Napoleon Bonaparte. That is not the way to protect, and preserve democracy.
Russian attack on Ukraine on February 22, 2022, has already inflamed Europe into NATO into a war-fever. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg keeps on swearing that Ukraine cannot afford to lose the war, but things look the opposite. Ukraine is starving for weapons and fighting manpower. Zelenskyy must be losing heart.
Is European democracy changing? Is Indian democracy changing? Is Nepali Loktantra changing? If yes how and why? This is a million-dollar question that nobody will be able to answer today.
When Hamas Attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, the world thought Israel MOSSAD and IDF would eliminate Hamas in no time. Today Israel Defense Forces (IDA) is not succeeding in bringing Hamas in size. The best and mighty MOSSAD and Israeli Defense Forces are pounding bombs over unarmed defenceless Palestinian women and children, still, the war is not over, because they are not Hamas. In such a crucial moment, Israeli people are on the streets demanding an election and the release of hostages. To put fuel on the fire; Benny Gantz, a key minister of the Israeli war cabinet, announced his quitting the emergency government.
In the past, the United Nations Security Council and the United General Assembly strived hard to have a cease-fire but they failed every time because the US government used its Veto power. Now, surprisingly the same US government is pushing for the same, ‘cease-fire’ proposal. Now, US Secretary of State Blinken hopes that Netanyahu would ‘reaffirm commitment’ to the US ceasefire plan, and Hamas would also appease the proposal!
This week, Europe’s far-right European People’s Party is set to take the largest number of seats in the European Parliament which is going to make Europe’s Green Party and other liberals weak and uneasy. Ursula Vanderlin, the Commission’s President inclines the right centre-right is about to serve a second term which she will become when the heads of the 27 member countries approve that.
It must be a good relief for Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to meet and renew his old relationships with his old acquaintances. As the Chairman of the SAARC regional organization, he had the best opportunity to organize side-line meetings with other high-level delegates of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka to get credit for making SAARC functional once again. It is also surprising that all SAARC member countries have ignored or almost forgotten another member country Afghanistan.
Surprisingly, while one of the propounders of Secular Federal Nepal was in Delhi, another self-proclaimed architect of the 12-point agreement, former ambassador Shyam Saran was having a meeting in Nepal instead of celebrating such a grand ceremony in New Delhi.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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