***Diplomacy and not indiscretion and unwarranted arrogance is the balm for foreign relations. We make bold to say that in the fight against terrorism and in trying to achieve global peace, harmony and international brotherhood with universal altruism as a fulcrum, world leaders should employ diplomacy and the art of persuasion, rather than appearing magisterial, imperious and authoritarian. The size and weakness of a country should not even induce such a temptation of talking tough to covey what some people erroneously have come to regard as the truth. (Pull -out quote).
Since David Cameron came to limelight as the leader of the Conservative Party culminating in his becoming the British Prime Minister under the current wobbling coalition Government, it appears his PR background has continued to trail him like a shadow.
Public Relations as a respectable profession may not really be about putting up appearances; false image; a larger than life image; hitting opponents below the belt without recourse to decency; ambushing political opponents to take undue advantage of them; attention getting; headline seeking; front page seeking; 15- minute fame seeking and showmanship, but Mr Cameron has made it become all of these.
Mr Cameron cuts a pitiful sight of a man who leaps before he thinks, who acts before he thinks, a man who lacks strategic thinking, fiercely in a hurry and appears to be running after Noah’s Ark, a man who is not reflective, a man who is immature, always out to impress, an over excited school boy infected with infantile radicalism.
From the onset, while he was exhibiting all of these tendencies, and still does, the British media seem to have goaded him on indirectly, giving him sensational headlines, front page attention, and it does not seem to matter to them so long as Cameron’s exuberant tendency helps them to sell their news. We on our part had looked on with unabated breath thinking he would mature with age as his responsibilities get bigger, but we were mistaken as his resent outbursts abroad have shown.
Firstly, while Mr Cameron was in Turkey, he had said unguardedly without caring a hoot about the feelings of Israel: ''Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.''
And after he had moved to India with his 30-member delegation, he exploded in a boyish enthusiasm: "We should be very, very clear with Pakistan that we want to see a strong, stable and democratic Pakistan.
"But we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror whether to India, whether to Afghanistan or to anywhere else in the world.”
That outburst was totally embarrassing, not only to the British public, but to most friends of Britain across the globe and all conscientious humanity who value universal altruism, excellent diplomacy and decorum.
Thinking Mr Cameron and his aides would embark on damage management and offer an apology to a friendly nation, Pakistan following the deluge of complaints from that country consequent upon street protests and the burning of Mr Cameron’s effigy, but in this again we were wrong. Rather than being remorseful and apologetic, he and his aides together with some section of the media have remained impervious to the deluge of criticisms that had ensued after that unfortunate outburst. This is the stuff in which macho politics is made, someone would say.
Some analysts have traced this stubbornness, arrogance and crass insensitivity to Mr Cameron’s background, while the band of “alleluia boys and girls” around him has ludicrously termed this strong-headedness as pragmatism. But what Mr Cameron must have at the back of his mind at all times while in that exalted office is that he is representing a great nation with a proud and cherished tradition of excellent diplomacy in international relations. We are not here defending Pakistan for her role or otherwise in “terror exporting”, which if truth must be told the Pakistani authorities themselves had in the past owned up, but adding they had been a re-definition of their foreign policy regarding commitment to fighting terrorism, rather our concern in this editorial is about the deployment of appropriate language and decency in international communications with due regard for universal altruism.
It should therefore be noted by all world leaders, not just Mr Cameron, that choice of words is very, very important in foreign relations. The place of Britain, past and present in global affairs is very important. This is our worry that a leader of a country like Britain would go abroad and explode in such a boyish irascibility in the name of talking tough and pragmatism. We do not want a precedence to be set in a manner that will make world leaders on state visits to other countries start behaving like colonial masters, bullies; we do not want a situation where world leaders will go to friendly countries on state visits with whips acting like Pharaoh. World leaders should not go to foreign countries as masters, but as equals of their counterparts and as partners in progress out to do business with them as representatives of sovereign nations like theirs.
Therefore, diplomacy and not indiscretion and unwarranted arrogance is the balm for foreign relations. We make bold to say that in the fight against terrorism and in trying to achieve global peace, harmony and international brotherhood with universal altruism as a fulcrum, world leaders should employ diplomacy and the art of persuasion, rather than appearing magisterial, imperious and authoritarian. The size and weakness of a country should not even induce such a temptation of talking tough to covey what some people erroneously have come to regard as the truth.
Our candid advice to Mr Cameron therefore, is to adopt a mission statement for his foreign policy and that is to win friends, businesses and goodwill for Britain. Talking tough, if necessary at all, when visiting a friendly country on a bilateral talk should be done at a closed door meeting with one’s hosts.
It is also very embarrassing and wrong for Mr Cameron to go to a foreign country grovelling and selling Britain cheap as a junior partner as he had done while in the US. In the same manner that we would not want him to talk down other nations when abroad, we would also not want him to talk down Britain when abroad. Mr Cameron has to develop confidence in himself, get real, read about great British Prime Ministers like Disraeli, Churchill and past world leaders such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Charles de Gaulle, Douglas MacArthur, Shigeru Yoshida, Konrad Adenauer, Nikita Khrusshchev, Zhou Enlai, Kwame Nkrumah, J.F Kennedy, Mao, Ghandi, including Mandela, the living legend, etc. He should forget about what the media will say as pandering to the drumming of the media is creating headlines for them to sell their news.
Truth is, despite his indiscretion and impetuosity; we admire Mr Cameron’s business - like approach to burning issues, boundless energy and enthusiasm. But Mr Cameron should learn to make haste slowly.
And not forgetting, when next Mr Cameron is travelling abroad, he should leave his vuvuzela behind!