By David K. Shipler
As of
January 20, when Donald Trump is inaugurated, the world’s three strongest
nuclear powers will all be led by criminals. Only Trump has been convicted, but
Vladimir Putin faces an outstanding arrest warrant from the International
Criminal Court—for his war crime of abducting children from Ukraine to Russia—and
Xi Jinping should face one for his genocide against the Muslim Uighurs in China.
Trump has obviously been found guilty of much less—mere business fraud—although
he was justifiably charged with mishandling classified documents; obstruction
of justice; and attempting, in effect, to overturn the linchpin of electoral
democracy.
The
world is in the throes of criminality. Where government is weak—or
complicit—organized crime or terrorism often fills the vacuum. In Mexico,
cartels manufacture drugs freely and now control the conduits of illegal
immigration into the United States. In areas of Myanmar ravaged by internal
combat, narcotics producers are in open collusion with Chinese traffickers, and
kidnap victims are forced onto the internet to scam the unsuspecting out of
their life savings. And so on, amid a sprawling disintegration of order.
Moreover, warfare has widened far
beyond the familiar headlines. Not only in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Sudan,
but in 42
countries total, wars are raging: invasions, insurgencies, ethnic
conflicts, and militias fighting over precious resources. Combined with drought
and storms fueled by the earth’s unprecedented warming, the wars are uprooting
millions in the most massive human displacement of modern history. As of last
June, an estimated 122.6
million people were living as refugees worldwide after having been driven
from their homes by violent conflict, persecution, and human rights violations,
according to the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. Another 21.5
million people each year, on average, are forced out by droughts, floods,
wildfires, and stifling temperatures.
Into
this maelstrom come Trump and his eccentric minions with their wrecking balls
and decrees, soon to be taught the inevitable Lesson of Uncertainties: The
outside world can be neither controlled nor ignored by Washington. It intrudes
in unexpected ways, defies prediction, and resists domination. It pushes
presidents around.
Therefore, while some sure things are probably in store, it’s more useful to examine questions, not answers, regarding what the new year might bring.
