2019 - A year of contact sports for major countries

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2019 - A year of contact sports for major countries
Photo by Neeraj Murali.

There will be a lot of judo between Russia and the rest of the world.

by

Angel Tesorero

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Published: Thu 13 Dec 2018, 8:22 AM

Last updated: Thu 13 Dec 2018, 10:56 AM

Bernardino Leon, director-general of Emirates Diplomatic Academy, described 2019 as an arena of contact sports for leading countries.
"There will be a lot of judo between Russia and the rest of the world. President Putin, who is a judo expert, will take advantage of the weakness of his opponents," he said at a panel discussion on the State of World Politics in 2019.
"Between the US and China will be a sumo wrestling match - two heavyweights trying to throw out each other out of the global arena - but there will be no blood."
"It will be kickboxing in the US politics and we will see chameleonic fighting in European countries, where politicians will change their political colours to remain relevant," added the former Spanish diplomat and former UN Special Representative and Head of UN Support Mission in Libya.
For his part, Fawaz A. Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, warned that the far right politics with its anti-immigration campaign in Europe will continue to gain momentum ahead of next year's parliamentary elections in France, UK and Italy.
It can be noted that recently, Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far right National Rally, portrayed the riots and protest in France as the "rise of nationalist populist movements across Europe and around the world" and called the dissent as "a revolt against savage globalisation, against the global caste that enslaves people, against looting by great financial powers".
Gerges noted that the administration of French President Emmanuel Macron will collapse with the rise of the far right movement.
He noted that the far right "has not reached its peak and momentum is on their side because the economic crisis and the plight of the lower and middle classes has not yet improved".
"So far, the far right has coopted this dissatisfaction and I'm worried that a new form of fascism will rise," Gerges warned.
On another note, Gerges, who is also the author of 'ISIS: A History' and 'Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East," has criticised US President Trump for "his lack of any real strategy in Syria".
He explained that the US government's decision to pull out $200m in aid for Syria's ongoing humanitarian crisis, has forfeited the opportunity to help shape Syria's future.
angel@khaleejtimes.com


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