Tag Archives: foreign policy

National Sovereignty

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The European Court of Justice has decided it is the arbiter of a nation’s borders and of entry permissions, and not the nation itself.

The court heard the cases of two men, one Afghan and one with Croatian and Bosnian citizenship, and ruled the severity of their crimes or alleged crimes and how long ago they took place need to be taken into consideration before an entry ban is permitted.

The ECJ ruled that, while an EU member can bar entry to such persons, it must satisfy the court that its rationale is good enough; it is no longer a matter of national sovereignty, and that member cannot simply say, “No entry.”  This is an assault on the sovereignty of nations; it takes away from the nation its right to determine for itself who will be allowed to enter.

It attacks the principle of sovereignty that no person has an inherent right to enter any nation other than his own without that nation’s prior permission, and it attacks the tightly associated principle of sovereignty that no nation has an inherent obligation to let any foreign person in.

The ECJ’s ruling attacks the principle of sovereignty that borders are the province of the sovereign nation and its sovereign neighbor and arrogates the meaning of borders to the court.

Aside from the sovereignty question, there’s also this.  It may be a good or a bad idea for a nation to bar entry to this or that individual or to bar this or that group of individuals.  It’s often a moral question, too.  But it’s not a question that’s within the purview of an international court.  Nor is the morality of the matter a question that’s within the purview of any court.  Acting on a moral question—the very definition of what is moral—is a political act and a political definition.  It cannot be a judicial one, it cannot be the decision of a few who are unaccountable to the nation’s people.  Not in any free society.

This last, especially, has implications for immigration cases currently before the Supreme Court or soon to be.  Will the Justices make the political determination of who is allowed into the United States—as far too many district and appellate judges have presumed to do—or will they leave the political decision properly in the hands of our nation’s political actors?

Selling Weapons to the Republic of China

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Especially in the face of an aggressively acquisitive People’s Republic of China that’s busily trying to cow the Republic of China, The Wall Street Journal favors our selling the RoC updated F-16s.

Such a sale would be a good start, but it’s only that.

There’s no need to wait on international consensus regarding an F-35B sale to the Republic of China (a concern of the WSJ); we should consider moving unilaterally. Or selling an F-35C that isn’t part of any consortium. The People’s Republic of China already has the F-35 secrets, anyway, courtesy of the Obama administration’s decision to eschew IT security. ‘Course, I think the F-35 is a wasteful pig, and uprated F-15s, F-16s, and A-10s would be better buys.

Aside from that, though, we should be selling the RoC high and intermediate altitude missile defense systems and encouraging Israel to sell the RoC its Iron Dome and Arrow defense systems.

And we should resume active and frequent patrols of the Tawain Strait.

It’s time to stop treating the PRC with kid gloves.  It’s time, also, to stop ignoring the RoC’s needs as a sovereign nation.

The Veterans Administration

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…won’t clean up after itself.  In this instance, literally.  This is the VA “hospital” room a veteran was placed in when he went to that…facility…for treatment that involved 18 injections.  Injections to be done in a room as filthy as this.

Dr Karen Gribbin, the chief of staff at the George E Wahlen Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, on Saturday reportedly said that Wilson should not have been in the room. She said the rooms should be cleaned prior to each patient and called on an investigation.

Wahlen is the imitation hospital at which this failure occurred.  The vetaran’s father, who posted the tweet, also tweeted

The condition of the room was the way it was when he went in, no other room was offered and no attempt to clean it up was made for the duration of his appointment[.]

Gibben also admitted that the veteran got his injections in that dirty room, but she claimed that the injection equipment—the needles, for instance—

would have been used just on him.

While that is, in fact, highly likely, how can we be sure, given the condition of the room and the level of professionalism and of integrity demonstrated by going ahead with the patient’s treatment there?

And this:

Gribbin was asked what the typical procedure was for when to clean patient rooms in order to ensure they are clean for each visit.

“We are investigating that. To be quite honest I do not work in that clinic area and I am not sure…exactly what that process is. We will be absolutely clarifying that, making sure our policies and procedures are well thought out and well communicated to staff[.]

She’s the Chief of Staff.  How is it possible that she does not know her own procedures or protocols?

Again, I say: disband the VA altogether and use its budget and nominal future budgets for vouchers for our veterans to see the doctors, clinics, and hospitals they choose, when they choose, and for the care they choose.  Enough of the VA’s trash.  Literally.

The original tweet, posted by the veteran’s father, can be seen here.  Poke through the reply thread, too.

 

Veteranos Administratio delende est.

German Defense Spending

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Recall that at the just-concluded summit between President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump urged Merkel to increase Germany’s defense spending.  Recall further Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s subsequent meeting with NATO bigwigs in which he urged NATO members generally to increase their defense spending.

This table illustrates why Germany really needs to plus up its defense spending.

And this:

In February, the newspaper Rheinische Post cited an internal Bundeswehr paper stating that the army lacked the necessary basic equipment for its deployment in a NATO rapid reaction force.

Basic equipment: really basic, like tents for winter shelter, winter clothing, even combat basics like protective vests.

Germany’s Defense Minister has said she wants €12 billion ($14.6 billion) more than currently allocated to begin to bring the nation’s military establishment to a higher state of capability.  That’s barely a third of one per cent of Germany’s €3.4 trillion ($4.2 trillion) GDP.

I have to ask: is Germany serious about its own defense? Or does it really intend to continue to freeload off other NATO members—not only the US?

Diplomatic Cowardice

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In response to a remarks US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, made regarding Hamas’ role in the deaths and injuries of Gaza inhabitants as they keep trying to storm the fence separating Gaza from Israel, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said Haley’s remarks “lacked credibility.”

What Haley said:

She said the terrorists hide behind innocent women, children and men to further their cause.

Haley in part said that, “Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.”

What Mansour said:

We challenge the liars who advocated lies in the Security Council yesterday.

When asked if he was calling Haley a liar—was she one of the “liars” to whom he was referring—Mansour said she:

created a very strong resentment among the entire Palestinian nation.

And

With regard to Ambassador Haley, the fact that she goes on the tangent that she did…would make her whole story not credible, in addition to being extremely insensitive.

Mansour didn’t have the moral courage to say straight up that he was calling Haley a liar—or that he was not and clarifying that he was not.

This diplomatic cowardice is of a piece with the physical cowardice of the Hamas terrorists who do, indeed, cower behind women and children (and men who want nothing to do with terrorism, even if they do protest the fence).