Legal scholar, political analyst and author Prof Richard Calland joined Eusebius McKaiser to debate SA’s abstention from a UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Calland argued that much of the public debate about this country’s foreign policy position lacks nuance, appropriate contextualisation and historicism. He insisted, for example, on distinguishing between political principals who might be crudely supportive of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and seasoned diplomats within the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco) who are motivated by a genuine commitment to the principle of non-alignment on the global stage.
Calland agreed with McKaiser, however, that Dirco’s explanatory note regarding its abstention was problematic. There was a false moral equivalence drawn between Russian aggression and Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty, as well as a refusal to recognise that Russia had violated international law and inadequate exploration of the preconditions for productive political dialogue.
Calland and McKaiser ended the discussion with reflections on what might account for the ANC’s and the state’s attitudes towards Putin. Furthermore, they concluded that, while ideals about a moral or human rights-based foreign policy invariably give way to the pressures of realpolitik, SA ought to think harder about what its long-term interests demand.
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