Before Senator John McCain lampooned President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria as “some guy called Goodluck Jonathan” in a tone bereft of any iota of honour for the democratically elected president of the world’s most revered and envied black nation, over an issue McCain, himself, should most profoundly sympathise with and appreciate the efforts of the president, virtually no civilised person across the globe would ever believe that a civilised American of McCain’s military and political standing would condescend that low.
McCain was advocating the immediate deployment of troops by his country to rescue the abducted Chibok girls in an interview he granted the US-based Daily Beast. He said: “If they knew where they were, I certainly would send in U.S. troops to rescue them, in a New York minute I would, without permission of the host country….I wouldn’t be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named Goodluck Jonathan.”
Every civilised person would discern two most unbecoming behaviours displayed by Senator McCain in this statement: Crass ignorance on handling delicate and peculiar issues according to given circumstances in a given environment; devastating cantankerousness that sharply contrasts with the reputably civilised and democratic personality of a senator of the United States of America. Indeed, his belligerent tone tends to cast aspersion on the credibility of his personality as a principal citizen and upper-chamber legislator of the world’s most revered nation, acclaimed global crises resolver and peacemaker.
It is not stated anywhere in the codes of civilised global policing, crises management and conflict resolution that the USA has the latitude to swoop at any location in a sovereign nation, however weak, in a hawkish style across the globe to carry out any assignment in its broad duty of global policing and crises control without undergoing due diplomatic processes involving it and the affected sovereign nation, especially on such delicate bizarre phenomenon as the hitherto unheard-of abduction of female citizens of the affected nation.
It would be better imagined than heard that a personality of Senator McCain’s status would stampede his country into pouncing on the terror strongholds, most notoriously the Sambisa forest, and the broader far Northeast region of Nigeria without a proper study of the precarious situation; proper updating by the Nigerian authorities on security reports on the terror situation and the actual abduction and the circumstances surrounding it; and explore avenues of collaboration and corroboration of the Chad and Cameroon, to advise it on how best to go about rescuing the abducted girls successfully.
If McCain is this ignorant, or this hawkish in his approach to very delicate issues such as the abduction of the girls, his country, however rich it is in the most up-to-date satellites and gadgets for detection of the abducted girls, knows that there are always very vital diplomatic cum political factors that must be taken collaboratively by the consortium of the concerned countries comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and itself to build the big-enough caution and plan the most apposite strategy to bring all rescue efforts to fruition.
The USA authorities know, if McCain doesn’t, that there are issues and situations that may, as a last option, require the hawkish style he proposes, and there are issues and situations that require diplomacy and sufficient recognition of the sovereignty of the affected country to avoid appalling repercussions outweighing the given crises. The abduction and rescue efforts of the Chibok girls fall within the latter.
The USA knows, if McCain doesn’t, that it must tread carefully on situations to avoid any possible diplomatic rows and misfortune with its sister UN Security Council members, most notably China, Britain and France, who have, of recent, expressed immense economic interests in the region, which is principally why they all came in with their proposals of assistance for the successful rescue of the girls.
“As soon as we knew these young girls were kidnapped… we should have utilized every asset that we have, satellite, drones, any capabilities that we had to go after them,” McCain reportedly said.
Would the USA authorities, so knowledgeable and experienced on such situations and engagements across the globe, incautiously pounce on the rescue mission with all its satellite, drones, any capabilities at its disposal? Would doing so really have resulted in rescuing the girls without some undesirable repercussions rippling into other facets of the affairs of the region to cause immense mishaps that may affect the USA itself? This guy called McCain has exhibited ignorance of all these situations. And this is quite unbecoming of a senator of the United States of America.
His ignorance may have been the main cause of his belligerence with regard to the tone he addressed the president of a globally reputable nation as “some guy called Goodluck Jonathan.”
A democratically elected senator of the United States of America in the status of McCain, who must unfalteringly guard the honour and status of his country as the custodian of ‘‘democracy, should accord the guy named Goodluck Jonathan’’ even if the barest respect of addressing him as “President Goodluck Jonathan” on account of the fact that he was duly elected by Nigerians to lead their independent sovereign nation enjoying the full status of a nation-state in the United Nations.
Would McCain take it lightly if a senator of Nigeria addresses President Barrack Obama as “some guy named Barrack Obama?”
I think it is high some this guy named McCain watch his utterances in his position as a senator of world’s most recognised democracy.
