How Would Jesus Vote? by Darrell L Bock

Author:Darrell L Bock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books

APPLYING BIBLICAL VALUES IN A COMPLEX WORLD

Part of what makes foreign policy so difficult to discuss are the various levels at which it works. There are elements of it that are tied to the economy and in which governments do not always have a direct involvement. National interests and economic concerns often play against each other and produce a key factor in what governments choose to do.

We have seen this reality at work in the recent events in Ukraine. Here we have a case where one country’s sovereignty was violated by another when Russia took control of the Crimea. Russia’s justification for the intervention was that they had to step in to protect Russian citizens—at the request of those citizens—and that Russia’s previous history of possessing the Crimea gave her the right to intervene.

It did not matter to Russia that such an act actually violated a treaty agreement Russia had signed with Ukraine, guaranteeing Ukraine’s integrity and safety after Ukraine honored a request to give up her nuclear stockpile to lessen tensions in the area. A gracious act by Ukraine had left her exposed. A moral trust was violated.

This seeming breach of international law went practically uncontested because Russia possesses a veto at the United Nations and because the countries that protested did not want to intervene militarily, as this was seen as unrealistic and undesirable.

The lesson in this example is that the relationship between nations requires some level of mutual respect for issues of sovereignty or else relationships between nations will become more perilous than they already are. In the issue of Ukraine, efforts by those who rejected Russia’s explanation moved in an economic direction. To make a moral statement and exact punishment, many nations proposed a series of sanctions. To preserve some sense of moral order for the future, the view was that something had to be done—especially given the fact that the claimed unjust abuse of Russian citizens in Ukraine was an issue the Ukrainians had said they would correct.

But a funny thing happened on the way to issuing sanctions that would show the displeasure of Russia’s neighbors and act as the world’s statement about an action most nations recognized as wrong. The idea of sanctions met with a completely different response in Europe than it did in the United States—a response that could undercut their effectiveness. The reason for the different reactions was the depth of business Europe had with Russia. European businesses were far more likely to feel the impact of European sanctions than American companies would from American sanctions. The cost of making a moral statement was undercut by the economic cost that would come with that statement.

All of this indicates the real and tenuous nature of international relationships when trying to uphold a moral stance in the world when so many interests and self-interests are in play.

Ukraine is but one example. We could point to events in Syria and in large parts of Africa where concerns about sovereignty—as well as the complexities of competing geopolitical and/or religious interests—allow these circumstances to fester.

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