Respect And South Africa

Day 779, 11:44 • Published in South Africa USA • by NeilP99

Foreign affairs has always been an interest of mine in eRepublik. The way nations interact in times of peace is far more interesting than how they interact in times of war in my opinion. This is at least partly because how nations interact in times of peace can often shape how they interact in times of war. Ultimately I believe that all foreign affairs come down to the issue of respect. If nations respect each other than they will make better alliances or, alternatively, if they are enemies then they will make war against each other less frequently. If nations don’t respect each other then they won’t be able to build strong alliances because they won’t trust each other, and again looking at the alternative, they will be more likely to make war against one another because their lack of respect will translate into them disliking each other or feeling that the other nation is weaker.

Now in South Africa foreign affairs is probably the most important area of concern to the country as a whole. Don’t think that I’m saying the other ministries and the people that work in them are inferior, because they’re not. However when you are in a position where you have no military options other than defending your own land, and you’re mostly surrounded by nations that could destroy you, diplomacy becomes even more important than usual. Now here’s where we come back to the issue of respect. Based on their past actions I think it’s safe to say that Indonesia and Brazil don’t respect South Africa very much. Most likely this is because of our military being weaker than their militaries, which is caused by the differences in the sizes of our nations. As a result they feel that they can push us around, and ignore the agreements that they made with us whenever it suits them. A perfect example of this being the recent actions of Brazil. Brazil didn’t respect South Africa, and as a result they felt that they could ignore part of a treaty we signed with them. Granted, the treaty was technically invalid, but if Brazil had respected South Africa they would have stuck to the original terms of the treaty just the same. Not only did Brazil ignore the treaty when they attacked Australia, but they also ignored it by returning a region we had asked them to hold until after the Congressional elections. Disaster was averted, but at a price. South Africa’s image was tarnished, and her security was compromised.

None of this is news to anyone who pays attention to what is going on in our country. And I’m sure that there are plenty of people living here who have seen this sort of disrespect happen more times than I have. So perhaps my asking what we should do about it is a waste of time to them. In my mind though, that doesn’t change the fact that something needs to be done. South Africa isn’t asking for much. We haven’t asked to build an empire, we haven’t asked to be the richest nation, we haven’t even asked to be paid back for the damage that countries like Indonesia and Brazil have done to us. All we’ve ever wanted was the right to exist, with all of our regions belonging to us, and live in peace. Still there are those who would deny us even that. And so it seems to me that we must pursue a new course in our search for some respect. The course we must pursue is one based on the principle that I started this article with. Only through foreign affairs and diplomacy can we put ourselves in a position where we must be respected. We must build relations with nations all over the eWorld so that they respect us, trust us, and want to see us do well. Only when we do this will Indonesia and Brazil, the nations that for so long have disrespected us, realize that they owe us something more. So as this new Presidency starts, and as a new Minister of Foreign Affairs is appointed, I call on our government to make a determined effort to build up South Africa’s standings in the world. I’m not here to judge if past governments have failed at this, and I know that I’ve only been in this country for a short time, but already I’ve seen a pattern that I believe needs to change. For too long South Africa has looked inward to solve problems that are outside of her borders, and despite our best efforts those problems persist, so now I believe that we need to look outward. By taking on an aggressive effort to improve our international relations with countries in Phoenix, Eden, and the unaligned nations, I believe that we can get South Africa the respect she deserves and accomplish the reasonable goals of unifying all regions of South Africa and living in peace as a nation. Thanks for reading, and here’s hoping this month shows real improvements in the South African condition.