“The consequences of…a foreign crisis do not end with
it. They seem to end, but they go underground and reappear later on.”—English
statesman Sir Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862-1933), on the prelude to
WWI, in Twenty-Five Years: 1892-1916 (1925)
Sir Edward Grey was Britain’s Foreign Secretary in
early August 1914, when Germany’s declaration of war on France and invasion of
neutral Belgium ensured that the U.K. would join the conflict. As the twilight gathered outside, this normally reticent, even unpoetic diplomat
remarked, "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them
lit again in our time."
But the quote that leads off this particular post of
mine, though less memorable, is equally valid. The 2007-2009 recession was not
merely a domestic economic setback, but also a “foreign crisis.” Even after
economic indicators recovered, many citizens in the West didn’t. Their resentment
fueled the rise of far-right elements on both sides of the Atlantic.
In this new era, many have replaced “Communism” with
“globalism” as an all-purpose epithet. But the consequences remain dire. To a
large extent, this zenophobia has hampered Western responses to the
coronavirus. I am afraid that going forward, as some leaders have looked for
convenient scapegoats for their own mishandling of the pandemic, international
cooperation will lessen, and matters beginning—but hardly ending with—public health.
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