The Tribune

HISTORY does not necessarily exactly repeat itself. Yet, it sometimes rhymes and there are resonances and historical parallels from which lessons may be drawn. The dearth of historical knowledge and insight sometimes leads to tragedy and disaster for nation-states, and farce and upset in communities and family groups.

Individuals and families derive meaning and understanding from exploring genealogical and lineal histories. Today, this includes DNA testing to give us a better sense of from whom and whence we came.

The raping of the identities and the debasement of the history of those transported to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade, remains one of the greatest abuses in human history and an attempt to destroy history itself.

Racism is built on the abuse and delusions of a self-aggrandising history, erroneously claiming the greater privilege and supremacy of Europeans over the peoples of Africa.

We like to know “our people” and to whom we are related. “Where might I have derived my physical, emotional and other features?” Moreover, why are some family groups prone to more mirth and levity, while others are dourer?

We sometimes hear: “Child, you are the spitting image of your grandmother!” or “I hope you don’t have your daddy’s ways!” Sir Lancelot, the Trinidadian Calypsonian, popularised Shame and Scandal in the Family, a powerful lesson about knowing one’s antecedents and history:

“In Trinidad there was a family

With much confusion as you will see

It was a mama and a papa and a boy who was grown

He wanted to marry, have a wife of his own

Found a young girl that suited him nice

Went to his papa to ask his advice

His papa said: ‘Son, I have to say no,

This girl is your sister, but your mama don’t know’…

“He went to his mama and covered his head

And told his mama what his papa had said

His mama she laughed, she say, ‘Go man, go

Your daddy ain’t your daddy, but your daddy don’t know’.”

In Ghosts, written in 1881, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen casts a family drama of tragic flaws inherited through several generations. The source of the hereditary flaw which destroys [the various] children… pervades each scene of the play.” We all know of such deep-seated flaws in our own families.

Complex

Given the complexities of family history, imagine how much more complex is the history of nations, societies and peoples. We often retell family and national narratives to circumscribed or self-serving ends.

Some details are purposefully omitted or simply forgotten with no ill-intent. Memories are filtered through many screens and generations, the resulting narrative lines becoming less factual and more romanticized or darkened depending on the story-teller.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of historical memory and knowledge, turbocharged by social media and ignorance of basic science, has led to the most bizarre conspiracy narratives, some of which have resulted in greater illness and death.

Humans often press history and ignore facts to serve ideological and other ends. The dearth of education in history and the humanities is a longstanding challenge in many countries, including here at home where some students leave school devoid of a working knowledge of Bahamian history and basic world facts.

Last year, a dear friend told of her frustration after asking a good number of people if they could locate Russia on a map. To her surprise, most Bahamians she asked had never heard of Russia.

Today, the country many never heard of is now prosecuting a brutal war that may lead to worsened economic conditions for The Bahamas. This is an example of where ignorance does not lead to a blissful outcome.

With the Ukrainian war now raging, it is good to know something of the history of Ukraine and Russia, and the longstanding relationship between the two Slavic nations. This is especially important for policymakers in every country.

Putin

Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin has a certain view of history. Like other imperial powers throughout history, Russia has geopolitical and geo-economic interests which colour its worldview.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Western powers, including the United States, should have been more judicious in its relationship with Russia. But this does not negate nor excuse the savagery or revanchist horror Putin has unleashed on Ukraine.

It is an example of the oddity of ideological extremes that the former leftist leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and US right wing Fox News talk show host, Tucker Carlson, are mostly on the same page in seemingly blaming the US for the Russian intervention while soft-pedalling Putin’s march to war.

Some are so vehement in their disdain for American imperialism, that they often downplay the hubris, the conceits, the chequered history and the brutality of other nation-states which are rivals to the United States, rendering their judgments often askew.

The history of and relationship between Russia and Ukraine is complex. It is certainly not as simple as the view that Ukraine is inherently a part of Greater Russia. Historian Yuval Noah Harari notes: “Ukraine is a nation with more than a thousand years of history, and Kyiv was already a major metropolis when Moscow was not even a village.”

It is all too easy for the various sides in international competitions, rivalries and wars to miscalculate and to misunderstand the intentions and stratagems of others.

Then US President Richard Nixon, who enjoyed tremendous insight into foreign policy, brought into the prevailing attitude that the communist parties in the USSR, the People’s Republic of China and North Vietnam were of such common cause that he could prevail on the two larger countries to help limit and bring to a quicker end the Vietnamese War.

He was wrong. The Soviet Union liked the US being bogged down in Vietnam. The Chinese government was itself often frustrated with the Vietnamese and had less leverage than the Americans thought.

War

The Canadian-born Margaret MacMillan is a professor of history at the University of Oxford. The study of war is one of her specialties. MacMillan observes: “Firstly, people go to war out of fear. They need to defend themselves. They feel that those they love and their way of life is under attack.

“Secondly, people go to war because of greed. They want some of what someone else has – a piece of land, loot, or civilians to turn into slaves. The third reason people go to war is over ideas. People will fight and die for things like their nation, revolution or religion.”

She also notes: “In more extreme instances, war has led to revolution. Russia’s story would have played out very differently without the First World War. I don’t think the Bolsheviks, who were a tiny little factional party at the time, could have taken power without it. That, of course, changed not only Russian history but also the history of the modern world.”

The late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau famously declared to a US audience: “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

But Trudeau, like his son Justin, who is now his country’s Prime Minister, also understood the essential role of the United States in maintaining something of a world order at critical moments.

Leadership makes a vital difference. Imagine how differently the world would have responded in Ukraine had Donald Trump been President. It may be too horrifying to imagine. President Joe Biden is a steadier hand. He is presently quietly working with European partners to secure a revised Iran nuclear deal, which Trump blew up.

The Biden Administration has clearly been in back-channel negotiations with the Venezuelan Government, which has now reached a new stage, though it is still early days.

Reuters reported: “Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said he agreed an agenda for future talks with a US delegation that he met on Saturday, the first high-level meeting between the two countries in years.”

Maduro stated: “Last Saturday night a delegation from the government of the United States of America arrived in Venezuela, I received it here at the presidential palace. We had a meeting, I could describe it as respectful, cordial, very diplomatic.”

This is diplomatic-speak for saying the discussions went generally well. This is also realpolitik at play. By potentially securing more oil flowing from Iran and Venezuela over time, Biden is playing a long game to isolate Russia and to lower the geopolitical temperature in other areas of the world.

In history and global politics, opportunities come that one could not foresee. If Maduro plays this well, securing his and Venezuela’s interest as the world needs more oil, he may be able to play, pun intended, a trump card.

On Tuesday “Venezuela released two Americans from detention on Tuesday in a gesture of goodwill to the United States”.

Politics, war and the need for oil have always made for curious bedfellows. Meanwhile, The Bahamas Government needs to be very clear of its policy and standing at this moment.

It remains very early days in the Ukraine War. There is sadly more horror to come with the deaths of many more civilians and combatants. Much of the infrastructure, including the historical architecture of Ukraine, will be destroyed.

It is near impossible to predict how long this conflict will last. There will likely be outcomes few can imagine. There is the possibility of gross miscalculation and even the widening of the conflict.

During his rise to power many years ago, President Putin, in interviews published as a quasi-autobiography, “recalled chasing big rodents with a stick around his dismal, communal apartment building in St. Petersburg, then known as Leningrad: “There, on that stair landing, I got a quick and lasting lesson in the meaning of the word ‘cornered’. There were hordes of rats in the front entryway. My friends and I used to chase them around with sticks.

“Once I spotted a huge rat and pursued it down the hall until I drove it into a corner. It had nowhere to run. Suddenly it lashed around and threw itself at me. I was surprised and frightened. Now the rat was chasing me.

“It jumped across the landing and down the stairs. Luckily, I was a little faster and I managed to slam the door on its nose.”

A lesson of history: When at war with most enemies, all sides need to show a certain restraint in order to forestall an even worse tragedy if possible. Human beings and nations often react in unimaginable ways when they believe they are cornered.