It seems the norms of the Cold War are well and truly coming back.
Overnight, the US successfully completed a complex multi-nation prisoner swap with Russia and Belarus. In return for the release of eight convicted Russian agents held in different countries – including hackers, spies and a hitman – Russia and Belarus released sixteen prisoners, including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former marine Paul Whelan, and more journalists, dissidents and opposition political figures. This is the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.
Competing Factors
Prisoner swaps were a common feature of the Cold War – as depicted in Stephen Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (reviewed in News Weekly). The Great Powers realised that instead of executing people for treason, they could use them as bargaining chips to get their own people out. This has always caused mixed feelings in the public, as it seems to go against the demands of justice. One of the men released in the latest exchange was an assassin warmly greeted by Vladimir Putin on his arrival in Russia.
As uncomfortable as this situation may seem, it is a better outcome than the alternative, with high-profile prisoners kept in terrible conditions until they die.
And it is a reminder that when it comes to practical action, sometimes an uncomfortable response that does good is the best option.
This is another illustration of what I wrote about in my last Notes. The world is complicated, with many factors impacting what happens. Simple answers may be emotionally satisfying, but they may be completely wrong.
The important thing is to appreciate that this complexity exists. We know this from our personal lives. We know that our decisions and those of our friends and family are the result of many different factors, and that if we don’t appreciate this, we can misunderstand the people around us and even ourselves.
Hot-take journalism and the 24-hour news cycle doesn’t make this easy – and the world of social media and soundbites makes it even worse.
Delving Deeper
I often wonder how the children of today will understand the world. Friends in teaching comment that their students are so used to snippets of knowledge that they lack any comprehensive understanding of the world around them. They’re not less intelligent, but they are less informed and less formed. They lack the skills and points of reference that anyone growing up prior to social media takes for granted.
Recognising this makes the works of The Movement – the Thomas More Centre, News Weekly, YPAT, the Democratic Clubs – even more vital. The industrialised university model that Australia relies on is ill-suited to preparing people for this world. Few publications are designed for depth of understanding for people who are not already subject-matter experts.
The world is well and truly in a new Cold War, one that is even more complicated by the aggressive and regressive secularism infecting Western democracies – of which TMC director Anna Krohn wrote about so eloquently in her last newsletter. This makes it more important than ever to show how the success of democracy hinges on Judeo-Christian humanism and the principles we in The Movement hold dear.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
