By P.R. Pradhan

We saw a verbal war between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy during the latter’s visit to the Oval Office in Washington DC. The talks between the two presidents were beyond the diplomatic norms. President Trump seems to have felt like the boss of this globe, whereas, Zelenskyy, engaged in war provoked by the West, wished to become a hero from a professional comedian. The verbal war between the two presidents has given a strong message to the world and also to small countries like Nepal.

The prime message is that the priority of a nation should be self-reliant on the economy and never rely on foreign support. Don’t declare war on the provocation of the foreign powers. Zelenskyy prepared a background for a war challenging Russia. When Zelenskyy desired to join NATO, Russia felt a security threat compelling its President Vladimir Putin to launch a war on Ukraine. Already, the war between Russia and Ukraine has completed three years and we don’t know, how long will it continue. The fact is that a large number of the Ukraine population have left the country and taken asylum in different European countries. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of the Ukraine people have lost their lives. Now, the US has announced to stop its support free of cost and asking to give precious minerals to the USA as payback for the support offered by it. This has given the message that any foreign support is not free of cost. This is based on a give and take or say, this is a business.

Still, the European countries are extending solidarity to the Ukraine insisting on a prolonged war. Is it sure that Ukraine will secure a victory even if it bags continued support from the European countries? Moreover, the economy of the European countries has also been adversely affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. How long can Europe support Ukraine in this war despite worsening economies?  

How the Nepali political leaders have taken the changing global order and practices? As far as we know, the political parties in the government are intended to launch organized loot and the main opposition party is waiting to join the government by failing the present coalition government. The mission of all the political parties is to enjoy the power just to loot the nation.

Zelenskyy believed in his success with the support of the foreign powers. Similarly, there are many Zelenskyys in Nepal, who believe in enjoying power through foreign support.

The Nepali leaders, by forgetting the nation’s need and aspiration of the people, inked a 12-point agreement drafted by the Indo-West Christian lobby. They are happy to introduce federalism, secularism and republicanism by weakening the Nepali culture and tradition. Now, federalism has become an unnecessary burden for the country as it needed to borrow a minimum of two billion rupees each month to feed the white elephant. The political leaders relied on foreign powers and were unable to speak against federalism, secularism and republicanism as they were paid for these agendas.

Our so-called political leaders, civil society leaders, opinion builders and intellectuals were enjoying dollar farming, meanwhile, the Trump administration has stopped the deep state support for the INGOs and NGOs active in Nepal for destroying the Nepali civilization. The American deep state, Open Society, was funding different media in Nepal. This support has been halted for the time being. It is sure that the European countries also won’t be able to continue supporting different INGOs/NGOs active in Nepal. This is a good beginning for Nepal, however, this will be unfortunate for those dollar farmers.   

Eventually, the global trend of providing grant support, which was started after World War II, is going to decline. Considering the ongoing developments, Nepal should give up hope for receiving foreign grants and make efforts to become self-reliant. Reducing non-productive sector expenditure, and scrapping unnecessary political structures including the structure of seven provinces, have become obvious to strengthen the nation’s economy. We have few options for immediate correction of past mistakes, otherwise, soon, the system is going to collapse and the nation is to suffer a lot.