The Observer - 04.08.2019

16

The Observer

04.08.19 Politics

Khadija Patel

Editor-in-chief, the Mail & Guardian

newspaper, Johannesburg ,

South Africa

People fi nd Brexit inexplicable

and are getting bored by it. There’s

some interest in the political

spectacle, but the importance of

Great Britain in the consciousness

of South Africa has waned. Yet

there’s a gleefulness in watching

the British realise the in eptitude

of their own politicians. I guess

we suffered when they were

colonial rulers, and Boris Johnson

[encapsulates] everything you

might lampoon about Britain and

its idea of itself.

In South Africa we have problems

with our own politicians, and it is

almost consoling to see that we are

not alone. Britain is trying to fi gure

itself out in 2019 and is suddenly

reali sing that it’s not that important

any more.

Britain has come to think of itself

in very noble terms, and to do that

it has had to fundamentally erase

its dealings with the colonies. Its

‘There’s a gleefulness

in watching the

British realise the

ineptitude of their

own politicians’

Left to right:

the United

States, France,

Poland, Italy.

history has been written that way. I

am a fourth-generation South African

of Indian descent, so my own history

is riddled with Britain’s colonialism,

and all that is glossed over.

Of course we were surprised by

the referendum result, but when

you zoom out a bit it all makes

sense. We have seen similar shocks

elsewhere – Trump, Modi in India,

Bols onaro in Brazil and so on. The

global trend towards populism is

scary. It fundamentally undermines

democracy.

I’m going to be interested in how

Boris Johnson deals with Africa...

I don’t think that [South African

president] Cyril Ramaphosa or

[ foreign minister] Naledi Pandor are

going to respond very well to him as

a serious interlocutor w ith proposals

about strengthening ties between our

two countries.

Britain will never hold that soft

power again, no way. JB

‘Our leaders see

Boris Johnson as

temporary – a

clown. They’ll wait

for the new leader’

Alexey Venediktov

Editor-in- chief, Echo of Moscow

radio station , Russia

The economic leadership of Russia is
not happy [about Brexit]. They think
turbulence is not in our interest
because Russia has a fairly weak
economy at the moment. It changes
the rules now, while we are weak.
They’re concerned about the future.
But the political leadership
see a united front of western
countries against them, and they
see any weakening – the separatist
movement in Catalonia, the rise of
Salvini in Italy, the exit of the UK
from the EU – as a positive, because
it makes our opponents look at
themselves, not at us.
I don’t see a possibility [for
relations to improve]. The bilateral
relationship isn’t determined by
whether or not the UK is in the E U.
Our relations of late have largely
been determined by the Skripal case ,
and the British leadership is now
seen as the most actively hostile
European government to Russia.
[Of greater importance to
diplomacy is] Vladimir Putin ’s
personal relationship with a leader ,
as we saw with George W Bush.
Despite political differences, they
had [a rapport] that helped smooth
over many problems. Unfortunately,
the view of Boris Johnson in the
leadership is quite negative. They
don’t think he is serious. They think
he’s a clown. And second , they think
he has little support in his party
and his country. So he’s temporary ...
we’ll wait for the new leader. AR
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