Sir: When United States President Joe Biden visited the United Kingdom in summer of 2021, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, among other things, gifted the august visitor with a little known literary work, “The apple tree” by D.D Maureir; a rather mundane collection of short stories, of which leading story dwells on the consequences of extreme irrational emotions. Thinking of the numerous armed conflicts engulfing the globe at the time, and which as yet engulf the globe, l could not see why anyone, much-less a British PM would decide that such a distracting novel was worthy of the premium time of the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. For me, an appropriate reading for President Joe Biden would have been “The Lord of the Rings” by John Ronald Revel Tolkein.
Written between World War I (1914 – 1918) and World War II (1939 – 1945), the best-selling trilogy graphically, though deploying a breathtakingly new motif, to re-tell the evolving bloody struggles between nations, and blocs of nations for military supremacy. Although the author vigorously denied that the Great Wars had influenced his plotting of the study, it’s impossible to take him at his words.
The rings have the powers of a god, enabling their wearers to will things into being, inclusive of making their wearers disappear and re-appear at will. Those who adorn the rings thus become invincible. Sauron, the presamed originator of the first ring – the One Ring, had not intended for it to be duplicated, but he lost possession of the maiden ring in uncertain circumstances. Unintended duplications followed with dreadful consequences. As the evolving situation went from bad to worse, it became inevitable to both check the menacing growth, and more importantly, to have a particular bloc of nations take complete possession of the produced rings – a seeming vanishing possibility.
Fascinating! isn’t it? In another setting the rings could pass as atomic bombs, possession of which makes the particular nation invincible. The resultant “nuclear race” between nations and between blocs of nations since 1945 is not less menacing than the growth of Sauran’s rings.
Little wonder, therefore, post-World War II global leaders have continued to drink insatiably from the Lord of the Rings. More-so British Prime Ministers. Boris Johnson, all the more so; he calls himself “Gandalf, the wizard”, a leading character in the book. Apparently his wild hairstyle and carefree mode of dressing are projected to conjure up Gandalf into being in contemporary society.
I would rather the former PM focused his extraordinary energies on a contemporary global conundrum: the challenge of eliminating the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons. He ought to have chosen the classic trilogy as an appropriate literary gift for the visiting US president, as a token reminder of the urgency of that existential emergency. Tellingly, Boris Jonson’s great mentor and former US president, Donald Trump, recently demonstrated a superior presence of mind when he said “Let us negotiate the Ring with Sauron!”. He was apparently referring to the One Ring from which the other rings derive their powers – the nuclear bombs, and Sauron here is taken to be the Russian leader. How profound.
Surely, after close-on a century of insane massive investments in Mutually Assured Destruction-MAD infrastructure respectively to no avail, the two global superpowers must now begin to consider “negotiation”. This seems the most reasonable alternative and least problematic path to solving the recurring challenge of nuclear weapons proliferation. It would be recalled that in his first term as president, Donald Trump was in earnest in courting Vladimir Putin’s friendship. He had done this at the grave risk of incurring the wrath of his hawkish compatriots. In that singular act he demonstrated unique vision and bravery in equal measure. This among other laudible pronouncements that have been credited to the straight-talking ex-president in recent years, makes it a fair comment to suggest that Donald Trump is one of the few men best suited for the purposes of leading the world in the 21st century.
•Godwin Afam Nkemdiche is an engineering consultant.
