Irish Examiner view: Flying in face of diplomatic norms

Reports stated that Donald Trump and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a strategic economic partnership agreement at a ceremony at the royal palace in Riyadh which includes agreements covering energy, mining, and defence. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

The headline news coming out of Saudi Arabia shows US president Donald Trump in his deal-making element.

Reports stated that he and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a strategic economic partnership agreement at a ceremony at the royal palace in Riyadh which includes agreements covering energy, mining, and defence.

This includes a defence sales arrangement worth vast sums to American companies providing equipment and services to Saudi Arabia. Those companies will benefit to the tune of almost $142bn: They include GE (gas turbines and energy solutions in a deal worth $14.2bn) and Boeing (737-8 passenger aircraft amounting to $4.8bn).

That is not even the sum total of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the US: White House documents say the defence deal is only part of a $600bn investment by the Saudis in America.

By any measure this is a vast commitment, even for a super-rich state such as Saudi Arabia, and a coup worth crowing about for Trump. Why then is there a cloud over his visit to the Middle East?

The reason is Trump’s acceptance of a $400m luxury jet from the Qatari government, which is to be converted into a new Air Force One, or official presidential plane. This has drawn fire from previously loyal supporters ranging from
influential far-right figures Ben Shapiro and Laura Loomer to various Republican politicians. Their criticism is based on Qatar’s links to Hamas on one hand and, on the other, the fact that US government officials are prohibited from accepting valuable gifts.

This mild rebellion is noteworthy, as it marks one of the first times since Trump’s re-election that his followers have expressed disapproval. Yet what does it amount to in reality?

The Trump administration’s disregard for diplomatic norms means the shadow of Hamas hardly registers, while its visible contempt for due process makes the prohibition on gifts meaningless. The time in which a present of a luxury jet might seem so obvious a bribe as to be counterproductive is long gone, it seems.

Authoritarian blow to learning

It now seems an obvious reaction. Only days ago, we were reading about awkward encounters between Irish academics and American immigration agents, with some of the former expressing doubts about visiting the US in the near future.

Now it seems the traffic will be going west to east instead. Yesterday, further and higher education minister James Lawless was to bring proposals to Cabinet aimed at attracting US scientists who wish to relocate to Ireland — specifically, Mr Lawless wishes to establish a team of “talent attachés” to travel to the US and other countries to recruit academics to come to Ireland, with some of them already at work.

Two agents have already been signed off on to work in Boston and San Francisco, with one already in place and the second to follow shortly.

The motivating principle behind the “talent attachés” scheme is the virulently anti-university stance of the Trump administration, which shows no signs of abating.

Yesterday, we learned that eight US federal agencies are to terminate $450m in grants to Harvard University — these latest cuts come after the Trump administration has already cancelled some $2.2bn in federal funding to the university, bringing the total in financial penalties to $2.65bn.

The administration has explained these cuts are a result of inadequate responses on the part of Harvard to antisemitism on campus, an excuse that comes with plenty of irony attached. For instance, when explaining his initiative, Mr Lawless cited the likes of Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, and Edward Teller, all of whom moved to the US before the Second World War when fascism and antisemitism forced them out of academia in Europe.

Now, almost a century later, the country that benefited most from the repression of learning by fascism is losing academics due to measures closely resembling those fascist attacks on academia back in the 1930s.

Ireland may enjoy the benefit of academics taking refuge from repression in the US, but such repression is also a blow to scientific progress and learning everywhere. The wider implications of slashed funding and cancelled projects are very serious indeed.

Blackmore is a trailblazer 

Rachael Blackmore’s announcement on Monday that she is to retire from racing brings to an end a stellar career.

The Tipperary native had her first win as an amateur jockey in 2011, turning professional four years later and blazing a trail as a winner in one of the most competitive sports on earth.

Blackmore won the 2021 Grand National on Henry de Bromhead’s Minella Times, the first female jockey to win the race. She was Cheltenham’s leading jockey in 2021 with six winners, and enjoyed 18 victories at Prestbury Park, including the 2022 Gold Cup on A Plus Tard, and the Champion Hurdle — twice — on Honeysuckle.

Even that dazzling list of accomplishments only hints at Blackmore’s brilliance. No less an authority than the Irish Examiner’s Ruby Walsh paid her the ultimate compliment this week, identifying the innate toughness that is the hallmark of every successful jockey. Referring to an injury at Downpatrick last year, Walsh said: “She has never divulged the complete details but that neck injury was serious enough to keep her in a neck brace for over two months and out of racing for three months.”

She came back and duly won at Leopardstown. Best wishes to Rachael Blackmore in her retirement.

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