Global leaders have a selective view of sovereignty. It matters, as long as it’s in their interests | Kenan Malik

Whether in Gaza or the Chagos Islands, denying a people's identity and rights paves the way to robbing them of their autonomy to govern

Sovereignty matters. Except when it doesn't. And it doesn't when another people's sovereignty gets in the way of your nation's needs. Then sovereignty (for any other country or people, at least) becomes so much dust blowing in the storm. It is something to which the peoples of the Chagos Islands and Gaza can attest.

Last year, Britain finalised an agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a shabby deal at the end of a sordid history of British rule. Much of the criticism of the deal is equally shabby.