by Javed Jamil
disintegrated into several small autonomous states. Russia that had for about half a century been the biggest custodian of socialism had taken a U turn towards capitalism. There was little opposition left for the expansion of Western economic fundamentalism. China, despite preserving its socialistic credentials, had already started “opening” its market.
But Islamic resurgence in West Asia emerged as another bone of contention. The US and its allies had shifted all their attention to the new threat. Islamic resurgence had been gaining ground in many Muslim countries. Malaysia had witnessed the emergence of an Islamist in the form of Mahathir Muhammad who cleverly combined Islamic zeal with modern technology, which within two decades would see the emergence of a big economic power in the region. Life in Indonesia had started showing visible impact of Islam. Pakistan was being Islamised by Zia ul Haq who at the same time kept close ties with the US. The expulsion of Russian forces in Afghanistan had paved the way for an Islamic rule there.
The US did everything in its power to stall Islam from rising as a dominant force. When Islamic groups emerged victorious in Algerian elections, the Western forces did not allow the democracy to function and beckoned to the army to take over. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait gifted the biggest opportunity to the US to increase its hold in the area. It amassed a huge coalition under its leadership and invaded Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to pull out of Kuwait. For the first time, the US forces established bases on the soil of Saudi Arabia regarded as the Holy Land by Muslims. Though the US attacked Iraq for the stated purpose of liberating Kuwait, Muslim masses would not tolerate the US intervention in the affairs of Islamic countries. The hatred for the US achieved new heights, which was not diluted by the American intervention in Bosnia where hundreds of thousands of Muslims were brutally killed by the forces of Millesowich. Most Muslims believed that the US remained a silent spectator of the carnage of their fellow brothers, which continued for several years. The US intervened, they believed, only when its own strategic interests in Europe faced imminent threat from the Serb ruler. The US action in Bosnia could have still carried some weight had the US not continued to support Israel against Palestinians whose plight was intolerable for almost all the denizens of the Muslim world.
Then September 11 2001 came. Though no terrorist organisation claimed responsibility for these orchestrated attacks on American soil, the US administration was quick to point finger at the Al-Qaeda led by Osama Ben Laden, a man of Saudi origin who had close ties with CIA in the Afghan resistance against Russia. This was the “defining moment” for the US. It could have acted in many different ways. The delicateness of the position of the only Super Power of the world at that critical juncture was understandable. A tiger had been challenged in its own den. It was natural for the tiger to be furious, ready to pounce, whoever it thought could have been behind the attacks. Yet, instead of fighting “terrorism” with human wisdom, it chose to fight it with the instincts of the wild animal. The US could have given a serious thought as to why there was a growing hatred in the Muslim world for its policies. It could have invited an international debate to discuss what was required to minimise the hatred. It could have taken Islamic clerics and intellectuals into confidence. Instead it chose to threaten the whole world; the jaw was demonstrated and the teeth ground implying that anyone not ready to abide the orders of the king would be crushed and engulfed. With all of its might, the US attacked Afghanistan, reduced its already dilapidated cities to ruins, killed thousands of innocents along with Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters and replaced the Government of Mullah Omar with its puppet government of Karzai. The Muslim world was furious; their fury however had an empty jaw with no teeth.
Many Muslims had reconciled to the attacks by the US on Afghanistan. They felt it would perhaps silence the fury of the wounded tiger. The end of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime provided a golden opportunity again for the US to bury the hatchet and concentrate on improving the relationship with Muslim masses. It had already dismantled the infrastructure of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It could have continued to hunt its elements while trying to befriend Muslims in general. But the tiger’s anger had not subsided. It was ready to engulf another prey, which in its mind, and only in its mind, was a threat to it; none in the world could see what the tiger was trying to show them. Without waiting for the UN inspectors to find Weapons of Mass Destruction, the US embarked upon a mission, which would prove to be nothing more than a mission of hatred: which would flare the flames of terrorism rather than extinguishing them; which would make ordinary Muslims believe the US and its allies were bent upon destroying, with their innumerable weapons of mass destruction, the very existence of their religion, their culture and their sovereignty. What followed was nothing but shear madness. Iraq was invaded with the overwhelming might of the US and allied forces. Saddam Hussein was overthrown soon. But the real carnage followed after his exit. Even those who hated Saddam Hussein soon turned enemies of the allied forces. Insurgency emerged strongly and has continued even after several years of invasion. About three hundred thousands of Iraqis have lost lives. American and British forces started facing an uphill task in controlling the insurgency. Ultimately, they worked on an exit strategy.
But nothing has worked so far. The Iraq invasion has totally annihilated the sympathy that had been generated all over the world for the US in the wake of 9/11. The hatred for the US policies has now become ubiquitous. Subsequently, the US changed its strategy from imposing wars to encouraging civil wars and exporting armed rebellions.
In recent years, Western role has been prominently there in all the conflicts in the Middle East. But again, it can be seen that their weapons go to the side, which toes their lines, and against those which have refused to surrender to their diktats. And always, the media would blame the loss of lives on the forces that are not pro-West.
In Syria and Libya, they supported the rebels, supplying huge weaponry and all the intelligence required for their operations and held the governments responsible for the bloodshed. In Libya, they succeeded in toppling Gaddafi, in Syria they failed to defeat Assad. In Yemen, they are supporting the President, who has fled to Saudi Arab, an American ally, against rebels who have already taken over the Palace as well as major areas of the country. In Egypt, they helped the military stage a coup against an elected President.
It was about this time that people all over the world suddenly started hearing about Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It became the most dreaded terrorist organisation overnight when it captured large area in Iraq. But West knew ISIS for more than two years when it had confined its activities to Syria. They were the major suppliers of manpower and weaponry to ISIS when it was battling Assad but are now bombarding them, as they now threaten American allies in the region. ISIS was allowed to prosper in Syria through all kinds of support in the hope that they will topple Assad, and West calculated that once ISIS topples Assad, they would move in to topple ISIS. Now their worry is that Russia has jeopardised their plan by swiftly moving in Syria and severely crippling ISIS within two months. ISIS was the creation of West and its fighters were mainly from Europe who were allowed to travel to Syria just because West wanted to change the regime there. Now on the verge of defeat, ISIS fighters are hitting back at the countries which sent them.
But the globalisation of the world, which is equal to westernisation of the globe, continues despite disturbances. The “fruits” of globalisation--read Americanisation--were now the talking-point at all the international fora, even before they were visible anywhere. Free market economy has now become the order of the day. The technological advancement has brought the satellite TV into every home, even in the underdeveloped countries. And through those TV channels commenced the most devastating attack on the socioeconomic system and culture of the countries, which had till now been making conscious efforts to preserve their own roots. But anything that is not consistent with the demands of market would not be permitted to persist. The invasion of the “obscurantist” cul
tures and forces still continues; it is facing hardly any resistance worth mentioning and one territory after the other is being ransacked by the invaders.
The UN is not the only organisation at the international level used as an instrument by the West, led by the US, for colonising the whole world. An international body was set up in almost every field; and invariably these bodies understood and propagated only those ideologies that suited the Western economic interests. International Monetary Fund and World Bank have always been “guiding” the “underdeveloped” nations to achieve high rate of “development”. And in the guise of guidance and by providing monetary assistance, which is always for those projects which are expected to help the economic fundamentalists in the long term, these organisations have been blackmailing those countries to toe their policies. The third world countries have been successfully lured into a debt trap; once a country falls in the trap, it has no option but to follow their dictate. GATT and other such agreements and treaties have ensured