Arab People in War and Peace

| by Mahboob A. Khawaja

( September 15, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Arab people appear oppressed, demoralized but instinctively furious at the Western world for not coming to rescue them from the daily civilian bloodbaths, use of chemical weapons in Syria, on-going massacres of the innocents in Egypt and Iraq and progressively moving cycle of degeneration across the oil exporting Arab societies. Nobody holds rational proactive viewpoints what the future will be if there is one for the despotic Arab authoritarian rulers phasing out faster than the speed of light, so to speak. A page in the recent history book, there was Saddam Hussein, Moummar Qadafi, Hosni Mubarak, Abdullah Saleh and now Bashar Al- Assad generating lost minute tormenting pains to the masses. Undoubtedly, these are the hallmarks of the contemporary Arab politics, more specifically “do nothing” self-centered naïve political culture of co-existence - people living with extreme adversity without any revulsion against the oppressors.

Ironically, Arab people dislike the European leaders or the American presidents from George Bush to Obama for the fear of re-inventing and imposing the dark ages of colonial subjugation. Yet, these are the same political leaders who have helped the Arab masses to get rid off some of the worst authoritarian dictators dominating most of the Arab Middle East. Over half of a century of living under the aegis of neo-colonialism, the Arab people seem to have lost the sense of rational thinking and real world direction. Most Arab societies breathe air in seclusion and in an environment of self- indulged escape from the reality. They lack understanding of the contending global politics of influence. The contemporary Arab world is a world of distractions and false imagery of secluded happiness, extortion and painful miseries if one is to see the real pictures as people live-in. There are no rational factors of certainty, what is good today; tomorrow could be a drastic change and a dreadful morning. The Arab world stands to get a high-power jolt to come to senses that the changing world will usher massive surprises more catastrophic than what the Crusaders did few centuries earlier to the Muslim world. The foreign Plan being enforced exposes its own strategies that Arab people should not gain any unity of purpose to be ONE People- Ummah as Islam bridged the tribal differences and enabled the much belligerent tribal cultures into a Unity of Faith- One Nation in complete submission to God.

All the Arab states, 19 or so have strong military institutions trained and managed by the Western nations. All of the Arab states enjoin wide range of secretive police apparatus mostly planned, developed and enhanced by the European nations and since the oil discovery over taken by the United States. All the military and police institutions are subservient to the Western dictates as the current affairs of Egypt demonstrate the prevalent fact. The hidden vision and strategy encourage internal strife and domestic uprising against the dictators enabling the foreign masters to assume greater role of influence and preferred final outcomes gained from the civilian deaths and destruction. This means that the old and obsolete rulers who are fast becoming a liability on the Western nations will be removed by their own people, all the social, economic and institutional infrastructures will be dismantled, and there will be no challenge out of the chaos to be taken-over by the foreign masters. Such an outcome will open new markets for the some of the Western war-run economies. This is the war and peace strategy that the Arab people will endure to ensure safe and continuing supply of the much needed oil to the Western industrialized nations. The transitory and delusional happiness of the oil revenues have incapacitated the Arab thinking to see the unfolding present and to imagine the alarming and highly destructive developments of the coming future. This is a major paradox of the contemporary global politics that the Arab people cannot THINK nor imagine their own future out of the box. America, few West Europeans and Israel share strength to watch the unfolding crises degenerating the Arab societies as the Arab states and nations by geography and flags fall apart by their irrational thinking, policies and misfortunes ingrained in the discovery of oil, its outcomes and reliance on the foreign powers.

Given a terrible sense of helplessness, the Arab masses wonder how America and Russia have concluded an agreement on Syria to account for its chemical arsenals and later on to destroy the weapons under some international supervision. Is it an escape from the reality of overwhelming civilian deaths and destruction of the Syrian society? At issues are the authoritarian regime of Bashar Al-Assad and the use of forbidden chemical weapons causing more than 1, 625 civilians deaths including women and children. The need was urgent to stop the internal war and to restore some kind of order enabling the civilian population to return to their homes. President Obama and President Putin are engaged in the Syrian conflict for their own sake. Putin got the opportunity to make his presence felt at the global level that Russia is a contending power, and President Obama got convenient escape from his own Redline ultimatum to claim diplomacy over a military action against the Assad regime. There is anti-war passion across the American public spectrum. Both know too well what the use of chemical weapons means to the mankind as they have experimented it in Afghanistan and Vietnam and again in Iraq. The Arab rulers have no rational thinking to comprehend that both America and Russia will welcome continued killings and insecurity in the Arab world so that oil supplies could be conveniently available to them. When killings will cease, Arab dictators will beg America-Russia to get a political settlement. There is UNO force to verify the exact location of chemical weapons in a war zone. America and Russia will exchange contentious statements on and against Assad regime. Is it a time killing exercise to do nothing in Syria? If America and Russia could get involved in the process for the knowledge of chemical weapons and its inventory, why could not they address the real problem, that is, the removal of a dictator and protection of the civilian life in a war zone? Of more importance is the spectator role of all the Arab rulers of the Middle East. How come after more than sixty years of freedom from the European imperialism, the Arab societies do not have any educated, responsible and intelligent leaders to offer sense of moral and political security to the people in crisis? Why should President Obama and President Putin intervene to resolve the Arab leader’s adversity and intransigence against their own masses? Are the Arab rulers a dead-ended entity flourishing in the midst of daily civilian bloodsheds? Where is the Arab leader’s moral and intellectual consciousness of the gravity of the crises and accountability to the people? Where is the so called economic prosperity that the Arabs were supposed to enjoin in the contemporary world? How could Obama or Putin bring change, sigh of relief and halt in daily massacres carried out by the Arab armies against their own people? Does the Arab authoritarianism or the cruelty of systematic killings make any sense to a rational thinker if there are any left across the Arab world? The voices of REASON and human CONSCIENCE must speak loud and clearly. There are no Arab leaders having legitimacy in political governance or having chosen by the Islamic principles of “Shura” (consultation) of the people. Recently, President Morsy was elected in Egypt but now overthrown by the army Generals and Egypt is back to the ages of political darkness. All the Arab states are in a state of political chaos, shattered dreams and extreme uncertainty lacking any proactive plan how to come out of the prevalent political ruthlessness and viciousness ordained by the rulers. The Arab people need no new enemies, the rulers are doing the job. The contemporary Arab rulers are the new age political monsters – facilitating a favorite perversion from the facts of life - the real issue of Palestine and peace with Israel is sidelined and marginalized. Throughout the oil exporting Arab world, the contemporary rulers have turned out to be complacent in the US –Israeli strategic plans for the future of the Middle East. Ironically, it is hard to imagine if the prosperous Arab rules occupying dusted palaces have any consciousness of the interest of the masses or the real world affairs in their own backyards.

There are no educated, conscientious or publicly chosen leaders in the Arab- Muslim world except the recent President Morsy of Egypt and political leaders in Tunisia. There are no independent public institutions in the Arab world to provide critical and honest analyses on the global political affairs or reflect on possible remedies in war and peace. Throughout the Arab-Muslim world, there is not a single established university teaching global peace, security and conflict management - the institutions dealing with the present and envisioning the future that the Western nations are built upon for change and development. Leaderless Muslim masses appear desperate to look for a visionary and intelligent leader to offer some sense of moral and intellectual security. Across the Arab - Muslim countries, leaders live in palaces, not with people. If there were educated and intelligent leaders in the Muslim world, one could reason the unreason. But the oil exporting Arab leaders operate from a position of political weakness, not strength to play any useful role in international politics. The vision if there is one, is clearly a blind vision of the present and future, always expecting from others to do things for the oil enriched and useless figure heads. Professor John Esposito, (Unholy War and What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam), a reputable scholar of Western-Islamic culture and history at the Georgetown University, offers a lesson in a rational context:

“An important lesson of history is that rulers and nations do rise and fall. Unforeseen circumstances can bring up unanticipated change. Few expected the breakup of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Eastern Europe to occur when they did ……now is the time for those in all walks of life (political, economic, military, media and academic) who wish to see a new order not to be silenced but to speak out, organize, vote and be willing when necessary to make sacrifices in promoting a new global order.”

Thomas Paine (Common Sense) had a passion to articulate people-oriented awareness of freedom and liberty and anti-monarchy movement to pursue the American dream of independence. In his book Joseph Lewis (Thomas Paine: World Citizen "Inspiration and Wisdom from the Writings of Thomas Paine" 1948) noted the following observations:

“These are the times that try men's souls," was the inspiration of our despairing soldiers, and his eloquent and inspiring words have been acknowledged by the leaders of the American Revolution to have accomplished as much in securing American independence as did the sword of Washington. His Rights of Man, written in defense of the French Revolution, is still unequalled as the greatest book on political science and the rights of the individual in society that has yet been written. For writing this book, he was indicted for treason and forced to flee from England. What intelligent man today does not acknowledge that it was The Age of Reason which was responsible for his intellectual emancipation from the mentally-stagnating and superstitious creeds that for so long paralyzed the brain of man.

With unstoppable cycle of political killings and daily bloodbaths in so many Arab states - Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and spill-over impacts to other oil producing Arab nations - and reactionary militancy against the authoritarian rule and dismantling of the socio-economic infrastructures - is the Arab world coming to its own end because of the sadistic authoritarian rulers? The Arab leaders and the masses live and breathe in conflicting time zones being unable to see the rationality of people-oriented Islamic governance, the worst is yet to come, surrender to foreign forces as there are no leaders to think of the future or the Arab armies to defend the people. How should the global community view the contemporary Arab societies living under obsessed conspiracies of power and corruption of tribal authoritarianism for over half a century? They are a failure on all the major frontlines of global affairs. What happened to their Islamic culture, values and glorious civilization? Was the petrodollar a conspiracy (“fitna”) to disconnect the Arab people from the Islamic civilization? Ironically, how the few tribal leaders could have managed the time and history on their own unless large segments of the masses were complacent in making the tragedy? The world is changing but not fast enough for the authoritarian Arab rulers - fattish fed by the oil revenues and stupid and mindless in thoughts and behaviors if you view them in the real world of actions–reactions and prevalent deplorable atrocities imposed on the Arab people. The affluent and oil enriched indulged in conspiracy to assume power and institutionalize corruption simply to maintain few tribal powerhouses favored by the ex-colonial masters managing the power centers from distance. Now, the Arab people have awakened after long slumber of complacency and disorder. Centuries earlier the problem was well defined by Shakespeare “the destiny of peoples coincided with the destiny of their monarch and nobles.”

(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany-May, 2012).

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Egyptian Revolution Derailed, Contained

| by Nicola Nasser*

( August 1, 2012, Bir Zeit, West Bank, Sri Lanka Guardian) A fourth wave of the Egyptian revolution seems inevitable, until the revolution changes the regime or the regime emerges victorious, pending another revolution.

The January 25 revolution in Egypt, which removed the former president Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011 and, in its second wave, overwhelmed the first anniversary of his elected successor Mohammad Morsi on June 30, 2013 with millions over millions of anti - Muslim Brotherhood protesters until the military intervened to remove him in turn three days later, is now entering its third stage without yet being completed, fulfilled or finished.

In a statement issued on July 27, 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry grasped the fact that the Egyptian revolution has not yet run its course; “Its final verdict is not yet decided,” he said, “but it will be forever impacted by what happens right now.” He described the situation prevailing “now” as a “pivotal moment for Egypt.”

Years ago, John C. Campbel, in “Foreign Policy,” had described the Middle East as “a house of containment built on shifting sands,” from the perspective of the United States, and his description still applies today, no better than to the current state of affairs in Egypt, where the state has become more like a house of cards.

So far, Egypt’s revolution was more a “regime exchange” than a “regime change.” The old pro – U.S. market economy centers of power had merely rotated power among the liberal “remnants” of the Mubarak regime and the conservatives of his opposition led by the Muslim Brotherhood, with the military playing the role of the arbiter. For example, the Sawiris family billionaires who were milking them are coming back now after they were replaced by the billionaire and MB leader Khairat al-Shater and his ilks during the Morsi era. They were thus far successful in derailing and containing the revolution, which has changed nothing of the old regime, neither internally nor externally.

This rotation of power has so far proved an effective mechanism in containing the revolution and derailing it away from evolving into a new order. The political polarization along these lines is another mechanism; Mazda Majidi on July 20 wrote on the Web site of the U.S. Party of Socialism and Liberation: “A long confrontation with the military on one side and Brotherhood supporters on the other could yield a situation where the people in the streets right now will be sidelined,” and consequently their revolution aborted.

Washington D.C. is adapting to this “regime exchange” in order to prevent a “change in the regime,” which the successive US administrations have nurtured as a strategic asset to both the United States and its Israeli regional ally since the Camp David accords of 1979.

Answering his question whether the removal of Morsi was a U.S.-engineered coup, Majidi wrote that “Washington would have had no incentive to orchestrate a military coup to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood (MB);” Morsi “worked well with the U.S.,” “played a key role” in brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in late 2012,” and in the conflict in Syria, he and the MB “were solidly behind the U.S. effort to overthrow the Syrian state;” accordingly, “Washington could live with Morsi, but it obviously has no problems with Egypt's military,” who are the most committed to the strategic ties with the U.S. and the best guardians of the peace treaty with Israel.

Maintaining or discarding those ties and that treaty will undoubtedly be the most vital dividing line externally between fulfilling the Egyptian revolution and derailing it away from disturbing the regional balance of power and status quo, which both the U.S and the Israeli beneficiaries thereof have nurtured during the past more than three decades as their “holy cow.”

No surprise, therefore, that the internal threats to this status quo have become the concern of the U.S. and Israeli allies, but Israel in particular. Israeli leaders seemed on alert to preempt this threat. On July 26, President Shimon Peres said in an Al-Hurra TV channel: “What is politics if it can’t provide people with bread?” Backed by US Republican Senator Rand Paul, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now urging the West to adopt a new “Marshall Plan” for the Egyptian economy.

Within this context monitors could interpret the U.S. refusal to label the Egyptian military latest intervention on July 3 as a coup, lest the Barak Obama administration become obliged by law to cut the U.S. aid to Egypt. Similarly Qatar, which had sponsored the Morsi –led MB government, would not withdraw its ($7b) support to Egypt. The same applies to the ($12b) prompt financial support extended by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait within (48) hours of the latest “exchange” of power in Egypt, which, in view of the U.S. strategic alliance with the three countries, could not have been promptly forthcoming without a U.S. “green light,” according to anti – American analysts.

Any U.S. Israeli “Marshall Plan,” however, will only be another mechanism to maintain and reinforce the status quo and will not change the regime in Egypt, let alone bringing in a new regime.

Beneficiaries of the status quo are keen to prove to the revolting masses that their revolution has thus far made their bad situation worse: Economically, significant capital fled abroad, Egypt’s debt is a staggering 88 percent of its GDP, tourism collapsed, agriculture hit hard, foreign investment declined, labor unrest spread, unemployment on the rise, inflation soars, economic growth plunged, public finances deteriorated, value of Egyptian pound fell, purchase power of salaries eroded, half of Egyptians live at or below poverty line, etc., and personal safety and public security have become a daily headache, with the harassment of women becoming a social phenomenon.

And in the name of democracy, according to Jon Lee Anderson, writing in The New Yorker on July 5, “the devils long contained in Egypt’s national Pandora’s box having been loosened from their chains,” so “as if everything in Egypt must now be performed by the mob, for the mob, in full view of everyone.”

* Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. nassernicola@ymail.com

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Arab Triangle

How the Prosperity Bubble Destroyed Arab’s Moral and Intellectual Culture

| by Mahboob A. Khawaja

( June 9, 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Arab people live in a fantasy bubble being floated by the transitory oil revenues, controlled and managed by the Western nations. Oil revenues are not the outcome of Arab’s hardwork but a planned scheme of things carried out for several generations to distract from the real problems. The aim is to destroy the Arab culture and civilization with delusional prosperity instead of poverty. Poor people always maintain live conscience, think and strive to survive but prosperity gives them false amenities without working for it to ultimately become useless and die on their own without external intervention. Arabs have lost the moral and intellectual capacity to THINK intelligently of the self, about their culture, their global presence and about their future. With massive killings, daily bloodbaths across the Arab world, the leaders are happy that people are occupied in their own follies and that America and Britain are sheltering their role-play with increased militarization of the Arab world. All major public institutions in the Arab world are dominated by the Western thinking and agents of influence. The tragedy of Arab authoritarianism and economic militarization of the oil producing Arab nations is more complex and full of individualistic horrors, societal complacency and political blunders. Almost at every opportunity offered by time and history, the absolute rulers took wrong turns and slipped into the vices and ruins of self- generated corruption. The US and some of the West European nations have played central role in institutionalizing the authoritarian corruption. The new educated and thinking generations of Arabs must make a navigational change and set priorities to detach the economy and politics from the oil fed thinking and consequential militarization and interdependency on the Western nations unto social and economic-political reconstruction of the Arab societies for a sustainable future. Time and history shall not wait for their tangible actions but they should be conscientiously powerful and skilled enough in time management to share new and moving vision and to plan strategies and actions for ANEW Arab world dedicated to informed and responsible people’s governance and living in harmony with the rest of the global community.

In 1920, Robert Briffault, Professor at Cambridge University (The Making of Humanity). made the following historical observation: “It was under the influence of Arabian and Moorish revival of culture and not in the fifteenth century, that the real Renaissance took place. Spain not Italy, was the cradle of the rebirth of Europe…It is highly probable that but for the Arabs modern European civilization would never have arisen at all; it is absolutely certain that but for them, it would not have assumed that character which has enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution. For although there is not a single aspect of European growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the paramount distinctive force of the modern world and the supreme source of its victory.”

For almost eight hundred years, the Arabs produced an advanced civilization morally, intellectually and scientifically unparalleled in modern history. When the European lived in the dark ages and fought within themselves for nationalistic identities and symbols, the Arabs were the most progressive people articulating a model civilization to pursue balanced human development (material and spiritual) to give meanings to freedom, peace and equality and clear purpose to global sense of humanity called Ummah. The message of Islam was meant for the whole of the mankind to be One Humanity living on one planet in peace and progress. But when the Europeans crusades colonized the Islamic world, they destroyed Islamic institutions and divided the Arabs and Muslims and made them fight for their existence as was their own history of the European cultures. Despite of the oil generated paper wealth and transitory economic prosperity, Arab people lack Islamic unity and force of being one Ummah to restore their own historical linkage to change and human progress. The Western media views them as source of entertainment and one track business deals to sell the obsolete weapons and consumer products but not valuable partners in global community. We live in an information age of images carved up by the few for business and human exploitation. The Western media networks portray their own manufactured images of the contemporary Arab and Muslim world – more so of the oil exporting Arab nations – twisting tail of the camel, women covered in burkhas or splendid shopping malls full of walking black veils versus bikinis.

The past decade has occupied the minds and strategic priorities of the Western leaders in their support of the War o Terrorism. Terrorism originates from the Western colonial powers but none would dare to concede it for the fear of unknown intellectual, moral and political consequences in contemporary history. When the European businessmen explored new world markets for diminishing resources and their armed forces invaded and occupied the vast Islamic world, there were no television, internet, video cameras and stone throwing public and voices of reason to call them foreign mercenaries, aggressors and terrorists. The colonization scheme of things was not outcome of the Western democratic values to spread freedom, liberty and justice but ferocity of violence and killings of millions and millions of human beings for the Empires to be built on colored bloodbaths. The European crusaders crossed the channels and unknown time zones to subjugate the much divided Muslim people as part of their superior nationalism perception and values that Muslims were inferior to the European race and could be used as subjects without human identity and as raw material to build the new Empires. Many centuries past, if there was a global organization like UNO, it would not have dared to call the European intruders as terrorists because it would have been their own organization as Muslims lived in slavery and denial of basic human rights and identity. In an information age, knowledge–driven global culture of reason, ignorance is no longer a requisite to learn from the living history.

British author and producer Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear: BBC documentary challenging the American version of the “War on Terrorism”), spells out the myth with clarity: “international terrorism is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media.”

Ron Suskand - a White House insider (The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of its Enemies Since 9/11, 2007) shares intriguing and fact-digging perspectives how George W. Bush acted like an egomaniac and sadistic president and his immediate colleagues looking for excuses to re-enact the crusade against the Muslim World. Many Arab and Muslim rulers were willing partners and complacent in this project to safeguard their powerhouses and to ensure continuity of the neo-colonial governance. America lives in continued insecurity maintained by the corporate world and instigated by the former Bush administration. Paul Craig Roberts (“9/11 After A Decade: Have We Learned Anything?” Global Research: 8/24/2011) shares the prevalent perspective:

“Today Americans are unsafe, not because of terrorists and domestic extremists, but because they have lost their civil liberties and have no protection from unaccountable government power. One would think that how this came about would be worthy of public debate and congressional hearings.”

In a peak oil stage, the prosperity oil bubble is fast diminishing and the illusion of borrowed happiness and good time is already in ruins. Human development was neglected and economic man and women could not generate the Darwinian scenario of change and development. All of the Arab Middle East more so the oil exporting nations consist of the client states managed by puppets rulers, hand picked by the ex-European colonial masters and transferred onward to the US political hegemony. The trade-off was kept under check by the subsequent US administrations to launch economic development programs and make the Arab societies believe that they are progressive and will have new prosperous “imaginative communities” carved out of the dry and non-productive and ruined deserts by time and history. The real game was to ensure continued supplies of cheap oil to the Western military-industrialized complexes and in return militarization of the Arab Middle East under the aegis of fraudulent illusion of economic development and prosperity. The strategy was that one war will destroy the economic infrastructures and another follow-up planned scheme will rebuild them to be destroyed again by another emerging conflict. For over a decade, the unending and bogus War on Terrorism continues throughout the Arab world onward to Pakistan. Daily bloodbaths and torture of the people paint a picture of the Arabs as if living in the draconian age without any recourse to civilization, reason and Islamic system of governance. Was the discovery of oil a conspiracy (“Fitna”) to dehumanize the Arabs and Muslim people and to destroy their sense of originality, culture and values? But in Egypt and some parts of the Middle East, people are getting organized and rising to the political atrocities which have been imposed on them by the sadistic rulers. It is obvious that the Arab world of today will not be the same for tomorrow. In Egypt, out of a terrible sense of helplessness, people have emerged with political imagination, courage and strength to challenge the authoritarian rulers on solid grounds and reasoning and attract global support and appreciation for their cause of peace and freedom from oppression.

There are more daunting challenges and opportunities ahead for concerned Arab-Muslim scholars and thinkers to grasp the momentum and try to sort out feasible remedies and workable solutions. The role and tasks of the people dealing with change and management of development is painfully challenging and progressive over certain period of time. The societal problems are complex and there is no single pill to diagnose the cancerous sickness. Professor Fouad Ajami (Arab Predicament) said it right: “the problems of the Arab world are the result of self-inflicted wounds.” If the one track rulers were open to listening and learning (vital traits of effective modern leadership), the current catastrophic wars against the Arab people - firing on demonstrators in streets, funeral processions and worshippers in Masjids, killings of innocent citizens and destruction of the social environment and political horrors could have been avoided. From Syria onward to many Arab lands, people are the victims of cruelty and planned brutality against the mankind.

The common Arab folks are cultured and civilized people with immense tolerance for diversity as the European and now American have capitalized their life, markets and governance. Historically, Arabs were leaders in progressive culture and development of human civilization, whereas, the West was in infancy learning from the Arab knowledge, explorations and scientific achievements. They remained the single most contributors of 1000 years of advanced civilization in Al-Andalusia (Spain). When the Arabs left Islam and stopped listening to voices of intellectual reasoning, they fell in disgrace. Money can not buy the honor and integrity lost because of the modern ignorance and arrogance of the neo-colonial Arab ruling elite. If the Arab leaders could change and reform themselves and return to their originality of Islamic Thinking and behavior, they are the best people to invite towards goodness and forbid evil. Arabs exponents of peace do speak but are unable to reach the majority of the media controlled humanity. The Arab religious scholars have not played any significant role in changing the societal aims and priorities except seeing the light only in mosques, whereas the people live in darkness. Their barricaded Islam is supplemented by matching regular salaries and making it non-active part of the distant history.

The question is how to encourage change and emerging new and challenging opportunities to undo the political and economic chaos and return to normalcy? It requires soul searching and foresight and strong commitment more than bringing a revolution to set the proper strategies and to initiate planned solid actions for the future. Do the Arabs have the proactive visionary leaders and competent people and institutions to deal with change and conflict management?

Some twenty-five years earlier while this author was teaching in the Arab world, took initiatives to share new ideas and foresights which were envisaged in “Towards Muslim Unity” - “Why Muslims are a Divided People?” and “Approaches to Comparative Strategic Policy Planning: Muslims World and the West” published original in English and Arabic translation in the Muslim World League Journal, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, AlMujtama, Kuwait and other papers/magazines in Egypt and elsewhere. The proactive thoughts essentially dealt with some of the political issues and tragedies encountering the Arab world today as I could see them coming while working in the Arab world. Strangely, nobody paid attention, not even the people who were supposed to be tracking the global developments affecting the interests of the Muslim Ummah. In a nutshell, a reformative system of governance based on legislative body - Ummah Council (Parliament), comprised of the elected/chosen scholars-thinkers and professionals from the Islamic world to devise economic and political priorities for change and reformation of the neo-colonial governance by keeping intact the existing infrastructures and figureheads, encouraging and enlisting participation of new and educated generation to assume the leadership role in policy making, decision making, development of public institutions, banking, common currency, enhanced trades between the Muslim world and the Western nations, interactive relationships with the Western institutions and reassuring the Arab rulers of recognition and respect without revolution, and a gradual phase-out and phase-in process of new governance for the future building - sustainable economic and political life of the Muslim Ummah as One People, One Nation existing in peace and harmony with the rest of the world and of course, without the authoritarian and despotic rulers. Is this not what is desperately needed in the contemporary Arab world to avoid further bloodsheds, innocent killings of people and devastation of the social and economic infrastructures built with oil revenues?

Imagine what would the history say about the Arab rulers complacent in America’s led bogus War on Terrorism - a crusade against Islam and about their leadership role model for the future generations to come? Take a moment and have a cool breathe and THINK if you can, of the on-going planned massacres and killings of innocent people, political horrors and physical injuries, intellectual and moral insult to Muslim conscience, and deaths and devastation these monsters have caused to the traditional and valued culture of the Arab people - how should the world view the Arab people, societies, Islam and their sense of moral values? Were there no conscientious and intelligent folks, scholars and thinkers to Think of the Navigational Change and challenge the absurdity of anti-Islamic authoritarianism? Was there nothing else other than handful of sadistic rulers, oil pumping and militarization as the culture and economy of the Arab people? These questions MUST be answered to the demands of history and future generations.

Devoid of knowledge and basic leadership traits, the rulers appear defiant and paranoid to encounter the voices of reason – organized and effective people’s revolutionary movements for freedom and new leadership. President Obama dashed away all the optimism for rethinking and rebuilding Anew America – different than the perpetuated insanity of the Bush era, more akin to peace and co-existence with the rest of the global community in particular, the Arab-Muslim world. It was a political myth that Obama used to get elected for the first time, not to govern and work out a new way of thinking for the future of the US policy behavior and relationships. Who is going to write the closing chapter of the history of the bogus “War on Terrorism?” Is the history going to wait for the cessation of the aggressive hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan? Would the American-led war achieve its agenda priorities or meet the same destiny as it happened to the Romans, German Nazis and the USSR Empires? Ostensibly, history will judge the nations and leaders by their actions, not by their claims.

In his farewell address President D. Eisenhower (01/17/1961), made the following foresight, political and intellectual priorities known to the people of America:

“…. Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent, I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and lingering sadness of war – as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years…… We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied, that those who denied the opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full…….. That the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.”

(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing Germany-May,2012)

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The impossible discourse of the ‘Arab Spring’

Exploited and Misused

| by Ramzy Baroud

( January 25, 2013, Ramallah, Sri Lanka Guardian) A reductionist discourse is one that selectively tailors its reading of subject matters in such a way as to only yield desired outcomes, leaving little or no room for other inquiries, no matter how appropriate or relevant. The so-called Arab Spring, although now far removed from its initial meanings and aspirations, has become just that: a breeding ground for choosy narratives solely aimed at advancing political agendas which are deeply entrenched with regional and international involvement.

When a despairing Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire on December 17, 2010, he had ignited more than a mere revolution in his country. His excruciating death had given birth to a notion that the psychological expanses between despair and hope, death and rebirth and between submissiveness and revolutions are ultimately connected. His act, regardless of what adjective one may use to describe it, was the very key that Tunisians used to unlock their ample reserve of collective power. Then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s decision to step down on January 14, 2011, was in a sense a rational assessment on his part if one is to consider the impossibility of confronting a nation that had in its grasp a true popular revolution.

Egypt also revolted less than two weeks later. And it was then that Tunisia’s near-ideal revolutionary model became prey for numerous, often selective readings and ultimately for utter exploitation. The Egyptian January 25 revolution was the first Arab link between Tunisia and the upheavals that travelled throughout Arab nations. Some were quick to ascribe the phenomenon with all sorts of historical, ideological and even religious factors thereby making links whenever convenient and overlooking others however apt. The Aljazeera Arabic website still has a map of all Arab countries, with ones experiencing revolutionary influx marked in red.

Many problems have arisen. What tools, aside from the interests of the Qatari government, for example, does Aljazeera use to determine how the so-called Arab Spring manifests itself? And shouldn’t there be clear demarcations between non-violent revolutions, foreign interventions, sectarian tension and civil wars?

Not only do the roots and the expressions of these ‘revolutions’ vastly differ, but the evolvement of each experience was almost always unique to each Arab country. In the cases of Libya and Syria, foreign involvement (an all-out NATO war in the case of Libya and a multifarious regional and international power play in Syria) has produced wholly different scenarios than the ones witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt, thus requiring an urgently different course of analysis.

Yet despite the repeated failure of the unitary ‘Arab Spring’ discourse, many politicians, intellectuals and journalists continue to borrow from its very early logic. Books have already been written with reductionist titles, knitting linear stories, bridging the distance between Tunis and Sanaa into one sentence and one line of reasoning.

The ‘Arab Spring’ reductionism isn’t always sinister, motivated by political convenience or summoned by neo-imperialist designs. Existing pan-Arab or pan-Islamic narratives however well-intended they may be, have also done their fair share of misrepresenting whichever discourse their intellectuals may find fitting and consistent with their overall ideas. Some denote the rise of a new pan-Arab nation, while others see the ‘spring’ as a harbinger of the return of Islam as a source of power and empowerment for Arab societies. The fact is, while discourses are growing more rigid between competing political and intellectual camps, Arab countries marked by Aljazeera’s editorial logic seem to head in their own separate paths, some grudgingly towards a form of democracy or another, while others descend into a Hobbesian ‘state of nature’ – a war of all against all.

But reductionist discourses persist, despite their numerous limitations. They endure because some are specifically designed to serve the interests of certain governments – some with clear ambitions and others are simply trying to ride the storm. In the case of Syria, not a single country that is somehow a party in the conflict can claim innocence in a gory game of regional politics, where the price tag is the blood of tens of thousands of Syrians.

Western media continues to lead the way in language-manipulation, all with the aim of avoiding obvious facts and when necessary it misconstrues reality altogether. US media in particular remains oblivious to how the fallout of the NATO war in Libya had contributed to the conflict in Mali – which progressed from a military coup early last year, to a civil war and as of present time an all-out French-led war against Islamic and other militant groups in the northern parts of the country.

Mali is not an Arab country, thus doesn’t fit into the carefully molded discourse. Algeria is however. Thus when militants took dozens of Algerian and foreign workers hostage in the Ain Amenas natural gas plant in retaliation of Algeria’s opening of its airspace to French warplanes in their war on Mali, some labored to link the violence in Algeria to the Arab Spring. “Taken together, the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, the Islamist attacks on Mali, and now this Algerian offense, all point to north Africa as the geopolitical hotspot of 2013 — where the Arab Spring has morphed into the War On Terror,” wrote Christopher Helman, in Forbes, on Jan 18.

How convenient such an analysis is, especially when “taken together.” The ‘Arab Spring’ logic is constantly stretched in such ways to suit the preconceived understanding, interests or even designs of western powers. For example, it is now conventional media wisdom that the US is wary of full involvement in Syria because of the deadly attack on the US embassy in Benghazi. When seen from Washington, the Arab region appears less compound and is largely understood through keywords and phrases, allocated between allies and enemies, Islamists and liberals and by knee jerk reactions to anything involving Israel or Iran.

One only needs to compare media texts produced two years ago, with more recent ones. Whereas the first few months of 2011 were mostly concerned with individuals and collectives that had much in common with Mohamed Bouazizi – poor, despairing, disenfranchised, and eventually rebellious – much of the present text is concerned with a different type of discussion. Additionally there are almost entirely new players. The Bouazizis of Tunis, Egypt and Yemen remain unemployed, but they occupy much less space in our newspapers and TV screens. Now we speak of Washington and London-based revolutionaries. We juxtapose US and Russian interests and we wrangle with foreign interventions and barefacedly demarcate conflicts based on sectarian divisions.

“Arab awakening is only just beginning”, was the title of a Financial Times editorial of Dec 23. Its logic and subtext speak of a sinister interpretation of what were once collective retorts to oppression and dictatorships. “The fall of the Assads will be a strategic setback to Iran and its regional allies such as Hizbollah, the Shia Islamist state within the fragile Lebanese state,” the editorial read. “But that could quickly be reversed if Israel were to carry out its threats to attack Iran’s nuclear installations, enabling Tehran’s theocrats to rally disaffected Muslims across the region and strengthen their grip at home. It is easy to imagine how such a conflict would drag in the US, disrupt the Gulf and its oil traffic, and set fire to Lebanon.”

Note how in the new reading of the ‘Arab Spring’, people are mere pawns that are defined by their sectarian leanings and their usefulness is in their willingness to be rallied by one regional power or another. While the language itself is consistent with western agendas in Arab and Muslim countries, what is truly bizarre is the fact that many still insist on contextualizing the ever-confrontational US, Israel and western policies in general with an ‘Arab Spring’ involving a poor grocer setting himself on fire and angry multitudes in Egypt, Yemen and Syria who seek dignity and freedom.

Shortly after the Tunisian uprising, some of us warned of the fallout, if unchecked and generalized discourses that lump all Arabs together and exploit peoples’ desire for freedom, equality and democracy were to persist. Alas, not only did the reductionist discourse define the last two-years of upheaval, the ‘Arab Spring’ has become an Arab springboard for regional meddling and foreign intervention. To advance our understanding of what is transpiring in Arab and other countries in the region, we must let go of old definitions. A new reality is now taking hold and it is neither concerned with Bouazizi nor of the many millions of unemployed and disaffected Arabs.

Ramzy Baroud is editor of PalestineChronicle.com. He is the author of The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle and “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story” (Pluto Press, London).

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America, Israel and Arab Authoritarianism need navigational change

| by Mahboob A. Khawaja

 “….a transition from "the war on terrorism" to the outright demonization of Muslims. While underscoring the freedom of religion, the Obama administration is "beating the drums" of a broader war against Islam…..   the objective is to instill fear, rouse and harness citizens' unbending support for the next stage of America's "long war….. A "war of religion" is unfolding, with a view to justifying a global military crusade.”

(Professor Michel Chossudovsky, “America's Holy Crusade against the Muslim World”, Global Research, 8/30/2010).

( December 13, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) American duplicity and political intransigence have lost the strategic direction and rational sense of glory and triumph in honoring its peacemaking commitments to the Arab Middle East. The new emerging Arab world and its politics is changing fast as the new generation informed people are taking over the responsibilities and slowly organize themselves to demonstrate courage, wisdom and new political imagination for a new value-based and free of foreign influence Arab world. Strangely, in this progressive struggle for change, freedom and co-existence, America and Israeli both have lost the opportunities to be partner in the peacemaking process and in the establishment of an independent State of Palestine to balance the disequilibrium in which Israel presently exists. It is becoming more obvious that by challenging the voices of REASON and implying denial of the rights of the Palestinian people, the embittered America and aggressive Israel could enjoin a terrible sense of helplessness and isolation and nothing could save them from the consequences of their own triviality, ignorance and wickedness.

___________________________________

The collective courage and coherent political imagination of the new educated Arab generations have effectively challenged the traditional Arab authoritarianism supported by the US and West Europeans making them to THINK of the Unthinkable future. The Western strategic planners kept the fattish and mindless Arab rulers ignorant of the prevalent facts of modern life. Intellectually fractured and physically broken solid walls of secretive police “FEAR” built and maintained by the Imperial Masters expose the truth of Arab - Western world relations. Nothing other than hypocrisy and deceit were the corner stone of these bilateral relations over half of a century. The informed Arab masses articulating UNITY of purpose onward to NEW THINKING and ACTIONS - ANEW FUTURE visible on the horizon. Discarding the virtual reality, it is happening and well in progress across the authoritarian Arabian Peninsula. Quite intuitively and instinctively, people’s inspired revolutions have surpassed the human imagination to facilitate a different and more promising landscape across the Arab Middle East.

World is changing as it should be but not the policy impulse of the US and Israel. Effective leaders and stable nations opt for change when faced with facts not fictions of life and gear toward rational changes as the principle of adaptability to be successful in carving a sustainable future.

If democracy is the norm, then facts speak clearly that the 99% of the US masses differ and reject the policies of the minority 1 % exploitative elite and its political agendas and practices. American duplicity and Israeli self-absolutism is inherently flawed and its consequences have cornered them in dead-ended isolation irrespective of the global changing landscape. America and Israel have flawed perceptions of the Iranian nuclear advancement to indoctrinate the mankind with false information and notion of warmongering. Both have failed to redirect the move for the establishment of an independent State of Palestine. The global community does not view the US-Israel stance as balanced and rational. There are increasing number of Jewish scholars, intellectuals and political activists in North America and Western Europe calling for the rights of the Palestinian people, formation of an independent State of Palestine and normalization of relations with the Arab world. But Israel and the US policies do not appear to be standing for peacemaking and reconciliation through peaceful means expect intransigence and belligerency and rejection of the voices of public reasoning. The current circumstances trigger dark clout over their intents and policy behaviors to resolve the Palestine problem and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

When we compare facts of human affairs, we tend to learn more about the prevalent realities. Today, North Korea successfully launched a space missile which to American and its coerced allies is highly suspected of having nuclear arsenal capacity and objectionable. But none have issued war threats to North Korea. Suppose in the world of Virtual Reality, if we were to replace Iran with North Korea - place of location, would America and Israel have reacted in the same manner as they did against Iran?  Iran is not a nuclear power and according to all scientific data, it does not have the capacity to produce nuclear weapons but America, Israel and so many other bribed nations continue to issue violent threats of reprisal against Iran. Why? Simply, because Iran is a Muslim nation whereas, North Korea is not. Perhaps, non-religious if communism is assumed just as an ideology, not a religion. In this self-defeating exercise, no Western news media even mentions that Israel is nuclear power nation and has close to 200 nuclear arsenals in the warehouse. Is it a more of a religious warmongering against Iran? Do sadistic leaders operate the political systems of the globe?

World is changing as it should be but not the policy impulse of the US and Israel. Effective leaders and stable nations opt for change when faced with facts not fictions of life and gear toward rational changes as the principle of adaptability to be successful in carving a sustainable future. Change and adaptability to the future-making are rational factors and choices to envisage human rights, dignity and peaceful co-existence. The tribal cult-based Arab sheikdoms and the rulers are living in the modern age of ignorance (“Jahlliyia”). They lack rational understanding of time and history. The oil discovery was a scheme of enslavement and moral and intellectual deprivation for the traditional Arab societies most often termed as “fitna” - a wicked proposition. The imported scheme of “modernity” and oil-pumped prosperity have not changed the Arab time capsule - being irrelevant, incompetent and floating on its won completely out of touch with the challenging needs of the 21st century and legitimate aspirations of the Arab masses for freedom and people’s based system of governance.

Politics is self-centered obsession to have power and to influence others for personal aggrandizement and exploitation. Politicians produce nothing except talking and listening and shouting matches in the corridors of parliaments and assemblies. For over centuries, the traditions go on as none seem to have the courage and commitment to change the theater of absurdity run on taxpayer’s pains and payments. Discard cynicism and wickedness but be conscious that some contemporary politicians or monsters of history are often the two sides of the same picture enriched with perversion and treacherous escape from the facts of real life.  They exhibit individualistic absolutism and despotic intents to gain irrational favors. Who can argue with REASON against the pro-Israeli American political institutions - lobbyists, people and leaders - they are well paid to say things that Israel wanted to hear and to guarantee the strategic superiority of Israel, no matter what the world thinks about all of them. Their duplicity in thoughts and actions is not just plain falsehood and cruelty to the prevalent facts of human life but challenges to the US official stance in a global theatre. America and Israel both need a strong moral, intellectual and political challenge to come to terms with the Arab Middle East. Do the tribal cult based Arab rulers possess the moral, intellectual and political capacity, vision and courage to challenge the US and Israel for an equal treatment in global affairs? Could the dummy and ignorant Arab authoritarian rulers stand up to encounter the Israelis in face to face dialogue and make logical discourse that the international community could grasp some hard facts of the Middle Eastern tragedies?  Imagine, in September 2010, President Obama made an international declaration at the UN General Assembly that he hoped to see a new member State of Palestine sitting in at the UN body by next year.  But in 2011 close to the re-election campaign, he started talking in-between, playing with broken promises and words on Palestine. The same Obama administration opposed the Palestinian bid to seeks UN membership as a State in November 2012. There are no solid moral and political principles on which the nations and leaders take a stand. What is missing in this ball game and political drama across the global media screens?  One fact outweighs all other factors of expediency that the Arab nations do not have any educated and intellectually competent and politically credible leaders to come out in front at a global stage and REASON the UNREASON. The world pays attention to those who know how to communicate the ideas and issues logically and effectively. Arab rulers have wasted time and energies on futile projects negating the Islamic values and spirit of leadership. What if there were people-run and open-ended system of political governance and 21st century educated and proactive and intelligent people of the new generation making the policies and representing the Arab political governance at a global theatre?  Would Obama and Netanyahu dare not to listen to those powerful voices of REASON?

Arabs people are ancient, tolerant and enjoy credible history; Americans are new in civilization and rush to hasty conclusions, only to THINK after the facts. Arabs have a history of eight hundred years (longest period in any civilization) of glorious culture and civilization in Al-Andalusia (Spain), not terrorism. European persecuted the Jews for ages, not the Arabs, and American never cared about it, well after the 2nd World War until the Jews established their institutionalized influence and power in politics, mass media and financial domains. People and nation of the world must listen, learn and understand these facts of history. Now, it is the time for the Muslim thinkers, strategic planners and other professional experts to take the initiatives and respond to the call of time and human conscience and lead the change process and make positive things happen out of planned ideas and ideals. It is time in history-making to THINK right and act; otherwise, there are more wars and destruction on the horizon for the Arab-Muslim world to come. The US needs more hoax of wars to revamp failing of its financial collapse, defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, unpayable $14 trillion borrowed from the future and failed political agenda of wars against the living humanity.

Imagine, if the Arab world had public institutions and Islamic system of people-based governance, there was no scope for the Western oil importing nations and their military forces to intervene, bomb, destroy and subjugate those already living under half of a century of authoritarian oppressions. It is the same story in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and in other parts of the princely sheikhdoms of Arab societies - common people are gunned down, their rights and human dignity is purged, the only voices of reason are coming out of the Western thinking people and human organizations, not of the Arab ruling elite. All of the Arab individualistic absolute rulers have institutionalized secretive police apparatus and Rapid Deployment military units to maintain “fear game” and to keep the herd under control by force and torture. This was business as usual for almost sixty years but no Western politicians or institutions spoke against it, not even the Western pro-democracy proponents claiming to be optimists and peacemakers. None of the despotic rulers had any imagination or vision to build the human strength based valued societies and to see Islam as a changing force of time and progress.

Imagine, what would the history say about the Arab rulers complacent in America’s led bogus War on Terrorism - a crusade against Islam and about their leadership role model for the future generations to come?  Take a moment and have a cool breathe and THINK if you can, of the on-going planned massacres and killings of the innocent people in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, political horrors and physical injuries, intellectual and moral insult to Muslim conscience, and deaths and devastations that these monsters have caused to the traditional and valued culture of the Arab people.  How should the world view the Arab people, societies, Islam and their sense of moral values? Does oil-pumping assumes more value than Islam and its values? Have the traditional Arabian hub of moral, spiritual and intellectual cultural values been drained out and replaced by hurriedly affixed fake imagery of the oil prosperity? What would history speak about the Arabian moral and intellectual losses and decadent culture? Were there no conscientious and intelligent folks, scholars and thinkers to THINK of the navigational change and challenge the absurdity of anti-Islamic authoritarianism? Was there nothing else other than handful of sadistic rulers, oil pumping and militarization as the culture and economy of the Arab people?  What kind of moral, intellectual and cultural images are beaming out of the traditionally cultured and civilized Arab societies to which the global community should take notice to understand its impulse and values?

There are more daunting challenges and opportunities ahead for concerned Arab-Muslim scholars and thinkers to grasp the momentum and try to determine and plan feasible alternatives and remedies and workable solutions. The role and tasks of the societal planners and managers - people dealing with change and management of development is painfully formidable and progressive over certain period of time. The societal problems are complex and there is no single pill to diagnose the cancerous sickness and disorder institutionalized by the Arab authoritarianism. Professor Fouad Ajami (Arab Predicament) said it right: “the problems of the Arab world are the result of self-inflicted wounds.” If the one track rulers were open to listening and learning (vital traits of effective modern leadership), the current catastrophic wars against the Arab people - firing on demonstrators in streets, funeral processions and worshippers in Masjids, killings of innocent citizens and destruction of the social environment and emerging political horrors could have been avoided.

“Change” is the most important phenomena embracing the political imagination, street talks and evolving people-oriented culture of THINKING and moving into the future-making of a new age of governance, discarding power politics of the few foreign hired agents of influence, often supported by foreign aid, institutionalized  corruption and dictated interests of the Imperial Masters and obsolete Empires. The crises in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq and continued killings of the civilian populace clearly demonstrate how the Arab leaders have failed to deal with conflict situations. They appear to be living in a fools paradise soon to be replaced by their enemies. They cannot demonstrate any moral or intellectual leadership capacity to extend any sense of strategic security to their people. Do the oil enriched Arab rulers have any rational capacity and imagination to tackle any problems of the people’s concern and priorities?

It is the future, how to be rebuilt across the oil producing Arab nations. There must a rational concern and immediate thinking on the part of able and competent Muslim thinkers to plan for change and future-building - out of deliberate deaths and destructions in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Tunis, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The losses are too great in human, social, economic and political terms and consequential impacts will go on for ages to come as what was destroyed instantly by the blood thirsty draculian forces, cannot be rebuild overnight. These were the results of decade old indifferences, incompetent and corrupt system of governance - the net outgrowth of the Arab authoritarianism and ruthless dictators. The educated and informed generations of the Arab societies must THINK collectively and rationally and devise plans in concert with professionals and experts whether from the US – the Arab world or other societies to a framework of Change, reformation of the obsolete system of political governance, encourage people of new ideas to share their viewpoints and seek collaboration from all corners to rebuild the new institutions, social-economic infrastructures, and a sustainable promising future of peace and co-existence with all the neighbors.

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012. He is also a regular with Sri Lanka Guardian

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Syria Through the Looking Glass

“A Cowardly Escape From the Problems of Peace”

The Pentagon and its cohorts in Washington, Brussels (where NATO headquarters are located), Tel Aviv, Ankara and other NATO capitals are not deviating from their thrust. Despite the democratic possibilities unleashed by the Arab Spring, anyone hoping for genuine change must recognize that the supposed champions of democracy in the West are more intent on stifling democracy than guaranteeing it. Those who believe otherwise are ignoring history. Those who clamor for NATO intervention against Damascus and/or Tehran are denying it.

l by Ron Jacobs

(30 June, 2012, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) When wading into the ever muddied waters of the West’s never ending war against the people and states of the Middle East, it is useful to have some kind of mechanism if one is trying to find a bit of clarity. The mechanism I prefer is that of history. While not infallible, the fact of its existence tends to create a template of events that ultimately provides a sequence of events that, while often different, provide a context that makes sense out of what might otherwise seem to be random occurrences without connection. When examining the history of imperial relations, the context is most often the ongoing attempts of the powerful nations to subjugate others.

Therefore, the US invasions of Iraq were clearly attempts by the world’s primary imperialist power to subjugate the people of that nation. The reasons for these invasions were numerous and have been discussed for more than two decades. Some of the most accepted reasons include Washington’s desire to control Iraq’s resources, opposition to Saddam Hussein’s regional designs, Washington and Tel Aviv’s regional designs (including the desire to control Iran), and a long-range hope that a client Iraqi state would provide a base of operations for further US adventures. As of this writing, not only is it impossible to measure the success of the invasion and occupation of Iraq; it might even be honest to state that the operation was more of a failure than a success. One could also argue that the destruction of the pro-Saddam forces in the country and the ongoing signing of oil contracts under a law that clearly favors outside corporations means that the war and occupation was more of a success for Washington and its friends than it was a failure. Still, it is too early to tell.

The real subject of this piece is not Iraq, however, but Syria. Like Libya last year, there is little clarity in the coverage from the western press regarding this conflict. It is clear that the Assad government brooks little patience for those who oppose its rule. It is also clear that several actors with little interest in democracy have maneuvered themselves into roles as players in that opposition. Some of those actors include Wahabbist fighters, mercenaries and others paid by the Saudi regime, arms merchants and gunrunners in the pay of Saudi and other Arab kingdoms, and various covert ops personnel (including CIA) working at the behest of various NATO governments including the US, and Israel. Other possible actors include Al-Qaeda warriors and other religiously motivated types. Those actually interested in a more democratic Syria have faded into the background as armed factions have come to the front. Yet, it is these very same democracy protesters that provide a cover for NATO governments to increase their involvement.

Like virtually every other so-called pro-democracy movement in the past few decades, the movement in Syria was composed of people genuinely interested in social justice and democracy. Also, like every other similar movement in the past few decades, those individuals and the groups they formed were infiltrated and manipulated by US government sponsored NGOS intent on confusing democracy with the creation of markets and cheap labor for US capitalism. In countries where the national government was either too late in responding, too weak to respond, or pressured to accept a compromise encouraged by Washington, the protesters saw the authoritarian regime replaced with a US/NATO client regime that might or might not create the democratic conditions they hoped for. Kosovo, Iraq, various eastern European nations and Libya provide several examples of this dynamic. For some, the fact of the previous regime’s removal is enough. For everyone else, the authoritarianism of the old regime has often been replaced with a new authoritarianism in the name of democracy. Almost across the board, the cost of the old regime’s removal has been increased poverty for workers and farmers.

So, if we choose the prism of history to consider the situation in Syria, we find something familiar. Simply put, we see western imperial powers and Turkey (and Israel) attempting to remove an Arab government unwilling to go along with their designs. This is not the first such attempt. In fact, Syria has been on the list of governments Washington wants to see gone for quite a while. During the US military’s occupation of Iraq there were several moments when it looked like the US might launch attacks on Syria under the guise of fighting Iraqi insurgents supposedly based there. As it turned out, this did not occur, most likely because the consensus was not there among those who were running the war. Now, threats by Ankara against Syrian troops operating near the Turkish border could well be the pretext that leads to a shooting war between Syria and NATO member Turkey. If such a scenario unfolds, the NATO treaty demands assistance from Turkey’s fellow alliance members. As I wrote in November 2005:

Let’s take a look at just a couple of recent statements by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. On Oct. 19, 2005, Rice told a Senate committee that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were part of a plan to “redesign” the Middle East. She also added that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 10 or more years. The reactions to these statements from the senators present varied, although none seemed to oppose the overall strategy presented by Ms. Rice. One GOP senator, George V. Voinovich of Ohio, noted: “We have to level with the American people,” he said. “This is another world war.” Voinovich, who opposed the appointment of John Bolton to the United Nations because Bolton alienated potential U.S. allies in its war for millennial world hegemony, was not so much asking for a change in policy as he was asking for the White House to stop misrepresenting its intentions.

The senator’s concern was seconded from the other side of the aisle by Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Now, to some folks opposed to the war, Obama is a potential ally. However, like Voinovich, it appears that he is not opposed to the project to remake the world (especially those parts where there is oil) in Washington’s image; he is opposed to the current administration’s unilateralism. “This broadening of the mission is disturbing and difficult for us in the Senate to deal with as it requires a leap of faith on our part that a mission of that breadth can be accomplished in a reasonable time frame,” Mr. Obama said. Notice that his concern is with the time frame involved in dominating the world, not with the underlying philosophy that says such a project is the right thing to do. In summation, Washington does intend to change the governments in the Middle East that it opposes. Syria and Iran are the next two countries on the list, and any excuse to change their governments will be utilized, no matter how contrived or flimsy.

When considered in light of the statements by the two Senators (one who is now the president of the US), the historical view becomes quite clear. The Pentagon and its cohorts in Washington, Brussels (where NATO headquarters are located), Tel Aviv, Ankara and other NATO capitals are not deviating from their thrust. Despite the democratic possibilities unleashed by the Arab Spring, anyone hoping for genuine change must recognize that the supposed champions of democracy in the West are more intent on stifling democracy than guaranteeing it. Those who believe otherwise are ignoring history. Those who clamor for NATO intervention against Damascus and/or Tehran are denying it.

-headline is from a quote attributed to Thomas Mann.

Ron Jacobs is the author of The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground and Short Order Frame Up. Jacobs’ essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch’s collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. His collection of essays and other musings titled Tripping Through the American Night is now available and his new novel is The Co-Conspirator’s Tale. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, published by AK Press. He can be reached at ronj1955@gmail.com.

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Lessons to be learnt from Arab Spring

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

(January 04, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The dawn of this New Year brings with it decisive actions the government needs to make. The year gone by sent out a universal message that no longer could elected leaders ignore mass civil revolt against suppression, subjugation and authoritarianism.

The Arab Spring which started with the fruit vendor setting himself alight in Tunisia spread like wildfire unseating otherwise smug leaders who thought they were invincible. Egypt, Yemen, Libya and now Syria are now compelled to listen to the voice of the masses who have had it up to their eye-balls what with having to tighten their belts while the powers that be partied like there was no tomorrow.

Time magazine chose `The Protester' as its Man of the Year, and quite rightly so. Leaders can no longer rest on their laurels and unleash authoritarianism among its people. The editor of The Spectator said that even though one can safely predict eclipses it is hard to predict mass rebellion. Tahrir Square protest ousted Mubarak and today it is protesting against the military rulers who replaced him. Can Syria find a better ruler than Assad?

What lies ahead for Libya after the witch-hunt for Colonel Muammar Qaddafi and his subsequent assassination by the US and its NATO forces? It is not through any humanitarian concern but through its own selfish interest that the US chose to send its NATO forces to empower a puppet regime which would provide the US with uninterrupted supply of Libya's oil. The next target for the US is Iran.

As the last US forces left Iraq `liberating' it from Saddam Hussein and replacing him with a puppet leader more suited to western interests the country is still embroiled in a never-ending war with suicide bombings and internecine clashes. It is an open secret the West only intervenes in countries which are replete with oil and minerals or which are strategically located to have bases to wage war on those countries it perceives as enemies as opposed to human rights.

Taking a reality check on the Sri Lankan scenario, the western democratic powers dragged its feet as thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred. Why? Sri Lanka does not have oil or nuclear power. It is but a speck of a former British colony suspended on the emerging Asian miracle economy which is India. Moreover, US and UK along with India, Pakistan, Russia and China provided the necessary military and intelligence to annihilate the LTTE not at all considering the human casualties.

The Tamils in their eyes were an expendable group not unlike the Chagossians in Diego Garcia, who were sent overnight to Mauritius in boatloads and who were told that they need not come back. Who backed the US in this mass exodus of Chagossians in the sixties? Britain. Yes, Britain whose people loved their pets and who killed the departing Chagossians' pets by incinerating them. Emerging documents under the 30 year embargo on cabinet papers prove that British diplomats twisted history on its head by declaring that Chagossians were but recent immigrants to Diego Garcia ergo they did not have legal rights to be the inheritors of the island in the Indian Ocean. All because US, the big bully, wanted this serendipitous isle to construct their naval base to keep an eye on their enemy territories.

The seceding of independence to Ceylon was in no way any struggle by the natives. It is the culmination of a patriotic rebellion instigated by Mohandas Karam Chandra Gandhi, who through his adherence to ahimsa and satyagraha made the British Raj retreat ironically with much bloodshed. Ceylon in 1948 on the other hand was given its independence on a silver platter. The departing British Raj did not give two hoots to the ethnic Tamils who would embark on a long and drawn out struggle to win back their own rights from a Sinhala Buddhist majority which took revenge on the ethnic Tamils and which managed to entice a few selfish Tamil politicians such as the Ponnambalam Brothers who sold their own souls for prestigious posts in the new Sinhala cabinet.

This trend is re-enacted in the present day Tamil politicians who are largely former militants but who managed to wheedle their way into the government and enjoy its patronage. Even observing the actions of the various Tamil organisations abroad each have their own political aspirations and more importantly earning kudos from the very Tamils who struggled to make lives far from their motherland. This is pitiable indeed. There has never been unity among the North East Tamils unlike the upcountry Tamils. When upcountry Tamils go on strike the entire tea industry stands still. It took Mr S. Thondaman, a very shrewd and grassroots politician to challenge the powers to gain their rights denied by post independent North East politicians and the Sinhala governments.

Post war Tamils have yet to see a statesman politician who can persuade the government to win their lost rights from the Sinhala government. For a tiny island like ours it is foolhardy to demand a separate state for Tamils. Besides geographically and economically North East cannot survive without the South and vice versa. North East resources such as sea produce, salt, coconuts, palm products and most importantly minerals and oil in the foreseeable future can only boost the economy of the island when the West is undergoing severe economic downturns.

Nevertheless, the government cannot lose any more time and sweep under the carpet its alleged war crimes since there are vested foreign interests here. Only when Tamil grievances are met could the government even talk of a rising economy. For now Tamils will settle for a thorough internal investigation into war crimes, punishment for the perpetrators and immediate redress to war afflicted civilians. Failing which it can expect a repeat of the Arab Spring and international intervention.

The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 21 years. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)

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