by Chandra Wickramasinghe

The Middle East has turned into a veritable vortex with the potential to engulf the entire region in frenetic chaos, extending the rebellious ferment even to countries outside the region.This is not an unlikely scenario in the context of the present roiling, financial and economic instability assailing the flag bearers of the world community due to their extravagant military adventures, stemming again from their anxiety to maintain their position as super powers calling the shots to the rest of the world. The fact that most of these former ‘imperial’ powers are irreparably debt ridden and living on borrowed time, extended somewhat graciously by their former subject colonies ,seems to be of little consequence to them and presenting no big deal to their blown up egos! Paradoxically, if not tragically,the present and future generations of people in the US and the UK, will be wearing round their necks, these increasing debt burdens, like heavy mill-stones. The war-mongering progenitors do not however,appear to spare even a thought to the grave and calamitous economic and social consequences that would ineluctably, follow close on the heels of these ill conceived and reckless overseas military escapades. Defining moments The present chaos in the Middle East brings to mind the simmering unrest that prevailed in the Balkan Peninsula in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,which fulminated catasclysmically,with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Bosnian revolutionary in June1914, triggering off World War 1. Domestic social tensions being highly volatile in modern times,one needs only a trifling incident, like the suicide of an obscure street vendor, to spark off riots and engulf an entire region in social unrest leading to the toppling of dictatorial rulers in other neighbouring States who had held sway for decades! These sparks that ignite the powder keg waiting to blow up, denote defining moments, precipitating momentous changes that sweep through countries like a prairie fire. When social unrest first commenced in Egypt,it was given the alluring epithet -’The Arab Spring’, suggestive of a new democratic awakening of the people against tyrannical rule. As the days wore on,things turned out to be bloody and nasty till Mubarak was finally overthrown and an interim Ruling Council appointed. One sees in the current turmoil raging in the Middle East, the clearly visible,heavy hand of the neo-colonialists whose new approach to gaining control of recalcitrant countries is assuming relatively oblique forms of inciting the local populations to clamour for Democracy and freedom from oppression. The rallying cry for the local rebels is the – over used, thread bare clich�, of Democracy and freedom from oppression while for the foreign sponsors orchestrating the process from afar, it is the subtly tempered and euphemistically defined phrase, ‘Regime Change’! Despite the enormous domestic problems these foreign powers have to grapple with in their own countries,these military adventures are presumably serving them as necessary diversionary avenues with substantial material benefits thrown in eventually, which would go a long way, to alleviate the dire financial straits these countries are currently in. The contagion of rebellion and social unrest is likely to spread to even developed countries with large marginalized racial minorities who live in dire poverty amidst social groups who wallow in grand opulence. The recent outbreak of rioting in Britain is a manifestation of the deep resentment the poor and the deprived have towards those living in supreme comfort and luxury. Closer to the epi-centre,social unrest is breaking out menacingly, in South Africa and some other states in Africa. These are indeed harbingers of troublous times to come, especially in countries with huge disparities in wealth and income distribution. The resuscitation of the old ‘proxy wars’, in a more sophisticated form. These Western powers, by getting embroiled in problems of other countries in this manner, seem to be resuscitating, at least partially, the old concept of proxy wars, by not committing ground troops to engage in combat frontally, but by assisting the local rebels with liberal supplies of sophisticated weaponry and military wherewithal, to fight the oppressors. Additionally,the NATO alliance carried out their deplorable’aseptic’ bombing raids in Libya from the safety of the skies, ironically exploiting the ‘No Fly’ zone for the purpose! Armed initially, with the vaguest of mandates obtained from the UN to confer legitimacy to their covert operations, which had the declared aim of protecting civilian lives ,which included further within the UN mandate, the declaration of a ‘No Fly’ zone purportedly to protect cilvilians from air attacks by the oppressors, the shameful bombing raids were duly launched. This so called ‘No Fly’ zone was ironically and tragically, used exclusively by the NATO alliance to carry out innumerable, serial bombing raids on Tripoli and the other areas controlled by pro-Gadaffi forces, causing thereby, the deaths of thousands of civilians. The same was true in the case of Egypt. In the case however,of the reliable friends of the West viz.Bahrein,Saudi Arabia,no such support for the rebels was forthcoming(an abortive attempt at organizing a public demonstration in Saudi Arabia was crushed) , despite the two countries being ruled by monarchs and rulers as undemocratic and as dictatorial as those ousted from power in Egypt and Libya. This patent discrimination will obviously be viewed by citizens especially in Bahrain, where there have been bouts of civilian unrest, with disdain and revulsion, of the double standards adopted and applied selectively, by the NATO alliance. The bloody ‘Arab Spring’ and its aftermath. With the dust clearing at least partially in Egypt and Libya, with stubborn resistance still being offered by pro -Gadaffi sections of the Libyan people,one does not witness any positive signs of a transformation to democratic governance. The Western powers who may have fondly imagined that they would be able to replace Mubarak and Gadaffi with puppet regimes, are likely to receive a rude shock when the still heavily armed rebels insist on installing democratically elected regimes of their own choice. The Interim Transitional Councils which comprise for the most part, lackeys of the NATO powers, are under severe pressure brought to bear on them by the rebels, not to permit foreign interference in their internal affairs.They have shown a clear preference to obtain any assistance required, from friendly Arab and African countries. This attitude is going to foul up all the well laid plans of the Western alliance, to ensconce themselves in Egypt and Libya and exploit the oil/gas resources of the two countries. The rebels are evidently shrewd enough to see through the machinations of the Western powers, particularly with the living example of the woeful devastation and the living hell their neighbours, the Iraqi people had to go through and are going through even now, following the invasion by the Western saviours with their crusading mission of saving the Iraqi people from the ‘monster’ and ‘devil incarnate’ – Saddam Hussein! With the rebels both in Egypt and Libya constituting a heterogeneous lot, comprising those ranging from political and religious moderates, Islamic fundamentalists, Al Qaeda cadres,to those with strong tribal attachments et al, the sudden turns and forms the problem would assume with new dimensions being added to it,would indeed be to say the least,most difficult to predict, with any degree of accuracy. The NATO Alliance is calling for ‘Regime Change’ in Syria too,where President Assad has dug in and is not likely to give in to Western threats of visiting the country with dire consequences,starting with the imposition of trade sanctions etc. The Palestinian Statehood issue is one fraught with immense, imponderable dangers, with the intractable Israeli stand on the issue, which will invariably be supported by the US, likely to lead to open conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis, which may spread regionally and even globally, taking a more virulent and violent form, this time around. Meanwhile,the NATO Alliance, smarting under the likely rebuff they may receive at the hands of their former comrades -in- arms, the rebels ,are likely to seek adequate recompense from the new ruling political regimes in Egypt and Libya, for all their altruistic endeavours to establish democracy in the two erstwhile beleaguered countries. Like the proverbial Shylock,they will insist on the pound of flesh by way of reparatory dues, which would only mean in their peremptory language,laying claim to the whole body! 1 of 1 File(s) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thamilvaddam/attachments/folder/508381180/item/list winmail.dat Messages in this topic (1)

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