One of the smartest moves of both the US and Europe is that they have become well-heeled and developed on others’ resources. They have adventures on other’s finances and costs. And interestingly, except the War of Independence and the War of 1812, the US has not fought a single major war on its own land. It knowingly let the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour to have a reason to enter into WWII, similar to the events leading to 9/11.
War on terror is actually the war for terror, the war for business and the war to keep the world unstable. The US nurtured and perpetrated it in Afghanistan and now it is circumcising the entire world. The most advanced countries of the world are fighting this war with the very latest technologies, but in vain. The war has no standstill and is expanding day by day! The truth is that it is not aimed at alleviating terror but spreading it. It is also equally true that one who digs for others surely falls sooner or later.
Why don’t the terrorists attack on the businesses and corporations and why do they attack only on the underprivileged? Why do they attack on the churches and mosques which are mostly abodes of the impoverished? Simply, it is because the architectures of such wars are the greedy corporates.
Reportedly, since 9/11, the US has spent around $6 trillion in fighting its war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. And if it immediately pays back the war debts, it will have to pay an additional $7 trillion to pay interest on those debts by 2053. It is spending $9 million per day to combat ISIS since August 2014 and on the other hand, it is arming and funding all anti-Assad forces as well. It has around 800 military bases around the world and is carrying special operations in more than 100 countries. On the contrast, the arms sales to the countries presently at war in one way or another by the top 100 US and European corporations was recorded at $401billion just during 2014. Will these profiteering corporations ever intend to cease arms’ manufacturing and promote peace in reality? Never. Arming in the back and fighting in the front, these double standards will reciprocate as love breeds love and hate multiplies hate.
Who has created ISIS? Whether it was the result of misgovernance of the Iraqi government, the post US attack vacuum, the socio-economic circumstances, the isolation of Sunnis or the revenge of Saddam, one of its answers is the beneficiaries. And if it is still not defeated it is also due to those beneficiaries that are probably Israel, Saudi Arabia, the US itself, some of the European countries (though most of them have learnt a lesson from the Paris attacks) and Turkey. Turkey has remained the leading Muslim country but in the present scenario it seems on the quash. It must revisit its foreign policy. Reportedly Qatar, which is also the strongest base of the US in the region, is also lavishly financing the proxies in the region and beyond. India is investing in Afghanistan and spreading chaos in Pakistan and thinking that its own country will remain peaceful. It is nothing but a daydream.
Saudi Arabia has fuelled extremism around the globe. It has tried to change governments. It has funded the non-state actors, jihadists and fanatics. The unfortunate aspect is that it has horrendously destabilized the whole Muslim world. Afraid of the Jasmine revolution in 2011, it pumped more than $130 billion in its economy to raise the salaries and to spend on social uplifting projects. Though this temporarily worked, it has proved infertile in the long run as the unrest is swelling. The country is stumbling. Its foreign reserves are depleting as it is spending $10 billion monthly to pay bills and is heading toward IFIs for loans. Its global foreign policy has setbacks on all fronts. Its incumbent year’s budget deficit is $130 billion. The coming year is even bleaker.
On the other hand, Iran, though historically it has played a defensive role, presently it has engaged itself in many countries. It is supporting Shia uprisings all over the globe. It is also holding up its allied countries especially Iraq and Syria. Iraq is fighting on many fronts: against its proposed division into three parts, against pro-Saddam forces, against ISIS and also against the other regionally funded non-state actors but its instant future does not appear peaceful. In fact, Muslims are victims of the ideological and geo-political conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The West has a synthetic fascination. The people can also be fooled nowadays but not as they were earlier. The internet and social media, though they are shammed, have become the strength of common masses. The West has armed with deadly weapons not only to the Middle East but to the rest of world as well. The cluster bombs going to be used against the poor Yemenis and the weapons with ISIS, all are Western made. Will the affecters forgive the attackers and love the West? Probably not. Israel is a nuclear power due to the US. It may take the revenge of the holocaust on the whole world. Israel has equal shares in the volatility of the Middle East. Actually, American assistance to Israel is invoking the world into war.
One’s vying for peace while funding the war is no more practicable. It is not possible to have both war and peace at the same time. We have to choose one. The world is not anarchic on its own. The US has changed its post-USSR policy of 1991. For it, Russia has emerged as a potential threat. The US can shot its guns putting on the shoulders of NATO and can also pick a stick from the Arabian Peninsula excluding Yemen and including Israel. The shooting down of a Russian plane by Turkey has played its part. The fall of the Arabian and African men in the wake of the Arab Spring was fuelled from the outer world though it was manipulated as an internal crisis.
The American policies are not to defeat the Muslim extremist groups but to put them under her bracket. Whatever the case is, America will lose and the world will bleed more. If we want to attain peace we have to halt funding the wars. To me, peace is a distant dream.
