US global hegemony drive in full swing
Rashed Rahman
In its latest effort to annex the West Bank captured by it in 1967 and occupied since, Israel has now claimed West Bank land as ‘state property’. This would register large parts of the Palestinian area as Israeli state land. Although this is a blatant violation of the international law that states an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories, the real purpose of this measure is to provide state security to the myriads of Israeli settlers who have been nibbling away at the territory for years. Palestinian protests against such actions have failed to budge the Zionists, underlining the helplessness of the by now discredited Palestinian Authority which, for all intents and purposes has been functioning as a collaborator with the Israeli state in the West Bank and otherwise. Although it is largely confined to Gaza, Hamas has nevertheless voiced its indignation at this blatant exercise in settler colonialism, now reinforced more than ever by the Israeli state.
Those of us entrapped in following Israel’s cruelties in Gaza since 2003 would do well to remember some history. Around the time East European socialism and the Soviet state began to unravel (1989-1991), US imperialism felt emboldened to pursue its long held ambition to emerge as the global hegemon. Since the Soviet state was no longer around to act as a brake on this ambition, Washington went pell mell down this path it had cherished during the Cold War and which it now found feasible to pursue without fear of any other power able to restrict its appalling plan.
A few examples of US military power being unleashed globally may serve to refresh our memories. Iraq, Libya and Syria were the three holdout Arab states when Egypt, and following in its footsteps Jordan and other Arab states folded in the face of Israeli aggression (supported by the US) and plumped instead for recognition of Israel and a shameful peace with the Zionist aggressor. One by one, all three regimes in these holdout Arab states were demolished. First came Iraq, which had foolishly under Saddam Hussein interpreted US seeming neutrality in its territorial and oil reserves dispute with neighbour Kuwait and embarked on an invasion and occupation of the latter, a move that invited two invasions by the US (ironically, when father and son Bush were US Presidents), overthrowing and eventually hanging Saddam. Libya came next when Muammar Gaddafi’s regime was overthrown, helped by US air bombardment. Gaddafi was subsequently killed in horrific fashion by his newly installed enemies. Those same enemies recently reached out and assassinated Gaddafi’s son, living peacefully in Libya for years. Last but not least, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown last year, with Assad and his family luckily making their escape to asylum in Moscow. However, having knocked out the three Arab holdout regimes was not enough for the US’s purposes. It now turned its attention to Iran and resistance groups in Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Yemen (the Houthis) with Israel playing the frontline role. Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in the process and Hezbollah weakened, while the Houthis were quelled considerably.
Along comes Trump, and the theatre expands to Latin America. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife are kidnapped by the US military and transported to the US to face trumped up charges in a US federal court. Perforce, Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has had to ‘cooperate’ with US demands to stave off further military adventures by Trump. In the process, US multinational oil corporations evicted from Venezuela when its oil industry was largely nationalised, are once again returning to the extraction of oil and profit game in Venezuela. Trump has cut off oil supplies to Cuba, whose people, already struggling under punitive sanctions by the US, are now switching to electric vehicles and cycle rickshaws in the absence of fuel. Trump hopes this added sanctions pressure on Cuba may help him find the Cuban Delcy Rodriguez who would help the US dismantle the socialist regime in that country.
Of concern to thinking Pakistanis is our return to currying favour with our on-again, off-again ‘friend’, the US, by flattering the infamous ego of Trump and, most alarming, hitching our wagon to his so-called Board of Peace intended (under Trumpian tutelage) to ‘sort out’ the Gaza conflict. Theoretically a ceasefire exists between the Palestinians and Israel in Gaza, but this has not stopped Israel continuing to kill Palestinians on a daily basis on the pretext it is striking Hamas, while pulverising the Gaza Palestinians by constant displacement and cutting off food, supplies and medical care to the besieged suffering denizens of Gaza. If Hamas continues to resist the Board of Peace plan’s insistence it must surrender its weapons, the International Security Force envisaged to implement this demand, and which Pakistan has yet to commit to, may be drawn into conflict with Hamas. If Pakistani troops are part of this International Security Force, it may be forced into another shameful conflict with our Palestinian brothers, an eventuality that would revive the horrific memories of our role on the side of the Jordanian monarchy against the Palestinians in 1970. Tempting in terms of benefits our being part of the Board of Peace may seem superficially, but it threatens once again to pitch us on the wrong side of history via-a-vis the Palestinians.
Time for a sober review of our race to get into the good books of Trump. Our embarrassment because of this link with the US may not end here. If the above brief recapitulation of post-Cold War US actions and the ambitions they expose is kept in mind, more embarrassment and discomfort may ensue if we insist on being dragged along while holding onto the tiger’s tail of US (by now) unrestricted plans to secure global hegemony, leaving even its longtime Western allies in the lurch.
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