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Archive for category Middle East

Strange Celebrations of the UN 75th Anniversary by MAHBOOB A. KHAWAJA

AUTHOR`S NAME MAHBOOB A. KHAWAJA

Strange Celebrations of the UN 75th Anniversary

Leaders Hated and Feared Make False Claims of Global Peace, Security and Justice

“Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere.”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Justice in the life of and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.”  Plato

We, the People of Human Conscience and the UNO

Are We, the People of the world trapped in a vicious circle of disingenuous unlearning of the learning inequality, racial injustice and human degradation across the globe? We continued to experience political deceptions in the name of peace and security, phony wars for peace-making, destruction of human habitats, racial injustice and violations of basic human rights and dignity at every step of the UN ladder of convenience for fair and foul narratives.  The UNO and its Charter were empowered by the succeeding nations after the WW2 to protect mankind from another man-made catastrophic war and to come up with workable solution of futuristic human security and conflict resolution. But The UNO and its agencies failed to live up to the hopes of succeeding generations. We have been ditched into a waking consciousness of human degradation as a new normal. Across the globe, people are calling for equality, racial justice and peace and security of all living beings. The European Empires – British, French, Dutch, Italian and American – all infested the societies with racial inequality, class systems and endless systematic discrimination of black and colored masses. The UN could not call for an emergency session to discuss the human losses in both rights and dignity that its Charter claimed to have granted protection. The UN leadership fears President Trump and his volatile reaction psychology – “America First.” American masses are increasingly assuming anti-racism stance and marching for human equality and racial justice. President Trump alleges conspiracy and calls them “extremists’ and ‘thugs” disturbing the law and order. Throughout American history such denials have perpetuated discrimination, violations of human rights and societal violence. When destiny of people coincides with the destiny of political elite, the nobility fears the challenge of change.    

We, the People of Concerned Humanity are witnessing dreadful political apparatus of painful imagination and threats to rational future-making for all mankind. Our enquiries and search for human equality, social justice, peace and global harmony are dashed away like the scum floating on water.  This not a speculative tenets but a living reality recorded by our time and experience. These grave issues concern all the living mankind regardless of nationalities, borders, ethnicities and prides of so many flags. Are these politicians’ pathological liars viewing the humanity as dumb, numb and silent spectators? We are the living conscience of humanity and do know that UNO celebrations are a planned distraction from the challenges of the prevalent world of political misrepresentation, contradictions and falsehood. There is hardly any encouraging evidence to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the UNO plausibly when millions of human beings are continuously charcoaled in Syria, locked up in Kashmir, Yemen, Libya, Myanmar, Iraq, Belarus and elsewhere on this planet. The very essence of human rights and dignity that UNO and the American leadership should have protected against aggression and used its resources to protect life and freedom of all the people. But the leadership professing to be wise and optimistic, fast becoming irrelevant, treacherous and self-centered without any accountability. Paul Craig Roberts (“A New World Is Being Born:  What Will It Be?” Information Clearing House04/9/2020), explains the encompassing truth:

We are hearing from many that the world after Covid-19 will be different.  The question is:  Different in what way?  Will it be better or worse? Elites are working to make it better for them, and worse for the rest of us.  About that the evidence is clear…….The elites by thinking only of their interests are in the way of the opportunity that crisis provides to bring people together.  If we can’t be brought back together, we can forget about unity beyond the boundaries of our own victim or identity group.  In place of community, we will be organized in clans of separate identities.  The absence of unity at home will make us a sitting duck for enemies abroad.

America and Trump Beyond the 9/11 and Genocide in Iraq

After the 9/11, America politics indicate shifting metaphor to wickedness and cruelty against poor and helpless nations. To chase Osama bin Laden, they massacred and destroyed millions of people in Afghanistan. But once OBL was killed, American war did not end its occupation.  The Iraqi invasion with American-British collaboration resulted in genocide of approximately three million civilians. Would American and British leaders ever be held accountable for their crimes against humanity? Robert Scheer, Editor -in Chief, Truthdig (“All Americans Have Blood on Their Hands.” Information Clearing House: 6/09/2019), narrates the first-hand experience of Danny Sjursen, a veteran of the US war in Iraq: 

…Sjursen tells Scheer in the latest installment of “Scheer Intelligence,” “but the reality is that I was censoring myself…..adapting to his new life and grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder, the former soldier is still profoundly troubled by his experiences at war, not only as he led soldiers to their deaths, but also as he watched U.S. forces devastate Iraq and Afghanistan. ……..”What I saw happen to the Iraqi people [haunted me more] than what happened to my soldiers,” Sjursen says. “Not only the bodies in the street, not only the civil war that was being waged, but I found that more than 90% of the very friendly Iraqis … …That was a big turning point, when I started to say, ‘Wait a second. You know, forget about fighting the war poorly; we shouldn’t be fighting this war at all.’ ” But the blood on Sjursen’s hands, which he remains conscious of long after his last deployment, is on all Americans’ hands…

Could the American society spare more time and opportunity to think rationally of global peace, humanity and racial justice than the pets and daily stock markets listings?  At his last phase of the presidency, Trump is attuned to flatter his friend Israeli PM Netanyahu more than American political capacity could afford to do so. America under Trump is blindfolded by the lobbyists to believe in falsehood, misrepresentation and to compromise truth of the rights of people while virtue of truth has becoming offensive and undesirable as a precept of the US foreign policy. The UNO could have addressed the problem of Palestine- Israel conflict and recognition of two states for almost 70 years.  It seems many false and ignorant leaders occupy the political platforms of the UNO but also in America, Israel and the Arab world. The former Arab tribal agents of the lost British Empire and now prince and authoritarian kings do not represent the masses in UAE, Bahrain or Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. The authoritarian rulers could be phased-out any time. It is a Trump sponsored fantasy to appease one-sided classic ignorance. The Arab and Muslim people have a history of religious affinity and protection of Jews and extending critical humanitarian assistance during and prior to the WW2 when West European persecuted them for ages because of the religious animosity. Now State of Israel is in denial of the rights of Palestinian masses to Statehood and to co-exist in peace. Perhaps Israeli citizens should be conscience of this historic truth and be courageous to protect the Palestinians from a dangerous trend of political cruelty. Arab palaces are guarded by the CIA, not by the people. The leaders and people breathe oxygen in conflicting time zones.  Trump administration is manifested with denial of human rights, human equality and racial justice and looks repulsive to suppose human security and peace to be enhanced by profligacy, malevolence and one-track thinking of peace and security in the Middle East.

To Think of Political Change and Societal Reconstruction for Human Equality and Justice

In its search for change and movement to progressive future-making, the global mankind is oppressed by systematic ignorance, intransigence and arrogance of the few affluent class of people managing the global institutions, militarization and governance – the perverted insanity lacking basic understanding of the Human Nature and of the working of the Universe in which we enjoy coherent co-existence. The mankind continues to be victimized by the cancerous ego and cruelty of the few Western warlords. Perhaps, they view humanity just in digits and numbers, not as the living entities with social, moral, spiritual and intellectual values and progressive agendas for change and development. The oppressed masses in Indian held Kashmir, tormented innocent displaced refugees in Syria, more than half of a million of Rohinga refugees forcible evicted by Myanmar (Burma) military – a genocide in making and stalled in Bangladesh, divided and continuously bombed civilians in Yemen, citizens of Belarus demanding fair elections and besieged Palestinians look for global humanity to help – IF THERE IS ANY STILL INTACT – and call for order of the disorder, equality and justice, they have no tools to challenge the oppressors except endurance and foresight for human identity and peace to rejoice dignity and freedom without any perpetuated animosity. This was the moment for the UNO and Five superpowers should have moved to take a stand in support of human equality and justice.

To change the world, it is incumbent upon the intellectuals, academics, visionaries, poets, philosophers and the thinking people to perceive and articulate new and creative ideas, new political imagination for the 21st century organizations to be functional for the people, by the people and accountable to the supremacy of the people’s will. Thus facilitating opportunities for dialogue and reason to deal with issues of primary national conflicts, competing economic and political discords, freedom, justice, human rights, and to invent new terminologies of diplomacy, peacemaking and co-existence between Man, the Humanity and the encompassed Universe. Peace and global security are not the properties or the exclusive domains of any superpowers, America, Russia, the EU, UNO or the UN Security Council or any American corporation. The global mankind enjoins rational optimism to see the ideas and ideals of peace and human security as its own collectively, not of the few.

The tragic death of black American George Floyd reminds us all of the revulsion against the failure of working democracy, economic evil, subjugation of the people of color, psychological and political evil, and insane evil against black and people of colors. The ‘America First’ claimed by Donald Trump reflects painful temptation and socio-economic and political compulsion of systematic evil embedded in Capitalism and the class of the people who claim supremacy to govern the less fortunate and poverty stricken people of colors. They planned and organized security-police forces to protect the ruling nobility – 1% elite. Facing the challenges of public outcries for equality and racial justice, legislative and systematic legal changes must be formalized to create participation of all the citizenry in making a sustainable future. Public calls for defunding of the police apparatus is not a realistic issue but better education and training of police force could change the human landscape of trust and relationship. All colors matter – All lives matter if we claim to be a rational human being species populating the God-given One Planet – Earth. We, the People, the Humanity are colorful and beautiful.


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“Confronting Assad’s regime in Syria: Role of United States and Russia” By   Sherry Sharyl

“Confronting Assad’s regime in Syria: Role of United States and Russia”

 

By

Sherry Sharyl

 

 

 

 

Middle East has always remained the center of the world politics since World War II, end of
which created the UNO and in 1948 the State of Israel. After the birth of Israel, Middle East
became the battle zone where israel’s hegemony was to be promoted in order to bring major

militarily armed states of Middle East to a position where major powers of the world could
indoctrinate their own political and economic agendas in the region. Before that, this region
was famous for its natural resources and oil reserves and its Mediterranean trade route. Above
all, Israel and Palestine conflict, then the Israel’s traditional wars with its neighboring states
had become the persistent tension in the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recent developments in the region during previous years have depicted a different picture of
conflicts in the oil rich region. Since 2011, the civil war in Syria in order to confront Assad’s
regime has badly affected the security situation in the Middle East. Before the civil war,
Syrian people complained about the bad governance, raised unemployment, illiteracy,
corruption, poverty, lack of political freedom, under the Assad’s presidency. Then the Arab
spring in Tunisia, in 2011 has further added fuel to the fire, the syrian pro-democratic
demonstrator erupted the city of Deraa demanding the President’s Assad’s resignation. The
Assad’s government acted aggressively and crush the protestors by the use of deadly force.
Unfortunately, this anti-government protest spreads nationwide, thus resulting in never
ending civil war in Syria. This civil war has made easier for the world and regional powers
i.e, Russia, United States, Iran, Saudia Arabia and Turkey to interfere into the political
impasse in Syria by acting in support of (Russia and Iran) or by taking harsh steps (USA and
Saudi Arabia) against Assad’s regime not for the conflict resolution but for their own
interests. The logistical, financial and political support and interference of the external
powers for and against the Assad’s regime, has further fueled the sectarian conflicts,
terrorism, Rebellion movements and extremism. Thus, the civil war in Syria than turned into
proxy battleground because of the involvement of the world and regional powers.
Now the Assad’s regime has become the victim of the world’s major powers, thus it has
initiated a new cold war which is unlikely to get a promising end. The Syrian proxy war has
again results in the formation of two blocks along with their allied states, i.e, Russia( China,
Iran and Afghanistan) US ( Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel).

 

 

 

 

 

Syria is strategically and economically important to both US and Russia in the Middle East.
Russia along with China has increased its political, economic and military support to the
Assad’s regime. The primary goal of Russia is to protect and support the Assad’s regime
against the international intervention, Russia wants to counter the United States influence in
the Middle East and Russia has the vast economic interests in Syria. Syria is one of the
largest importers of military equipments, about 4 billlion dollars of arms contracts have been
signed between Syria and Russia. Besides military equipments, Russian oil and gas
companies has been invested in Syria. Soiuzneftegaz and Tatneft have been extracting oil and
gas in Syria since 2003, Stroitransgaz has built extensive natural gas pipeline and processing
plants. Currently it is constructing a second plant near the city of Rakka which will process,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

approximatly 1.3 billion cubic meters of gas. Russian companies are also constructing nuclear
power plant for the production of energy. Manufacturing companies of Russia i.e, Uralmash
which provides drilling equipment to the pertroleum company of Syria, Tupolev and
Aviastar-SP has provided passenger airplanes to the Syrian Air lines. Beside economic
interest, strategic interests of Russia in this region are of great importance. For this, the only
Tartus naval base of Russia in Syria is left, but it’s not a true military base because it is not
hosted permanently by the Russian army, its only purpose is to repair and resupply the ships to
the Mediterranean. Therefore, Russian government and the Russian exporters fear that the
regime change in Syria will lead to the loss of contracts and as well as economy and will
weaken the Russian influence in Syria, as well as in the Middle East.
The United States interest in Syria is quite different; it’s strategic rather than economic. The
main interest of United States is to counter the terrorism and the mushroom growth of
terrorist organizations within Syria and in the Middle East. US main aim is to counter ISIS
(Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). US with the help of its Kurdish Allies is countering ISIS.
Al-Qaeda have been sending its militants to the Syria to support the Assad’s regime.
Strategically, the civil war in Syria will have enormous impacts for the region and for the US.
Syrian alliance with Iran can brought major changes in the policies of Saudi Arabia and
Israel. Iran proliferate arms and other goods to fuel the militant organizations in Syria i.e,
Hamas in Gaza strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon and its allies. Beside this, Tehran keeps on
supporting Assad regime politically and militarily. The Russian influence in Syria goes all the
way back to cold war. Most importantly, US wants to protect its bosom friend Israel from
Iran’s and terrorist threats. Therefore, Iran, terrorism and Russia are the brutal and intractable
enemies of the US in the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, the responsibility of war crime and crime against humanity must be held
accountable in Syria. The brutal chemical attacks, casualties of the innocent civilians,
violation of International humanitarian law by ISIS and other terrorist organizations, must be
punished. The use of Chemical weapons, by Assad against rebels and other civilians, must be
punished for their brutal act. By these unhumantarian acts, it has been concluded that Assad’s
regime in Syria is a threat to Syrian citizens as well as development in Syria. Both the cold
war rivals and their allied states should try to settle conflicts in Syria and help

 

Reference for Graphics & Maps

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