Unfortunately in the post-World War-II era, the US and its Western allies have been instrumental in triggering conflicts and wars in different regions of the world, inflicting untold miseries on people. They have also intervened militarily in certain countries to ensure regime changes and have blocked solutions to ongoing conflicts to achieve their self-defined strategic and commercial interests.
As rightly pointed out by Pope Francis recently, the arms produced in the US and other Western countries have clandestinely found their way in war zones in Africa and other such regions, with the approving nods of the concerned regimes to create more jobs for their people. In certain cases, they have provided arms to certain regimes to suppress those fighting for independence and state-hood.
History presents irrefutable evidence that big powers have invariably shown an irresistible propensity to subjugate small nations, intervene in their internal affairs on different pretexts, impose their culture on them and even make attempts to create a world order conforming to the bigger powers’ cultural values and political ambitions. This is better known as imperialism.
In the post-world war-II era imperialism has assumed a humane configuration and is being practised under different forms in the name of ‘humanitarian intervention’, using the UN as a conduit. The US and other Western countries have manoeuvred the adoption of the concept of ‘responsibility to protect’ by the UN as a norm of handling international affairs.
The driving force behind this concept is that human rights are universal and every state should protect them – and if a particular state fails to do so, others states must ensure their protection. Put in simple words, if a regime is guilty of abusing human rights and does not heed to the appeals of the international community or the UN in this regard, other nations or the UN must intervene to save the population of that country from such an oppressive regime.
This concept was invoked for the first time for intervention in Nigeria in 1967 to end civil war, followed by similar actions in Srebrenica in 1992, Rwanda in 1994 and Serbia in 1999. Regime change in the Ivory Coast through military action and the intervention in Libya under the umbrella of the UN were ranting testimony of imperialism through the UN.
The UN resolution for intervention in Libya never authorized military action but the US and its allies, which had been for long looking for an opportunity to settle scores with Qaddafi, exceeded the UN mandate by resorting to airstrikes against targets inside Libya – which reportedly also did extensive collateral damage – and extended military support to anti-Qaddafi forces on the ground. At the start of the Libyan campaign, the then president Obama had emphatically stated that the action was not aimed at regime change in Libya but to protect the population being persecuted by Qaddafi. But as the world witnessed, it was surely a deliberate move to get rid of Qaddafi.
The most perturbing aspect of these ostensibly humanitarian interventions has been that they resulted in more human casualties and bloodshed than they were meant to save and protect. And, regrettably, they have been selectively used by countries like the US, UK and France to achieve their non-humanitarian objectives. The criminal apathy and indifference of these countries to the sufferings of the people of Palestine, Kashmir and other people around the globe living under oppression tells the whole story.
The US and European powers also used the UN to attack Iraq on the pretext of taking out weapons of mass destruction – which were never found. Nevertheless, they succeeded in their real objective, which was to get Saddam Hussain, remaining oblivious to the human lives consumed by the conflict and the never-ending sectarian strife triggered by their blitzkrieg in Iraq. Do they really care about this? Do they feel any grain of remorse for what they have done to that country? Surely not.
The military action in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 – with a mandate from the UN – was yet another ranting manifestation of the imperialist mindset of Western powers, considering the fact that some other options could have been tried to deal with terrorism. Their actions have caused an exponential increase in global terrorism instead of curbing it, the ostensible objective of their offensive in Afghanistan. Their actions have also badly affected Pakistan. The madness has led to incalculable loss of human lives and resources; and they even coerced Pakistan to support their war effort in Afghanistan.
It is, however, encouraging to note that the representative government in Pakistan is resisting the arm-twisting tactics of US imperialists and is exhibiting unswerving determination to regain the sovereignty that was surrendered by Musharraf; all this while the government also remains committed to eliminating terrorism and extremism, and promoting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned solution to the Afghan conflict. A similar kind of approach and strategy is needed at the global level to forestall the designs of imperialists.
The philosophy of making the world a better place through the use of military muscle – subscribed to and practised by American imperialists and their cronies – has certainly brought more misery to the human race and is likely to trigger off even more conflicts and abuse of human rights. Therefore, to make the world a better place, the new form of imperialism in the name of ‘humanitarian intervention’ will have to be checked in its tracks through collective efforts by the world community, particularly ‘third-world’ countries. They must strive for reforms in the UN structure and an increase in the permanent members of the Security Council that gives equal representation to different geographical regions, which can then be vested with the veto power enjoyed by the current five permanent members.
Another option could be abolishing the veto power altogether and giving effect to Security Council resolutions on the basis of simple majority. Undoing the monopoly of the US and other Western countries and their clout in securing UN support for their ulterior motives can greatly help in saving the world from the depravity of this new form of imperialism. Apart from UN reforms, developing countries can also ensure their security and obviate the chances of their vulnerability to the machinations of the US, UK or France, through regional organizations designed to enhance regional security, and economic and political cooperation among the member countries.
The writer is a freelance contributor.
Email: ashpak10@gmail.com
