Arab Spring is US awakening

Arab Spring is now US awakening
Updated: 2012-09-19 11:49
By Han Dongping ( chinadaily.com.cn)


Arab Spring is now US awakening

Last week, the world witnessed the largest anti-US protests that have occurred in recent memory. US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and his bodyguards were killed when protestors attacked the American consulate in Benghazi, where not long ago, according to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, he was sent to play an important role in coordinating the rebels'efforts in overthrowing Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for over forty years.

On the surface, this round of protests was sparked off by an American made video The Innocence of the Muslim. But there must be deeper reasons than this.

The video was made by private individuals, who did not represent the US Government, and there was no reason they should to be targeted for a stupid video.

After all, according to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton the US Government has just helped the Libyan People through people like Christopher Stevens liberate themselves from Gadhafi's dictatorship.

Secretary of State Clinton said she could not understand why those who were the beneficiaries of the US Instigated Arabic Spring turned against their benefactors.

It seems to me that the US Government is losing ground in the Middle East by its arrogant foreign policy and hot headed actions in the Middle East and other parts of the world. This round of protests against US embassies and other American interests in Afghanistan are only some of the potential consequences of American foreign policy and action in the third world.

It is time for the US government to pause and reflect on its foreign policy. The US used the attack on September 11, to launch an attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan. We still do not know today in what way and to what extent the terrorists of September 11 were connected with the Taliban and Afghan people to justify an outright large scale war by the US government against the people of Afghanistan.

If the attack on Afghanistan could be justified through the connection of the Taliban with the hijackers of September 11, the war in Iraq, according to the US government's own admission, was based on false information regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction. For years, the American Government collaborated with Saddam Hussein, and supported his war efforts against Iran. Saddam's military muscle was built with American support, and when he became a little unruly, the US decided it was time for a regime change. It first lured him into invading Kuwait, which gave the US and its allies the moral high ground to drive Saddam out of Kuwait, and use it to decimate the Iraqi military forces.

After the September 11 attack, Saddam, worried about a potential US invasion, decided to give up his nuclear and other weapon of mass destruction programs. But the US Government insisted that he had weapons of mass destruction and invaded Iraq. Hundreds and thousands of innocent and not so innocent Iraqi people paid the ultimate price with their lives in the American invasion. The violence is still raging on there as a result of the American invasion without an end in sight.

The US had many issues with Gadhafi of Libya. Gadhafi struggled very hard against Western colonialism and other Western interests.

But after the death of Saddam, Gadhafi realized that the world had changed, and that without an effective balancer, the US could defy international law and forcefully bring about a regime change in those countries it wished to do so.

He began to reconcile with the West, and the West also began to embrace him. However, the US and the West manipulated the protests in Bengahzi, as Secretary of State Hilary Clinton revealed in her speech when she mourned Christopher Steven's death.

Because the US desired to replace Gadhafi, the US supported the two former colonial empires, Britain and France, to bomb Libya in the name of protecting the civilian population. Gadhafi was killed, and Libya's infrastructure was decimated.

Hundreds and thousands of innocent and no so innocent Libyans paid the ultimate price for Western involvement in their country. More importantly, the US, the French and Britain did not bomb Libya for free. The price tag of the bombing was over 50 billion dollars, which equals the next 50 years of Libya's oil revenue.

Hosni Mubarak of Egypt collaborated with the US for over thirty years. His collaboration with the US generated tremendous popular anger with the Egyptian people. But when Mubarak faced the pressure of popular protest in the wake of the Arabic Spring, the US abandoned him. Mubarak went down the same way as many of his predecessors, like the Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Suharto of Indonesia, and Saddam of Iraq, being used and abandoned by different US administrations.

The people of these countries must have realized what role the US Government played in the fate of their countries. The government of these countries must have learned what effect an American embassy could have in their country. In the eyes of the government and people in these countries, US foreign policy has used the claim of spreading democracy and human rights as a facade to further their own less honorable interests.

In doing so, the US has toppled governments and destroyed entire infrastructures. And in the end, it is the common people in these countries who have had to bear the consequences of the destruction and the cost of reconstruction. The people in these countries will wake up one day. The protests that have occurred in the past few days could symbolize just such an awakening.

It is time for the US to pause and reflect on its foreign policy in the Middle East and other third world countries in general. President Obama personally needs to live up to the expectation of the Nobel Peace Prize. That prize was to make peace, not to make more war in the world. The military surge in Afghanistan, support of the French and British bombing of Libya, involvement in the Syrian civil war have disappointed many Americans as well as many people in other countries.

Yes, Obama is subject to the pressure of many different political interests, and needs to worry about getting reelected. But if he is reelected this time, I hope he has the courage to be true to his word for once, and end all US wars overseas. Instead, he should fight a war back home against poverty, inequality, and unemployment and other important domestic issues.

The author is a Professor of Warren Wilson College in the US.

Of Japanese dignity and honour

This is the gist of William Choong’s article on the China Japan dispute over Diaoyu/Senkaku Island. The Japanese could not back down because of dignity and honour. What is so dignified to invade another country by creating false incidents as a justification for the attack? What is so honourable to seize another country’s islands by war of aggression when the other country was weak and poor? What is so dignified and honourable to commit rape and massacres of women and children, of forcing other nation’s women folks as prostitutes for the Japanese soldiers, and looting national treasures?

And what is so dignified and honourable to conduct a sneak attack on the American Navy in Pearl Harbour with no declaration of war and fabricated a story of miscommunication? The whole Japanese act of war, looting and murdering of the people in the invaded countries during the Second World War was nothing about honour and dignity. It was a vicious attack on its neighbours by military force.

And the aids given after the war was no compensation for the honour and dignity of the invaded countries. No amount of compensation is enough for invading another country. And don’t forget the loot stolen from the invaded countries. And in the case of China, the war reparation inflicted on a bankrupt country was even more disastrous than the war alone. It broke a country’s financial resources to look after its people. It humiliated the conquered countries, the colonized countries, destroyed the pride of the people and their dignities and honour.

What is so fucking great about Japanese dignity and honour? It is the greatest farce of the Japanese and the stupidity of those who believe in these two words. Throwing babies into the air for bayonet practice, slitting the tummies of pregnant women to drag out their babies! Head chopping and hanging the heads on display in the streets! They were the meanness, inhuman and barbaric invading forces East Asian and Southeast Asian countries have ever known. Only morons could be apologetic to the Japanese war crimes in this part of the world, and to its people. There is no honour or dignity to talk about in what the Japanese had done, unless you are a Japanese, where your self preservation at the expense of other’s suffering is your top most interest. Stop being silly.

Myth 232- Shattering the elitist myth

Elitism and the elitist class have been bundled and sold to the non elite masses as the cure all for all the ills in the country and society, and that the elite hold all the answers to the well being of the people. That followed a couple of decades of elitism pays, and the elite paid themselves handsomely like they were the gods of the day, or at least some openly compared themselves to the immortals. And be very grateful to the elite.

The first shock wave came with the admission in the fallibility of the elite, that the elite made mistakes. This was, for many years unheard of and inconceiveable to even mention it in official statements. The elite know best and admission of mistakes is simply undermining the myth and against the well being of the elite. This was a very successful facade built around the elite that they became unquestionable, godlike. But when mistakes piled up to a small mountain, there can be no denial, and no where to run and hide.

The next shocker came from the Law Society, the learned people who know the law, the defenders of justice, when certain members of the council put themselves in the limelight of public scrutiny and scorn. Now the members of this elite society are asking questions, unhappy with the ridicule they have to face up with and are calling an EGM to iron things out. This group of elite being caught in an embarrassing position in the public’s eye is more pertinent given the fact that they are a primary source of our political leadership. And questions of impropriety are going to make the public very uncomfortable with them.

The other highly regarded group, the medical profession, also came under the spotlight with the country’s top surgeon being questioned by the Medical Board for questionable pricing. The case ended with a single medical professional being found to be in the wrong was understandable as long as the profession and its coterie of highly regarded individuals are still respected and trusted by the public. Fortunately only ONE is found to have done wrong.

It would be dreadful if the Council of the medical profession, the highest body, is in question. And that was exactly what happened in Sunday’s headline. The judges of the Court of Appeal chastised the Singapore Medical Council with a number of ‘scathing comments’ that would put a big dent to the elite halo. This came after the Council took another medical professional, an aesthetician, to task for applying untested beauty treatments and excessive billings.

Some of the comments from the judges include, ‘unjust that the council chose to pick on one doctor, when many others were doing similar treatments, …hauling up a doctor for treatments done a year before guidelines were issued, and it was wrong to punish a doctor retrospectively,…the council for not knowing exactly what it wanted to punish the doctor for, and for not providing the necessary evidence, making the whole process “legally embarrassing”.’ Legally embarrassing!

Such comments led MP Lam Pin Min, Chairman of the GPC for Health to say, ‘MOH and SMC really need to relook and audit the SMC’s processes, to ensure that it lives up to its professional and ethical accountability to the medical community and the public.’ He added that ‘as professional watchdog, it “needs to be impartial, just and aboveboard in its dealings with patients and doctors”. Just read in between the lines.

Such public dressing down of professionals that are the elite of this elitist society has never been done before and will continue to chip at the infallibility of the elite. The impeccability of the elite, in govt, in law and in medicine, three of the highest paid professions, is now shaken. The elitist myth has now been brought down to earth from it rarified ethereal realm of existence. And many are being queued to face punishment at the courts for personal indiscretion.

The case of the Medical Council could prove interesting and many could and were asked to seek a second opinion or for redress for cases dealt with by the Council whose ‘professional and ethical accountability’ are now being questioned by the highest court of law in the country. Susan Lim may have a case to retrieve her honour.

First bad news from the National Conversation

Heard over the news that Sinkieland can take up to 6m people and anything above that could be tricky. This means we have room for another 700,000 heads to fill up every corner of the island. After that no more growth. Our local population is 3.5m and if the growth rate is 1.5%, we could self produce about 52,000 annually. This plus another 25,000 FTs, in less than 10 years we will be filled to the brim.

As the economic growth rate of the island is tied to the increase in population, in ten years time we would likely to go into a recession unless there is continued population growth. It looks like in ten years time we will be facing serious economic growth issues unless the citizens relented and allow the govt of the day to continue to fill up the island with more people and bear with the congestion. The good thing, other than economic growth is that their ageing HDB flats will still have a chance to appreciate in value.

Many would probably not be around by then and may not be witnesses to the new prosperity of the day when HDB flats would be $2m and Sinkies will be the undisputed richest people in the world. The caveat is for the citizens to agree to more growth and more people in the island. If not, things can go tumbling down, including property prices and lesser jobs for the people. So it will no longer be a matter of choice. Bring in more people or sink.

The people must be wise for their own good to think further and bigger, that the population should not be held at ransom at 6m. Think 10m and 20m and more for continuous economic growth. It must not stop and cannot be stopped at 6m or any million.

Between a chit chat and a global dialogue

The ST has two interesting articles yesterday which I believe should qualify as something serious and worthy of reading than about some little girl’s diary or how I shampoo my dog. The first article was about a chit chat between two very senior gentlemen about to be hit by dementia or senility. Fortunately, at the ripe old age of the nineties, their minds are still lucid and functioning as fine as they could be. The other article was about a dialogue between middle age intellectuals with big titles but ended up more like a TV commercial repeating stereotype views and ideas that lack depth and insight to the evolving geopolitical scenario that is being played up in the Asia Pacific region.

In the chit chat, the issues were more about the dominance of civilisations and their roles towards humanity and the progress of human beans. It eventually narrowed down to the western missionary zeal to teach the world how to live and what is good and right. And there is the trigger happy righteousness to intervene into other nations to save the pathetic and the uncivilised. Genocide was briefly touched on with questions about the missed opportunities or the right or wrong to intercede in the events at Chechnya, Rwanda, Kampuchea and even Tiananmen Square.

The wise men simply grouped them together as matters of genocide. Were they? What is genocide? I think there is no need to define what is genocide as the answer is simply obvious. Tiananmen was a political uprising, a people’s grievance against a govt and its policies, nothing about genocide though it was put down forcefully with military force.

Chechnya is genocide, and so is Rwanda, and so is the holocaust of WW2. But conveniently no one would like to remember the greatest genocide of human history, the termination of the Red Indians. In all definition, the killing of 100m or there about of a civilisation of people by virtue of their race, for whatever reasons, political, economic or religion, must be genocide.

And should there be an intervention by any powers, it should be the savings of the Red Indians that were brutally and systematically put down. And there are still a few that are living and waiting to be saved but conveniently forgotten by the greatest human rights provocateur among nations. Or is it that the violators were the human rights provocateurs themselves? This is history or western history’s biggest hypocrisy.

In the dialogue, it was clear that the world exists only for the Americans and the Americans or the Empire decides what and who should be placed where and at which pigeon hole. Any country that dares to challenge this status quo, called the balance of power, in favour of the Empire is evil and must be put back into his respective hole, exceptions like Israel, Japan and the allies with the Empires blessing. The Americans spoke like there is only one world view, or one view that counts, and that is the Empire’s.

China’s rise as an economic and military power is seen as a challenged to the status quo and not permissible. It can only be allowed and accommodated if the Empire said so. And so are the other smaller countries. Those that tried would be brutally put down by military intervention in the name of human rights and regime change. Their enemy Number One is not China but the Muslim World that lives by a religious order that is in direct conflict and opposed everything the Empire stands by. But this has been well taken care of, and the Muslim World is torn and tattered and would be kept at least 50 years behind the rest of the world in all spheres of development.

Having taken care of this enemy, the Americans see it their right to shift all its military assets to the Asia Pacific to prevent the rise of China, as a ‘friendly measure’ to maintain peace and for the progress of the region. And all believes that this is true and a right thing to do.

According to the top proponent of the Empire, he said that ‘China was widely perceived in the US and the region as behaving in unusually assertive fashion.’ The Empire needs only think about what it perceives of others. Does the Empire ever think of what the rest of the world perceive of its behaviour, its aggressiveness, war mongering and assertiveness in intervention and regime change? No, doesn’t matter, immaterial? Yes, the Empire does not care two hoots what it does and how it is being perceived. That was exactly how the woman from the White House felt so shock when its ambassador was killed in Libya. How could that be? How could there be so much hatred against the Empire? Never mind, only a passing thought. The Empire will get down to business as usual, formenting dissent, inciting, conniving and starting wars.

Why the need for more wars? The Empire’s emissary admitted, ‘the US had done so far, moving its assets from other parts of the world to the Asia Pacific region, had reached the end of its usefulness and that there was a need to spend on new weapons.’ He added that the Empire ‘should maintain spending at 3 to 4 per cent of GDP’ on new weapons. This is perhaps the most clearly stated reason for the Empire’s action, to profit from more arms and weapons manufacturing.

Between the two pieces of works, I find the chit chat between two senior gentlemen having coffee and a puff, without the trappings of power and title more enlightening that the Global Dialogue that it was called. The stereotyping of views is so pedestrian and more like MacDonald’s hamburger commercial.