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After the Second World War when the western colonies in Asia and Africa achieved independence one by one Bertrand Russell said, "Western Imperialism has now become a dead snake. It has lost its power to bite". Soon after Vietnam War started he changed his opinion and said that the dead snake has been revitalized. He was angry about this. He declared the rulers of America as war criminals and arranged their mock trial which got worldwide publicity.Is terrorism a protégé of Western imperialism?
Global capitalism is now under threat. It is passing through one after another economic depression. America is losing their world market to their Chinese competitors
Abdul Gaffar Choudhury
After the Second World War when the western colonies in Asia and Africa achieved independence one by one Bertrand Russell said, Western Imperialism has now become a dead snake. It has lost its power to bite. Soon after Vietnam War started he changed his opinion and said that the dead snake has been revitalized. He was angry about this. He declared the rulers of America as war criminals and arranged their mock trial which got worldwide publicity.
When Soviet Union collapsed at the end of the last century many communist pundits and leaders also thought it was the victory of western democracy not of western capitalism. Many thought that as there was no super power rivalry now the world will be free from war and bloodshed and democracy will prevail all over the world. In Bangladesh a number of Communist leaders demanded the abolishment of the Communist party and praised Gorbachevs perestroika.
Bertrand Russell became disillusioned about his theory of dead snake when he witnessed that the Americans were using all sorts of vicious chemical weapons including Napalm bomb in Vietnam to foil their independent movement and to destroy that country. Now many communist and independent observers in the world are disillusioned about western Imperialism after they have witnessed the formation of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and lately IS under the patronization of America. They have witnessed how western powers conspired to topple secular leaders like Saddam and Gaddafi in the Middle-east and now they have created a vast war field in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the name of war against terrorism. In reality they are killing hundreds of innocent people with their air-strikes and forcing thousands of people to flee from their home and become refugees in other countries especially in Europe. This refugee problem has created crisis in Europe. Britain had to leave the European Union and the world economy is facing an uncertain future. Now those communist and independent observers are realizing that the collapse of Soviet Union was not a victory of western democracy but of western imperialism, which they are now comparing with neo-fascism.
In the middle of the last century when cold war was going strong between the two super powers-America and Soviet Union. Washington dubbed Russia as an evil power and claimed that they were the saviour of the free world. They also dubbed communists as terrorists and in the name of combatting communism they actually started a covert war against the democracy of newly-independent states of Africa and Asia. Under western patronization military took over power in many countries and many secular and democratic leaders were killed mercilessly. They include Chiles Allende and Bangladeshs Shiekh Mujib also.
In the present world there is no super-power rivalry or a vicious cold war, but the people of the world are witnessing with horror the rise of a single super-power with merciless military might. Perhaps long before the rise of neocon power in America George Orwell foresaw its rise in his novel 1984. After the collapse of Soviet Union it was hoped that a western democracy without colonialism would spread over the whole world. Unfortunately that did not happen.
America became the sole super-power and without a rival became blind with its military might. A new conservative power-group known as neocon rose to power and proclaimed a new world order, which was nothing but a naked expression for world domination. Some critics of America compared this new world order with the objective of Hitlers Mein Kampf. With this arrogance of power President Bush Junior started an illegal war against Iraq bypassing United Nations and ignoring the opinion of the peace loving world.
To destroy a socialist government in Afghanistan and to change the regime in secular Iraq and Libya America sponsored the formation of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and of late Islamic State or IS and tried to topple the regime in Iran and Syria also. Russias intervention prevented the fall of Assad of Syria. With American money and Israeli training the vicious killing force IS is now engaged in worldwide terrorism. America is still playing a double game in the name of war against terrorism. They are bombing Syria and Iraq killing hundreds of innocent people but preventing an all-out war against the IS by making an alliance with Russia. Perhaps they want to expand their profitable arms trade from Middle-east to South-east Asia by keeping the problem of terrorism alive.
Global capitalism is now under threat. It is passing through one after another economic depression. America is losing their world market to their Chinese competitors. Now the whole American economy is depending upon the immense profit of war industry. The corporate power of this industry is now virtually ruling America. Long ago this truth was unveiled by humanist leader M. N. Roy. In his book Who rules in America? he showed how Wall Street expanded its power over White House.
Now the leader of global Capitalism, America for their oil-interest and war-industry and profitable arms-trade is trying to expand the war zone from Middle-east to Southeast Asia. In the subcontinent they created turmoil in Pakistan. Although Islamabad has a strong military tie with America, it is now undergoing a continued Civil war. America entered into Pakistan to help them to defeat the terrorists. Pakistan lost their sovereignty by allowing the American troops to bomb anywhere without their permission. Those bombings did not defeat terrorism but only destroyed a country which has been a traditional ally of America.
Now America is trying to penetrate into Bangladesh, another country in the subcontinent with Muslim majority. Of course there are terrorist-groups with medieval ideas and barbarity in the country in the name of Jamaat, JMB, Ansarullah etc. They may have links with IS which is not yet proved. But America is stressing that the recent atrocities in the country are the act of IS and is offering Bangladesh government all sorts of help to defeat terrorism. Bangladesh needs their technical help and can exchange information mutually. But a military assistance is not necessary for Bangladesh. Hasina government, of late, has been combatting terrorism successfully. They do not need any outside military support which proved fatal in Middle-eastern countries.
If America wants to fight terrorism they should offer it to their European NATO ally France. There had been terrorist attacks in a bigger scale in the recent past. Last Friday the French city Nice was devastated by one-man suicide mission where 84 people were killed and many wounded. The killer was a Tunisian-French and perhaps a man of IS. America should fight this Frankenstein in their own land and in Europe first. Only then they could defeat this monster in other countries also. America should give moral and technical support to Bangladesh to defeat this demon, not their military support. This military support did not defeat terrorism in other Muslim countries like Egypt and Turkey, but extended the killing field. Many people suspect that western imperialism is still active. They think that western imperialism is still the manipulator behind these terrorist forces to perpetuate their old imperial dominance over the world. Many also suspect that terrorism is a secret ally of western imperialism not their real enemy.
London, Friday 16 July, 2016
