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Arab World Political Disintegration and Search
for Reason
By Mahboob A Khawaja
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, March
17, 2015 Terror is the engine of war. And terror is what all
sides in this conflict produce in overabundance …….We torture hostages in
our black sites and choke them to death by stuffing
rags down their throats. They torture hostages in squalid hovels and
behead them. We organize Shiite death squads to kill Sunnis. They organize
Sunni death squads to kill Shiites. We produce high-budget films such as
“American Sniper” to glorify our war crimes. They produce inspirational
videos to glorify their twisted version of jihad. The barbarism we condemn
is the barbarism we commit. The line that separates us from the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is technological, not moral. We are those we
fight. …..“From violence, only violence is born,”
Primo Levi wrote,
“following a pendular action that, as time goes by, rather than dying down,
becomes more frenzied.” (Chris Hedges, “The
Terror We Give Is the Terror We Get” Truthdig: 2/08/2015)
Arab
masses live in a matrix of lies and delusion. While the oil exporting
economic prosperity glitters from distance, the Arab world is fast becoming
worst than being useless entity in global affairs. West Europeans used
several million Arabs to fight their nationalistic Two World Wars and to
build the shaky empires. But the contemporary Europeans view them as
liability in their own social construct and subservient neighborhoods.
Nothing appears normal if at all normal could be defined rationally. Good
many parts of the Arab world are engulfed in chaos and political
disintegration. Looking critically, nothing seems accidental but planned and
well orchestrated strategies to dismember the neo-colonial States, national
boundaries, tribal landmarks and national identities. The 2003 American-led
war and occupation have incapacitated the Arabian geo-political culture.
Rational thinking is absent but deaths and destructions are daily affairs
under various titles and captions. Baghdad was known to be the hub of the
ancient civilizations. But planned sectarian killings and destruction are
the order of the day. Syrian history was evolved over many centuries, yet it
is in complete ruin of the human civilizations because authoritarianism will
not heed to voices of reason. The Arab heartlands are on fire and its ripple
effects have endangered the integrity and future of the whole region.
Inventive rhetoric and vicious exaggeration is leading the war of unknown
consequences. All are fighting against all, not knowing how and where would
they end-up in time and history? Political incapacity multiplied by
deceitful complacency, the egoistic leaders are happy that their palaces are
operational and protected by foreign mercenaries. There are no Arab
proactive leaders to think and move forward with a sustainable imagination
for tangible navigational change. The phenomenon of people-led political
change remains aloof but a culture of authoritarian tyranny and continuing
disintegration persists. Arab Culture and
Terrorism are Incompatible Arab world is at the threshold
of another catastrophic disaster- the willing coalition of the few
complacent in US-led sectarian bloodbath with no ending in sight. The ego
turned into cancer consuming all positive energies and time and spreading
volatile animosities and insecurity across the Arab heartland. The leaders
and people breathe oxygen in conflicting time zones being unaware of the
Laws of God – what future holds for their complacency in another war against
the masses. After the 9/11, the terrorism myth was super-imposed on the
Arab-Muslim culture. Western mythologists used the news media as a weapon to
enlarge the political nature and scope of the 9/11 attacks against the
Muslim people. The real aims were to wage the bogus wars and to occupy the
natural resources of the Muslim world. Ironically, few Arab leaders are
complacent in supporting the American-led war on terrorism. The Arab masses
are the net victims of all of the tragic and inhuman impulses pursued by the
self-centered tribal agents of influence. The Arab world does not appear to
enjoin any new vision or political imagination for a navigational change out
of the absurdity of foreign imposed wars and sectarian divides raging across
the Arab Middle East. Islam sought unity in its system of governance; Arab
nationalism continues to enrage division, sectarian animosities and daily
bloodbath. Across Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and other neighboring
Arab states, people are fighting for money and influence, and not for Islam
or a genuine cause to protect national freedom and human dignity.
Truth is one and indivisible. Terrorism myth has overtaken the rationality
of critical thinking. The 9/11 attacks in the US were carried out by
individuals and not inspired or supported by the religion of Islam or
Muslims. Some hourly paid intellectuals turned guardian of the approved
truth, allege that Islam breeds terrorism. Living without roots and reason,
Islam enriched the Arabs to become global leaders of a progressive
civilization lasting 800 hundred years in Al-Andalusia (Spain). But
the oil enhanced prosperity transformed them into ‘camel jockeys’ and object
of hallow laughters across the Western culture. Money cannot buy wisdom,
honor and human integrity. The bogus “war on terrorism” could not have
happened if the Arab leaders - the front line bogyman of the US Empire had
critical mind, intellectual capacity and integrity to challenge the most
irrational and cruel act in human history. The Western mass media
complements the self crafted notion to poison the public thinking and
perceptions and source of judgments against the Arabs and Muslims as
“terrorists” making the treacherous claim as if Islam was at the threshold
of the paradigm. The perception of ‘radical Islam’ was invented and enhanced
by the ‘fear’ of terrorism as if Arabs and Muslims were born in the eye of
the storm and terrorism was an exclusive domain of the Islamic religious
tenets. Throughout the oil exporting Arab world, the contemporary rulers
have turned out to be complacent in the US –Israeli strategic plans for the
future of the Middle East. The current crises and fighting in Iraq-Syria and
ISIL are all aimed at remaking the future of the Arab world and to undermine
the freedom of Palestine.
In Search of Reason
The culture of success as a whore prevails throughout the Arab Middle
East. Nobody cares for truth and rational thinking to be the guidelines in
policy practices and decision-making. Foreigners enjoy unique merits in
political governance and setting the policy agenda in many of the
oil-producing Arab states. Across the Arabian Peninsula, a culture
of political delusion and mismanagement persists. Most Arabian people seem
distracted from reality and lost. Many conscientious Arab thinkers believe
that change is ticking like a time bomb. But Arab rulers are the stumbling
block to stop the process of political change and people’s oriented system
of governance. There are strong emotional crutches embedded into these
perceptual values, and the authoritarian Arab leaders will fight to defend
the lies and deception that they believe-in. The rulers live in palaces and
people live in distant muddy huts and tribal locations. There are varied
cultures and time zones involved in-between the Arabian ruling elite and the
people they claim to govern. The laws and public institutions date back to
the European imperial time and order. The Arab rulers occupying the
political powerhouses for over half a century would have difficulty to face
the mirror. Now, worst is happening by sectarian rivalries and killings in
Iraq and Syria. Al-Qaeda and ISIL had no presence in Iraq until the US and
Britain destroyed its civic, economic and political infrastructures. Paul
Craig Roberts (“Muslims
are their own Worst Enemy”: Global Research), offers the following
candid observation:
“Muslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially
between Sunni and Shiites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a
century of Western control….Muslim disunity has made it possible for Israel
to dispossess the Palestinians, for the U.S. to invade Iraq, and for the
U.S. to rule much of the region…”
How to Face the Reality Challenge?
The critical issues call for thoughtful analysis and change and new ideas
to phase-out the old and obsolete thinking and obsessed values flourishing
across the Arabian Peninsula. But the ruling elite failed to build new
public institutions to plan change and to view the imperatives of new trends
for policy in security, peace and conflict resolution and human progress in
a global community of nations. Global politics is not fixed but a constantly
changing phenomenon of life. Arab leaders do not comprehend the imperatives
of political change. But reality will not diminish because nobody is
conscious of its existence. After more than sixty years of freedom from the
European imperialism, societal development remained a primitive mode of
tribal folklore and storytelling. The Arab Middle East faces many critical
crises. None of the crises are tackled in their proper context. There are no
independent public institutions to analyze the political problems and find
workable solutions. No proactive thinking exists in any Arab quarter to
strive for political unity and to have coherent leadership. Leaders who
cannot think intelligently or understand the nature of the current crises,
how could they lead to any strategic direction? Few sectarian scholars
and leaders are engulfed in self-geared madness to ensure their survival.
The sectarian madness appears to have gone out of control to imagine a sense
of purpose and rationality. Complacent Arab leaders will sabotage the
peaceful endeavors for crisis management just to escape the challenges of
facing reality. It serves the strategic interest of the US-led war in Iraq,
Syria, Egypt and Libya and soon to Saudi Arabia, dismantling of the Arabs by
their own hands, guns and bullets. There are no Arab armies and no Arab
Generals to console the masses and to provide sense of moral and
intellectual security. One wonders, why do the oil enriched Arab leaders are
buying billions of dollars worth of military hardware from America or
Europe? How and where would it be used and against whom?
If Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt are any example, the militarization
is meant to quell the public interest and aspirations for political change
and future-building. Imagine, if the Arab world had competent armed forces
and leadership on the one hand, and were open to common sense diplomacy and
dialogue on the other, could peace and normalcy have not been restored in
Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya?
The challenge is how to bridge the gap in thinking and actions that the
old and dormant neo-colonial Arab rulers could be phased-out or sidelined in
a ceremonial role and the new and more educated and competent young
generations of the citizens could be phased-in to assume the much needed
political leadership and to ensure that future will happen and it will be
safe, secure and sustainable for peace and change in the Middle East. The
prosperity fantasy bubble is fast approaching to an end with the peak oil
forecasts as a visual reality in- waiting. Power, prosperity and poverty
are all trials in human affairs and transitory phenomenon. Was the discovery
of oil a conspiracy (“fitna”) for the Arabs to change the originality of
their thinking, beliefs, values and passion for Islam as successful system
of human life? Do the Arab leaders expect America, Britain or France to
come and stop the on-going sectarian killings, death squads and resulting
destruction? But they are responsible for transforming Iraq, Syria,
Libya and Egypt into failure states and unworkable political governance.
They are all part of the problem, how could they be part of the solution.
The solution must come out of new thinking and new vision for change,
dialogue between the sectarian divides and competent leadership to achieve
the stated goals. Many Arab leaders pretend like actors and have no
understanding of Islam and its primary values to deal with others. None
appear serious about their own intentions and beliefs. What if they were
organized as morally and intellectually conscientious people and knew the
complex nature of global politics and had proactive thought and freedom to
think and act and communicate with moral strength to the enemies within the
Arab societies. Don’t you think, they could have accomplished something
better, something durable in dealing with some of the emotionally charged
issues? In the 21st century of New World of Hope and optimism, men who
are universally hated and feared can be approached, communicated and can be
imagined to be sitting in front of the table to discuss the on-going
problems. That is, if there are enlightened and competent leaders of vision
and moral integrity to use moral and intellectual strength and are flexible
to listen and learn to the other side. Many if not all man-made problems
could be resolved peacefully and without resorting to bloodshed and
committing crimes against the innocent humanity.
The Arab masses long for political change and a promising future based on
peaceful co-existence with others. In view of the unstoppable cycle of
sectarian killings and daily bloodbaths in so many Arab states - Iraq,
Syria, Libya, Yemen, Egypt and spill-over to other oil producing Arab
nations - and reactionary militancy against the authoritarian rule and
dismantling of the socio-economic infrastructures - is the Arab world
coming to its own end? The Arab rulers and the masses live and breathe
in conflicting time zones being unable to see the rationality of
people-oriented governance - the essence of Islamic system of governance.
The worst is yet to come as the wars continue, surrender to foreign forces
as there are no leaders to think of the future, no Arab armies to defend the
people and no sustainable socio-economic infrastructures intact to support
the masses. (Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security,
peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western
comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications
including the latest: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity
in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Academic Publishing Germany-May, 2012).
***
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