Mahrukh A Mughal
AS a keen observer of International Relations, one keeps an eye on what’s happening around on our blessed globe-which way the global politics is going and what events are unfolding at the economic front, what social changes world is undergoing and how increasing role of media is affecting our daily lives. It surely is an interesting study but at the same time it is a painful one too when we see humans but don’t see humanity. Wars being waged only for economic reasons and unnecessary blood being spilled to achieve selfish gains. Powerful countries imposing their hegemony on politically weaker and economically fragile countries to extend their areas of influence and control. Unfortunately, after the demise of Soviet Union, the world has become unipolar dominated by USA and “America first” slogans.
Sometime back, former US President, Jimmy Carter had warned that the United States is losing its moral authority on human rights by engaging in targeted assassinations and other widespread human rights abuse. Writing in the New York Times, Carter charged that US counterterrorism policy was in violation of 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended,” he said. Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work in resolving conflicts since leaving office in 1980, is credited with having made human rights a central theme of US foreign policy. In his opinion piece, entitled “A Cruel and Unusual Record” the former President warned that the United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.” At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, nor weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” he wrote. “But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.” Among the abuses Carter cited were drone attacks that kill civilians, targeted assassinations of American citizens, powers to indefinitely detain terror suspects, the use of torture to obtain confessions and privacy violations through warrant-less wiretapping and electronic data mining.
“This development began after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and has been sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public”, he wrote.” As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues. While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the past,” he said. Citing top military and intelligence officials, Carter said the escalation of drone attacks has “turned aggrieved families toward terrorist organizations, aroused civilian populations against us and permitted repressive governments to cite such actions to justify their own despotic behaviour.” Carter was particularly scathing about the campaign of drone attacks on suspected Al-Qaeda operatives, which begun under the administration of George W Bush and his team- Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice and intensified later on.
Citing top military and intelligence officials, Carter said the escalation of drone attacks has “turned aggrieved families toward terrorist organizations, aroused civilian populations against us and permitted repressive governments to cite such actions to justify their own despotic behaviour.” “Despite an arbitrary rule that any man killed by drones is declared an enemy terrorist, the death of nearby innocent women and children is accepted as inevitable,” he wrote. “After more than 30 airstrikes on civilians in Afghanistan, the then President Hamid Karzai has demanded that such attacks should end, but the practice continued in areas of Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen that are not in any war zone. “We don’t know how many hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed in these attacks, each one approved by the highest authorities in Washington. This would have been unthinkable in previous times”. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Libya, were business ventures, meant to capture oil and gas resources and secure new military bases. The reality behind the “war against terrorism” is well-known. A cursory look at the US foreign policy, particularly after 9/11, clearly demonstrates it has been hawkish. The element of mistrust, particularly against Muslims is wide spread. Surely it is a changed America and changed world after 11 September.
How far that approach has changed global society and global economy is very important to examine. The events in the next 20 years will shape and change the global economic scene and relations between countries. So says the Global Trends 2030 report, released recently by the US government’s National Intelligence Council. But the study said that the United States, while weaker, will probably stay the top player for the next two decades. Thanks to its role in resolving global crises, its technological prowess and its “soft power” that attracts outsiders.” Nevertheless, with the rapid rise of other countries, the ‘unipolar moment’ is over and Pax Americana, the era of American ascendancy in international politics that began in 1945 – is fast winding down,” it said.
China’s global power is likely to keep rising but at a slower rate – a phenomenon of easing growth that, according to historical precedent, makes countries “likely to become fearful and more assertive,” the study said. The National Intelligence Council estimated that the world would have nearly 8.3 billion people in 2030, up from 7.1 billion now, but that the average age would be older — with potentially big consequences. The study said that 80% of armed and ethnic conflicts occurred in nations with youthful populations. The number of youthful states in Africa will fall significantly by 2030, with the remaining ones clustered around Central Africa. But the report predicted instability in nations with rooted sectarian or other tension such as Bahrain, Iraq, Libya and Syria along with Yemen, which the study predicted could break up for the second time. In 1776, a movement against colonial rule started in the land now known as the United States of America, and its founding fathers and leaders of the historic struggle which led to its creation, showed subjugated nations a new path of hope. But the America of today is completely different from what its founder fathers had conceived it.
—The writer is an author of ‘2020 & Beyond’ and teaches International Political Affairs.
