COMMON FEARS

What do America and China have in common? Most would say financial clout. But wait a second, there is another factor which both these countries display in gay abandon and in full view of the whole world. I call it shameful but all my friends say that it is apt and the normal. They tell me that it is the way human beings react to circumstance.

America is afraid of persons who are non countrymen who belong to the Muslim religion. China is afraid of its own countrymen. America is constantly mining the Muslim countries for information against American property and American interests at home and abroad. China is also mining for information from within the country which is against its policy and seeks to gag what it calls dangerous propaganda. Both governments are afraid of people and both countries say that they are powerful. Does the fear factor increase with increase in wealth? Does the fear factor increase with increase in power? If yes, then what use is such wealth and power?

America has done a lot of damage to its reputation in the Muslim world. It has always acted in its own selfish interest without caring about the consequence on others. Blind support to Israel without taking other neighbors into confidence has been its policy since a very long time. Now it looks like boomerang time because Israel no more listens to its main patron. Political manipulation of the Gulf countries was a major agenda for America to safeguard its supply of oil. America never cared what other countries thought. Now when Iran is developing its nuclear technology and the whole world is looking the other way, America is at a loss for words. America has been behaving as the policeman for the world on its own for a very long time. Now when it needs help and support the world prefers to wait and watch. Watch what? If you want to believe me, they all are waiting for America to fall. The Muslims of the world cannot forgive America. Why should they? What benefit has America passed on to them in lieu of all the interference, destruction and robbery? Muslims have suffered the most for America’s foolish leadership and greedy policies towards self-aggrandizement. Iraq is living the price for no fault of theirs.

China and its communist leaders running the country knew that all its policies were wrong. They took a quite turn in the 1970’s towards capitalism but refused to hand down real freedom to its own people. Even today they prefer to gag the internet and throw out Google. They are not sure about their own countrymen need for information. The Chinese government believes in information censorship and thinks that they can continue to feed their countrymen with dressed down information. What a pity! China is riding a wild tiger. It is giving its people financial strength, modern education, freedom to think, desire to become a super power and control the world. But it won’t give them the right of self governance. The youngsters in China will soon rise against such foolish strategies because demand for freedom of choice will immediately follow once education and power is achieved. China sounds so scared of an old man and behaves like a child on his every movement, the man being Dalai Lama. In fact China cannot give the Tibetans the only two things that they seek religious and governance freedom within the framework of a united China. That would open up a Pandora box of similar demands from across the country.

IS AMERICA CHANGING?

America is changing and how. President Obama tells the UN, “those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone.” This transformation of character from a war mongering nation to an ordinary nation is too gross to miss. An American citizen could be pardoned for asking, ‘what’s wrong with America, why is it behaving like a sheep’. But to the rest of the world, nobody seems to be hiding a wide grin anymore. Was this expected? Osama would agree.

The president’s statement shy's from confessing that the entire task of policing the world which was self undertaken by America has really backfired. It creates an impression that America at the request of the League of Nations was policing the world. It had no interest of its own, what so ever. In case anybody feels so, to their information, there could be nothing farther from the truth. American interest in the Gulf is primarily oil. Oil for its big cars and big industries. To keep its huge economy rolling it had to have a full leg inside the oil barrel. American interest in other parts of the world is to protect its economy. Japan and South Africa are great allies and an important trade partners. South East Asia up to Australia is buyers of American products and also trade partners. UK is a dear friend and a source of funds to prop up its economy. America has valuable assets to protect in the form of the stability of all these countries and therefore it has to maintain a military presence across the globe. Till a decade ago it feared the USSR to topple its economy by distracting some of its allies. Now it fears China. Sadly it failed to realize that power which has fear at its base cannot last very long. Rome collapsed.

America lost on two fronts. On the external front to overcome disruption in oil supply, it created the famous brand called ‘axis of evil’ and launched a 24 hours bombing spectacle. These events hurt innocent people who were trapped inside the war zone and created an endless list of enemies. On the internal front the fear of loss and economic failure spurted people to transcend the ethical line on subprime mortgage. The day it was discovered, the fall of the global financial system started. People inside the USA as well as in other countries were shocked at the extent of mal-intent that was allowed to perpetrate. The US citizens lost confidence in their own self. The world citizen lost faith in America. Both these crises set every other country and its entire people against America and all that it stood for. But proud and powerful as it was, it took some time to bend and stand to its knees. Which it has! Speaking for myself, I would like to forgive America for all its past follies provided it vacates Afghanistan and forgives Osama Bin Laden. Osama’s act of 9/11 should be seen as retaliation against American destructive activities and not as an affront. America should learn and start with a clean slate. Forgiveness begets forgiveness, love begets love. It should realize that if it does not adopt this now, it will be forced in time to do so by nature, nobody needs to lift a finger against them.

West being the west as we all know, it is very improbable that America will quit Afghanistan on its own and will have to be kicked out. But before that happens, the good man Barak Obama, who psychologically and philosophically belong to the west as much as chicken butter masala belongs to England, would be liquidated. His type of attitude and thinking will not be tolerated for too long by the brash and impractical American. Lets’ wait and watch.