People chant slogans as they protest against US and Israeli strikes on Iran, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday (March 1). Boards read in Turkish: "Israel killer". Photo: AP/PTI
This new world order has turned its back on the constraints sought to be imposed on the great powers acting unilaterally and ruthlessly to pursue their interests
The US-Israel attack on Iran began on February 28. It is ongoing and there are no signs that it will end early. The two countries killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other members of the Iranian leadership on the first day of the attack. The US has called for regime change, which means the end of the current Iranian system, Vilayat-e-Faqih, based on the theology and political thinking of the leader of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It will not be easy for the US and Israel to achieve this aim. While the specific case of the battering of Iran and its response is significant, it is also a part of the larger story of the US unhesitatingly wanting to forge a new world order which would be far removed from that, ironically, the US itself established after the Second World War in 1945.
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This new world order has turned its back on the constraints sought to be imposed on the great powers acting unilaterally and ruthlessly to pursue their interests. It is true that the great powers seldom allowed the norms of the world order to come in the way of their essential interests, but at least they sought to preserve the fig leaf of the world order which they had themselves established. Now the fig leaf is gone and two developments and a speech show what the United States under Trump thinks and acts upon.
Challenging global order
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the Munich Security Conference on February 14. This speech came around six weeks after the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores were abducted by US forces from the country’s capital, Caracas. That action had shown the Trump administration’s disdain for global norms. In his address, Rubio sought to provide a rationale. He said, “we can no longer place the so-called global order above the vital interests of our people and our nations”. Hence, if “vital interests” demand that a Head of State and his wife be picked, it would be done and ‘legal’ justifications would be found for the action. In Maduro’s case, it was justified by first declaring that his election was flawed and, hence, he was holding his office illegally. Besides, his abduction was projected as a law and order operation to bring a fugitive to justice.
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The post-Second World War order was built of the core belief in global pluralism. It was underpinned by the idea that all civilisations merited respect and while one could take pride in his own civilization this sentiment would not erode the principle of respecting other civilizations. Yet Rubio extolled the virtues of Western civilisation in words that would have made the Western liberals of decades past cringe.
He said, “For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding – its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe”. The expansion of the West was accompanied by the ravages of colonialism, which ruthlessly exploited the resources of the colonised and placed no value on the lives of the colonised people. They were considered ‘lesser breeds without the law’. Hence, those who resisted the West could be killed and legal reasons found to justify their killing.
Rubio’s civilisation pitch
Yet Rubio ignored the misery brought by colonialism and urged US’ European allies, a part of Western civilization not ‘to be shackled by guilt and shame’. He went on to say, “We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it”. His word implied that the West, which was dominant, should remain so.
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Rubio’s speech was nothing but a defence of colonialism and that is the system which the Indian Freedom Movement combatted. Under Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiring leadership, it brought Independence to the country. Free India led the battle against colonialism. That is a noble legacy which should never be overlooked. While remaining in the vanguard of the global movement against colonialism, independent India never wavered in its quest to promote and safeguard its interests. It did so without bending its knee to any power.
Western dominance
Now, Trump and the US wish to lead the West to an age of Western dominance again. Rubio’s address provides its theoretical underpinning. The two actions that indicate that the idea was being acted upon were the taking out of Maduro and his wife and the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei. The targeting of enemy leaders is seldom undertaken even in war. However, Khamenei was killed without the formal declaration of war. This was nothing but how Western colonial powers behaved. Now, the US and Israel are conducting themselves in similar fashion. They are doing so with impunity.
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The reason why they are doing so with impunity is the differential in power and fighting ability of the Western powers and other countries. The gap in science and technology between Europe and Asia and Africa, which led to colonialism in the first place is now taking place between the US and the West and the rest of the world, barring China and some advanced countries.
Indigenous defence development
The only way for a country to avoid the new colonialism is to develop the true capacity of defending itself through indigenous development, especially in the defence field. Those countries with nuclear weapons escape US punitive action even though they may come under sanctions.
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Indian security planners and the political class should be aware of the larger context in which the US is conducting itself. This has to be kept in focus even while they pursue India’s immediate interests. Hence, India should make a specific reference to the Khamenei killing. There should be, at a minimum, an expression of regret that the Supreme Leader of a country was killed after being specifically targeted. There should have been a mention that his family members died in the bombing of his home and office. This is despite any justified reservations India may have had about his approaches and statements on India’s core interests.(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)
