Safe Haven for Ousted Dictators and Kings ; A 1979 ‘Project ‘ with Ousmene Sembene

Safe Haven for Ousted Dictators and Kings ; A 1979 'Project ' with Ousmene Sembene 

So many dictators and rulers are being ousted now, beginning with presidents ben Ali of Tunisia , and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt , with Western powers pushing for regime change in Tripoli and other states which do not bow to Washington ,from Morocco to the border of Iran and the Indian Ocean. It  reminds me of an afternoon ,while sipping coffee with Ousmene Sembene , Africa's legendry film maker and a prolific writer and sensitive trade unionist rolled into one ,at his sprawling residence in Dakar during my posting (1978-81 ) in Senegal (West Africa.) 

In 1979-80 a dethroned Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi  of Iran was running from pillar to post for treatment of his cancer and a safe haven , so in a lighter vein ,we discussed a possible project to provide security , safety , healthcare, entertainment  and other facilities for kings ,dictators and other rulers ousted from their thrones and palaces or self-exiled. Perhaps an exception could be made for top class white collar 'gentlemen' con-artists likely to be or already unveiled for criminal activities. 

The Shah had lost control over Iran after daily protests and serial killings and fled from Tehran in mid January 1979 ,abandoning the fabled Peacock throne. Two weeks later Ayatollah Khomeini returned from Paris to Tehran, and was thunderously greeted by several million Iranians. 

The hollow royal regime structure collapsed quickly on February 11, when revolutionaries and rebel troops overwhelmed troops still loyal to the Shah in armed street warfare. After a national referendum , Iran became an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, with a new theocratic constitution making Khomeini the Supreme leader of the country in December 1979. It shocked the western world but there was little chance of restoration of the Pahlavi dynasty. The Shah was USA 's gendarme in the region and along with the Saud dynasty ensconced in Riyadh , both protected by Washington to allow Western exploitation of the region's energy resources and keep out the Soviet influence during the height of the Cold War rivalry . USSR had made inroads by helping nationalist and socialist regimes in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

The Shah was looking for medical treatment and a sanctuary to escape Shia revolutionaries determined to take him back to Tehran for trial for the loot and tortures carried out by Iran's  security services ,Savak trained by  CIA, which acquired such notoriety in recent years by creating Gulags at Abughraib, Guantamano, Bagram and torture rendition black holes around the world . 

From Panama where the Shah found himself, following intervention by his erstwhile friends in President Jimmy Carter's administration , he was allowed to enter United states for treatment of lymphatic cancer. But this enraged the revolutionaries in Tehran , who seized the US embassy and demanded the Shah's extradition in exchange for 50 hostages. Washington refused . 

After being refused  sanctuary by his erstwhile friends around the world ,the Shah was eventually given shelter in Egypt by president Anwar Sadat , where the Shah breathed his last on 27 July 1980 ( the US government froze tens of billions of Iranian funds as they have now of Libya. The US government has a black track record of confiscating other people's money while dictators are so accused by western leaders and its corporate media.) 

At that time it was quite common for some African rulers being over thrown , some while on official visits abroad , others while still in their own country .For example , Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was ousted in 1966 while away on an official visit to China  , but Guinea Conakry's president Seiku Toure gave him refuge and made him co-President. 

Of course we did not go into too many details but felt that an entrepreneur would probably buy an isolated island financed by a mafia style conglomerate with ill-gotten wealth and hired guns so common in Africa then .Since the US led illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and its brutal occupation , Pentagon , and other agencies now extensively engage mercenaries , even for duties normally performed by GIs. They are in brief outlaws , responsible for brutalities in Iraq and elsewhere and do not figure on the pay rolls as regular soldiers.   

Of course now with a raging revolt across the Arab world , the safe haven proposal needs a fresh look .Until now  many Muslim leaders have been granted sanctuary in Saudi Arabia , like Uganda's Idi Amin and Pakistan's former premier Nawaz Sharif after he was ousted by Gen Parvez Musharraf. Now the General himself is at a loose end and in exile , travelling around from US to London to Dubai. .But what will happen if Saudi Arabia itself gets caught up in turmoil , where Tunisia's former president Ben Ali is now sheltered . 

The Marmara Sea across Istanbul has many islands ; one was used to imprison Turkey's ousted democrat party leaders in the 1960 coup ,two of whom were later hanged . Turkey's political leaders after the 1980 coup were also imprisoned there but none was hanged .Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Marxist Kurdishtan Labour party (PKK) in Turkey has been imprisoned on the Imarli  island since 1999. 

After Iran's 1979 revolution Muslims became unwelcome in USA. Almost any one with a beard in  info-challenged US population, was looked upon with suspicion, as an Iranian ,as a Muslim and dangerous .After  9/11 it has became even worse .Quite often Sikhs , even US citizens have been targeted and even killed . 

While islands near Istanbul in Turkey remain a possibility the proposal for a well guarded private island with its 24/7 security and health and hospitality facilities remains to be seriously revisited , which must not be too far away from land for provisioning food , personnel and other requirements 

Ousmene Sembene 

I was very fortunate to have known and earn friendship of Ousmene Sembene and his family during my stay in Dakar . He was warm, witty and considerate , mostly seen with his curved pipe.

Ousmene made Africa known through his philosophy and ideas via the medium of his realistic films . His fame spread around the world . Before my arrival in Dakar , he had been the chairman of the jury at India's 1977 Film Festival . This provided me an opportunity to meet with him and befriend him .He would sometimes attend my receptions and dinners ,even with his family  which he rarely did elsewhere  .He also opened his residence and hospitality on weekends , where I would meet intellectuals , lawyers , judges , film makers and writers not only from Senegal but from other countries in Africa too. 

Like many genius filmmakers ,Ousmene was his own producer, director, screen writer ,editor and other aspects of film making , rolled into one .Once I sat alongside him .while he discussed various aspects of his next film project with his assistants .It was quite an education . 

Once he took me and my son Tinoo to a typical Senegalese wrestling festival , similar to the ones in India , where first the budding and juniors exhibit their skills .Finally the two top contestants would appear .What a spectacle it was .He explained all the finer points of Senegalese style wrestling , the role of giri-giri , traditional magic , ancient tribal and other rituals , with the two sides trying to call the spirits to aid their combatant and curse the opponent. Giri-giri experts aka Gurus chanted power endowing mantras , tied bands around the arms , neck and the head and sprinkled special libations over the heads of their wrestlers . 

Like many such bouts elsewhere , the main bout after lots of noise , chanting and screams ended rather abruptly. After slapping hands against each other and circling around each other for sometime , the winner adroitly pulled the over extended loser over to his side , who crashed to the ground , a trick often employed in the Japanese Sumo wrestling and is common in  Indian style of wrestling too . While the loser lay pathetically sprawled  ,the victor was taken around the arena as have been gladiators and victors in sports and games throughout history .The noise decibel level was similar to fairs in India and wrestling matches for the Bharat Kesri crown .It was quite a spectacle and shall remain etched in my memory for ever. 

Once when passing by Ousmen's residence one weekday, I decided to drop by .But when I reached the door of his study, I saw him immersed in absolute concentration writing his next novel or short story .He was almost swaying sideways,  up and down like a Hath Guru Yogi in meditation . One look made for my quick disappearing act .I went over to sit with his wife , a beautiful , intelligent and charming Afro-American . 

With Indian films and music being very popular in Senegal ,as almost around the world , now even in north America and West Europe , to introduce friends to the range of Indian music I regularly taped cassettes with music pieces beginning with popular film music , even Asha Bhonsle's rock and roll number , then gradually progress to singers like Mukesh, Rafi, Talat , Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar ;then Akhtar Begum , Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and others , with separate cassettes for Indian classical instrumental music. Once when I told her that Lata was the most popular singer in India and even elsewhere too, she remarked that the other one ( Akhtar Begum ) was better . Some times we even played scrabble .Once when I defeated her twice , she was not very amused . 

Ousmene Sembene , who died in 2007 when 85 years old was born in 1923 in Ziguinchor village in Senegal's southern province of Casamance. Son of a poor fisherman , he was expelled from school for fighting with his French teacher and sent away to his father's family in Dakar. He studied while doing odd jobs and watched films in the evenings .He was conscripted in the French armed forces and during WWII served in France and Niger . 

With little prospects in Senegal , after being demobilized ,Ousmene stowed away to Marseille .He worked as a docker for 10 years until 1960, when Senegal became independent. His first novel Le Docker Noir ( the black docker ) written in 1956 was based on his experience of a dockyard  strike in Marseille. A fiercely proud man, when slighted he fought back and showed me big scars on his back received during fights as a docker .

His second novel was based on the 1947 strike against the French along the Dakar-Niger railway (in which he had taken part). Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu (God's Bits of Wood) was written in 1960 ;a moving story of women participation and liberation in a historical process. 

After his return to Senegal in 1960 , Sembene  decided that for his message to spread in Africa and elsewhere , he should translate his ideas and stories into films medium to reach a wider audience including rural, often illiterate, public in and outside Africa. He studied at the Gorky film institute in Moscow under Marc Donskoy. His film making career began with two short films ; Borom Sarett (1963), about a taxi driver whose cart was confiscated for entering an exclusive housing estate previously occupied by the French and the new Frenchified African ruling elite . His second film, Niaye (1964), was a denunciation of the hypocrisy of traditional African tribal chiefs. 

After independence ,Senegal like most former French colonies in West Africa was ruled by former French educated local elite , somewhat like the Indian Civil Service members , who with the new French speaking black local elite occupied positions of power .President Sedar Senghor , his French wife , and other senior ministers and civil servants went to France for summer vacations as in the colonial past .Many ministers were provided with efficient pretty French secretaries and French advisers called co-operants ,who really ran the show and protected French economic interests .In spite of best efforts by me and Tata's representative who used to visit Dakar once a year , we could not sell one Tata truck against French Berliot truck domination . In neigbouring Gunea -Conakary , upset with the declared independent policy by president Sekou Toure, the French before handing over power even pulled out electric power and telephone sockets . 

My love for the game of bridge and twice a week bridge tournaments , brought me in contact with French and local Frenchified ruling elite in business , trading and at the university , which I found very useful in my diplomatic work .Later in 1987-89 , when I told newly recruited Indian diplomats at the Indian Foreign Service Institute , I was establishing in New Delhi ,that bridge could be a useful tool , as playing golf was in east Asia, for establishing contacts and friendship with local power elite and avoid hitting the bottle in capitals with little work , my seniors in the External affairs ministry were far from amused . 

Coming back to Sembene, his first feature film , La Noire de... (Black Girl) made in 1966 , was the first ever feature produced and directed by an African. Shot in black and white, it is a searing account of the isolation of a young black domestic servant working in Antibes. Indians would not make a film on Indian maids working in the Gulf under similar conditions. 

"For us, African film-makers, it was then necessary to become political, to become involved in a struggle against all the ills of man's cupidity, envy, individualism, the nouveau-riche mentality, and all the things we have inherited from the colonial and neo-colonial systems," Sembène stated.( I recall some local nouveau-riche  proclaiming at their dinner that their salad was imported from Marseilles. There are similar stories among India's crass and vulgar nouveau-riche too) 

The 'Black Girl; was followed in 1968, by the international success Mandabi (The Money Order) based on his novel Le Mandat (1966) which narrates the residual ill effects in post-colonial Africa on the lives of ordinary people. Shot in two versions - French and Wolof, the main language of Senegal - it won a special jury prize in Venice. 

Sembène's films and writings were always aimed for the Senegalese public ("Africa is my audience, the west and the rest are markets") They were imbued by his politics and his understanding of the contradictions of a rapidly transforming continent. Emitai (1971) confronts the problems and legacy of French military conscription in Senegal. His film Xala (1974) based on his 1973 novel uses xala, the ancient Senegalese curse, which renders a smug westernised black bourgeois businessman impotent on the day of his wedding to his third wife. It is a metaphor for the adoption of western values and processes . In Ceddo (1976) Sembène brings out the confrontation between African traditions and Christian and Muslim efforts to impose their mores . It refers to the African collusion in supplying slaves to the European slavers . The film was banned by the Senegal government for some years. Sembene gave me signed copies of his books Xala and God's Bits of Wood. 

Perhaps his greatest film' Camp de Thiaroye '(1988), was based on Senegalese soldiers return from Nazi prisoner-of-war camps .When the soldiers revolt at the drastic cuts in their severance pay , the French army attacks the camp with tanks leaving few alive. It is a complex and searing condemnation of colonialism based on true history, and was banned in France until late 1990s, although it had won the jury special grand prize in Venice. In Guelwaar (1992) erroneous burial of a radical Catholic priest in a Muslim cemetery leads to mayhem. L'Héroïsme au Quotidien (1999) describes the heroism of African women in their struggle against subjugation: Faat Kiné (2000) has a single mother with two children and two ex-husbands balancing tribal customs, male prejudice and contemporary aspirations, while Moolaadé (2002), shot in Burkino Faso when he was 82, is an unambiguous condemnation of female circumcision .Aimed at all African audiences, it won the Certain Regard prize in Cannes in 2004. 

Sembène's main themes were  ; colonialism, tradition, capitalism, patriarchy, religion – portrayed use and misuse of power, whether by whites or blacks. His work is not about Africa against the west but also of Africa discovering itself in an ever-changing world. He sought to speak to "all those exploited and silenced by the combined external forces of colonialism and the internal yoke of African 'traditions'." 

 ( 24 April. 22011, Delhi) 

K Gajendra Singh served as ambassador of India to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he was ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. Apart from postings in Dakar, Paris, Bucharest , the author spent his diplomatic career in North Africa , Middle east and Turkic countries ( ten years in Turkey in two tenures ). 

He spent 1976 with National Defence college , New Delhi , established the Foreign Service Institute for training of diplomats ( 1987-89), was chairman / managing director of IDPL , India's largest Drugs and Pharmaceuticals company ( 1985  and 1986 ) and while posted at Amman( 1989-92) evacuated nearly 140,000 Indian nationals who had come from Kuwait. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.

 

Veil Ban in France ; A Symptom of Growing Christian -Muslim Chasm, Post 119

Veil Ban in France ; A Symptom of Growing Christian -Muslim Chasm ,Post 119

In Turkey ; A Tug of War between Secular and Islamising Elites 

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité – unless, of course, you would like to wear a burqa," a headline in the Guardian 

 "If the French were not so cowardly – and transparent– they would actually outlaw the burqa and the niqab by name –not coyly banning 'the covering of the face'. Viv Groskop in the Guardian .         [ What about going to a fancy dress party dressed as a Spider woman ,Cat woman or as Zorro or in a ski mask!] 

" The burqa laws will be infinitely hard to enforce, and will be infinitely little enforced." Emmanuel Roux , deputy chief of the French police union, Paris. 

"Some people think of the veil as erotic and romantic, others perceive it as a symbol of oppression, still others consider it a sign of piety, modesty or purity. It has become so ubiquitous that everyone seems to have formed an opinion about it. The various connotations it has, the many emotions it arouses, testify to its continuing, perhaps even growing, significance in the modern world."

- Dr Faegheh Shirazi, an Iranian professor at the University of Texas, Austin   

"Although the custom of covering women with head scarves is now generally associated with Islamic societies, the practice predates Islamic culture by many millennia. Veiling and seclusion were marks of prestige and status symbols in the Assyrian, Greco-Roman and Byzantine empires, as well as in Sasanian Iran. The Muslim Umayyads copied it from the Byzantines in Damascus, which they took over lock stock and barrel. According to one tradition, the Prophet Mohammad's wife Aisha did not veil her face. Generally, there was greater freedom for women among nomadic Arabs, Turks and Mongols before Islam." The author in http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI16Ak01.html

 

Note; Less than 2,000 women of France's 5 million Muslims ( in France's total population of over 62 million) are thought to wear the full-length veil. Many seen in Paris are Saudi tourists riding in limousines from luxury hotels to the expensive boutiques on Champ d'Elysee ,Place Vendome or in Galeries Lafayette. 

On Monday, 11 April ,2011 ,two veiled or burqa-wearing women were arrested outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris , not for wearing a burqa/veil but for disturbing the peace in protest about the burqa law . One face-covered woman arrested is a convert named Kenza Drider, who took a train in the morning from Avignon to protest in Paris, accompanied by numerous journalists. 

It was the first day of enforcing a nine-page police circular or anti-burqa law ie new rules against wearing a face-hiding garment in public. It carries a fine of Euros 150 for offenders .It remains to be seen how strictly this law will be implemented. 

The law stipulates that husbands found forcing their wives to wear the burqa in public be fined sums ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 Euros. The police circulars spell out the methods of arrest. If on demand from the police a covered woman does not remove her veil for an identity check, she risks a fine, or, alternatively, a citizenship training course. Police then tell the woman that she can be taken to a police station to check her identity. If she still refuses, the police are advised to summon a magistrate, the French equivalent of a US district attorney. 

The law was enacted last Oct. 11 after a rancorous and divisive debate with opposition from lawmakers on both the French left and the right. The left described it as the dehumanization of women; the right claimed it dealt a sign of lack of cultural assimilation and possible security related problems by those wearing a face-covering mask. But the law demanded that the citizens should show their faces as a matter of French values of openness The burqa law is being enforced after 14 months of heated political debate and a 6 months grace period . 

It also came into effect a week after a "national debate" on Islam and secularism in France led by the ruling party of President Nicolas Sarkozy .But even the prime minister and many leading lights of his party dissented or refused to participate. France's main religious groups had declared on March 31 in a blunt joint letter that the debate threatened to "stigmatize" Muslims and one of the world's major faiths.  

Many believe that the new "law is part of a new right-leaning symbolic political language in France and elsewhere in Europe that appeals to mainstream voters – underlining that a traditional sense of European identity and culture applies to all members of society, including larger numbers of Muslims" according to Christian Science Monitor . 

Viv Groskop in the Guardian quoted Jean-Francois Copé, leader of Sarkozy's UMP party, that the ban has the support of 74% of the population. But if one reads the comment on French news websites, France is divided. Granted, many support the ban. But as one commentator writes: "This is France. Live by French laws." But equal numbers voice the idea that this ban violates "the basic French principle of liberty". 

Christopher Hitchens believes that many of Europe's so-called "multi-cultural authorities" treat the most militant voices amongst Muslim communities as the de facto voices of the entire community – thereby alienating the moderates, who are almost always in the majority. But it seems that Sarkozy, in his fierce defense of French-style secularism against the "unstoppable" encroachments of Islam, is not simply being politically expedient? As so many commentators have said that the Sarcozy 's new law is primarily  a political maneuver to appease France's resurgent Right and improve his standing in the polls ( very low now) before the 2012 elections. 

Hitchens concludes that the "Islamist threat itself may be crude, but this is an intricate cultural and political challenge that will absorb all of our energies for the rest of our lives: we are all responsible for doing our utmost as citizens as well as for demanding more imagination from our leaders." 

[ Many political analysts on international affairs believe that Saracozy took the lead in promoting the so called 'humanitarian intervention ' in Libya , for a Crusade like Euro-US led NATO bombing of Libya, to improve his re-election chances . Apart from getting a pie along with US and some EU states of the oil resources in west Libya under the wobbly and fluctuating control of ragtag groups of rebels, Al Qaeda types and opportunists .Paris was the first to recognize the unknown and undefined rebels outfit .The results for both the cases might be just the opposite]

 Memories of Crusades and Jihads

Crusades and Jihads are engraved in the historic memories of Europe and the Islamic world in the Middle East and north Africa .Till 17^th century Ottomans arms were knocking at the Gates of Vienna , an event repeatedly recalled by political parties in Europe to keep Turkey out of the Europe Union , even by French leaders. While south European countries have populations from their former colonies in north Africa , millions of poor Turks were invited by Germany in 1960s and 70s to fill the shortage of labour for its booming economy .Thus a complex relationship exists between Christians and Muslims in Europe and neighbouring Muslim countries .Following 911 events , and the US led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have poisoned the relations between the two religions .Now comes US-Euro led Nato bombing of Libya .This situations has been made more complicated with the economic decline and even bankrupting of most European economies , making EU a fortress and insecure and inimical to all immigrants specially Muslims .

  Religious worship places , holy books ,other symbols and rituals have brought out the differences between Islam and Christianity .Scientific socialism in USSR and east Europe had kept the monster of religious extremism dormant , but following the Fall of the Berlin Wall and US led rampant policies against or without UNSC approval to control Muslim lands and its energy resources , training upto even a hundred thousand Muslim extremists like Al Qaeda ,Taleban and other Jihadis have provided the Muslims a tool to fight the West and for the US regimes far away to use it as a pretext for violating international law abroad and national law at home . The simmering tensions between Christianity and Islam in Europe and later in USA itself are likely to get worse and could easily explode . 

Apart from differences and tensions caused over building of new mosques , respect for Quran and Prophet Mohammad and dispute over symbols , countries across Europe have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as the body-covering burka and Hijab/Naqab which covers the face apart from the eyes. In recent history, the veil or hijab has been used to make political statements, even in Muslim countries such as Algeria, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. 

2004 French ban on Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols in France 

 A ban on Muslim headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious symbols at state schools was introduced in 2004, and received overwhelming political and public support in a country where the separation of state and religion is enshrined in law. But after a lot of drama including abduction of French journalists by militants in Iraq to upturn the proposed ban. And despite the hostage crisis, France enforced the law banning Islamic head scarves and other religious symbols from public schools. It was generally peacefully implemented, with a nationwide show of unity including Muslims, against the militants' demands. The head scarf is normally worn in schools, especially in poorer areas, by Muslim girls. Many Sikh students wearing patka (head scarves) were also not allowed to enter classes in Paris on September 2. Sikh community leaders took up the matter with the authorities. This was even discussed with President Sarcozy when he visited India early last year . 

The law to ban head scarves was enacted following a December, 2003 report on church-state relations in France, which recommended a ban on "conspicuous" religious symbols in public schools, including head scarves worn by Muslim girls, yarmulkes worn by Jewish boys and large crosses worn by Christians. The report, which suggested other measures to reiterate France's fiercely secular constitution, was written by a 20-member commission made up of religious leaders, teachers, politicians and sociologists. It said that the 1905 law that codified the strict separation of church and state was no longer adequate given the cultural and religious composition of present-day France. The report charged, for example, that organized groups were testing the secular French state by demands on public services in the name of religion and pressuring Muslims to identify first with their faith and then with their citizenship.

A ruling in 1989 by France's Council of State that religious symbols could not be worn in public schools if they constituted "an act of intimidation, provocation, proselytizing or propaganda, threatened health, security or the freedom of others, or disturbed order" was modified three years later, leaving much discretion to the schools.

Veil and other EU countries 

According to a BBC report , complied on the banning of the veil in Europe ,the lower house of Belgium's parliament has already passed a bill to ban clothing that hides a person's identity in public places but the bill still needs approval in the Senate. It has broad cross-party support, though the Greens oppose it. The law would outlaw the use of garments such as the hijab and the burka. Currently, the burka is banned in several districts under old local laws originally designed to stop people masking their faces completely at carnival time. In Antwerp, for example, police can now reprimand, or even imprison, offenders. 

Though no national ban exists in Spain, the city of Barcelona has announced a ban on full Islamic face-veils in some public spaces such as municipal offices, public markets and libraries. So it is

in two smaller towns in Catalonia to ban any head-wear that impeded identification, including motorbike helmets and balaclavas, rather than religious belief. 

There is no ban on Islamic dress in the UK, but schools are allowed to prescribe their own dress code after a 2007 directive which followed several high-profile court cases. In 2006, the Dutch considered but gave up plans to impose ban on all forms of coverings that obscured the face - from burkas to crash helmets with visors - in public places, saying they disturbed public order and safety. It was felt  unconstitutional and violated civil rights. Around 5% of the Netherlands' 16 million residents are Muslims, but only around 300 are thought to wear the burka. 

Veil in Turkey 

At the other end of the European continent, secular Turkey has been down the road of banning religious dress. Ottoman and Islamic dresses, including head scarves, have been forbidden in public places since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk in 1923. Ataturk abolished the caliphate, closed religious seminaries, converted the Mosque Aaya Sofya into a museum, banned Islamic dress, including the Turkish fez, veil or hijab, including the head scarf.

Opposition to the ban, earlier led by a small minority, is now being spearheaded by the ruling Islamising Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since November, 2002 .It is a serious cause of simmering tensions , sometimes reaching boiling point between the ruling party and the secular elite led by the judiciary, armed forces and intelligencia .

While in France it is basically a Muslim minority which is against the ban, in Turkey perhaps a majority (led by the male population, other than in the big cities) might favor head scarves. While Ataturk might have put the Turks in trousers and jackets, the thinking, especially in the countryside, is still conservative.

After the election of AKP foreign minister Abdullah Gul as the first ever Islamist president of the Turkish republic in 2007 , the government annulled the ban on Muslim hijab/turban in public places in February ,2008 .

Lifting of Ban Annulled

On 5 June 2008, Turkey's Constitutional Court annulled the parliament's proposed amendment to lift the headscarf ban, ruling that removing the ban was against the founding principles of the constitution. The highest court's decision to uphold the headscarf ban cannot be appealed. But the wives of AKP leaders wear turbans or scarves covering their heads .

At the banquet for Abdullah Gul in New Delhi in February , 2010 , the wives of the AKP leaders and the ladies accompanying them had their heads covered except a few ( They were from the security )

Delhi ,13 April, 2011 

K Gajendra Singh served as ambassador of India to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he was ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. Apart from postings in Dakar, Paris, Bucharest , the author spent his diplomatic career in North Africa , Middle east and Turkic countries ( ten years in Turkey in two tenures ).He spent 1976 with National Defence college , New Delhi , established the Foreign Service Institute for training of diplomats ( 1987-89), was chairman / managing director of IDPL , India's largest Drugs and Pharmaceuticals company ( 1985  and 1986 ) and while posted at Amman( 1989-92) evacuated nearly 140,000 Indian nationals who had come from Kuwait. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.

 

 

Veil Ban in France ; A Symptom of Growing Christian -Muslim Chasm, Post 119

Veil Ban in France ; A Symptom of Growing Christian -Muslim Chasm ,Post 119

In Turkey ; A Tug of War between Secular and Islamising Elites 

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité – unless, of course, you would like to wear a burqa," a headline in the Guardian 

 "If the French were not so cowardly – and transparent– they would actually outlaw the burqa and the niqab by name –not coyly banning 'the covering of the face'. Viv Groskop in the Guardian .         [ What about going to a fancy dress party dressed as a Spider woman ,Cat woman or as Zorro or in a ski mask!] 

" The burqa laws will be infinitely hard to enforce, and will be infinitely little enforced." Emmanuel Roux , deputy chief of the French police union, Paris. 

"Some people think of the veil as erotic and romantic, others perceive it as a symbol of oppression, still others consider it a sign of piety, modesty or purity. It has become so ubiquitous that everyone seems to have formed an opinion about it. The various connotations it has, the many emotions it arouses, testify to its continuing, perhaps even growing, significance in the modern world."

- Dr Faegheh Shirazi, an Iranian professor at the University of Texas, Austin   

"Although the custom of covering women with head scarves is now generally associated with Islamic societies, the practice predates Islamic culture by many millennia. Veiling and seclusion were marks of prestige and status symbols in the Assyrian, Greco-Roman and Byzantine empires, as well as in Sasanian Iran. The Muslim Umayyads copied it from the Byzantines in Damascus, which they took over lock stock and barrel. According to one tradition, the Prophet Mohammad's wife Aisha did not veil her face. Generally, there was greater freedom for women among nomadic Arabs, Turks and Mongols before Islam." The author in http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI16Ak01.html

 

Note; Less than 2,000 women of France's 5 million Muslims ( in France's total population of over 62 million) are thought to wear the full-length veil. Many seen in Paris are Saudi tourists riding in limousines from luxury hotels to the expensive boutiques on Champ d'Elysee ,Place Vendome or in Galeries Lafayette. 

On Monday, 11 April ,2011 ,two veiled or burqa-wearing women were arrested outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris , not for wearing a burqa/veil but for disturbing the peace in protest about the burqa law . One face-covered woman arrested is a convert named Kenza Drider, who took a train in the morning from Avignon to protest in Paris, accompanied by numerous journalists. 

It was the first day of enforcing a nine-page police circular or anti-burqa law ie new rules against wearing a face-hiding garment in public. It carries a fine of Euros 150 for offenders .It remains to be seen how strictly this law will be implemented. 

The law stipulates that husbands found forcing their wives to wear the burqa in public be fined sums ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 Euros. The police circulars spell out the methods of arrest. If on demand from the police a covered woman does not remove her veil for an identity check, she risks a fine, or, alternatively, a citizenship training course. Police then tell the woman that she can be taken to a police station to check her identity. If she still refuses, the police are advised to summon a magistrate, the French equivalent of a US district attorney. 

The law was enacted last Oct. 11 after a rancorous and divisive debate with opposition from lawmakers on both the French left and the right. The left described it as the dehumanization of women; the right claimed it dealt a sign of lack of cultural assimilation and possible security related problems by those wearing a face-covering mask. But the law demanded that the citizens should show their faces as a matter of French values of openness The burqa law is being enforced after 14 months of heated political debate and a 6 months grace period . 

It also came into effect a week after a "national debate" on Islam and secularism in France led by the ruling party of President Nicolas Sarkozy .But even the prime minister and many leading lights of his party dissented or refused to participate. France's main religious groups had declared on March 31 in a blunt joint letter that the debate threatened to "stigmatize" Muslims and one of the world's major faiths.  

Many believe that the new "law is part of a new right-leaning symbolic political language in France and elsewhere in Europe that appeals to mainstream voters – underlining that a traditional sense of European identity and culture applies to all members of society, including larger numbers of Muslims" according to Christian Science Monitor . 

Viv Groskop in the Guardian quoted Jean-Francois Copé, leader of Sarkozy's UMP party, that the ban has the support of 74% of the population. But if one reads the comment on French news websites, France is divided. Granted, many support the ban. But as one commentator writes: "This is France. Live by French laws." But equal numbers voice the idea that this ban violates "the basic French principle of liberty". 

Christopher Hitchens believes that many of Europe's so-called "multi-cultural authorities" treat the most militant voices amongst Muslim communities as the de facto voices of the entire community – thereby alienating the moderates, who are almost always in the majority. But it seems that Sarkozy, in his fierce defense of French-style secularism against the "unstoppable" encroachments of Islam, is not simply being politically expedient? As so many commentators have said that the Sarcozy 's new law is primarily  a political maneuver to appease France's resurgent Right and improve his standing in the polls ( very low now) before the 2012 elections. 

Hitchens concludes that the "Islamist threat itself may be crude, but this is an intricate cultural and political challenge that will absorb all of our energies for the rest of our lives: we are all responsible for doing our utmost as citizens as well as for demanding more imagination from our leaders." 

[ Many political analysts on international affairs believe that Saracozy took the lead in promoting the so called 'humanitarian intervention ' in Libya , for a Crusade like Euro-US led NATO bombing of Libya, to improve his re-election chances . Apart from getting a pie along with US and some EU states of the oil resources in west Libya under the wobbly and fluctuating control of ragtag groups of rebels, Al Qaeda types and opportunists .Paris was the first to recognize the unknown and undefined rebels outfit .The results for both the cases might be just the opposite]

 Memories of Crusades and Jihads

Crusades and Jihads are engraved in the historic memories of Europe and the Islamic world in the Middle East and north Africa .Till 17^th century Ottomans arms were knocking at the Gates of Vienna , an event repeatedly recalled by political parties in Europe to keep Turkey out of the Europe Union , even by French leaders. While south European countries have populations from their former colonies in north Africa , millions of poor Turks were invited by Germany in 1960s and 70s to fill the shortage of labour for its booming economy .Thus a complex relationship exists between Christians and Muslims in Europe and neighbouring Muslim countries .Following 911 events , and the US led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have poisoned the relations between the two religions .Now comes US-Euro led Nato bombing of Libya .This situations has been made more complicated with the economic decline and even bankrupting of most European economies , making EU a fortress and insecure and inimical to all immigrants specially Muslims .

  Religious worship places , holy books ,other symbols and rituals have brought out the differences between Islam and Christianity .Scientific socialism in USSR and east Europe had kept the monster of religious extremism dormant , but following the Fall of the Berlin Wall and US led rampant policies against or without UNSC approval to control Muslim lands and its energy resources , training upto even a hundred thousand Muslim extremists like Al Qaeda ,Taleban and other Jihadis have provided the Muslims a tool to fight the West and for the US regimes far away to use it as a pretext for violating international law abroad and national law at home . The simmering tensions between Christianity and Islam in Europe and later in USA itself are likely to get worse and could easily explode . 

Apart from differences and tensions caused over building of new mosques , respect for Quran and Prophet Mohammad and dispute over symbols , countries across Europe have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as the body-covering burka and Hijab/Naqab which covers the face apart from the eyes. In recent history, the veil or hijab has been used to make political statements, even in Muslim countries such as Algeria, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. 

2004 French ban on Muslim head scarves and other religious symbols in France 

 A ban on Muslim headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious symbols at state schools was introduced in 2004, and received overwhelming political and public support in a country where the separation of state and religion is enshrined in law. But after a lot of drama including abduction of French journalists by militants in Iraq to upturn the proposed ban. And despite the hostage crisis, France enforced the law banning Islamic head scarves and other religious symbols from public schools. It was generally peacefully implemented, with a nationwide show of unity including Muslims, against the militants' demands. The head scarf is normally worn in schools, especially in poorer areas, by Muslim girls. Many Sikh students wearing patka (head scarves) were also not allowed to enter classes in Paris on September 2. Sikh community leaders took up the matter with the authorities. This was even discussed with President Sarcozy when he visited India early last year . 

The law to ban head scarves was enacted following a December, 2003 report on church-state relations in France, which recommended a ban on "conspicuous" religious symbols in public schools, including head scarves worn by Muslim girls, yarmulkes worn by Jewish boys and large crosses worn by Christians. The report, which suggested other measures to reiterate France's fiercely secular constitution, was written by a 20-member commission made up of religious leaders, teachers, politicians and sociologists. It said that the 1905 law that codified the strict separation of church and state was no longer adequate given the cultural and religious composition of present-day France. The report charged, for example, that organized groups were testing the secular French state by demands on public services in the name of religion and pressuring Muslims to identify first with their faith and then with their citizenship.

A ruling in 1989 by France's Council of State that religious symbols could not be worn in public schools if they constituted "an act of intimidation, provocation, proselytizing or propaganda, threatened health, security or the freedom of others, or disturbed order" was modified three years later, leaving much discretion to the schools.

Veil and other EU countries 

According to a BBC report , complied on the banning of the veil in Europe ,the lower house of Belgium's parliament has already passed a bill to ban clothing that hides a person's identity in public places but the bill still needs approval in the Senate. It has broad cross-party support, though the Greens oppose it. The law would outlaw the use of garments such as the hijab and the burka. Currently, the burka is banned in several districts under old local laws originally designed to stop people masking their faces completely at carnival time. In Antwerp, for example, police can now reprimand, or even imprison, offenders. 

Though no national ban exists in Spain, the city of Barcelona has announced a ban on full Islamic face-veils in some public spaces such as municipal offices, public markets and libraries. So it is

in two smaller towns in Catalonia to ban any head-wear that impeded identification, including motorbike helmets and balaclavas, rather than religious belief. 

There is no ban on Islamic dress in the UK, but schools are allowed to prescribe their own dress code after a 2007 directive which followed several high-profile court cases. In 2006, the Dutch considered but gave up plans to impose ban on all forms of coverings that obscured the face - from burkas to crash helmets with visors - in public places, saying they disturbed public order and safety. It was felt  unconstitutional and violated civil rights. Around 5% of the Netherlands' 16 million residents are Muslims, but only around 300 are thought to wear the burka. 

Veil in Turkey 

At the other end of the European continent, secular Turkey has been down the road of banning religious dress. Ottoman and Islamic dresses, including head scarves, have been forbidden in public places since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk in 1923. Ataturk abolished the caliphate, closed religious seminaries, converted the Mosque Aaya Sofya into a museum, banned Islamic dress, including the Turkish fez, veil or hijab, including the head scarf.

Opposition to the ban, earlier led by a small minority, is now being spearheaded by the ruling Islamising Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since November, 2002 .It is a serious cause of simmering tensions , sometimes reaching boiling point between the ruling party and the secular elite led by the judiciary, armed forces and intelligencia .

While in France it is basically a Muslim minority which is against the ban, in Turkey perhaps a majority (led by the male population, other than in the big cities) might favor head scarves. While Ataturk might have put the Turks in trousers and jackets, the thinking, especially in the countryside, is still conservative.

After the election of AKP foreign minister Abdullah Gul as the first ever Islamist president of the Turkish republic in 2007 , the government annulled the ban on Muslim hijab/turban in public places in February ,2008 .

Lifting of Ban Annulled

On 5 June 2008, Turkey's Constitutional Court annulled the parliament's proposed amendment to lift the headscarf ban, ruling that removing the ban was against the founding principles of the constitution. The highest court's decision to uphold the headscarf ban cannot be appealed. But the wives of AKP leaders wear turbans or scarves covering their heads .

At the banquet for Abdullah Gul in New Delhi in February , 2010 , the wives of the AKP leaders and the ladies accompanying them had their heads covered except a few ( They were from the security )

Delhi ,13 April, 2011 

K Gajendra Singh served as ambassador of India to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he was ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. Apart from postings in Dakar, Paris, Bucharest , the author spent his diplomatic career in North Africa , Middle east and Turkic countries ( ten years in Turkey in two tenures ).He spent 1976 with National Defence college , New Delhi , established the Foreign Service Institute for training of diplomats ( 1987-89), was chairman / managing director of IDPL , India's largest Drugs and Pharmaceuticals company ( 1985  and 1986 ) and while posted at Amman( 1989-92) evacuated nearly 140,000 Indian nationals who had come from Kuwait. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies.

 

 

"Are We A Morally Dumb Nation?" Says US Prof. Alexander Jokic

Are We A Morally Dumb Nation?

Aleksandar Jokic

 

The US is bombing yet another country: Libya. Now the US is doing it legally, with Security Council authorization. The main justification is couched in moral terms: "to protect civilians." However, neither can the UN issue indulgences for aggression of one country against another nor is the idea of bombing people in order to save them morally defensible. Hence, both the legal and moral presumptions of the operation "Odyssey Dawn" are indefensible. Let me explain.

 

Anyone who has ever formulated a moral judgment recognizes as its main feature that what is said to be right or wrong, just or unjust, fair or unfair in a particular situation must be so in any sufficiently similar situation. One who does not recognize this, in technical terminology of moral philosophy, is being "morally dumb" or a "moral idiot". Sir Peter Strawson, a celebrated 20^thcentury British philosopher, had developed the notion of a "moral idiot" in his influential essay "Freedom and Resentment" to refer to agents who fail to be responsive to moral reasons or persons lacking morally appropriate affect. I use the phrase "morally dumb" to indicate persons who fail to realize that universalization is the main characteristic of moral judgments. Hence, if it is wrong for person A to kill civilians, then it is wrong for any other party to do so. Operation "Odyssey Dawn" involves slamming ordinance at targets throughout Libya, and has already killed hundreds of civilians. This should not be a surprise. The 1999 US-lead NATO aggression against Yugoslavia (without UN approval) killed over three thousand civilians. At the same time the operation "Allied Force" killed five hundred Yugoslav Army soldiers. Clearly, these sorts of operations are much more deadly for civilians than the alleged "military" targets. Furthermore, proof that the Qaddafi regime was slaughtering civilians was slender at best. Why would they? Be that as it may, this straw-man claim certainly cannot justify that instead of Qaddafi our military should be killing Libyan civilians. If we do not understand this, we are a morally dumb nation.

 

Essentially, the main objectives of the UN Charter were to outlaw aggression and foster the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. In the case of Resolution 1973, the Security Council acted without factual information as a mere instrument of Western powers rushing to authorize a "no-fly zone" which the US already interprets as a license to wage all-out war against Libya. The latter now results in a novel ideological construal called "responsibility to protect," which provides a way to obliterate the principle of noninterference and decriminalizes aggression--held by the Nuremberg judgment to be the "supreme international crime." As such, it is contrary to the foundations of the UN system, and in this instance, exceeded the formal jurisdiction of the Security Council, which has always been limited to threats to international peace and security.

 

Once the UN becomes the organization for issuing indulgences for imperial aggression by the US and its vassals against nations rich in resources—oil, gas, ores, arable lands and clean water—it should no longer remain in operation. The continued existence of the UN would only serve to fakelegitimacy of certain decisions to go to war; in effect, it would decriminalize aggression. Consequently, once the UN becomes its contrary, the distributor of "permissions" for US aggressions, it should simply shut down.

 

Aleksandar Jokic is a professor at Portland State University where he teaches courses in moral philosophy and international justice. 

 

Euro-US Bombing for Libyan Oil Undermines United Nations

Target Col Gaddafi,Western Democracies Descend to Middle Ages

by K. Gajendra Singh 30 March,2011

UNSC Cover for Euro-US Bombing for Libyan Oil  Undermines Moral & Legal Authority of WWII Alliance   Moscow cries foul, too late; interference into the internal, civil war not sanctioned by the UN Resolution  http://cms.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=10761                                                                           "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land..." "To brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and--more profoundly--our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as president, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action." Barack Obama "In his March 28 speech, Obama justified his air strikes against Libya on the grounds that the embattled ruler, Gadhafi, was using air strikes to put down a rebellion --- against state authority as presently constituted—However the current US president and the predecessor Bush/Cheney regime have murdered many times more people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia -- using air strikes and drones --than Gadhafi has murdered in Libya." Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of the treasury and former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, "The Westphalian principle that nation states could run their internal affairs as they pleased helped to reduce war for 300 years. That principle is now increasingly abandoned, not just in Libya but through the International Monetary Fund and other non-democratic international organizations. (UNO!) The consequences are hugely hazardous, while putting at risk the immense benefits the ancient treaty brought." - Martin Hutchinson  "—Rebels have seized control of the bulk of Libya's oil industry – including the country's largest oilfields in the so-called Sirte basin and the main terminals –-with the assistance of NATO air strikes. A Libyan opposition leader said that Qatar had also agreed to sell oil on its behalf in international markets –Washington made clear that opposition oil sales need not be subject to the sanctions imposed on Libya." Financial Times, London "We believe that coalition's interference into the internal, civil war has not been sanctioned by the UN resolution. Protection of the civilian population remains our priority," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 28 March, 2011 "--The object of bombing are barracks of the Libyan army, around which are densely populated residential areas, and next to it - the largest in Libya's Heart Centers. Civilians and the doctors could not assume that common residential quarters will be about to become destroyed, so none of the residents or hospital patients was evacuated. – "With full responsibility as witnesses and participants of what is happening, we state that the United States and its allies are thus carrying out genocide against the Libyan people - as was the case in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Crimes against humanity, carried out by coalition forces akin to those crimes committed by the fathers and grandfathers of today's Western leaders and their henchmen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and in Dresden in Germany, where civilians were also being destroyed in order to deter, to break the will of the people to resist (Germany remembers it, and therefore refused to participate in this new slaughter house). Today they want in such ways to make the Libyan people surrender their leader and the legitimate government and meekly lay down their national oil wealth for the countries of the coalition." From a letter to president Medvedev from Russian doctors working in Libya.  "Gaddafi's acquiescence to demands to end his own program for developing nuclear weapons, and the price the North Koreans say he is now paying--North Korea may be right: its nuclear program does provide a solid deterrent against any notion of doing anything - even if North Korea isn't actually going to explode one of those things for real," Donald Kirk   In early 21st century, with Nobel Peace Prize (awarded in advance!) winner US president Barack Hussein Obama leading from front and then from the back, white European nations, the former colonial powers known for their genocide, carnage, loot and worse along with some client Arab states and a reluctant Turkey ruled by Riyadh supported Islamist AKP, have relentlessly Cruise and Tomahawk missiled and bombarded cities and positions held by the legitimate forces of Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi and the tribes supporting him. This action has been opposed by African Union, Russia, China, India, Indonesia, Venezuela, Argentina and many other nations who rightly demand its cessation as it is not sanctioned by UN Resolution1973. Obama's predecessor George Bush had declared United Nations irrelevant before invading Iraq under patently false charges, for its oil. Now Washington with some Euro-nations and an assorted group are destroying whatever prestige and authority UN has been left with since its inception, under a feckless and wimp of a secretary general. Washington hated the guts of two secretary generals, Kofi Annan and Boutrous Ghali who did not act like US doormats. What purpose does United Nations serve now, specially its Security Council, except for the mighty powers who can go for their illegal objectives by naked brutal force? Why have this façade of an organization which was ostensibly set up to usher in lasting peace, freedom from want, social security, labor rights and disarmament as well as self-determination, free trade and freedom of religion. It has failed or not come up to expectations on most counts. "Few Americans realize it, but our leaders who lack military experience tend to be more hawkish than leaders who have served in the military," Matt Pottinger. Three Deadly Ladies It was the axis of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined by US Ambassador to UN Susan Rice and the influential Office of Multilateral and Human Rights Director Samantha Power who argued for airstrikes against Libya. Their advice triggered an abrupt shift in U.S. policy, overturning more cautious administrations' counselors. Both Obama and defense secretary Robert Gates opposed 'intervention' in Libya and No Fly Zone. This is the first time in U.S. history that a female-dominated diplomatic team has urged illegal military action.  Invasion by air of Libya is a present day version of old gunboat diplomacy by former rapacious Christian powers, and not any humanitarian intervention i.e. to protect rebel civilians in Libya. It is like the erstwhile White man's burden and the mission of saving souls and civilizing the natives. But it always was to rule over them, grab and exploit their resources. This version is being enforced by Cruise and Tomahawk missiles and field trial of the latest weapons of destruction to help Libya's ragtag opposition composed of opportunists, Al Qaida and other such elements, recognized by France and now Qatar too. 29th March London Conference on Libya  Xinhua net reported on 30th March about the London Conference with top diplomats from 40 countries meeting to discuss Libya's future. They agreed to form a contact group to direct political efforts in the country.  Military action will continue. A statement released by the British foreign secretary, William Hague, says participants reaffirmed their commitment to full and swift implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on Libya and to continuing military action to enforce them. The statement claimed that the military intervention in Libya has so far been "successful in protecting countless civilians from Gaddafi's forces and ineffectively wiping out Gaddafi's air capability." Hague added that possible sanctions will be pursued at the UN and regional organizations.US and Saudi proxy Qatar which has recognized the rebels was cautious. PM Hamad BinJassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani said, "We are not talking here about invading Libya, nor we are inviting any military ground (troops) to be, but we have to evaluate the situation, because we cannot let the people suffer for so long, we have to find a way to stop this bloodshed."  Libyan Rebels, A Work in Progress –Hillary Clinton  Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the US-led coalition doesn't know as much as it would like about the rebels, whether they include al-Qaida or other extremists. She said, "We are picking up information, a lot of contact is going on... so we're building an understanding, but at this time obviously it is, as I say, a work in progress," she told reporters. Clinton said the conference is taking place at a moment of transition, as NATO takes over as leader of the coalition mission, an undertaking in which the US will continue to play an active supporting role. She says there is no timeline and it appears Gaddafi has made no decisions yet about his future. If Ms. Clinton had her way, she will try for a regime change in Syria too, except that massive demonstrations took place in Damascus supporting president Bashir Assad. Syrians know what the West is up to, having seen it across the border in Iraq. Of course these combative and charming ladies do not talk about repression and protests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Ms. Clinton, having had her ambition thwarted to sleep in the White House in her own right, still believes that Washington remains the hyper power as it was claimed when she lived there with Bill Clinton. But that was before 2003 and the unraveling of US military and economic power since then. Another London Conference! It will be a repeat of what happened to and in Iraq, if Western powers are not stopped, right now. It is necessary to recapitulate what western powers promised and what they achieved.  More than a millions Iraqis have been killed, a million widows added, 5 million orphaned, 4 million refugees in and outside Iraq and a country and a civilization destroyed. The country has been divided into Shia, Sunni and Kurdish sectors. Let me quote from my article dated 17 February, 2003, just before the March 2003 invasion, "MIDDLE EAST- Iraqi Mosaic in Pandora's Box; Saddam' heirs, proxies and pretenders."           "Just you wait until we have democracy in Iraq, and I'll throw you in jail!" one lifelong opponent of Saddam Hussein to another at the December 2002 Iraqi opposition conference in London.  "The Anglo-Saxons organized a conference of Saddam Hussein's opponents in London in mid-December 2002 to back their claim aired from time to time that they wanted to usher in stability and democracy as part of the regime change in Iraq. It was held after many postponements and much prodding. That the conference finally took place was an achievement itself. Many a times the proceedings looked like the scene from the film "Lawrence of Arabia" starring PeterO'Toole, with the Arab tribes squabbling and fighting after taking over Damascus following the withdrawal of the Ottoman troops. The French had chased them out. "The conference brought together north Iraqi Kurdish parties, KDP and PUK - who are  at each other's throat inside Iraq , Iranian-backed Shia group SAIRI , the Constitutional Monarchy Movement and the National Accord Movement. One of the prime movers of the conference was the Iraqi National Congress (INC), headed by Ahmad Chalabi, on the run from Jordan's law, but now a creature of Washington. Those who did not participate were the Iraqi Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the pro-Syrian branch of Iraq's ruling Ba'ath party. The Shia Muslim al-Daawa Party also did not attend, as the purpose of the conference implied an US attack on Iraq and installation of a pro-US regime.  "The only apparent agreement reached was that after Saddam Hussein USA should not run Iraq (like making an advertising film without the product and the message). There was no agreement on the kind of political system or general frame work for a Constitution. The only common denominator to emerge was some vague form of federalism. The Kurdish parties argued for a bi-national model with an Arab and Kurdish state, (like Cyprus!) while others called for geographic and not ethnic decentralization. "US favorite Chalabi of INC wanted a government in waiting (with himself of course at the head); a political authority to provide legitimacy against political power vacuum after the fall of the present regime .The US strongly opposed the formation of a government-in-exile, arguing that it would  alienate serving Iraqi generals and others who might mutiny once a war starts. Then Saddam Hussein, his government and people would fight till the bitter end, which left little flexibility with USA. But those wanting to come over to US side might well consider the fate of two highly placed sons-in-law of Saddam Hussein, who had defected to Amman a few years ago. They were rebuffed by the west. Unwanted and turned into pariahs, they returned but were brutally disposed off soon after crossing into Iraq. "Naturally USA did not want to tie its own hands in advance concerning Iraq's rulers and its political fate. More importantly about the economic status of its oil reserves. Of course US's dear wish, proclaimed from the White House  press room and by others, remains that someone would assassinate Saddam Hussain or there would be a  coup d'état. From time to time, Donald Rumsfeld, Jack Straw and others, have talked of amnesty to Iraqi officials and generals and political asylum to Saddam Hussein and family, in Saudi Arabia or somewhere else.   War & Chaos All Around  "Every party i.e. "heirs, pretenders and proxies" remains worried about the ambitions of the others. Chalabi is rightly worried about the Kurdish plans. While there is little official version to go by but there would be a mad scramble for power. Kurds with their peshmar gas and other groups would try to fill in the vacuum. Chris Kutschera of Middle East Report magazine and others have written that high-level Kurdish military personnel admitted that it was not just the oil-rich city of Kirkuk - the so-called Kurdish Jerusalem - that the Kurds sought, but they wanted a share of power in Baghdad. "We have an agenda for all possibilities."  Western Propaganda  Government controlled BBC and US corporate media (80% in USA) are gleefully showing states with nearly US $ trillion annual military expenditure bombing Libya with a defense expenditure of less than $ one billion only. West's usually lying media trills that a level playing ground is being created for the unknown, mysterious and shady rebels in Bengazi. The message is that after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the law of jungle has descended on the earth. Has UNSC Become a Tool for NATO's Expansionist Policies? United Nations Security Council dominated by five nuclear armed bullies with Veto power has disgraced itself first by passing resolution 1973 and then allowing the crusader nations to interpret it as they did the treaties with natives in 19th and 20thcentury. Moscow and Beijing have allowed the violation of UN charter, invasion of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Libya.  They could have stopped it. Have they made deals with US! And reports suggest that now NATO will coordinate the military operations against Gaddafi's forces. Since when has NATO been designated the military arm of UNSC. Without UNSC or General Assembly approval! What is the role of UN now? And who are the deserving rebels needing protection. The unholy axis of Washington, Paris and London and other hangers-on have little to say about them as Ms. Clinton confessed at the London conference. There are reports that British special forces are already active inside Libya. But the axis is already talking of helping the ragtag rebels even with arms to take over oil producing areas and refineries and then invite in European and US oil companies. Remember that it was for Iraq's oil and its strategic location that US carried out 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' which it continues to occupy. The Iraqis have not allowed oil production to reach level of President Saddam Hussein era. The US army lies broken and is caught in a quagmire in Iraq;   What does UN Stands for? It is time to expose the claim and the myth that the United Nation Organization represents the will of the states or peoples of the world. More often than not in recent past, the so-called international community is nothing but Washington with poodle London and a small coalition of the coerced, bribed and not so willing. But this time around two of the armed nuclear powers, Russia and China with veto in UNSC have allowed the western warmongers to have their way. If this does not denote the demise of the UN like its predecessor the League of Nations then what else would. Tomorrow, Washington, which already has an Africa Command, with Paris and London, could start, protecting civilians in other African states with minerals and energy resources. Except during the Cold War, when fears of retaliation and the Mutual Assured destruction (MAD) maintained a kind of armed to high destruction level truce, international law was often violated, mostly by Washington. Will brute military power, with the capability to deliver nuclear arms and inflict unbearable destruction be the only safe guard a country? Will it remain the main currency in the world pecking order and the strategic equations where the big powers can accommodate each other and smaller nations like north Korea are forced to acquire nuclear and missile capability for their very survival?  UN, a Legacy of the WWII The current pecking order with the Gang of the Five at the top is a legacy of the outcome of the WWII. So let us be clear about the concept and the evolution of the United Nations. It did not begin with the signing of the Charter in 1945. This agreement was the culmination of complex military and political efforts and maneuvering of big WWII military powers that commenced in 1941.  The documents and the records of the war years include countless references to UN's origin as a strategic engine of victory in WWII. The document formalizing the Nazi defeat in the war includes the words: "This Act of Military Surrender is without prejudice to, and will be superseded by, any general instrument of surrender imposed by, or on behalf of, the United Nations on Germany…" US President Truman broadcast on8 May that: "General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations".  The "United Nations" was the official name for the coalition fighting the axis powers since January 1942, when Roosevelt and Churchill had led twenty-six nations, including the Soviet Union. The historical records clearly show that Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt created the United Nations to win the war both militarily and politically, and to create the foundations for a lasting peace. Churchill remarked during the height of the fighting in 1944 that the "United Nations is the only hope of the world". But the first expression of the Anglo-American policy was in the Atlantic Charter of 1941; this included freedom from want, social security, labor rights and disarmament as well as self-determination, free trade and freedom of religion. How military power corrupts! Thus the UN is not some liberal organization but a construct structured out of hard, realistic political necessity for the victors of WWII to dominate the post war era, which is now clearly askew and outdated. Everyone realizes that UN has to be restructured after its being almost irreparably damaged by US administration under George Bush and further infliction of wounds on its moral and legal standing by the US administration in coalition with a bankrupt Britain and Sarkozy in Paris, who hopes to increase his popularity by this imperial undertaking for the presidential election next year. The reverse is most likely to happen. The world is now reaching a situation when there is clear decline of US and European nations who colonized and exploited the nations of South and East after the Ottoman arms were repulsed from the Gates of Vienna in 16th century .The UN had emerged after the demise of the League of the Nations after WWII, though incubated during the war itself as brought out earlier. So sooner than later a change in UN must be brought about .It will depend on the decline of US, whose economy is in disarray and is being artificially kept alive by creation of trillions of dollars on computer screens, which has turned the world bourses into a Casino. The question is when the 2nd shoe will fall; the first fell in September, 2008. The misadventures in north Africa called 'Odyssey Dawn' would only hasten that fall like 'Operation Enduring Freedom' and Operation Iraqi Freedom' did.

K.Gajendra Singh 30-Mar-2011,Delhi  K Gajendra Singh served as ambassador of India to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he was ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. Apart from postings in Dakar, Paris, Bucharest , the author spent his diplomatic career in North Africa , Middle east and Turkic countries ( ten years in Turkey in two tenures ). He spent 1976 with National Defence college , New Delhi , established the Foreign Service Institute for training of diplomats ( 1987-89), was chairman / managing director of IDPL , India's largest Drugs and Pharmaceuticals company ( 1985  and 1986 ) and while posted at Amman( 1989-92) evacuated nearly 140,000 Indian nationals who had come from Kuwait. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. .