50 Articles on US led Illegal War on Iraq & Occupation; 2002-11
FOUNDATION FOR INDO-TURKIC STUDIES
Tel/Fax ; 43034706 Amb (Rtd) K Gajendra Singh
KGSingh@Yahoo.com Mayur Vihar –Phase 1,
23 December , 2011.
50 Articles on US led Illegal War on Iraq & its Occupation; 2002-11
"The war in Iraq is a historic strategic and moral calamity undertaken under false assumptions – undermining America's global legitimacy – collateral civilian casualties, – abuses, – tarnishing America's moral credentials . Driven by Manichean impulses and imperial hubris, it is intensifying regional instability." Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser to US President Jimmy Carter.
"History is but glorification of murderers, criminals and robbers." - Karl Popper
"When there is a general change of conditions, it is as if the entire creation had been changed and the whole world been altered." - Ibn Khaldun
"History is ruled by an inexorable determinism in which the free choice of major historical figures plays a minimal role" -Leo Tolstoy
The Moving Finger Writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit, Shall lure it back to Cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. –Omar Khayam
Number of Iraqis killed as result of US led illegal war and occupation 1,455,590
An estimated 4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced as a result of the war into Syria, Jordan and internally .Over one million widows and many million orphans created .The country is divided ,destroyed and decimated almost beyond recognition.
Number of US military personnel killed 4,801
Number of US military personnel seriously injured, maimed and mentally affected sixty to eighty thousand
Cost of war and occupation US$ One Trillion approx so far.
Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes calculations put it a more than $3 trillions.
Neo-con leader Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had championed a $60 billion figure, adding that much of the cost might well be covered by Iraqi oil revenues; the country was, after all, floating on a "sea of oil." ("To assume we're going to pay for it all is just wrong," he told a congressional hearing.)
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I have written regularly on Iraq war & propaganda since August, 2002 analyzing the situation and assessing future developments , which have generally stood the test of time .It is a result of 8 to 10 hours, 24/7 surfing and watching CNN &BBC ( till lies were repeated )and European channels after 9/11 .
I had a ringside view of 1991 Gulf war from Amman (1989-92 ) and moved to Ankara (1992-98, earlier spell 1969-73), with accreditation to Baku ,with earlier postings at Cairo and Algiers in 1960s and France 1970s. Apart from Turkey and Jordan , I headed Indian missions in Romania and Senegal .
Out of over 400 in depth online articles on international affairs , over 100 pieces are on the Iraq war and the region . Fifty odd key articles from 2002 to 2011 with URLs and brief synopsis have been listed below. ( these can be easily googled)
My articles have been copied by up to many scores of websites/blogs/newspapers all around the world including of US universities of New York, Columbia, Colorado, California ,Utah etc ,think tanks and websites from rightist 'Free Republic " to leftist Salon.com, "Zmag" etc and in other western countries, Turkish ,Kurdish , Arab ,Armenian, Greek and Serbian websites ,also in Israel , Asia , Africa and all over the Islamic world from Kyrgyzstan to Nigeria and Indonesia to Morocco. Atimes has a Chinese edition too.
The articles have been translated into Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, French, German, Italian , Spanish , Danish , Russian , Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese etc .
The articles have been used /hosted by, Christian Science Monitor and other websites in USA , London Economist , Channel IV, Pravada, Russian Times , many newspapers in Turkey , Lebanon , Gulf , Central Asia , Japan ,Pakistan ,Israel etc .
I have delivered lectures on Iraq war and its occupation at many universities, defence institutes and cultural and other centres in India since 2004.
I was frequently interviewed in Bucharest (1998-07) by BBC Hindi Radio program , on Turkey, Iraq, Russia , Caucasus , Central Asia etc .Also by Slovenian National TV and Realitatea of Bucharest, Star and Sahara in India.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in cooperation with Iran outmanoeuvered Bush and the Pentagon and got the United States to sign the U.S.-Iraq withdrawal agreement, forcing US combat troops to leave by end December,2011, but Washington still has thousands of mercenaries and others in its Vatican city size large embassy in Baghdad .What about its many bases and Kurdish north Iraq , almost its protectorate since 1990 .US is already stoking the flames of Shia Sunni divide and conflict with help from Riyadh ,Amman and Ankara in the region .
List of 50 articles including 7 on decline and fall of US hegemony with URLs and synopsis is given below;
Before the March 2003 war on Iraq :
1. The Bush family's phony wars 27 August, 2002 .
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/DH27Ak01.html
An entire region from Jordan to Iran is on the brink of catastrophe as it awaits one man's decision on how he will pursue his family' vendetta .India's former Ambassador to Jordan looks inside the Pandora's box which George Bush holds in his hands - Editor Atimes
For the Bush family, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is the tempting Apple in the Middle Eastern Garden of Eden. The results of succumbing to the temptation to take a bite could be as disastrous as they were for Adam and Eve.
(Written when George W Bush along with old chieftains and neo-cons handed over by his father along with Tony Blair were beginning to beat the war drums )
BUCHAREST - It is the afternoon sun that dazzles onlookers though it is past its prime. That sums up the height of US power before last September 11. If the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki without fear of retaliation was the acme of the American Century, then the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbols of economic and military might, could be termed the beginning of the end of the American Century.
3. Iraq and the war of words
By K Gajendra Singh 29 January , 2003
The US administration led by President George W Bush, with loyal support from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has waged a personalized war on Saddam Hussein for months. Armadas of battleships and massive war-making machines are now moving towards Iraq , and military exercises are covered daily in the international press.
As many people agree, though, the war does have a lot to do with oil. As an oil expert recently observed, "The Americans have nothing against the people of Iraq , but our way of life is dependent on 20 million barrels a day, and half of it has to be imported. We are like a patient on oil dialysis. It's a matter of life and death. The smart people [in Washington ] all know this, but it is not generally advertised on the kind of shows that most people watch: MTV and soap operas."
4. MIDDLE EAST- Iraqi Mosaic in Pandora's Box 17 February, 2003
www.saag.org/papers7/paper607.html
Iraq is a delicate mosaic, which must be handled carefully, but a US led war would shatter and scatter it to bits. Whenever post Saddam Hussein Iraq is discussed in USA and elsewhere, not enough serious thought is given to ethnic, religious and other differences of its constituents and their tortuous history, which go to make Iraq a delicate mosaic.
After the war
5.West vs East, at daggers drawn 3 April, 2003
By K Gajendra Singh www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED03Ak01.html.
Veni, vidi, vici ("I came, I saw, I conquered") spoke Julius Caesar in 78 BC at a town called Zile, 300 kilometers northeast of Ankara , after victory in a battle lasting barely four hours over Pharnaces II, son of Mithradates VI of Pontus . Mithradates the Great (meaning "gift of the Aryan god Mithra"), a common name among Anatolian rulers, had contested Imperial Rome's hegemony in Asia Minor .
Of course, the self-styled successors of Imperial Rome, the hawks in the US administration, had hoped to emulate Caesar after a few days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the cities of Basra , Baghdad and Kirkuk . But the reality has been quite disillusioning - even to the point of bringing some "Shock and Awe" home to the United States.
6. Iraq's history already written 15 July, 2003 www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EG15Ak01.html
Written soon after the US appointed Iraqi governing council under Viceroy Paul Bremmer , with historic parallel to British regime established by Sir Percy Cox after the First World War , which ended in the assassination of King Feisel and his detested PM Nuri-el Said ending the Hashemite line in Iraq. 7. BAGHDAD BATTERED UN: Need to have a hard look By K.Gajendra Singh 4 September , 2003
"The UN's own 9/11 [September 11] crisis. " Former US ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke on devastating 19 August bombing of UN compound in Baghdad. "Who sows war reaps terrorism"-A Paris anti-war protest banner in February, 2003.
Indian Troops to Iraq: Discussions with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon reaching India in a few days time and Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee discussions with Turkish leaders in Ankara in mid-September. No Indian troops were sent to Iraq.
8.Turkey: 'Sow war and reap terror'
By K Gajendra Singh 22 November, 2003
Turkey: 'Sow war and reap terror' (Clinton's role in the rise of al-Qaeda)
Sow war and reap terror - A banner in a February peace march in Paris
Many disquieting messages have been sent with the two car bombings in Istanbul on Thursday, just five days after attacks on two synagogues and coinciding with Queen Elizabeth's hosting of United States President George W Bush in London
9. Occupation case studies; Algeria and Turkey 7 January, 2004 www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FA07Ak01.html
The situation in Iraq on the ground would be similar to Algeria after WWII and Turkey after WWI when they were colonized and occupied . Fierce resistance .Unlike Germany or Japan after WWII as most western analysts were gleefully predicting .A historical analyses and comparison .Illegal and most ill prepared project .It is becoming quite obvious every day .Hamid al-Kifai, a spokesman for the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, in rejecting on January 12 a call made by Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani that general elections be held ahead of a power transfer to Iraqis, has opened the way for even more uncertainty and unrest following the decision to create a Kurdish federal area in the country.
11. IRAQ WARS: WESTERN MEDIA- PROPAGANDA ARMS OF GOVERNMENTS AND CORPORATE INTERESTS 12 March, 2004 By K Gajendra Singh
www.saag.org/papers10/paper948.html
"Demand a broader view." BBC – "-
of 840 experts interviewed on American news programmes during the invasion of Iraq, only four opposed the war "BBC-DG Dyke. How ever, BBC itself gave in its over all coverage a mere 2% time to opposition's anti-war voices, -- according to Media Tenor; a Bonn-based non-partisan media research organization.
12. Iraq: A perplexing predicament By K Gajendra Singh 10 June, 2004 www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FF10Ak01.html
Finally, after ignoring the United Nations and diminishing it before the illegal invasion of Iraq in March last year, the United States, faced with the prospect of the unraveling of its ill-planned project in Iraq and the Greater Middle East, has turned to the world body to give its occupation some sense of legality. In the end, the UN Security Council's members obviously acknowledged that the strategic implications of a substantial US failure in Iraq were too serious even to contemplate
13. Dropping the sovereignty baton By K Gajendra Singh 2 June, 2004
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FF02Ak06.html
"It was by force that the sons of Osman seized the sovereignty and Sultanate of the Turkish nation; they have maintained this usurpation for six centuries. Now, the Turkish nation has rebelled and has put a stop to these usurpers and has effectively taken sovereignty and Sultanate in its own hands." Kemal Ataturk .
The post-June 30 government being assembled for Iraq is likely to be as unpopular within the country as the now defunct US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. ED
-- In his May 25 meeting with Israeli Infrastructure Minister Yousef Paritzky, Turkish PM Erdogan asked the Israeli minister: "What is the difference between terrorists who kill Israeli civilians and Israel, which also kills civilians?"—Ankara is upset with Israeli games in north Iraq ...
The likely consequences of the Great Game in Kurdish Iraq including Israeli machinations .
15. Turkey snaps over US bombing of its brethren 18 September, 2004
By K Gajendra Singh http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI18Ak02.html
The United States claims that attacks on the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar - home to Turkey's ethnic cousins, the Turkmens - were to root out terrorists. Others say that the US has unwittingly been drawn into a devious Kurdish plot. Either way, Ankara has warned the US in no uncertain terms to lay off: this is a pot not to be stirred In ancient days, before the start of a battle, warriors galloped up to enemy front lines and challenged them. That seemed to be the purpose of the last Osama bin Laden video released just before 2 November presidential polls in USA . Just in case; Laden wanted to make sure that President George W. Bush was re-elected. But then, even Sen. John Kerry had promised more of the same, but along with allies, mostly Christian nations
A debate is raging inside Iraq, Washington and Moscow and in neighbouring capitals and elsewhere whether the polls scheduled for next January to elect a Constituent Assembly for Iraq should be held or postponed, with various parties taking different positions. While USA, the Iraqi government appointed by it and Iraq's Shiite leadership are insistent on sticking to the date, Iraq's Sunnis, many Sunni governments in the region, Europe Union and Russia are opposed to it and have suggested postponement. Even if the elections were held as scheduled, would it solve Iraq's problems and keep it a united country?
18. The Kirkuk tinderbox By K Gajendra Singh 22 January, 2005
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GA22Ak01.html
There is much media focus on the inauguration of US President George W Bush for his second term, as well as the Iraqi elections scheduled for January 30. But the ethnically divided city of Kirkuk in north Iraq remains a dangerous tinderbox. Even the losing US presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, who voted against the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as the next secretary of state in the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, felt compelled to warn of possible turmoil in Kirkuk, which has been a bone of contention between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens - Turkey's ethnic cousins, with Ankara taking up their cause regularly.
19. IRAQI KURDS FLEX MUSCLES -RICE WAS NO TURKISH DELIGHT By K Gajendra Singh 15 Feb 2005 file:///C:/Users/gajendra/Documents/SaagFiles/SgKurdsFlexMscl15F.htm http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers13%5Cpaper1254.html
On February 13, soon after the announcement of provisional results of 30 January elections for Iraq's new Parliament, Turkey said that the results failed to ensure a fair representation for all ethnic groups and called for measures to compensate for flaws and irregularities in the electoral process. The Kurdish alliance of Kurdish Democratic party (KDP) and the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) won over 25% of the vote , giving it a kingmaker's role . It has already suggested 72 year old Jalal Talbani ,PUK leader , for the President's post .The alliance is likely to join with the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) , which is supported by the religious establishment and won over 47% of the votes. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's slate got 14% votes, while the slate of President Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni managed only 2%.
20. New Iraq Government: Allenby's Damascus or Rumsfeld's Baghdad - April 4, 2005
http://www.turkishweekly.net/op-ed/723/new-iraq-government-allenby-s-damascus-or-rumsfeld-s-baghdad-part-1-.html
"Just you wait until we have democracy in Iraq, and I'll throw you in jail!", said one lifelong opponent of Saddam Hussein to another at the Iraqi opposition conference in London organised to promote his 'heirs' by the Anglo-Saxons in December , 2002 ," and to bring about stability, rule of law and democracy in Iraq." That the conference did take place was an achievement in itself. Many a times the proceedings degenerated into scenes from the film "Lawrence of Arabia " with the Arab tribes squabbling and fighting after reaching Damascus following the with drawl of the Ottoman forces in the First World War in the wake of the military onslaught led by the British General Allenby , with guerilla support from Arab tribes of Sharif Hussein of Hijaj .
21. Neo-Cons Grip Slipping as Iraqi Resistance Morphs Into Liberation War or Worse By K Gajendra Singh; June 30 ,2005
http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers15%5Cpaper1435.html ,
Bush offers old wine in old bottles; To uplift his sinking popularity and avoid becoming a lame duck President, six months after his second inauguration, on the first anniversary of the sham transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis, President George W. Bush offered nothing new to the Americans or the Iraqis - more of the same. Addressing the nation from Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, Bush called for staying the course ( and going overboard the Niagara falls of Iraq as some critics said long ago ). An emotive defence institution was chosen again to tap patriotic fervour and rally the military, which is becoming uneasy at the falling home support for the war in Iraq. Ironically, Bush himself avoided military duty in Vietnam.
22. Neo-Cons Middle East Project Brings It to Boil: Now, the Constitution Fiasco. August 30 , 2005
http://www.opednews.com/populum/link.php?id=3580
"The nation-state offers most of its members a stronger sense of security, belonging or affiliation and even personal identity, than does any alternative large group" - Karl Deutch.
It has been said that democracy is not only a form of state and administration but a philosophy of life and an outlook. And for a nation's constitution to manifest the authority of the state and its laws, it must be based on a general agreement among all its citizens.
23. Saddam Trial: Another Western Kangaroo Court K Gajendra Singh October 20, 2005
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10691.htm
"It's all about justifying the US invasion"- A top Swiss legal expert The charade trial of illegally toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by yet another Western organized Kangroo court finally opened under a veil of secrecy on 19 October and was adjourned to 28 November. Saddam Hussein was defiant and claimed that he was the legitimate President of Iraq as he had done when he was first charged in July, 2004. (TRIAL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN & THE RULE OF LAW www.saag.org/papers11/paper1046.html ) He and six co-defendants are accused of killing 143 people after an unsuccessful assassination attempt on him in 1982. Western media was miffed at the show of defiance by the combative and aggressive former Iraqi leader.
24. Flawed Referendum Would Morph Iraq Into Regional Black Hole By K Gajendra Singh October 27 2005
http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2011/12/flawed-referendum-would-morph-iraq-into.html "Democracy is not alone a form of state and of administration. It is a philosophy of life and an outlook on the world. The authority of the state and its law is derived from general agreement among citizens upon the main postulates of philosophy of life". President Masaryk.
US franchised 'Landmark" towards democracy brings Iraq to precipice's brink
Ten days after allegations of wide spread fraud , Iraq's Election Commission on 24 October declared that the referendum had ratified the Constitution as in the third province of Nineveh, out of 18 provinces , only 55 % voted against it .If it were 2 /3rd the Constitution would have collapsed.
25. US Franchised Torture Refuses To Go Away- Gajendra Singh www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11601.htm 20 January,2006.
01/18/06 "ICH" -- -- The ramifications of US franchised torture and street revolutions in Serbia, Georgia ,Ukraine , Kyrgyzstan et al are not going to go away . The recent fence-mending visit to Washington by the newly sworn in right wing German Chancellor Angela Merkel was overshadowed by human right violations and torture at US base in Guantanamo and rendition of terrorism suspects to prisons in Europe and elsewhere by CIA.
"This young century will be liberty's century and Iraq and Afghanistan were poised to become examples for the rest of the Middle East of peaceful, democratic societies, Gorge Bush told the UN General Assembly ,"Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state" — Noam Chomsky
On the 3rd anniversary of the US led illegal invasion of Iraq , a number of comments have appeared in Western media, saying I told you so . Many have been consistent in their views .But many changed the course midway , some remarking that the operation to colonise Iraq should have been better planned and executed , sitting in their plush corporate financed think tanks and media offices .They remain out of touch with the reality on the ground .
27 The Great Western Demonology Circus: Now the Halabja Show
By K Gajendra Singh April 10, 2006
http://bgtruth.blogspot.com/2006/04/great-western-demnology-circus-now.html
Western leaders and in house corporate and subservient media, continue to line up one show after another. Soon after the death of Serbian nationalist hero Slobodan Milosevic's death in western custody, which ended his trial ( the Hague tribunal did not even allow him to be treated in Moscow ), another third world leader has been put on trial ,Charles Taylor of Liberia . Just a little side show.
28. The Generals Revolt-A Symptom Of U.S. Malaise 23-04-06
by K. Gajendra Singh www.Informationclearinghouse.com MWCNews.com, Al Jazeerah.info
"War is too serious a matter to be left to Generals" or to civilians who have never seen a battlefield.
The retired generals' revolt only highlights the malaise in the US polity which has crept in , specially in recent decades. The disconnect between an arrogant, ill informed Administration and the military executors of its policies in Iraq has opened a Pandora's box which hopefully might become the tipping point for much needed changes in US polity.
29. U.S. Dunkirk In Iraq; The Tipping Point 06/20/06
In an excellent recent piece 'Nightmare Scenario' in the respected US magazine 'The Nation ', Nicholas von Hoffman ,speculates that the badly outnumbered American expeditionary force in Iraq , now in danger of being trapped in spite of all its firepower, could possibly face some kind of a military defeat. Already the number of US soldiers dead has crossed 2500 and counting ; two per day , with tens of thousands maimed and injured.
30.The Mother Of All Battles: For Oil 12 July,2006
A 15th century Ottoman Sultan Murat II arranged for Mehmet II , not the favourite son , to be trained in the art of governing at the capital city Edirne ,under an able Grand Vizier. Mehmet II had been a wild and disobedient brat, so Murat II advised his teacher use of the rod , which was done to good effect. A Sunni, Sultan Mehmet II fell under the unwholesome influence of a Shia cleric, fought with the Grand Vizier and the military Janissaries rebelled. Before Mehmet II could create further mess, Murat II returned from Manisa, where he had retired for spiritual pursuits and took back the reins of the empire.
32. The Moving Finger and the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group December 19, 2006
The Moving Finger Writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit, Shall lure it back to Cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. –Omar Khayam
It took the US Congress 3 years, after the Washington led illegal invasion of Iraq against world opinion, to establish on March 15, 2006 , a bipartisan Commission, the Iraq Study Group (ISG), to salvage something from the bloody Iraqi quagmire. There is now a full fledged civil war with Iraq slipping towards breakup, under US led occupation.
"History is ruled by an inexorable determinism in which the free choice of major historical figures plays a minimal role", Leo Tolstoy By K Gajendra Singh
When the powerful US Vice-President Dick Cheney made a rare long haul to Riyadh in November , reportedly it was to create against Iran , Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon , a new US led Sunni alliance in the region, composed of the six Gulf Co-operation Council states, pro-US Arab governments in Cairo and Amman and willing NATO allies with covert support from Israel.
34. SADDAM HUSSEIN; VICTIM OF OLD WEST JUSTICE & VENDETTA http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m29623&hd=&size=1&l=e January 7, 2006
After illegal invasion, barbaric occupation, now Kangaroo court execution
The world seeks America's leadership, looks for leadership for a country whose values are freedom and justice and equality." Texas Governor George W. Bush in 2000.
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, overthrown after the US led illegal invasion of Iraq in March, 2003 , against UN Charter and world opinion , became an other victim of 'Old West Justice' exercised by European colonizers and Americans ( against Red Indians and Blacks ) during the last few centuries . He was hanged on 30 December morning in Baghdad under US occupation by Washington controlled government of exiles, quislings, embezzlers and war lords.
35. Texan Poker Bluff and Persian Chess Moves
"The arrogance of military power has led to a grave crisis - and to a decline of the United States' role and influence." Mikhail Gorbachev.
"The president is living in a dream world,'' US Sen. Barbara Boxer.
On Iran , US Administration has reached the pre-Iraq invasion rhetoric level of 2003 , when against the UN Charter and world opinion ,President George Bush decided to invade Iraq after having assembled a naval armada and air and land forces in the region ,cheerlead by a subservient US media . Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are accusing Tehran of developing nuclear weapons and exporting terrorism, just as Saddam Hussein was allegedly doing. Iran is also not abiding by U N resolutions on its nuclear weapons program, which, like Iraq then, it denies it has. UN Nuclear Agency in Vienna has found no proof of a weapons program .Neither there was one in Iraq in 2003. Almost all accusations made by US President , his deputy and others , exaggerated by US corporate owned media proved to be false.
36. Russia Broad-bands Relations with Middle East
by K. Gajendra Singh 18 February, 2007
Energy is at the centre of Russia's strategic partnership with the European Union. Oil is the cause of its struggle with the US over the routes of pipelines from the Caspian and Central Asia –Le Monde.
Moscow's relations with the Middle East during the Cold War were mostly focused on socialist and nationalist regimes, ranged against Kingdoms and conservative Western allies, but USSR's collapse and its disintegration saw its influence shrink. Now a coherent Russian Federation around an Orthodox Slav core, minus the old ideological, ethnic and religious mixed baggage, under an astute President Vladimir Putin has assiduously re-built, almost from a scratch ,its influence in the region, and taking advantage of the follies of the Bush administration, is broad banding relationships from Rabat to Riyadh.
37. Beware; USA & Allies Stoking Shia-Sunni Divide
by K. Gajendra Singh 23 March, 2007
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=31577
"We could expect an epic battle between Shi'ite extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al-Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country [Iraq] - and in time the entire region could be drawn into the conflict." President George Bush in his State of Union address.
" Mr Bush looks increasingly like a general who has run out of ideas, troops and hope ." Commented 'The Guardian'
US led western talk of a Shia-Sunni war looks troublingly real, although the option is now on slow backburner. The policy of divide and rule is as old as the Roman empire – a constant guide to the Christian West and implemented ruthlessly during its colonial onslaught on the rest of the world. Evolution of Western nationalism based on a narrow definition of shared religion, ethnicity, language, culture or history after centuries of religious and ethnic wars was then employed to divide multi religious and pluralistic empires and kingdoms in the East and South during its crusade of colonial wars and expansion, masked as 'civilizing mission ' or 'white man's burden' 'or 'saving the soul' by converting natives to Christianity.
38. Iran-UK Stand-off: A Clash of Civilizations
Iran Pardons Blair's Dozen and Jane Bond 8 April, 2007
"U.K. has suspended boarding operations in the northern Persian Gulf while the Royal Navy reviewed its procedures " First Sea Lord Admiral Jonathon Bond (no relation of James Bond).
Iranian Chess Masters Choreograph the Crisis End;
It was a virtuoso almost flawless choreography which ended the two week long Iran-UK crisis (with USA lurking at the back and Europe not far behind) following the James Bond like British intelligence intrusion into Iranian waters. Even the Times online admitted "The captives, including Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, were released yesterday in a stunning piece of political theatre by President Ahmadinejad, who brought a bizarre but welcome end to a 13-day drama that held the possibility of violent escalation."
Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world : Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"From the moment a soldier enlists, we inculcate loyalty, duty, honor, integrity, and selfless service. And yet when we get to the senior-officer level we forget those values."US Gen Antonio Taguba.
A senior US General in Iraq to Gen Taguba --" the abused detainees were 'only Iraqis.'"
"Be nice to America, otherwise we will bring you democracy." A bumper sticker in New York
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. Albert Camus
Television images showed a man running down a smoke-filled street in Baghdad holding a lifeless baby above his head. Smoke was rising off the baby.
"History is ruled by an inexorable determinism in which the free choice of major historical figures plays a minimal role", Leo Tolstoy
31/03/06 "ICH" -- - When I went back to Ankara in late 1992 to head the Indian Embassy, many of my friends from the Turkish Foreign Office from my 1969-73 tenure as First Secretary, were going out as ambassadors to newly independent states in Central Asia and the Baltic, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Looking at the creation of so many new missions, a cheeky young Turkish diplomat in the Foreign Ministry said rather mischievously than hopefully, that only if United States of America broke up into 50 independent states, could he ever hope to head like them a Turkish Embassy, in north America. --
But the wish of the young diplomat is not going to be fulfilled any time soon, if ever. But still—
42. WESTERN MILITARY-CAPITALIST CIVILISATION IN DISARRAY
"Credit easing does not and cannot substitute for earnings, wages or tax revenues." Max Wolff
"The [US] financial system is out of control and has led the economy into a wildly turbulent sea of heavily leveraged speculation.-- the road ahead is dark and unknown." Steve Fraser author of" Wall Street: America 's Dream Palace ."
"Before the US economy can truly begin to expand again, the savings rate must rise to pre-bubble levels of 8pc--$2 trillion of household debt must be eliminated", Economist David Rosenberg
43. Corporate Culture and Greed Sink the American Republic
Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. �We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can�t have both.� Said US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis 80 years ago
"Over-grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty." --George Washington (1732-1799), First US President
.
"[The] conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." --Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th US President, Farewell Address, Jan. 17, 1961
Iraq; the Goose that lays (Black) Golden Eggs! 4 July,2009
130,000 GIs Stay Put on Iraqi Soil
"This war [in Iraq] is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan. ... it is one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad." — Thomas Friedman in New York Times 30 November, 2003 .
"Despite the agreement with Iraq, the United States would continue to have fighting forces in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond 2012. --The reality is that we're going to have 10 Army and Marine units deployed for a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan." Gen. George Casey, US Army chief of staff on May 26, 2009 .
First transfer of 'Sovereignty' to Iraq on 28 June, 2004
People and media have such short memories. The first charade of transfer of sovereignty to Iraq was conducted in a secret, short and pre-poned ceremony from 30 June to 28 June, in Baghdad .
London's 'The Independent' of 6 October has focused attention on the coming fall of US hegemony beginning with the pressure on US dollar , following the not so secret meetings between Arab states , China, Russia, Japan and France to stop use of the US currency for oil trading
46 Bush and Blair accused of War Crimes ; Kuala Lumpur Tribunal
By K Gajendra Singh 7 November . 2009
For any endevour against war crimes and injustice a first step has to be taken .In this case a number of steps based on morality , ethics and international law have already been taken
In the minds of the majority of world's population ,War crimes have been committed by Anglo-American leadership and others and their armed forces with the connivance of the UN as in the case of the attacks on Yugoslavia and the dismanling of the state, Afghanistan and in the case of 2003 invasion of Iraq against UNSC opinion and its Charter .
47.Complaint against George Bush & others in the International Criminal Court & warning to Obama
For Crimes against Humanity 23 January ,2010
Prof Boyle requests International Arrest Warrants for Rendition & Torture
Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world : Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Illinois University professor Francis A. Boyle has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the "Accused") for their criminal policy and practice of "extraordinary rendition" ie enforced disappearance and consequent torture perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C. While United States is not a party to the Rome Statute the Accused ordered and were responsible for the commission of I.C.C. statutory crimes within the respective territories of many I.C.C. member states, including several in Europe. Consequently, the I.C.C. has jurisdiction to prosecute the Accused for their I.C.C. statutory crimes under Rome Statute article 12(2)(a) that affords the I.C.C. jurisdiction to prosecute for I.C.C. statutory crimes committed in I.C.C. member states.
48.Chilcot Iraq Inquiry; Another British Whitewash of 2003 Illegal Invasion; Tony Blair continues to lie still 2 Feb 2010
The British are past master in holding enquires to whitewash their quasi-legal or illegal activities and crimes. So the outcome of the public Iraq enquiry by Sir John Chilcot and his colleagues in regard to the decision to invade Iraq and the role of then prime minister Tony Blair was broadcast live by BBC and others .But the outcome would be another whitewash
Wrote George Monbiot in 'The Guardian' of 26 January ; " The only question that counts is the one that the Chilicot inquiry won't address: was the war with Iraq illegal? If the answer is yes, everything changes. The war is no longer a political matter, but a criminal one, and those who commissioned it should be committed for trial for what the Nuremberg tribunal called "the supreme international crime": the crime of aggression.
"Keynes's collective work amounted to a powerful argument that capitalism was by its very nature unstable and prone to collapse. Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff," --- Hyman Minsky.
On Thursday, May 6, 2010 , ninety minutes before the end of the trading day, the U.S. stock market almost melted down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 1,000 points. The market recovered before the end and closed down 348 points, or 3.2%, like a giant 747 narrowly averting a crash landing, but the questions of the day are: What happened? And what does it mean?
50 "End of Combat Mission" in Iraq; another Charade
After Sovereignty Transfer and Mission Accomplished! Sept 5,2010
Operation Iraqi Freedom – A Great Criminal Misadventure
"History is but glorification of murderers, criminals and robbers." -Karl Popper
" The limits of American military power have been laid bare in the killing fields of Iraq; Iran has been transformed into the pre-eminent regional power; --- a resurgent Taliban is leading an increasingly effective guerrilla war in Afghanistan; and far from crushing terror networks, the US and its allies have spread them to Pakistan--- Pakistan is being ripped apart by the fallout from the Afghan occupation. If the US escalates, the impact will be devastating-- The country now shows every sign of slipping out of the control of its dysfunctional civilian government - and even the military that has held it together for 60 years, " Seumas Milne in The Guardian
New American Century Project Ends in a Catastrophe
President Barack Obama in his 18 minute address to the US people on 31 August, 2010 on the so called 'End of Combat Mission' in Iraq , said ,"This milestone should serve as a reminder to all Americans that our future is ours to shape if we move forward with confidence and commitment. It should also serve as a message to the world that the United States of America intends to sustain and strengthen our leadership in this young century"
| 51.7th Anniversary of the War Crimes at Fallujah |
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| K L War Crimes Tribunal unanimously convicts Bush and Blair for 'crimes against peace'. According to media reports the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal unanimously found former United States president George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair guilty of "crimes against peace". The tribunal found that the two had planned, prepared and invaded the state of Iraq on March 19, 2003, in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law. Post Script Post Sept 2008 Crippled Economy & US Strategic Decline Smoke and Storm Signals K.Gajendra Singh, 4 July.2011 "Starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, --and all -- by 2014, " President Barack Obama in June2011 US debt now amounts to around $ 14 trillion , almost equal to its GDP .Even in this GDP , the financial industry contributes 40%.The economy is now 20-25 % of world GDP unlike 50% after WWII and is being artificially sustained by a stimulus of $ 2.8 trillion .There are no green shoots of revival , unemployment continues to rise . US economy is in recession .The 1930s recession was overcome by WWII which allowed its protected ( from war) industry to run full steam and indebt European and other countries . "Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations, "Michael Parenti--" the subject of imperialism has been sanitized, so that empires become "commonwealths," and colonies become "territories" or "dominions". Imperialist military interventions become matters of "national defense," "national security," and maintaining "stability" (Or civilizing missions, saving the souls and more recently ," Operation enduring freedom "in Afghanistan, 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' and 'Humanitarian intervention' in Libya) How Empires Collapse--suddenly ---But I was in for a shock when I called on the Russian ambassador (in Baku in end 1993 ), whose Residence consisted of a couple of rooms in an Intourist hotel . Russians were the masters of Azerbaijan till it broke away a few years earlier , because of policies of glasnost and perestroika by a somewhat naïve Mikhail Gorbachev. Ambassador (Retd) K.Gajendra Singh ,December 23 , 2011.Mayur Vihar, Delhi | |
