Sunday, May 8, 2011

Why's Osama's death is of little interest to you

The mastermind of 9/11 is dead and finally there will be peace and democracy in the region. There will be minority rights, gay rights, political rights and perhaps even women's rights, but that one's debatable. The USA can withdraw from Afghanistan now and just leave the country to govern itself.
What's that? Leaving Afghanistan would mean giving up a strategically crucial area which provides leverage against sworn enemy Iran, 'that other big country' Russia, and upcoming superpower India? No problem, they're just here to spread democracy and save the world and stuff!
If by now you didn't get that I was being sarcastic, do yourself a favor and press alt-f4.*

While OBL's death may provide Americans with some sort of psychological relief, it will change very little in the long term. Weeding out Osamas in a garden which is perfect for growing them, only has a temporary effect. Afghanistan, and even more so Pakistan is a perfect breeding ground for extremists such as Bin Laden. One needs to understand Cold War politics and current Pakistan/India politics in order to understand what the source is. I'll try to briefly mention some events:

- USSR Invasion of Afghanistan. The CIA financed, armed and trained extremists Bin Laden's to fight the Soviets for them.

- Bin Laden's frustration with the corrupt Arabic oil monarchies and American military presence in Saudi-Arabia.

- American de facto global hegemony led by corporate interest, leading to the destruction of much of (Muslim) Africa and potentially the world.

- Pakistan's ongoing war with India, in which the USA uses mainly Pakistan against India to prevent it from growing too powerful. This includes providing it with nukes, making it the worlds most dangerous place. I'd like to remind everyone that if shit hits the fan between Pakistan/India (Kashmir territorial disputes amongst other things), it could very well be the end of the world as we know it. If anyone cares that is.

- American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan leads to a lot of anti-Americanism throughout the Islamic world, which continues to feed Al-Qaeda-esque groups.

- The recent and ongoing bombing of Pakistan by American drones, killing innocent civilians in the process, is causing anti-American sentiment which was already very high, to explode.

- Israeli occupation and expansion, needs no further argument.

There is much more to be said and this brief list doesn't do the complex situation any justice. It should however help dispel some of the sentiments that 'the war on terror' is over and we don't have to worry too much about the millions of people that are suffering because of corporate power and the propaganda that's needed to control and domesticate entire populations.
If we're serious about securing ourselves against future attacks and stabilizing not only the Islamic world, but the entire world, real steps have to be taken. One of the most obvious and easiest to implement is stop Israeli expansion. Stopping the killing of innocent civilians in Pakistan sounds like a good idea too.

While I've so far only stated what is obvious to anyone with even a slight interest in global politics, it seems to be very alien to most people I talk to on a daily basis. I doubt it's the complexity of foreign policy as it frankly isn't that complex to begin with. Rather, large-scale ignorance has more to do with a well-oiled propaganda apparatus that feeds a (receptive) audience the kind of garbage one has come to expect from governments.


*I will say this, despite all the criticism the USA has received from the rest of the world including Europe, none of those countries have achieved the level of civility, freedom and democracy that the USA has. No, I'm not being sarcastic. Post-fascist Europe still has a thing or two to learn from the USA.

6 comments:

  1. Another excellent post, sad that truths like these can not be found in any of the big media outlets , but ofc that has to do with serving the "elite" and making profits. The quality of the blogposts are far superiour then what I can read in the big columns here in Sweden so you should not put your blog down just by the ammounts of reads it gets, keep writin and more people will come. I have seen two other great posts about bin laden one from Noam Chomsky at http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/2652/noam_chomsky_my_reaction_to_os/ and Immortal Technique at http://viperrecords.com/index.php/activism/59-politics/144-the-legacy-of-bin-laden , I consider this post an equal of theirs and thats saying alot !

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  2. I'm not well informed on such subject as I should be, mainly like you mentioned that people just don't care. But again, really well writen and very informative. Also <3 the sarcasm.

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  3. @Niclas, thanks mate. I've read Chomsky's article, haven't fully read Immortal Tech's one but it looks promising. Besides being a sick musician he also knows his politics.

    @Trig, there's no shame in not being well informed when all the media does is focus on the next boy-band. I hope I helped a little in informing you :D

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  4. I don't imagine a lot of consideration was put into the decision of killing him. They probably took him down as soon as they found him. Obama wins tons of votes by alleviating the massively exaggerated fear of terrorism their nation is built on. The videos of Americans celebrating his death on the streets really make me sick, though. Do they not see how primitive they are?

    To me, the decision of killing Bin Laden comes down to whether doing so will aggravate his fellow terrorists more than it will disorganise them. I don't have enough information to judge whether it was the right thing to do or not. Few people do. America's inclination on substantiating and validating the beliefs of people who hate them for no apparent reason, though, is worrying.

    USA is supposed to be a Christian nation, no?What ever happened to the turn-the-other-cheek mentality? Would Jesus have killed Osama?

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  5. Great blog btw, keep them coming!

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  6. @Edwin, I think there was considerable consideration put into the decision. It's likely that they knew where he was for some time and the CIA negotiated with the ISI. The region's politics are very complex and dangerous.
    None of us know what really happened or what the motivations are, but one thing we do know is that States never make any move that doesn't serve their interest. Killing Osama was a well thought out move that must've served some great interest.

    And yes I agree, the ''inclination on substantiating and validating the beliefs of people who hate them for no apparent reason'' is indeed worrying. (Amazing sentence btw)

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