External sector shocks

Mohammad Jamil

The US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter, while addressing at the Harvard-Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Boston, has said that “the military-to-military cooperation with Pakistan has taken a nosedive during the last year or so. However, the cooperation between Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is still sustained, but could be affected after ISI Chief, General Pasha’s retirement in March this year”. This appears to be a ruse and effort to defame Lt. General Pasha by implying that he is America’s man, and also to create a wedge between military and the ISI by stating cooperation between the ISI and CIA is sustained. While talking to the reporters he admitted: “America is unpopular in Pakistan, with a public favorability rating of roughly 6 to 10 percent”. In fact, America is not only unpopular in most developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, but also hated by the people of those countries.

America has indeed traditions of freedom, democracy, human rights and human values dating back to American founding fathers. It is, however, unfortunate that barring a few honourable exceptions, their successors through their actions negated the principles upheld by them. In the past, the US had resorted to unilateral use of force ostensibly to promote democracy in Haiti, Nicaragua and in Latin America. It had intervened forcibly to change regimes, restore order and preach democracy. However, on becoming President in 1933, Franklin D Roosevelt abandoned the policy pursued by his predecessor President Woodrow Wilson. He treated his neighbours with respect, acknowledged past American blunders, and saw that constitutions alone did not guarantee a democratic outcome. At the time of his election President Barack Obama had made the people of the world to believe that he will not be as ruthless as his predecessor but he seems to be treading the same beaten track.

Various US administrations had hatched conspiracies against popular leaders of other countries, and US leadership was responsible for assassination of Lumumba and removal of President Soekarno. Arguably, the US had played its role in stoking Iran-Iraq war and Arab-Israel conflict, and had supported the contra saboteurs against the revolutionary government of Nicaragua. The list of its interferences, subversions, controls and overthrowing of Third World governments was too long to be elaborated. Most American leaders have never hidden their motives that they want to dominate the world and control its resources. Equally important is their objective to strengthen Israel and to make it more powerful than all the Arab countries put together. Against the hopes of the Arabs, President Obama has also failed to counter Jewish influence on American policies. He has to realize that one of the fundamental reasons that people throughout the world hate America is because of the US’ unqualified support to Israel. Anyhow, Obama has to prove that he can bolster confidence of the shaken world

America’s ruses had started after 100 years of its independence. On April 25, 1898 the United States had declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. As a result Spain lost its control over the remains of its overseas empire - Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines Islands, Guam, and other islands. The Treaty of Berlin was signed on 14 November 1899 between the United States, Germany, and the Britain. Before the treaty was signed, the British, Germans, and Americans wanted to exclusively trade with Samoa. However, based on the treaty, Samoa was divided between Germany and the United States - Western Samoa went to Germany, while Eastern Samoa to the United States. Colonizers had been colonizing and subjugating other nations, and justified it on the grounds that they brought African and Asian peoples the benefits of civilization.

But there appears to be no substance in the claim that any country establishes imperialistic rule over the other countries to spread the benefit of civilization to countries ruled. They did it just to benefit their own economic interest and to increase their military strength and security. One glaring example of the imperialistic greed is the opium war between the British and China whereby the British actually corrupted and weakened the Chinese Society and civilization by making them addict to opium. They had fought the Opium war to secure rights to sell opium to Chinese people. Whereas the exploiters found new methods of exploitation, the exploited also learned new techniques to resist the occupiers and exploiters. French philosopher Marquis de Condorcet believed that human nature could be perfected and the history showed humanity’s progress towards an enlightened civilization. As the imperialism continued to find ways and means to subjugate and exploit the people of the Third World countries, the exploited also invented novel methods to resist.

Europeans had through the centuries ruthlessly exploited the world and were able to enhance the living standards of their people. First of all, British, Portuguese, Spanish etc., had gone to America and made the entire continent their colony. They had fought one another over the booty in American continent. In Europe also, there were wars between the European countries ranging from scores of years to decades, and at least one 100-year war between the England and France. In twentieth century, two world wars had weakened European countries and their economies were crippled, with the result that they could not control their colonies. America however filled the void by giving credit to the shattered economies of the West, and controlling former colonies through neo-colonialism. Today, America has more than 1000 military bases in America and 70 other odd countries of the world, and as such America is a neighbour to all the countries of the world.

During the Cold War era, America and former Soviet Union remained at loggerheads. But after the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan in late 1980s and disintegrated, the US became the sole super power. The philosophers like Francis Fukuyama wrote ‘The end of history’, that democratic liberalism has won and there would be no more challenges to capitalism. But the recent protests that started with Occupy Wall Street movement in the US and extended to other countries portend gloom and doom. According to protestors, they were against the corporate greed. The protest in last October was just one of several throughout the United States and across the world inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. In Rome, police fired tear gas and water cannons when a group from hundreds of protesters taking to the streets began smashing windows and lighting fires. In the US, people demand jobs, fair taxes and corporate oversight to reshape the political landscape. They are angry that some banks and corporations have been given bailout packages, which is tantamount to subsidizing the rich at the cost of the common people.