British voters’ verdict on Bush

LONDON’S prestigious newspaper, The Guardian, on Friday published results of a poll conducted in the UK, Canada and Mexico—all staunch allies of the United States- on the opinion of voters as to who was a greater threat to world peace. The overwhelming majority of British voters felt that after Osama Bin Laden, George W. Bush posed greater threat to world peace than Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, North Korea’s Kim Jung II and Hammas chief Hasan Nasrullah. The Majority of those who participated in the poll in Canada, Mexico and Britain thinks that Bush Administration’s policy has made the world less safer since September, 2001. The results of this poll in fact reflect the feeling of the people around he world and even in the United Stated that US President George W. Bush continues to made the world more and more unsafe through his aggressive policies.
George W. Bush, in the aftermath of World Trade Centre attack on 9/11, commenced the war on terror first by throwing out by force Afghanistan’s Taliban regime which had provided sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden, and then by removing Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein who Bush charged was preparing weapons of mass destruction and was in league with Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist organization-Al-Qaeda. The US force continues to, what Bush claims, consolidate their victory in Afghanistan and Iraq but subsequent developments show that these two countries are bleeding and burning with ever-increasing ferocity. There is total anarchy in these unfortunate lands and American Army commanders as also every one in the US has begun to be totally frustrated with the way war on terror is being conducted.
US President has developed some kind of an obsession with the so-called international terrorism. He feels that instead of fighting the root causes of terror US must use its military might to destroy terrorists. He failed to stop North Korea from going nuclear and his efforts to browbeat Iranians over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions have miserably failed. The truth is that that George W Bush views the world through colored glasses. Other developing nations which have acquired nuclear capability pose threat to world peace but not Israelis 67 per cent of whom approve his Iraq policy and the Indian who Bush regard as counter-weight to China’s emergence as a super power.
While at home George W. Bush is facing strong opposition in the upcoming midterm elections to the American Congress, his allies have also begun to question his militant policies. George W Bush needs to understand that force cannot solve problems. It is only dialogue through which international disputes can and should be settled. He must pull out his troops from Iraq and save his soldier’s lives. He must open direct negotiations with Iranians and North Koreans. Obduracy has not helped him and his persistence to press with his present policies would drag the world closer to a nuclear holocaust. No sane human wants annihilation of mankind. George W. Bush must stop calling others as rogues. He is totally isolated. Sooner he realizes this he better will it be for him and world peace.

China in Africa

This evening those of the 48 African heads of state who are not staying on for a bit of sightseeing will quit Beijing after a three-day meeting that represents a major new move in China’s expansion of its diplomatic and global presence. Though the China-Africa summit was ostensibly to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations with Africa, it was in reality a marker for China’s future dealings with the continent. Beijing’s trade with Africa has burgeoned in a decade and was last year worth some $40 billion. China bought 38 million tons of crude oil from Africa, equivalent to 39 percent of its voracious demand for hydrocarbons. It is also buying up more and more of Africa’s other raw materials such as copper, iron ore and timber. This year Sino-African trade is expected to exceed $50 billion.
The relationship is, however, not simply mercantile. China is investing both commercially and by soft loans in some 50 black African countries. Beijing does not appear to share the West’s concern about African indebtedness and loan defaults. Indeed, unilaterally China has already cancelled $1.5 billion of debt owed it by 31 of Africa’s poorest countries. The Chinese are also unbothered by the nature of the regimes with which they are dealing. One government spokesman recently told reporters that business was business. He added that the citizens of a prosperous country were more likely to be able to seize their own political destiny than those in a poor dictatorship where a regime could bolster its power by doling out the means to survive only to those that supported it.
In wooing sub-Saharan Africa so assiduously, China is opening up new markets. Its construction firms are gaining invaluable overseas experience working on challenging infrastructure projects. Expect in the next few years to see the arrival of Chinese automobiles in Africa. Beijing will be following Japan’s export strategy 30 years ago which focused first on flooding the African market with cheap and durable four-wheel drive vehicles and sturdy trucks. In building close and substantial trading ties, the Chinese are certainly facing economic risks. But a few loan defaults and failed projects will signify nothing in comparison to the advantages that Africa offers Beijing. A secure supply of raw materials is clearly the most pressing need.
However, the long-term advantage of creating a large bloc of African support within the UN is clearly also part of the plan. Africa has been plundered by Europe and manipulated shamelessly during the Cold War by both Washington and Moscow. Even now, Western commercial relations are driven by the bloodless economic calculations of the IMF and the World Bank.
The Chinese don’t have to follow such rules. They can rely on their genius for business, coupled with the fact that as far as Africa goes, historically they have entirely clean hands. The only other emerging economic power that might challenge Beijing is India which, in fact, ought to benefit from its expatriate communities in Africa which have been there for decades.

—Arab News