22 July 2016By Mahboob A. Khawaja,
PhD
''The world is my country, all mankind are my
brethren, and to do good is my religion'' (Thomas Paine)
''Most Americans go along with unaccountable murder, torture,
and detention without evidence, which proclaims their gullibility to the
entire world. There has never in history been a population as unaware as
Americans. The world is amazed that an insouciant people became, if only for a
short time, a superpower. The world needs intelligence and leadership in order
to avoid catastrophe, but America can provide neither intelligence nor
leadership. America is a lost land where nuclear weapons are in the hands of
those who are concerned only with their own power. Washington is the enemy of
the entire world and encompasses the largest concentration of evil on the
planet. Where is the good to rise up against the evil?'' (Paul Craig Roberts,
''Truth is Offensive'', paulcraigroberts.org).
Do the
American masses find themselves overshadowed by a dark Age of unreason while
presidential election campaigns are in full swing? Candidates lacking moral
and intellectual vision and capacity using power over wisdom to imagine
success. Money makes the difference in elections, not the imagining of
peaceful America. With Bernie Saunders being an exception, Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump have no rational assumptions to articulate a New America – they
claim all along. Arnold Toynbee (A Study of History) noted that ''soft
countries breed soft men.'' Paradoxically, since the end of the Cold War,
America and West European countries have not produced any leaders for peace
and global harmony. The masses cherish thinking to foresee a sustainable
future of global peace and understanding. Lessons of history cannot be
ignored, no matter how intelligent and smart leaders pretend to be in an
election campaign agenda. All contemporary leaders are prisoners of their own
ideas and ideals. More so, directed by well paid advisors in words and actions
to imagine political success. Record shows that George W. Bush, Obama and Tony
Blair and David Cameroon, all had strategic advisors hired to sketch-out
public-oriented critical issues, seek attention and sympathy from the masses,
and create delusions out of the reality and lead successful election
campaigns. Robots are programmed to perform desired functions. Are the 21st
century politicians any different? Across North America and the globe,
humanity is anxious if the current American presidential candidates will make
any positive difference for the future. Leadership envisages new visions; new
ideals to explore new horizons for the good of the masses and promises to
change the future for better.
Global Humanity in
Search of Peace and Order
In its search for change and progressive future-making, the people across the
world are oppressed and victimized by the systematic intransigence and
arrogance of the few affluent class of people managing the global
institutions, militarization and governance – the perverted insanity lacking
basic understanding of Human Nature and of the working of the splendid
Universe in which we enjoy coherent co-existence. Mankind continues to be run
down by the cancerous ego and cruelty of the few Western warlords. Killing
unjustifiably one innocent human being is like killing of the whole of the
humanity. The global warlords represent cruel mindset incapable to see the
human side of the living conscience. Madness of the perpetuated war on
terrorism and its triggered insanity knows no bound across the global
spectrum. Animals do not commit massacre of their kind and species, nor set-up
rape camps for the war victims, the Western led wars against the humanity have
and continue to do so at an unparalleled global scale without being challenged
by any global organizations or leaders. Torture and massacres of innocent
civilians are convenient fun games to be defined as ''collateral damage'' and
a statistic. Perhaps, they view mankind just in numbers, not as the living
entities with social, moral, spiritual and intellectual values and progressive
agendas for change and development. Every beginning has its end. It is just
that most powerful nations have failed to learn from the living history – a
slap to EH Carr's precious thoughts of human history.
America is in the midst of crises of its own and not able to extend global
peace and security even though they are the only superpower left. George W.
Bush, followed by President Obama, engulfs America with the ripple effects of
the bogus War on Terrorism. Richard Falk (The Declining World Order: America's
Imperial Geopolitics, 2013), is an internationally acclaimed scholar in global
affairs and is Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus at Princeton
University where he was a member of the faculty for forty years. Professor
Falk argues that ''the United States has plunged ''the world into a struggle
between two extremist visions of how to achieve world peace and global
justice.''
Warmongering as an institution spells out
history's malicious, often irreversible, mistakes. America needs visionary
transformational leadership capable of restoring democracy, a people-oriented
system of governance, political accountability and to avert fascism on a
global scale. Should such a leader not be equipped with superb insight,
originality and verve, to make the masses think about a new and an emerging
global civil society away from the existing reactionary onslaught of
blame-games and failed institutions, and invigorated by human rights
principles and religious tolerance. Does America want another Clinton or Trump
to slip toward a geopolitical morass? One wonders if American presidential
elections are just a prototype of robotic political model full of incurable
resentment and repeated historical ironies to dominate and control the world.
Could the next American president envision an apocalyptic ending to humanity's
stint on planet Earth?
Tia Ghose, Senior Writer of
Life Science (''Doomsday: 9 Real Ways the Earth Could End'' 5/30/2013),
outlines critical issues that could terminate the world: ''global warming,
pandemic threats, Asteroid, nuclear war, robot ascension and snowbell'' are
the some of problems discussed. Strange as is that contemporary politicians do
not discuss such vital issues of primary concern to the masses in North
America and across the globe. Any apocalyptic disasters will affect all and
everywhere on Earth. The question must be faced: do we the humanity should
destroy ourselves by our own inventions and deceptions?
''Big Thinking'' Can Annihilate the Human Existence
Persistent culture of blame-game is in full gear. If nothing else works, Obama
blames Putin for the Ukraine crises and continuing Syrian civilian bloodbath.
Ironically, if peaceful solutions are sought, leaders must engage in dialogue
and not to block the channels of official communication. You will find that
G-8 meetings have has shrunk to G-7, with Russia not invited anymore. NATO is
increasingly organizing military exercises in Eastern Europe touching Russian
nerves. Undeniably, Russian involvements in Ukraine and occupation of Crimea
can be tackled if leaders were to talk and meet one another. There are curious
and conflicting mindsets across the divided Western Europe. America is the
guide in all polices and practices and the EU follows it. Logic seeks truth
and that is if President Putin is treated properly at international
conferences, he could show tolerance and some balancing acts in Ukraine and
East-West relations. To ignore Russia and insult President Putin is not the
morally encouraging approach to move forward in all global crises. President
Obama and EU leaders need to rethink about the future. Isolating Russia will
increase probabilities of continuing conflicts, military threats and
insecurity across the globe. America and Russia both have the largest
stockpiles of nuclear weapons on earth. None appear to reduce the weapon
manufacturing capabilities or to destroy the weapons on their own. The ''big
thinking'' scenario could cause the apocalyptic ending of the world without
notice. There are always unseen dangers of accidental warfare. The previous
wars of the 20th century have not ended yet. Their ripple effects continue to
haunt the humanity and make it fearful of the coming of a third world war.
Robert Pape, Professor, University of Chicago's, and author of Dying to Win:
The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, 2005, points out the alarmingly
failing record of the US Empire in war engagements: ''America is in
unprecedented decline. The self-inflicted wounds of the Iraq war, growing
government debt, increasingly negative current-account balances and other
internal economic weaknesses have cost the United States real power in today's
world of rapidly spreading knowledge and technology. If present trends
continue, we will look back on the Bush years as the death knell of American
hegemony.''
To Change Animosity and Hatred by
Reason and Ingenuity
Future must be anew, not the repetition of the past. While the planned wars
and military aggressions have failed to achieve any strategic goals except
causing large scale deaths and environmental destruction of the human
habitats, political thinkers and intellectuals and experts in conflict
resolution should envision new strategies to avert the futuristic wars.
Time and encompassing opportunities warrant New Thinking, New Leaders and New
Visions for change and the future-making. But change and creativity and new
visions will not emerge out of the obsolete, redundant and failed
authoritarianism of the few insane leaders. None have the understanding of
neither peace nor respect for human life and co-existence in a splendid
Universe. To challenge the deafening silence of the global leaders, the
humanity must find ways and means to look beyond the obvious and troublesome
horizons dominated by the few warlords and continued to be plagued with
massacres, barbarity against human culture and civilizations, destruction of
the habitats and natural environment as if there were no rational being and
people of reason populating the God-given Universe. Men of power are simply
repeating the history of malicious ironies. The informed and mature global
community looks towards those Thinkers, educated and honest proactive leaders
enriched with coherent unity of moral, spiritual, intellectual and physical
visions and abilities to be instrumental to rescue it from the planned
encroachment of the few Western warlords. The March 2011 Japan's natural
disasters – tsunami, earthquakes and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima have
further heightened the tormenting uneasiness, pain and anguish of the mankind
across the globe. Environmental experts, technological inventors and nuclear
scientists seem to invent things but failed to manage the operational outcomes
and accidents, essentially signaling major flaws between what is thinkable for
the good of human change, progress and advancements and the divide between
what could purge the human existence because of the ignorance of their own
thinking and action, arrogance, warmongering and inconsistency and continued
confrontations with the Nature of Things and challenges to the Laws of God.
Can we think to be human in all of our moral, political and intellectual
endeavors? Can we come-up with a remedial imagination to cure the incurable
ignorance, sectarian resentment and nationalistic bloody rampage, the malice
and perfidy out of the sadistic human plans and priorities? Can we critically
look at ourselves – why have we become so stagnated in moral, spiritual and
intellectual values to be on a cliff to destroy the cause of freedom, equality
and justice to all? Can we see the mirror with a collective conscience – why
have we been pushed to resort to animalistic characteristics and behaviors
that those who appear to be well educated and morally and intellectually
intact but act like agents of the draconian age as if there were no people of
reason and accountability populating the Planet Earth?
''If the human nature is in part wicked and in part foolish,
how can human beings be prevented from suffering from the result of their
wickedness and folly?'' C.E.M. Joad (Guide to Modern Wickedness), the 20th
century proactive thinker offers a rational context to the prevalent affairs
of the 21st century political quagmire:
''Men simply
do not see that war is foolish and useless and wicked. They think on occasion
that it is necessary and wise and honourable, for war is not the work of bad
men knowing themselves to be wrong, but of good men passionately convinced
that they are right.''
(Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict
resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and
civilizations, and author of several publications including the latest: Global
Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking.
Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany, May 2012)
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