At the outset I wish to state the good fortune that we have to express our opinions in the GDN, even when these are divergent and at times contradictory. For example:
On October 5, Karim Mansouri wrote about ‘Masterful theory’ denouncing US policies over the years and pleaded for the Arab world to get closer to Vladimir Putin’s Russia and China. On the same page, Yenus S’ column expounded his theory how international law was breached by Russia.
On 10 October, a ‘peace lover’ Maryna, gave a rebuttal to Yenus claiming that Russia’s bombing of Aleppo did not breach international law as they acted at the invitation of Bashar Al Assad who is the legal President of Syria. (Is killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and displacement of millions of innocent men, women and children irrelevant?)
In my humble opinion, today when almost all major nations are playing games, armchair critics are so beset with their rigid views that they have lost perspective of humanity and fail to see the world from the eyes of a common man, who is the ultimate sufferer.
The US is an easy target of finger pointing.
The US is accused of meddling in world affairs. But when a disaster strikes, the same people look to the US for succour. When Kuwait was invaded by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the US was called to restore the country back to the Kuwaitis. Why were the Russians or the Chinese not called to assist? When Russians were at the doorstep of Pakistan after invading Afghanistan, the US aid was sought to repel them. Post 9/11, the same Pakistanis, who were burning US flags and wanted Americans to leave their country, called on US help when they suffered severe disaster caused by an earthquake. The US, not China, responded by providing relief in a big way. When Africa was beset by HIV and other pandemics, the US men, money and medicines were at the forefront, not Russia and China. Recently, when the Zika virus was prevalent in South America, the US scientists worked overtime to create and provide the vaccine.
On the other hand, Mr Mansouri recommends proximity to Putin’s Russia where their own people’s voices are crushed and critics are silenced. Or does he want the wobbly Russian rouble to replace the US dollar?
Ditto for China, who are too selfish to seek the benefits to suit their own end. They have world-domination designs; they have started with the sea around Far East Asia and with bases in Africa. The Middle East is within their sights.
Does Mr Mansouri trust powers whose evil designs and muscle-flexing are growing by the day, or a power, who with all its deficiencies, is still a partner with whom they can engage?
Can he deny the fact that if given half a chance, where do migrants prefer to settle? The US and Europe or Russia and China? The rationale is obvious to all, except Mr Mansouri.
The problem for Mr Mansouri is that he buys every word of the propaganda written by some sensation-seeking authors, rather than seeking facts on the ground that can provide the larger picture.
For all its minus points, the US and Western media are open and afford contra views, dissents, rebuttals and dissection. Chinese and Russian media offer only propaganda and no dissent, yet he chooses to denounce the former and swallows the latter media.
At the end of the day, we are living in an imperfect world where neither the West nor China, Russia, Iran or for that matter even the Arabs are no angels.
P M
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