As a businessperson, I spend most of my time pursuing projects, meetings, and communications to maximise productivity and growth. I believe the economy, because it provides people’s basic requirements for housing, food, education, health, and services, is the foundation of the state’s progress, prosperity, and well-being.
Despite my passion for culture, philosophy, and art, I must admit that I have only been interested in politics from an economic standpoint. I usually see that the economy comes first, and that politics and politicians attempt to develop society and support the stability and well-being of its citizens. However, the Russian war in Ukraine and its global ramifications have caused me to realise that politics and political ideology are the engines that drive people and nations.
Are we on the verge of a third world war between Russia and the West, with threats of using nuclear weapons? Isn’t this the end of the world as we know it? True, the First and Second World Wars were fought mostly for economic reasons to gain control of more land and resources, but the Russian-Ukrainian conflict erupted for security reasons and evolved into a new world war between Russia and the West.
Politicians utilise politics for personal gain. This is unjustified in most cases but understandable in certain circumstances. The danger is the use of politics to serve religion and ideology, as Islamic groups of all sects do when they obtain power through democracy and then impose their will and beliefs on the people.
In Egypt, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood exploited a democratic revolt with its demands for “living, freedom, and social justice”. They dominated the House of Representatives thanks to their organisational capacities in exchange for the dispersal of other civil movements.
We all saw how the first decisions of the new rulers in Libya, for example, were the Islamisation of the economy and the expulsion of traditional banks.
The situation in Lebanon appears to be increasingly dangerous. The reason for this is that the party and the ruling political group are linked to an external regional project that has only succeeded in corrupting and destroying the states it has taken over. Syria, like Iraq and Yemen, has been transformed from a prosperous country beloved by many Arabs to a failing state. When the party succeeds in converting more people to its ideology, the living standards will continue to decrease, until Lebanon is in a dreadful state of ruin, poverty, and destruction.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is pointless to me, and I’m not going to evaluate who is right and who is wrong. Surely, two world leaders of the stature of Biden and Putin must see that prolonging the war will worsen the misery. Not just for Russians, Ukrainians, Americans, and Europeans, but for the entire globe, which has yet to heal from the coronavirus pandemic.
The US uses the economy to further its political goals. The use of economic sanctions against countries that Washington believes should be punished, such as Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Russia, demonstrates this vividly. Even though everyone knows that these sanctions only harm the people and not the rulers who live peacefully in their palaces.
The economy and money were also used by Jews to achieve their political aim of creating their promised homeland in Palestine. They used their financial power in many parts of the world, because of their control over banks and loans, to achieve this goal. They provided generous funding to Jewish political organisations as well as Zionist militias fighting on the ground.
I thank God Almighty for the many blessings bestowed upon us in the GCC states, including our honourable rulers’ wisdom. This was evident in their reactions to the Russian-Western war, and their refusal to stand with one side over the other. Rather, showing a willingness to take any role necessary to restore security, stability, and peace while putting the economy first. It is the wise policy that all nations of the globe require, a policy that puts economy and development at the service of human well-being and prosperity.