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Power makes men mad

By Patrick Seale - posted Wednesday, 31 May 2006


An extraordinary paradox of the current international scene is that the most powerful countries in the world are also the most afraid, and fear has caused them to lose their senses.

Globally, the United States has no immediate military rival: certainly no other state has the power to strike anywhere on our planet, and far beyond it into space, at very short notice. American strategists call this the doctrine of “Global Strike”.

Similarly, in terms of military power, both conventional and non-conventional, Israel has no challenger in a vast region from Central Asia, across the Arab world, to north, east and central Africa. At a conservative estimate, it has a nuclear arsenal of between 200 and 300 warheads, as well as highly effective long-range delivery systems. As Ariel Sharon, its stricken leader, used to be fond of saying, Israel's sphere of influence extends as far as an F16 can fly.

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And yet the US and Israel behave as if they are about to be attacked by a formidable enemy. They scold and threaten, huff and puff, flex their muscles and brandish their weapons as if facing an imminent danger to their very existence.

Instead of putting their formidable power to work reducing tensions and resolving conflicts - as they should be doing - they go about stoking the fires of anger and hate, apparently unaware that the destabilisation they cause must in due course engulf them too.

Destabilisation is, in fact, too mild a term to describe the profound disturbance to the regional and global order which the United States and Israel are creating by their violently hostile approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, which the Palestinians democratically elected as their government.

Demonisation and vilification, international isolation, sanctions, boycotts and military strikes are just some of the policies and threats directed at both Iran and Hamas. In the United States, pro-Israeli groups, such as the powerful Jewish lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the influential think-tank AIPAC created, are beating the drums of war against Iran, while Israel has led the world-wide campaign to boycott Hamas. Shimon Peres, Israel's wolf in sheep's clothing, even travelled to the Vatican to persuade the Pope to join the boycott.

Recently, as Palestinian groups continue their pinpricks of Israel with a few harmless home-made rockets, Israel launched repeated air strikes and fired more than 1,000 artillery shells at the northern Gaza strip, killing at least 16 Palestinians, including several children. It has killed about 50 Palestinians and wounded many more since the Palestinian elections last January. The Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz warned “our operations are going to intensify”. The real scandal is that the rich Arab Gulf states have not rushed to help the bankrupt Palestinian Government.

In the case of Iran, US air and sea strikes at hundreds of targets, including the use of tactical nuclear weapons, are being seriously considered in the more demented higher reaches of the US Government, according to Seymour Hersch, the usually well-informed American journalist writing in the New Yorker magazine.

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Not daring to stand up for its own values, the European Union has shamefully joined in the pressure on Iran and the boycott of Hamas. Reeking of hypocrisy and double standards, the chorus raised is that Hamas must renounce violence, recognise Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements.

The truth is that Hamas has honoured a truce for the past 15 months in spite of Israel's ceaseless attacks and killings. It has declared itself ready for quartet-sponsored peace talks with Israel which, if successful, would inevitably lead to mutual recognition. But Israel refuses to negotiate with the Hamas Government, has severed all political contacts with it, has demonised it as a “terrorist organisation”, and has withheld about US$50 million a month of the Palestinians' own money raised from taxes and customs dues. Needless to say, Israel has violated every agreement concluded with the Palestinians.

Enormously powerful and yet paranoid with fear, the US and Israel act as if the possession - and indeed the use - of overwhelming force is the only guarantee of their security. Dialogue and diplomacy, mutual accommodation, the search for a balance of power, the mediation of international institutions, all these traditional instruments for conflict resolution have been discarded and, as a result, the world has become a very dangerous place.

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Article edited by Melanie Olding.
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About the Author

Dr Patrick Seale is a leading British writer and consultant on the Middle East and is the author of many books including Assad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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