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| Friday March 25, 2011 |
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Pigeons of the Middle East and Africa Shiraz Paracha The imperialist attack on Libya is yet another reminder that capitalism is governed by Machiavellian principles and is based on lies and deceit. Western politicians lie to their own public and every few years Western countries go to bloody wars in the name of humanitarian causes. The attack on Libya is the repeat of the same old imperialistic adventure, and for which the United Nations has been used as a tool. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Libya was an enemy of the Capitalist World due to its close ties with the Soviet Union. However, in the late 1990s, the West started secret negotiations with Libya for a rapprochement. As a result, the United Nations lifted sanctions against Libya in 1999. From the toppling of the legitimate government of Mossadiq in Iran to the occupation of the Suez Canal, and from Yugoslavia and Iraq to Afghanistan and Libya, every time Western politicians and military commanders use fear and psychological operations to seek their public’s approval for occupations and military interventions. Freedom and democracy, fairness and justice, loyalty or friendship and even honesty are not important to Western ruling elites. Western political and economic system is driven by greed and self-interests and in doing so cruelty and violence are acceptable means to achieve goals. Leaders and rulers of the developing world, on the other hand, have been foolishly proud. Often they are ignorant of the subtleties of Western politics and the complexities of Western culture. Rulers of developing countries make mistakes that pave the way for Western interventions. Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been the latest prey. Before Gaddafi, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain paid a heavy price for his friendship with the West. Saddam trusted the West but he was used, dumped and punished. Saddam faced death with courage and dignity but his bravery did not impress his captors. Flattering, temptation and friendly manners are deadly weapons of the Western ruling classes. In the 16th century, British traders of the East India Company had courted Mogul Emperor Jahangir to get trading rights in India. The traders deceived the Emperor, who like his predecessors and followers, was fond of pleasing. Two hundred years later, the East India Company colonised the whole India. History is full of such examples when imperialist powers cheated and deceived their ‘friends’. And those nationalist leaders who could not be bought or trapped were eliminated. After years of anti-Capitalist campaigning and rhetoric, Gaddafi finally decided to be ‘friends’ with the West perhaps due to pressure from his sons who were dining with crooks of the Capitalist world. By 1999, revolutionary Gaddafi was tamed and in 2004 the West accepted the changed Gaddafi. Interestingly, Gaddafi’s first European friends, Tony Blair, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi all have tainted reputations. The disgraced former British prime minister Tony Blair was the first one to land in Libya. Blair, with his usual false grin, drank Arabic tea with Colonel Gaddafi in a bedouin tent. Following the visit, leaders of democratic Britain sold to Libya tear gas, arms and different equipment to control protests. Britain also signed contracts to train the Libyan police forces. Isn’t it ironic that when the Libyan government used the British tear gas and the British trained forces to control the protesting mobs, Britain decided to bomb Libya? Tony Blair also managed to get a GBP560 million oil exploration deal for British Petroleum (BP) in Libya. Several British high street retailers opened branches in Libya and British exports to Libya reached to GBP 930 million while Blair became a trusted friend of Gaddafi. Europe’s playboy Nicolas Sarkozy of France was the second Western friend of Colonel Gaddafi. In December 2007, Sarkozy hosted Gaddafi in Paris for five days and the Libyan leader agreed to buy French weapons worth billions of dollars. In the later years, Gaddafi reportedly paid huge sums of money to support Sarkozy’s election campaign. No surprise that in March 2011, it was Sarkozy who pushed Americans and other Europeans to attack Libya under the pretext of a UN Security Council resolution. French airports and jets are now part of the bombing campaign against Libya. Eighty percent of the Libyan oil is exported to Europe. BP, Italy’s Eni, Spain’s Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell are some of the major companies with big interests in Libya. France, too, wants a bigger stake in the Libyan oil and the actual aim of the French bombing of Libya could be uninterrupted access to ‘sweet’ Libyan crude that is easy to reach the French refineries and is considered better than the Saudi crude. Italy, the former colonial master of Libya which stole Libyan wealth for years, also was a beneficiary of Gaddafi’s bedouin generosity. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi became a personal friend of Gaddafi. Tom Bawden and John Hooper of the British newspaper The Guardian wrote about Berlusconi’s business interests in Libya in a report published on 23 February 2011: “Gaddafi and Berlusconi have a famously warm personal relationship. Less well-known, however, is the fact that Berlusconi is in business with one of the Libyan state’s investment vehicles. In June 2009, a Dutch-registered firm controlled by the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company, took a 10% stake in Quinta Communications, a Paris-based film production and distribution company. Quinta Communications was founded back in 1990 by Berlusconi in partnership with Tarak Ben Ammar, the nephew of the late Tunisian leader Habib Bourguiba. The Italian prime minister has a 22% interest in the company through a Luxembourg-registered subsidiary of Fininvest, the firm at the heart of his sprawling business empire. Last September, the Libyans put a director on the board of Quinta Communications to sit alongside Berlusconi’s representatives. Libyan investors already hold significant interests in several strategic Italian enterprises. They reportedly own around one per cent of Italy’s biggest oil company, Eni; the LIA has an acknowledged 2% interest in the aerospace and defence group, Finmeccanica; Lafico is thought to retain more than 2% of Fiat and almost 15% of a quoted telecommunications company, Retelit. The Libyans also own 22% of the capital of a textile firm, Olcese. Perhaps their best-known investment is a 7.5% stake in the Serie A side Juventus. But undoubtedly the most controversial is another 7.5 per cent interest in Italy’s largest bank, Unicredit.” In its annual report on arms export the European Union mentioned names of the European countries and companies that have been supplying military equipment to Libya. Deutsche Presse-Agentur has published parts of the report: “Italy granted export licences totalling 112 million euros, with a single 108-million-euro licence for military aircraft making up most of the amount, [was the largest supplier]… Malta emerged as the second-largest exporter, having authorised the sale of an 80-million-euro consignment of small arms. Germany was third in the list, with 53 million euros of licences, mostly for electronic jamming equipment used to disrupt mobile phone, internet and GPS communication… France was next with 30.5 million euros, followed by Britain with 25.5 million euros, and Belgium with 22 million euros.” The United States is leading the current military aggression against Libya. Until recently the US was dealing with Colonel Gaddafi to get lucrative business contracts. The US-Libya Business Association includes companies such as BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, Fluor, Halliburton, Hess Corporation, Marathon Oil, Midrex Technologies, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, Occidental Petroleum, Raytheon, Shell and United Gulf Construction Company. Prominent US figures and intelligence officials have been engaged in building relations with Libya. But once they got their feet into the country, new friends of Libya started bombing Libya because each of them wants its share of Libyan resources without Gaddafi. As expected, amidst the rain of fire and dance of death in Libya, rulers of Africa and the Middle East have closed their eyes like pigeons. Shiraz Paracha is a journalist and analyst. His email address is: shiraz_paracha@hotmail.com |