People's Democracy

Editorial

 

US-Nato Designs in West Asia

 

THE US-Nato intervention in West Asia has reached a significant stage. Libya has been “liberated” with the toppling of the Gaddafi regime and his brutal murder. Libya will now become a Nato protectorate. The thin cover of a popular uprising for the Nato intervention has been exposed. Apart from the massive bombing, special forces of the British and other Nato countries had helped the rebels. Troops from Qatar, a loyal American ally, were in Libya fighting along with the rebel forces. Even after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, the Libyan Transitional Council has requested Nato to continue air patrols till the end of December.

 

The bringing of Libya under Nato influence has enormous implications. The United States can now find a base for its African Military Command (Africom).With a pliant Libya, the Mediterranean can now be converted into a Nato lake. The French, who took the lead in the attack on Libya, can now breathe easy as Gaddafi’s challenge to the traditional French influence in Africa has been terminated. Nato is now the global military arm of imperialism reaching into Africa, Asia and all parts of the world.

 

The US and Nato can now train their full attention on Syria, an Arab state which has obstinately refused to come within the zone of influence of the United States. After failing to get a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for sanctions and for opening the way for intervention in Syria due to the veto by Russia and China, the United States is devising ways to effect a regime change in Syria. Turkey, a member of Nato, which had traditionally good relations with Syria is now becoming the center for the anti-Syrian forces. For the first time, it has been reported in the New York Times that a Free Syrian Army is operating from Turkey. Earlier, the Syrian National Council consisting of various opposition groups was formed in Istanbul. The US’s closest ally, Saudi Arabia has denounced the Syrian government and withdrawn its ambassador from Damascus. Kuwait and Bahrain followed suit.

 

The violence in Syria is taking a toll on both sides. Armed protesters and Syrian police and troops are getting killed. For the United States and Israel, the destabilisation of the Assad government in Syria is part of the strategic design to eliminate all governments in West Asia which defy the imperialist gameplan. Further, Syria has a close relationship with Iran which is the biggest enemy for the United States.

 

The Nobel Peace Prize winning president Obama after gloating over the death of Gaddafi and working to destabilise Syria has begun to ratchet up tensions in Iran. Recently, the US administration announced that it had uncovered a plot by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in the United States. The details of the alleged plot and the persons featuring in them are so unlikely and bizarre that it has been received with skepticism by even the security and intelligence experts in the United States. Following this, reports have appeared about the US naval build up in the Persian Gulf and the plans to boost the military deployment in places like Kuwait. After the withdrawal of the American combat forces from Iraq by the end of the year, Obama is bolstering up the military presence in the Gulf region citing the growing threat from Iran.

 

Just as president Bush built up the threat from Saddam Hussein in Iraq over the years before finally going to war, so also, Obama the peace-maker, has now embarked upon the dangerous course of preparing the ground for a war with Iran. The destabilisation of Syria is part of the pincer movement to isolate Iran. Even though a war with Iran is a difficult proposition for the United States, Obama is resorting to such aggressive tactics with a political calculation.

 

Faced with declining popularity and the presidential elections coming up next year, Obama is seeking to shore up his support among the pro-Israeli lobby by making hostile manoeuvres against Iran.

 

The Libyan adventure was meant to hijack the Arab popular uprising. After the Tunisian and Egyptian popular uprisings overthrew the despotic governments there, Israel felt increasingly isolated. In the second phase, the United States and its allies have in the name of democracy and support to popular uprisings carried out the successful operation in Libya. Syria is the next target and finally Iran. What is being witnessed is a heightened aggressiveness by imperialism in West Asia and the manoeuvres of the imperialist powers to get into a commanding position for access and control over the oil and natural gas resources. For the debilitated economies of the United States and the Europe, the capture of the resources of West Asia is a prize much coveted. This is nothing but a cynical mockery of the aspirations of the Arab masses who are striving to determine their own destinies.

(November 2, 2011)