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The Need for a New Security Architecture
munaeem | 17 February, 2007 14:43
Via english.daralhayat.com :The Need for a New Security Architecture
It is a well-attested principle of international relations that a balance of power keeps the peace, while an imbalance causes war, because the strong will always be tempted to impose their will by force on the weak.
Much of the problem can be traced to America's unilateralism under the Presidency of George W Bush, in what has been called America's 'unipolar moment.' In simple terms, it means that over the past six years the United States has been able to do what it pleases without restraint - to invade, torture, kill and destroy, ignoring international laws and conventions.
The lack of a counter-weight has allowed the United States to invade Afghanistan and then Iraq, smashing these two societies, overthrowing their regimes, killing a great many people -- and then finding itself burdened with the responsibility, which it is plainly incapable of assuming, of rebuilding these shattered countries.
In addition, the U.S. is now conducting a bullying campaign against Iran, pressing for international sanctions against it, seeking to undermine its banking system, deprive it of advanced technology and even threatening it with war.
The U.S. has also waged what it calls a 'global war on terrorism', trampling on the sovereignty of friend and foe alike, arresting suspects in large numbers, transporting them to secret jails where they have been tortured, or holding them without trial for years on end in deplorable detention centres such as Guantánamo.
In much the same way, a lack of balance has allowed America's ally, Israel, to maintain its cruel military occupation of Palestinian territories, harass, oppress and kill their inhabitants, violate their human rights, destroy their homes and seize their land - and, like the United States, arbitrarily hold in jail some 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, in harsh conditions.
This same lack of an Arab counterweight has given the Jewish state the freedom to invade its weaker neighbour, Lebanon, no fewer than five times in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996 and 2006, killing thousands of people and causing enormous material damage.
The principle underlying these numerous aggressions is that American and Israeli security is all that matters and has to be given precedence over everything else, even at the cost of the insecurity - and worse - of everyone else. The notion that international security is indivisible is simply not entertained.
Some Middle East countries like Iran and Syria will no doubt be immensely reassured by Putin's remarks, but so will Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states who are eagerly seeking to diversify their international relations so as to reduce their dependence on a dangerously volatile United States.
Saudi Arabia's active diplomacy - in Palestine, Lebanon and the wider Arab world - points to a new concern by major Arab states to take their destiny in hand and ensure the protection of their own vital interests, rather than relying on outside powers.
A striking development on the Middle East scene last year was the visit to Riyadh of China's president Hu Jintao - and the surge in trade between the two countries which followed. President Putin's visit to the Saudi capital this week is another such landmark.
Justifiably worried for their own security, Iran and its local friends -- Syria, Hizballah and even Hamas -- have been attempting to challenge and contain American and Israeli power. If you hit us, they are saying, we will hit you back.
This is legitimate and they have achieved some success, but they should not push their enterprise too far. They need to recognise that the Western world, too, has interests -- in the free flow of oil, for example, and in Lebanon's pluralistic system. A balance of power means respect for everyone's interests, not only one's own.
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