Most of the economically and military powerful nations that compose the UN Security Council finally decided to force Libya’s dictator Col. Muammar Khadafi from power. Khadafi’s fate with great certainty is doomed but is not isolated. Many despot leaders around the globe have been dislodged from power by force, and I am sure many are to follow – either by the so-called UN direct military intervention, or uprisings that are in the end are supported by nations led by the United States the latest of which was Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak.
In defense of freedom and democracy have always been the main rationale or shall I say the most abused doormat for these type of actions. We all abhor violence, but sadly, the leading nations who are now calling for the collapse of these repressive and brutal regimes choose to keep their silence for years and decide to act only when their interests are directly threatened. They’ve supported these regimes for many years, have diplomatic relations with them, provide development assistance funds and were even instrumental in building the military strengths of these regimes!
Correcting their mistakes? They’ve finally realized their mistakes? Defending freedom and democracy? Certainly not!
The fact that many of these repressive, brutal and tyrannical regimes have lasted for many decades in power is an undeniable proof of the blessings and support they got from the very governments who claim to “champion” the modern concept of freedom and democracy.
We do not need to go far back in time for examples to prove this point. The Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega stayed in power because his only interested of the money from Panama Canal, a shortcut route of ships carrying oil and other goods in and out of the US. Similar to Nicaragua’s Anastacio Somoza and followed by his wife’s uncle Juan Batista, Noriega was allowed to stay in power and supported his repression of its own people as long as he do not threaten rich nations’ interest in the region. He was arrested by the US forces to face drug charges after he started threatening to close the canal for US bound ships.
Iraq is another example, where the so called international community supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran despite his despicable human rights record in the 80’s. Iran was and until now is governed by unsupportive regime that toppled the dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi, a staunch supporter US and European interest in the Middle East.
The on-going crisis in the Middle East to me bears the same resemblance to the past popular uprisings all over the world that are supposed to crush repressive and undemocratic regimes. The UN that is obviously influenced by mighty nations allowed these tyrant rules to flourish until in their assessments, these regimes are losing grip over their people or when morally forced to take action such as the ethnic cleansing in former Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda. Egypt’s Mubarak stayed in power because he supports the use of Suez Canal as a shortcut shipping route of oil to Europe from the Middle East. Khadafi though have been at odds with the US and European powers, stayed for 3 decades because he allowed Libyan oil to flow to these nations.
The Operation Odyssey Dawn that imposes no-fly zone in Libya clearly has without doubt only one purpose – to ensure that the next government in Libya would continue to support the US-Led nations’ interest in the region. This is the task of the American Diplomat Chris Stevens who was recently appointed as US liaison to the Libyan opposition. Just like in Iran, when the dictator Shah was forced in exile, US and its allies marked the nation as an evil country when they failed to get the new leaders to their side and instead supports the Palestinian cause to regain the lands occupied by now Israel.
Let us not forget that Philippines has been a victim such policy. They supported the darkest time or the Philippine history, the Marcos’ dictatorship. For more than 2 decades, US and its allies supported Marcos’ corrupt and repressive regime, but decided to trick him to Hawaii when they realized that he is no longer politically viable.
Certainly people have the power to change, but in the end, it is always, in our supposed “civilized world,” the change always sways in favor to the power players of this world. They define what a democratic and free country is. Protecting true freedom and democracy has been in actual fact reduced to plain raison d’être to protect their interests.
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