Global politics and the erosion of democracy

When Imran Khan visited Russia to meet Vladimir Putin. The Russian president had been reading books about Imran Khan. What Imran wasn’t reading was the stuff usually between the lines where the American imperial mindset is written. Uncle Sam is never happy when a country that had always obeyed its orders shows even a hint of defiance. The evening when Imran Khan had landed in Russia was when the Ukraine invasion was executed by the Russian president. Imran Khan had no clue about the plan. But that did not matter.

The western society demanded that Pakistan condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fast forward to today, Israel has invaded the Gaza Strip and has killed thousands of people, many of whom are little children. I have personally never seen such horrifying images and videos coming out of Gaza. It is bad enough to see human suffering but it is heart wrenching to see children being pulled out of the rubble of collapsed buildings. In response, the western society has only increased its support for Israeli terrorism.

Just days ago, there was a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The United States vetoed the resolution, which was not unexpected. The United States also provides the weapons that Israel uses in killing those very Palestinian children. America is a direct party to this war against children. It is causing and encouraging this. This is important to understand because the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not caused or encouraged by Pakistan. Putin was not receiving weapons from Pakistan. Inside the UN, Pakistan was not coming to the rescue of Russia in its attack on Ukraine.

Yet, Pakistan today cannot dare ask the same question from the Americans: condemn the actions of Israel and do not provide arms and diplomatic support to this terrorist/apartheid state. Can America practise what it preaches? Israel kills UN personnel and attacks UN run schools or hospitals almost on a weekly basis, if not everyday. Imagine if Pakistan had done something like that or even had shaken hands with the leader of a country who would have done something like that.

Here is the important part to understand: Asking Pakistan to condemn Russia was not only hypocritical on part of the Americans but was also undemocratic for Pakistan. The people of Pakistan did not want their leader to do that. Similarly, President Joe Biden extending blind support to Israel is also undemocratic for the Americans because a very large American population is pro-Palestinians in today’s young America. Biden also bypassed the US congress and provided weapons to the Israelis. In a democratic society, such contentious decisions are debated inside the legislature before a decision is taken over them.

It is such undemocratic actions that only cause the slow erosion of democracy but also make America less secure everyday. The erosion of democracy is one of the major threats to world peace for a reason: it makes room for decision-making, which would otherwise have no place in a decent society. Supporting the aggressor against helpless and innocent civilians is counter-productive and if history is any lesson, such actions invite blowback. The parents of those dead children or the surviving children of dead parents would have one ambition in life if they have self-respect: taking revenge against the people who did that to them.

Let us not forget that 9/11 attacks had happened because one of the main reasons behind the anger those people had for America was its blind support for the state of Israel against innocent Palestinian people. As for Hamas, for the umpteenth time, it was created by Israel because the PLO headed by Yasir Arafat had agreed to the peace formula with Israel. But since Israel had no intentions to achieve peace and give up foreign land, Hamas was created as a Jihadist force-counter to the PLO to kill any negotiations. Perhaps another article about that another day.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2023.

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