The Hegemony, Imperialism and Chicanery of Western States

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The post-World War 2 period, the era of the dawn of independence in Africa and certainly the post-Cold War period have all been critical junctures that have largely determined the foreign relations of the different states of the world with respect to the superpower status and operations of the multi-lateral institutions.

The end of the WW2 led to the establishment of the United Nations Organization and its related entities thereafter, the dawn of the independence era in Africa was undoubtedly a milestone that assured Africans of a greater role in the global geopolitics and the end of the Cold War was earmarked with the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union).

All the three phases, as far as the inter-relations between the states of the world are concerned, have cemented the position of some of the leading Western nations as the world’s political “prefects.”

The Proxy Wars

With the formation of the United Nations Organization, it was highly expected that incidences of wars and atrocities would no longer take place. But this might just be an assumption because a closer look at the main objective that informed its establishment, the UN categorically was to prevent the occurrence of another World War. However, for over a number of years, several alterations have been made to the charter in view of the aggressive actions of different states and non-state actors.

The failure of the UN and its entities to put to an end the proxy wars should be the greatest 21^st century concern for Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe. The UN has never been fair and it will never be as long as its operations are controlled by an elitist group of states. The United States of America, the United Kingdom and France in particular have been notorious in orchestrating the covert operations and clandestine activities that have often interfered with the sovereignty of the states which have fallen victim to their machinations.

It is a pity that over sixty wars have occurred since the inception of the UN, most of which have been instigated by the “owners” of this institution that is supposed to ensure peace and stability in the world. The greed for wealth especially oil and the need to control the flow of trade/commercial activities have justified the imperialistic tendencies of the USA and her allies.

In the disguise of stopping Iraq from stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction, the USA, the UK and their allies led to the fall of Baghdad. The avarice for oil and currency was the underlying issue that motivated the attack on Iraq and the subsequent murder of Saddam Hussein who initially was an ally of the USA. The decision by Saddam Hussein to begin trading the Iraqi oil in Euros and no longer in US$ was instrumental in the destruction of Iraq. In any case, if Iraq had the nuclear weapons as claimed, would the USA and her allies have dared to invade her? This was a well fabricated lie and propaganda to portray Iraq as a danger to global security and peace.

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The events leading to the fall of Libya, the capture, torture and murder of Libya’s Brother Leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, the invasion of Syria, the covert operations in Yemen among many others justify that indeed the United Nations Organization is a powerless, puppet institution mainly seeking to advance the interests of the elitist states that supposedly control it.

Colonel Qaddafi was on course championing for the economic independence of the African states. In particular, he was fronting for the establishment of the Africa Development Bank, the Africa Monetary Fund and the Africa Investment Bank. In addition, the Brother Leader of Libya was pushing for the adoption of a common currency by the African states known as the African Dinar. This currency was to be in form of gold and not the notes and coins that are currently used to trade in the world. An important point to note is that Libya had gold reserves amounting to US$ 150 billion which were apparently stolen by the invaders the likes of USA, UK and other imperialistic states, including France which hardly have any gold reserves. Again, Libya has very large oil deposits which some of the Western states had always salivated for. The Chilcot Report and the UK-Libya Report by the British Parliament have documented that the invasions of UK into Iraq and Libya were unnecessary.

The plot to oust and perhaps kill Bashar al-Assad and consequently control the commercial oil activities in the Middle East occasioned the invasion of Syria. The situation is the same in Yemen with Saudi Arabia, a USA ally, being funded to cause chaos and wreck havoc in the Yemeni state. These invasions have been anchored on pure propaganda and malice with no justification that the now categorized “fallen states” jeopardized in one way or the other the sovereignty of other states.

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The successive French governments have been fantastically ignoble in Western Africa. Having been the dominant colonial master in this region, the successive French governments have largely funded and supported dictators in West Africa in exchange for economic resources. I guess that some of these Western states governments are the most corrupt and evil of all. The French government is responsible for the murder of Thomas Isidore Sankara and its support for Blaise Compaore among other notable political and economic evils.

Corrupted Justice & Governance System

Senior government officials, including the presidents of past and present regimes of these imperialistic states are supposed to face trial at the International Criminal Court for the atrocities that they have committed. Innocent citizens have lost their lives with massive destruction of property taking place. If at all Muammar al-Qaddafi was a tyrant as portrayed, why was he tortured and killed without being subjected to a fair trial? Saddam Hussein was prosecuted haphazardly by a “Kangaroo Court.”

Such is the unfairness that characterizes the UN and the International Court of Justice. The UN is a government of few governments and it embodies the features of the Animal Farm where some animals are more equal than others. In this case, some states are more equal than other states and they determine the operations of these multi-lateral and supra-national institutions.

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Existence of the tax havens is a pointer of an inherent break-down in the governance system. From the outset, this fundamental issue of the tax havens and the illicit financial flows affects all the regions and continents of the world. But the Western states have been at the forefront of abetting these activities because they largely benefit from them. A number of banking institutions in Western Europe have been known to act as safe houses for the ill-gotten wealth. The establishment of the shell companies is in fact a mechanism used by some of the wealthy individuals to run their business activities most of which involve fleecing and tax evasion.

The UN and its concerned bodies ought to have put efficient and effective mechanisms that would have dealt with such cases. But because the elite states that control this organization benefit from these covetous activities, hence the reluctance and complacency.

Global Terrorism

No state in the world would like to see its citizenry subjected to the acts of terrorism. Efforts by the leading Western nations as well as the UN and other states in combating terrorism are fully appreciated. However, the evolution of the post-Cold War strain of terrorism is highly linked to the operations of the USA and her allies especially in the advancement of the proxy wars.

Before the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and USA, then under the administration of Ronald Reagan, had to counter this move by the Soviets. To avoid direct military combat, the USA funded the infamous Al-Qaeda under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden to fight against the incursion made by the Soviets. After the end of the mission, Al-Qaeda embarked on another undertaking; spreading the ideology of Salafism and the creation of caliphates.

Of course the USA (CIA) and her allies had to destroy Al-Qaeda after the end of the initial mission of countering the Soviets. This perhaps led to the animosity between the USA as well as her allies and Al-Qaeda plus other related terrorist groups who began perceiving the former as the enemy. This led to one of the worst terrorist attacks, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre, a juncture which shaped the fight against terrorism.

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The failure by the governments of the USA and her allies to learn from history is appalling. The invasion of Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen justify this; USA and her allies still fund the terrorist groups/militias in the name of fighting “illegitimate” regimes. The uncalled for invasion of Iraq led to the creation of ISIS/ISIL and the situation worsened with the invasion of Libya, Syria and Yemen. These invasions have given room to the rise of many other terrorist activities as well as militias and may be this is a divide and rule tactic used by the governments of USA and her allies to rule the world.

The Present & the Future

At the moment, African states are contemplating pulling out of the ICC en masse following similar actions by Burundi and South Africa. Furthermore, the activities of Russia in Syria and the intensified operations of China and Russia against the USA in the South China Sea are pointers that the imperialism of the Western states must be destroyed. I do not support the withdrawal of African states from the ICC because of a lack of a better alternative but this is a demonstration that atrocities occasioned by the proxy wars must be dealt with fully by the ICC. The events in Syria and the South China Sea also call for the institutionalization of a New World Order that is characterized with relative fairness and utmost respect to a state’s sovereignty.

The USA and her notable allies which have been causing the wars have to shoulder the burden of immigration. After all, only 9% of the world’s refugees are hosted by the sixth largest global economies.

USA’s foreign policy remains the major hindrance towards the realization of peace and stability especially in the Middle East. The emergence of a bi-polar world, China + Russia would help to neutralize the dangers posed by the USA foreign policy. Irrespective of whoever wins the forthcoming USA presidential elections, the covert operations will continue because the presidency of the USA is quite ineffective compared to the Pentagon and CIA when it comes to commissioning of the proxy wars.

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African states and other developing nations calling for fairness during the World Trade Organization conference in Nairobi in December 2015 and UNCTAD conference also held in Nairobi in July 2016 should prompt the hegemonic West to re-visit its actions and relations with the rest of the world. The WTO has been used as a platform for advancing the interests of the Western states. Nevertheless, Africa has no permanent representative at the UN Security Council and this is a weighty matter of geopolitical importance. In a nutshell, all nations of the world deserve fair and nearly equal representation as far as membership of these multi-lateral institutions is concerned.

In conclusion, the Western axis has been very unfair to the other states of the world. The various multi-lateral institutions established to look into such issues have proven to be largely ineffective as they hardly confront the elite states when they commit serious crimes and economic sabotage. Such is the unfairness occasioned by the hegemony, imperialism and chicanery of the Western states.

This article was first published on savicltd.wordpress.com