Our post-Cold political lexicon has become not only useless, but also absurd. The United States, its NATO allies and a number of non-democratic (even anti-democratic) Arab regime puppets of the west have plunged the world into another misguided war \u2013 this time in Libya. This was possible due to a relatively new and dangerous international legal oxymoron known as \u201chumanitarian intervention\u201d.<\/p>\n
What started \u2013 only days ago actually \u2013 as an international mission to protect anti-Gaddafi civilians, under the guise of a no-fly zone over Libya, is quickly turning into a full-scale war. As of Thursday, there are signs that Washington may start arming Libyan rebels in a conflict that resembles a civil war neither side can win on the ground. This would be still another violation of the United Nations Security Council\u2019s Resolution 1973. This is an all-important sign that a \u201chumanitarian intervention\u201d is taking on a toxic life of its own.<\/p>\n
I will not recount here the failures of \u201chumanitarian interventions\u201d in Kosovo, Iraq and other places and people who never deserved a visit from the US military. Sadly, this paradigm is being played out in Libya now. A regime and its leader are identified for destruction and\/or removal by the West and its \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d because of our value system. The leader, in this case Muammar Gaddafi, undergoes a sudden PR hatchet job and is portrayed as evil and illegitimate.<\/p>\n
A month ago Gaddafi was a dictatorial tyrant, but legitimate enough to be embraced by Western leaders, particularly by Europeans like France\u2019s Nicolas Sarkozy and Italy\u2019s Silvio Berlusconi. At the same time, Western allies in the Arab world, like Saudi Arabia, crush a truly democratic and legitimate protest movement in Bahrain. But thereis no mention of a humanitarian intervention there.<\/p>\n
Oh, and let\u2019s not forget the misery of the folks in the Ivory Coast, where there is no humanity and no intervention. And I bet you the people of Gaza would accept a UNsponsored no-fly zone in a heartbeat!<\/p>\n
In these cases it would appear that Western values don\u2019t apply. I suppose that these countries\u2019 peoples are not deemed worthy of our values.<\/p>\n
Being accused of waging aggressive wars is a reputation the West is loathed to admit. This is why the West wages war in the name of the \u201cright to protect\u201d doctrine and the spreading of \u201cour values\u201d.<\/p>\n
To prove my point, anti-Gaddafi rebels are called democratic in Western media and in the corridors of power in Washington and Europe. But where are their democratic virtues on display? What I see is armed men killing their own countrymen. When these democrats start killing unarmed Gaddafi supporters, will the coalition of the willing enter the fray to stop this? Probably not. Western sponsored \u201chumanitarian intervention\u201d always picks a side \u2013 and the winning side does what it pleases. This is one of the unspoken spin-offs of \u201chumanitarian interventionism\u201d.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s return to Gaddafi and his fate. The west\u2019s doctrine of \u201chumanitarian intervention\u201d most assuredly means he will eventually be killed though all of this. You see, it simply has to happen this way. Gaddafi is stuck between the rhetoric of \u201che has to go\u201d and \u201cwe aren\u2019t aiming for regime change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctrine of \u201chumanitarian intervention\u201d does not allow for negotiations \u2013 it is a doctrine that is played out as a zero-sum game. Remember, Western values are absolute and should never be questioned, particularly when the West will enforce its values on anyone its wants, backed up with overwhelming military power.<\/p>\n
I have watched closely all 23 wars and\/or military conflicts the US has been involved since the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Almost all have been rationalised or legitimised as humane and in the name of \u201csuperior Western values\u201d. Western leaders and western mainstream media tell us we live in a world where war is now humane. I wonder who would be more amused about how we are told to think about the sufferings of others: George Orwell or Carl von Clausewitz?
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