Sunday, December 2, 2007

A New World Order

Ever since the demise of the Soviet Union people say we have been living in a unipolar world. I would say that it is pretty much true. Recently I read an essay by Arundhati Roy in her book "Empire", on how the US government has been at war for almost every year since the end of the WWII. The US armed forces and secret services have interfered in the affairs of a number of governments which they considered inappropriate- be it Vietnam in Asia, Chile in South America, Greece in Europe - all because the government which existed there was not to their liking. A number of communist governments have been forcibly toppled, even though they may have been democratically elected. The shameful loss which the US suffered at Vietnam told the world that what they were doing was not for the good of the world as a whole- the US entered the Vietnam scenario only because a communist government was gaining support in Northern Vietnam. Why is the American government behaving like this? Are the American people blind? The US has always been a home to immigrants from all over the world- the reason it has such a cosmopolitan culture which makes rapid advancements in science and technology every year.....But are the American people so naive that they support useless wars which their army fights in the name of nationalism? Then what can we say of India, where a majority of the people are uneducated to this date and communal fights are an everyday incident. True, the US is the world's superpower, no doubt about that. But that does not mean it must force its opinions on the entire world, bully countries into signing biased trade agreements or make war when no other option is left. Maybe the American government can change its foreign policy. It is the American people who have been the symbol of freedom,liberty and reform for hundreds of people across the world. If this view of freedom is not maintained by themselves in an international arena, it has no meaning. The world is moving more and more towards globalization. This world must be truly free of controlling hands, there must not be any master of puppets.
The lines

Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor? 
from the song BYOB by System Of A Down keep echoing in my mind.