The Coming Imperial Implosion in the Arab World

Wed, 01/23/2013 - 01:03 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

The imperial offensive in North Africa and Syria “was designed to put a Euro-American spin on the momentum of change” with the advent of the Arab Spring. But it has actually empowered Islamist forces and their royal Persian Gulf patrons. This house of cards must ultimately collapse.

The Coming Imperial Implosion in the Arab World

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

“Although the NATO powers account for about 70 percent of total worldwide arms spending, they are by no means fully in charge of their own offensive in North Africa and the Middle East.”

The French intervention in Mali and the deadly Salafist assault on an Algerian natural gas facility on the border with Libya reveal the deepening crisis of U.S. and European imperialism in northern Africa. What is playing out in the western Sahel is the direct, and broadly predictable, result of the aggressive Euro-American response to the outbreak of the so-called Arab Spring.

Two years ago, Washington, Paris and London were swept by panic at the prospect of a realignment of forces in the Arab world. With Egypt’s Mubarak on the way out, the West’s henchman in Tunisia overthrown, and America’s warlord in Yemen facing opposition from all quarters, the NATO powers decided to alter the regional chessboard to what they thought would be their own advantage with a mass application of force against Libya. The assault on Muammar Gaddafi’s government, with absolutely no provocation and no basis in international law, was designed to put a Euro-American spin on the momentum of change. Almost simultaneously, Syria was targeted for massive subversion, and it was universally assumed that Algeria was next on the hit list.

This scheme for wholesale game-changer in the region necessitated an even deeper alliance with the royal regimes of the Persian Gulf. In practice, it was the West that became dependent on the Saudis and Qataris to provide Arab cover for NATO’s military and, much more importantly, to provide the Islamist fighters who would actually seize power on the ground in Libya and then Syria and beyond. Moreover, the Saudis and Qataris are rich, and can afford to pursue their own political objectives.

“The Islamists hate them with far more intensity than the secular leftists and Arab nationalists that the U.S. and Europe are so keen to destroy.”

This fundamental reordering of the relationship between the West and its royalist Arab allies is reflected on the ground in Libya, where it is Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s Islamist friends who wield the guns. The real crisis in Benghazi was that the Islamist fighters for whom NATO had provided an air force were not totally dependent on the U.S., Britain and France. They have rich friends in the Persian Gulf, on whom the West is now also dependent. Although the NATO powers account for about 70 percent of total worldwide arms spending, they are by no means fully in charge of their own offensive in North Africa and the Middle East. The Islamist fighters and their Persian Gulf patrons have their own agendas.

Ultimately, the Pentagon and the CIA and their counterparts in Europe cannot win this game. They are racist imperialists who will always make themselves hated. Certainly, the Islamists hate them with far more intensity than the secular leftists and Arab nationalists that the U.S. and Europe are so keen to destroy. That’s why the Americans can’t operate safely in Benghazi.

The great contradiction is that the Islamic fundamentalism with which the West is now allied and critically dependent behaves, in practice, like a nationalism without borders. And, like nationalism, it is ultimately incompatible with imperialism, which today is corporate rule without borders.

The fighters that attacked the gas facility in secular-ruled Algeria surely entered through Libya, partially controlled by fellow Islamists who are friends with the guys who killed the U.S. ambassador, and who are also friends with the Saudis and Qataris who are supposed to be America’s allies. The Arab Spring is far from played out, and nowhere near under U.S. control. For the West, it will end in a huge implosion, because this house of cards cannot stand.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

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Comments

Chalmers Johnson was "Cassand()a" in "Blowback"

sanda_artistNYC - 01/25/2013 - 18:23

I am reading Blowback:The Costs and Consequences of US Empire by Chalmers Johnson, 2000, after I read books 2 and 3 of the trilogy: The Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis, respectively- because of availability from my library. Once I begin to grasp the pattern, as the late Chalmers Johnson lays it out, it's less puzzling than it first appears (before Glen Ford explains it in re Africa week after week).

One major point Chalmers Johnson makes, with fine examples from the Far East (his area of expertise; he was fluent in Chinese and Japanese) and Pacific then Central and South America, then Middle East, Africa but not as much as far as I've gotten in the book- is that the U.S. has been engaging in covert operations, overthrowing governments, backing dictators, setting up puppet heads of state, mirroring in tandem in Asia what Russia was doing after WWII in Europe during the Cold War (setting up economic empire "spheres of influence" backed by/ with hundreds of thousands of troops and military bases &bases all over the world) without the U.S. population knowing about it and the U.S. government has done everything it could/can to keep it secret from the population of the U.S. So when there is "blowback", the government pretends "it's because they hate us, our democracy", etc.

The minute I started hearing the ever changing stories about the attack on the gas field in Algeria, I knew it was one more example of "blowback" that fit both Chalmers Johnson's pattern of examples and it fits nicely with Glen Ford's analysis. But I have to admit, I need to read Blowback in short segments and read Glen Ford's essay a couple of times because the stuff is web-like, intricate...I can't remember who said it, but when the government piles on details and details, changing stories and outright lies, it's a deliberate attempt to confuse us all and hide the truth.

One good example of the latter is the new documentary film "Dirty Wars" with Jeremy Scahill, co-authored by Scahill and Rick Rowley , film maker about the U.S.special ops in Afghanistan. There is a good interview with Scahill and Rowley on DemNow this week at Sundance where the film was previewed. www.democracynow.org

The tie in to Glen Ford's essay is the saga of the journalist (who was working for major media) by Scahill in the interview, Rowley adding to it, who uncovered evidence of U.S. special ops attack that killed an Afghan family not "Taliban", he then went to Yemen where he was picked up, put in prison, accused of aiding and abetting terrorists for his reporting work, worldwide outrage followed and he was about to be pardoned when Pres. Obama intervened with the Yemeni President, calling on the telephone and Obama said he would be uncomfortable if the journalist was released and the guy is still in prison. The confirmation of the phone call was in the diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. Remember them? Julian Assange? Bradley Manning? So it all ties together...

And Then...

Afric-I - 01/26/2013 - 21:09

Once the Persian Gulf Royals and their puppets on the ground manage to eject the Euro-American imperial coalition from the Maghreb and the Levant, a muslim sectarian war will probably ensue. There are tremendous tensions between the Sunna and Shia, Alawites, Sufi's, Wahabi's and other sects and strains of Islam.

Their struggle will probably rival the bloody Christian religious wars in Europe that sent so many sects (like the Mennonites and Amish) fleeing to America in the 1600's and 1700's. Only this time the weapons will be more lethal and more people will perish.

After Nato intel, the IMF, & GCC installs their puppet emirates

Cynical Negro - 01/27/2013 - 12:02

in N. Africa and throughout the Muslim world, the muslim caliphate will be used as a proxy force for either terrorism and/or resource denial against/to Russia, China, and Shia Iran (if the U.S. doesn't attack Iran itself). Some reactionary Israel supporters suggest that this plan is also designed to put a check on Israel and its costly clash of civilizations I.e. war on Islam and the Palestinians.

Quote:

"As for the broader Arab spring, he may not be able to control it, but he can help direct it, in the same way that the older President Bush oversaw the end of the cold war. Syria is out of control. Countries like Egypt and Tunisia may be ruled by Islamists, but they are now democracies and desperate for financial help. If Mr Obama leaves behind a region of mini Turkeys, that would be a notable achievement."

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21569711-if-barack-obama-wants-be-...

Profile on western puppet al Qaeda states that will be taking over North Africa and the Middle East:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/17/256762/the-arab-monarchies-relic...

Gadhafi himself was contemplating al Qaeda (GCC and Turkey) taking over Northern Africa and the Middle East, then turning on EUROPE before the CIA demoted him, Bin Ali & Mubarack, and replaced them with al Qaeda (Muslim Brotherhood):

[Note: Gadhafi doesn't threaten the U.S., he threatens EUROPE!]

Quote:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4089891,00.html

Gaddafi threatens Europe: A defiant Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to carry out attacks in Europe unless NATO halts its campaign of airstrikes against his regime in Libya.

The Libyan leader said that unless strikes stop, "we can decide to treat you in a similar way."

Addressing the West, Gaddafi said Libyans might take revenge.

"These people (the Libyans) are able to one day take this battle ... to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes," he said. "If we decide to, we are able to move to Europe like locusts, like bees."

[End]

Quote:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1626216.php/Gadda...

Milan, Italy - Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi on Tuesday ruled out negotiations with anti-government rebels, whom he described as 'terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden,' but warned that if the West were to attack his country, he would ally his forces with al-Qaeda in a 'holy war'.

Gaddafi made the remarks in an interview with Milan-based daily Il Giornale from his his headquarters in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Asked whether he feared ending up like former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by a US-led invasion and then hanged for war crimes, Gaddafi said: 'No, our war is against al-Qaeda.'

However, 'if they (the West) behave with us as they did in Iraq, then Libya will leave the international alliance against terrorism.'

'We will then ally ourselves with al-Qaeda and declare a holy war,' Gaddafi said.

The Libyan leader also said he felt betrayed by Western leaders like Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and described French President Nicolas Sarkozy as 'mentally disturbed' for proposing air strikes against his forces.

'I am totally shocked, I feel betrayed and I wouldn't know what to say to Berlusconi,' Gaddafi told Il Giornale, which is part of Berlusconi's media empire.

[End]

Now let's take a look at some of the "fireworks" that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram has:

August 24, 2011

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-202_162-20096545.html

WASHINGTON - No one can be sure who controls the Libyan government's weapons stockpiles, a stew of deadly chemicals, raw nuclear material and some 30,000 shoulder-fired rockets that officials fear could fall into terrorists' hands in the chaos of Muammar Qaddafi's downfall or afterward.

One immediate worry, U.S. intelligence and military officials say, is that Qaddafi might use the weapons to make a last stand. But officials also face the troubling prospect that the material, which was left under Qaddafi's control by a U.S.-backed disarmament pact, could be obtained by al Qaeda or other militants even after a rebel victory is secured.

"We've got to secure these weapons depots that have huge, huge numbers of weapons, and apparently mustard gas and other weapons of mass destruction," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on "The Early Show" Tuesday.

The main stockpile of mustard gas and other chemicals, stored in corroding drums, is at a site southeast of Tripoli. Mustard gas can cause severe blistering and death. A cache of hundreds of tons of raw uranium yellowcake is stored at a small nuclear facility east of the capital.

Weapons demolition teams hired by the State Department have located and destroyed some of the anti-aircraft rocket systems in rebel-held parts of the country.

U.S. and allied officials say chemical and nuclear stockpiles appear to be still under the control of what's left of the Libyan government despite rebel military advances into the capital. That may or may not be reassuring. It depends on whether Qaddafi loyalists, increasingly desperate, adhere to international agreements not to use or move the material.

The State Department has also sent experts to Libya to confer with rebel leaders and Libya's neighbors about abiding by those same compacts and beefing up border security to prevent weapons from being smuggled out.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday the U.S. is working to ensure that "the governing forces in Libya have full command and control of any WMD or any security assets that the state might have had." Jamie F. Mannina, spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said Libya's known chemical weapons storage facilities have been monitored since the start of the civil war.

Still, many U.S. officials question whether NATO has enough people on the ground to make sure the material remains secure if Libyan security forces flee their posts.

NATO's decision to limit its participation in the conflict has kept the coalition's investment in blood and treasure to a minimum. But that has not helped the cause of nonproliferation.

With the battle for the capital Tripoli still unfolding, military advisers from Britain, France, Italy and Qatar are feeding intelligence to the rebels and NATO bombers on the whereabouts of the enemy. That has left U.S. intelligence relying primarily on military drone, satellite and spy plane reports to track Qaddafi's arsenal.

"No one seems clear" how many of the estimated 30,000 anti-aircraft rockets, and other stockpiles still remain after six months of pounding by air strikes, according to a U.S. official who has been following the Libyan events. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.

As for chemical agents, said British Embassy spokesman Hetty Crist, officials are concerned about the security of some 11 metric tons of mustard gas.

Despite dismantling much of his nuclear program after making a deal with the Bush administration, Qaddafi has enough weaponry -- if he can still reach it -- to try to sell to militants.

And if the material goes unguarded, it could be seized by al Qaeda militant sympathizers, he said in an interview Tuesday. "A single rocket can do damage," he said, recalling the downing of a Chinook helicopter Aug. 5 in Afghanistan from a rocket-propelled grenade fired by the Taliban, killing all 38 troops on board.

The State Department has spent $3 million on two international weapons abatement teams charged with finding and destroying the antiaircraft systems along with other lethal munitions and landmines.

The teams have demolished some of the shoulder-launched antiaircraft missile systems called MANPADS, including nearly 30 Russian SA-7 launchers, according to Alexander Griffiths, director of operations for the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, one of the abatement groups.

But the teams are only scouring rebel-held battle sites and arms depots, and are not sent into combat hot zones.

Libya possesses a variety of leftover, aging weapons of mass destruction. Libya agreed to halt its WMD programs in 2003, under economic pressure from U.S. and Western embargoes. Qaddafi surrendered the hardware for his nuclear program and let the U.S. remove about 11.5 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from a nuclear research reactor near Tripoli in 2009.

But there are still some 500 to 900 metric tons of raw uranium yellowcake stored in drums at Libya's lone nuclear reactor, east of Tripoli. The supply is less of a worry for U.S. officials because it requires heavy industrial refining and enrichment before it could be used as an explosive. But it could be sold for a large profit to those more capable of building a nuclear weapon.

Qaddafi also had extensive chemical weapons, which his forces used against Libya's southern neighbor, Chad, in 1987.

The remaining mustard agent is stored inside a domed concrete bunker a few hundred miles south of Tripoli, according to a U.S. official, who insisted on anonymity to speak about the WMD threat in Libya. The facility also had contained more than 1,300 tons of "precursor" chemicals that could be combined to make toxic agents, the official said.

The most pressing matter is to make sure the mustard gas does not end up on the black market or with terrorists, the official said. Stored in canisters that showed signs of corrosion during a 2006 visit by American officials, the chemicals could be easily moved.

There is no indication that Libya has sarin, soman or other dispersible nerve agents that can cause death on contact. And Qaddafi's efforts to build a biological weapons program did not get far, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonproliferation group.

[End]