In current discussions about future
prospects of a Palestinian state, we hear about the Quartet. Not
particularly musically inclined, these are (in order of power) The
United States, The United Nations, The European Union and Russia. Last
week, three of the new Gang of Four scurried over to The White House to
confer with Bush and his deputies to move the talks along on a Two State
proposal in the Middle East, with Israel and Palestine as separate,
contiguous, neighboring and perhaps even neighborly entities after the
upcoming Israeli election. Where is India, and where is South Asia in
all of this? It’s up to us.
Clearly, even indifferent pol watchers
among the general public know who is top dog in this less than pretty
tableau. The Secretary General, Kofi Annan made a statement last month
denying that the UN has “become a rubber stamp” for US policy. That he
even had to make a categorical denial on behalf of the world organization
illustrates the extent of US military and political dominance within the
UN and everywhere else.
That other member of the Quartet, The
EU is not wanting to play second fiddle to the US on any global stage.
After all, what is the purpose of forming the EU if not to counter US
political, economic and military hegemony? The EU itself has been
upstaged by one of its members, the UK, with Tony Blair playing loyal
(and outspoken) little brother to George W, while unloading weapons in
India and wherever else he can obtain a shopping list. The EU (with
Japan) is still smarting from its recent faceoff with the U.S., having
lost the battle over the Kyoto protocol, with India and China co-opting
their own citizens by siding with the US on lackadaisical emission
controls. Clearly Vajpayee and his Chinese counterpart think it is just
fine to condemn their peoples to live under the Asian Brown Cloud, because
they personally wont be around long enough to see the dire results. Also,
the Oslo Accords, well-intentioned though Noway at least may have been,
have been shown to be a cynical failure, with Israel, under Sharon,
doubling its settlements on the West bank and Gaza, since
signing. The US has been making noises about a Palestinian state for
quite some time now, going back to the Clinton administration. The
niggling little problem however, is that the US consistently, over several
decades, has backed Israel militarily and politically, and continues to do
so, even as the Quartet meet in Washington or New York to discuss the
future (it’s always in the future) possibility of a Palestine State. When
will we see the Sovereign Democratic State of Palestine take its rightful
place in the United Nations? Ask the Quartet.
The least powerful member of the
Quartet, Russia, economically bankrupt and trying to head off a full scale
war and the prospect of separatism in Chechnya, is relying on its seat in
the UN Security Council and its currently cozy relationship with the US. Putin is counting on the US not to raise the question of Chechnya in the
Security Council, the U.S. State Department not to raise human rights
issues in Chechnya in its annual reports, and to keep the IMF loans
coming Russia’s way. Besides, the US could use all that unexploited
Russian oil flowing under Siberia.
So now we have the Quartet on the
global stage. The mistake would be to see the Quartet as other than
fluid, making alliances as expedient. The US with its go-it-alone, we are
right-because-we-are-big-trigger-happy-and-rich,
US-interests-are-good-for-everybody, is busy in Northern Iraq, getting the
hapless Kurds to play war games against the violent and corrupt Saddam
Hussein. The United Nations, long operating as a collusion of elites, has
joined its own elite leader, the US as a co-sponsor of US foreign policy.
That way Kofi Annan gets to keep his job and all the UN
functionaries can continue to shop at Saks Fifth Avenue, whether they are
from Sierra Leone or Sweden, New York or New Delhi.
Meanwhile, in Africa and Asia, Aids is
raging, Afghan babies die of cold for lack of blankets, and in the
politics of dominance, the US is king, big banana, numero uno of the
Quartet. The #1 manufacturer, seller and user of “weapons of mass
destruction” wants Iraq to disarm? The number #1 rogue state wants others
to follow the rules of international law? The politics of global dominance
works that way.
In the new politics of global
dominance. Where are we? In South Asia, we are continually demonstrating
that we are leery of economic cooperation and prosperity along all
the people of the South Asia region, our neighbors, our sisters,
our friends. In India, we are marketing our own brand of internal
political dominance, with minorities (of all sorts) being
sidelined and marginalized in the political process in Gujarat and
elsewhere. Clearly, the world’s largest democracy has yet to develop from
the ground up, a more innovative, creative and equitable model of
popular, participatory democracy. Our South Asia septet -- India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives -- is no match
for the Quartet. We are no match for the Quartet, not because we should
be joining this wretched game of the politics of global dominance . But
because we are continuing to neglect our citizens’ need for safe water,
adequate food, comprehensive health services, literacy, sustainable
development, soft borders and democratic secular practices. Nobody is
saying it’s easy. But we all know it’s doable. And only we
can do it.
Chithra KarunaKaran
