US Role in Pushing the Clock Back; A political Analysis

A drone view of the societies in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and South East Asia will cough up list of nation states, societies and political dispensations which are outdated on the single count; that either they look like the relic of the cold war era or have been conditioned to remain like that in order to confirm with the global strategic interests. The end result of that state of affairs is that there exist a number of political dispensations whose continuance is not likely to help open up their respective societies rather it is likely to push them more towards regimentation.

To put it more clearly, the resurgence of the west under the leadership of a United States newest version of neo-Cons has precipitated a state of affairs where the world political landscape is not very much different from what was in the late 50s to 60 and possibly in 70s, when political dictatorships while being the major culprit in the regimentation of their respective societies were regarded as pillars and islands of stability for the region and for the vested interests. The impact of that state of affairs is responsible for a not so rosy picture of the state of democratic development in the Middle Eastern, South Asian and Far Eastern societies for all practical purposes.

Here comes a thought in mind, why the regimented tendencies have been allowed to grow in the societies while the world has superficially moved far ahead in the domain of information; access to information, general awareness and political pluralism; then why that state of affairs still persists?

The reasons for that state of affairs rest in the hard fact that the societies under the radar of that analysis were recipients of the new social trends, yet the ground realities were to the contrary. The agents of change, the democratic institutions and their conceptual development was at loss and the result, the infrastructures which had no interest invested in the development of pluralism were able to dominate these societies and consequently they were able to make a common cause with the resurgent neo-colonial infrastructures which had a vested interest in keeping the societies at bay in an effort to make their plans work, especially the ones war gamed in the Pentagon under the watchful eyes of the CENTCOM.

It is pertinent to note that the incidents of 9/11 were bane for many such societies; specifically, like Egypt and Pakistan, which had the required human resource capability to break the shackles of the cold war days regimentation. In both the societies the deep state was strengthened on the back of fighting terror under the definitions paddled by the Pentagon and FBI where few things homegrown were tolerated. In the case of Pakistan, the receding deep state due to the 11 years continued democratic rule had a fresh life certificate after its signed up with west faulty war on terror. In the case of Egypt, the results were not different. Better off in terms of better human resource credentials were the Turkish societal infrastructures, where the Islamic movement; differing from their Iranian Shia comrades; who believed in revolutionary methodology, while the Turks believed in evolutionary methodology, the Turkish polity and society was successfully able to put at bay or at least neutralize the nuisance value of the Kemalist tendencies in the Turkish society and the regimented infrastructure. As matter of fact the July 15, 2016 coup by the military and Turkish society counter coup to neutralize the same was the high point where that society was able to bury for good the regimented tendencies in there.

In Egypt, the events in January 2011 were able to activate that setup civil society to take control of the streets and consequently deliver the polity from non-democratic interference. However, it was soon to succumb to the military domination due to divisions within the ranks; between the left and the Islamists. The society and the polity to date reels under a regimented system of government.

Regards the other governments in the Northern African region and in the gulf, the continued existence of the somewhat outdated monarchies, which lately were the places where the CENTCOM infrastructure was able to be sustained for decades for the final showdown with forces opposed to the US interests in the region. It was another story that the same infrastructures were turned to rubble by those very forces which were labelled in the US war books as opposed to the US interests and the ‘way of life’.

However, what is a pathetic reality is that the western powers led by the US were happy to tolerate monarchies in Jordan; the venue of one of the largest military bases in the region, Qatar, Bahrain and a good number of Saudi Air bases, which the Flight Radar 24 data can vouch for multiple flights taking off from the IDF AFBs, scrolling across the Saudi airspace and possibly landing in need of any logistic help; as and when needed.

The system of government in these places somewhat conservative politically is backed by the western powers; while the same powers might be judgmental with regard to the societies which tend to oppose their domination, political, economic and strategic in nature.

In the backdrop of these geopolitical developments; it is all but natural that societies are subject to artificial arrangements like the Hybrid to apparently put a lid at instability but actually create more of the same. However, these abovementioned societies have a lease of life as the geo strategic imperatives continue to dominate the narrative; the rationale for a dispensation of a particular kind in a nation state. The endless wars advocated by the resurgent neo colonial trends makes a valid case for the continuance of regimentation in societies in North Africa, South Asia, Middle East and elsewhere. Conclusively the US role as so called vehicle of progress will retain a big question mark, when many of the retrogressive trends in diverse societies seek support from Washington.