Pages

Showing posts with label Ramesh Thakur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramesh Thakur. Show all posts

Monday, June 4, 2012

If you are an Iraqi, how do I kill thee?, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West
If you are an Iraqi, how do I kill thee?
By Ramesh Thakur

All of this has been evident with respect to the Iraq War. Much as Senator John McCain might want to trumpet his support for the successful surge (itself an Orwellian euphemism for escalation), the United States press has largely given him a free pass on his statements in the lead-up to the war in which he bought into the neocons’ fantasies of how short the war would be, how few the casualties, and how little it would cost the American taxpayer. On the economic costs, people like Paul Krugman in his New York Times column and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz have done much to highlight the magnitude of the true figures.

With respect to the numbers of Iraqi civilians killed and wounded in the aftermath of the 2003 war and the ensuing insurgency, however, the Bush administration has largely got away with little or no international accountability. The American public has been left dazed and confused with a maze of claims, counter-claims and disinformation campaigns where often if the statistics are damning, the methodology is criticised and the motives of the scientists are questioned. Some of the tactics to discredit the studies’ findings and their authors are lifted straight from the old (and enduringly relevant) ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister’ television series.

http://newageislam.com/if-you-are-an-iraqi,-how-do-i-kill-thee?/islam-and-the-west/d/371


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Look Who's Talking: Who does Vladimir Putin think he is — George W Bush?, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs
Look Who's Talking: Who does Vladimir Putin think he is — George W Bush?
By Ramesh Thakur
27 Aug 2008

No two situations are exactly alike. Still, much as most westerners dismiss any analogy between Russia's actions to prise South Ossetia and Abkhazia away from Georgia and NATO actions to detach Kosovo from Serbia, most others do accept the basic parallel. Russia has pointed to Georgian complicity in killing many South Ossetians, including many Russian citizens, the responsibility of Russia to protect its nationals, and UN endorsement of the responsibility to protect them. Moscow is wrong to invoke the norm in this case, as were the Americans and British in Iraq five years ago. Both actions prove the risks of unilateral interpretations and actions and the wisdom of channelling action through the United Nations. Otherwise the only certain end result is vigilante justice, which is no justice at all.

The final problem is behaving as if geopolitics and realism belong on history's shelf and have no relevance or applicability any more. As Henry Kissinger is reported to have said after the Argentine invasion of the Falklands that roused the slumbering British lion into action to retake the islands by force, a great power does not retreat forever. The end of the Cold War saw a very rare phenomenon in human history. Russia agreed to the terms of its defeat and to the new world order that came out of it. Instead of demonstrating grace in victory and some sensitivity to Russia's legitimate fears, interests and national dignity, the West has repeatedly rubbed Russian noses in the dirt of their historic Cold War defeat.

http://newageislam.com/-look-who-s-talking--who-does-vladimir-putin-think-he-is-%E2%80%94-george-w-bush?/current-affairs/d/643