In August 2021, when the US Army was exiting Afghanistan, after staying put over there for almost 20 years, there were shocking pictures of Afghan citizens desperately trying to cling to the C-17 transport aircrafts of US Air Force, with the hope to somehow exit Afghanistan. There were visuals of the people trying to hand over their little children to the US Army personnel, in the hope that at least their progeny would get a chance for a better life elsewhere. They knew at whose mercy the US was leaving them behind, and how life henceforth would be.
Invariably, like a blitzkrieg, Taliban stepped in and took control of Kabul and other regions, which were under the US control. Today, there is Sharia Law that governs Afghanistan, there are severe restrictions on freedom for women, the economy is bankrupt, currency has no value and there is perpetual conflict between Taliban and ISIS. This is the outcome of the US occupation of Afghanistan for 20 years, in their so-called ‘War on Terror’, under an interesting name, ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’. This was the freedom the US left behind for the people of Afghanistan.
In the name of removing ‘Brutal Dictators’ for the sake of ushering in democracy, nation after nation were destroyed. In the case of Iraq, it is true that Saddam Hussain was ruthless and led a one-party military dictatorship in Iraq with utter disregard to democratic values. Yet at the same time, Saddam was neither religious maniac nor snatched away the rights of women. In Iraq, there were quality universities and women were never debarred from studying. Iraq was not run by Sharia Law. During the Iraq-Iran conflict that stretched for over eight years, the US had no qualms in siding with that very ‘Dictator’ Saddam Hussain, in his fight against Iran. From ‘military support’ to ‘intelligence data’, the US went the extra mile to favour Saddam over Khomeini’s Iran, to tilt the balance in favour of Iraq.
Yet, later the same Saddam became ‘evil’ that faced the ire of the US, and its allies, during the First Gulf War. Saddam’s army was decimated, yet Saddam was allowed to run Iraq. Severe sanctions were imposed on Iraq which led to the death of at least half a million children due to shortage of critical medicines. Saddam was perhaps left unhurt, to ensure that this creates the loop for another conflict in future. That opportunity came in the post 9/11 ‘Global War on Terror’ declared by the US.
Reports indicate that in the year 2000, Saddam Hussien, looking for ways to bypass the US imposed sanctions, tried to sell oil in other currencies, especially Euro. This was perhaps the death knell for him, as any success, if he had demonstrated in the same, would have completely nullified the effects of the US imposed sanctions on dollar denominated global trade. Therefore, even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 terror attacks, and the Ba’athist ideology, he was the target of the US on the lame pretext of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ whose traces could not be found till date. The reason being that he propounded about Arab nationalism, anti-imperialism, and not religious radicalism.
As the US embarked on destroying Saddam Hussein, and plunged Iraq into a vicious cycle of sectarian violence, the country, while falling apart, gave rise to dangerous extremist organisations like ISIS.
Orchestrating Arab Spring
Iraq being a done deal, the Deep State was perhaps planning similar ‘Democracy’ in many other countries of the region. In came the Arab Spring. In country after country, in West Asia and North Africa, student protests became the focal point for pivoting regime change in several countries of the region. From student protests that led to civil unrest, and armed rebellions, most places got mired in a civil war kind of situation leading to nothing but anarchy and failing of erstwhile successful states.
How Arab Spring Destroyed Libya
Take the case of Libya, which by any standard was not a country that was governed by religious fundamentalists. Libya was a reasonably successful African country with a quality healthcare and education system that had one of the highest rates of literacy in the African continent. Libya was oil rich and Muammar Gaddafi, a Baathist like Saddam Hussein, was an advocate of the idea of the United States of Africa. That was perhaps his fault. He was projected as ‘Evil’, and in the name of bringing freedom, extremist groups were funded by the US-led coalition in Libya. In 2011, when Gaddafi was lynched publicly, and up till today, Libya remains mired in a vicious civil war, economy is gone, the state does not exist, and much like Iraq, the country having been reduced to rubble, now has Islamist fundamentalist groups, rampaging and ravaging the country.
Using Extremist To Topple Regimes
Much like in Iraq, the power vacuum in Libya has led to the rise of Ansar-al-Sharia, a Salafi extremist organisation with strong affiliation to Al-Qaeda. The threat of the United States of Africa, an anathema for the Western imperialists, was successfully eliminated in the name of ushering in ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. It was prophetic how Gaddafi, in a regional conference that was held in Damascus in 2009, had predicted that like Saddam Hussein, other Arab leaders would be targeted too. Libya was against US hegemony. He being non-democratic was a pretext to finish his regime, and for which the West had no qualms in taking support from extremist organisations, who rule the roost now in Libya.
Egypt faced a similar Arab Spring uprising that led to ouster of Hosni Mubarak and brought in the extremist Muslim Brotherhood into power. Fortunately for Egypt, the Egyptian Army stepped in, ousted Muslim Brotherhood from power, and did not let Egypt sink into becoming another Iraq or Libya.
West Used Al-Qaeda to Defeat Assad
The fate was sealed for many other leaders of the Arab region as well. For Bashar al-Assad, the end of his regime got delayed but, in the end, it did happen. He too was ousted by a terror group, disguised as a rebel, namely Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, earlier known as Jabhat Al-Nusra, which was nothing but Al Qaeda in Syria, with close ties with ISIS. In the name of ousting Assad, those who have been brought in, and being termed as ‘rebel’, have utter disregard for democracy, equal rights for women, liberalism and secularism. Downfall of Assad has led to the resurgence of beheadings, mass killings and targeting of Shias and Alawites, even as Western press continues to project how Syria now, post the exit of Assad, is a ‘Free Country’. Nothing can be more ironic than this. Syria would now be turned into a wasteland much like Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, and many others. Interestingly, much like Iraq, Syria has considerable oil and gas reserves, and thus the interest of the West to manufacture ‘Democracy’ there.
Plunging Ukraine into Conflict
Yet it is not just West Asia or North Africa. Arab Spring had a new name for Ukraine too. It was the Orange Revolution initially, followed by the Maidan Revolution. It was also termed as Revolution of Dignity, an intriguing name for an uprising that eventually led to regime change, and subsequently catapulted Volodymyr Zelensky into power. Under him, Ukraine became the perfect proxy to wage war against Russia on behalf of NATO powers, who themselves shudder to confront Russia. NATO expansion has continued even after the end of the Cold War, with the devious objective of ensuring that Member States would have to conform to NATO military standards for weapons acquisition, thereby ensuring readymade market for Western military industrial complex. The fear of the NATO base in Ukraine, from where NATO missiles would take a mere few minutes to reach Kremlin, was enough to provoke Russia to attack Ukraine, a war that has resulted in death of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, decapitation of the nation, devastation of the economy and unprecedented destruction.
Without the Ukraine Revolution and regime change, this war would not have happened. One wonders, what if the protestors who participated in Arab Spring or Maidan Revolution were told that eventually their nations would be pushed into impossible wars, leading to total annihilation of their cities, dreams and hopes in future. One wonders what they think about those uprisings when they look back at their respective nations now.
Repeat of Arab Spring Template
In the case of Bangladesh, the same template was put to practice. No one denies that there was perhaps general resentment against the Sheikh Hasina regime. But that was carefully capitalised upon to create a semblance of uprising in major cities of Bangladesh. Much like in the case of Arab Spring and Ukraine Revolution, both digital and social media were carefully manipulated to showcase incumbent Government as ‘brutal’, ‘evil’, ‘anti-people’, ‘anti democracy’ and ‘dictatorial’. The resultant police firing, Army’s reluctance to stand by Sheikh Hasina, resulted in regime change, which was followed by beginning of revenge killings, violent attacks on minority Hindus, releasing dreaded terrorists from jail, and massive destruction of factories, and other critical assets of the country.
Spreading Anti-Bharat Sentiments
Over the last four months, since Nobel Peace Prize winning Muhammad Yunus has been running the interim Government in Bangladesh, it has become pretty clear that at the age of 84 he has not returned with the ambition of politically governing Bangladesh. He has become a face to create a semblance of credibility even as the real power lies with religious hardliners and extremists who are simply wiping out the history of Bangladesh’s 1971 victory over Pakistan, and have resorted to executing a malicious plan to spread anti-India sentiments through disinformation campaigns. It seems pretty clear now that Yunus would just reduce Bangladesh into a Syria-type wasteland for religious hardliners to harvest radicalism and channelise it towards India, even as the economy continues to plunge towards more uncertainty and the country staring at severe economic crisis. The failure of Bangladesh as a state would embolden the religious fundamentalists even more that would give rise to a perpetual headache for India.
It is apparent that what has been done in Bangladesh, has been planned by the Deep State to contain India from the eastern side as well. It is also a possibility that just as mass illegal immigration from West Asia and North Africa is threatening the demography of Europe, a failing Bangladesh would lead to massive rise in illegal entry of Bangladeshis into India, resulting in more societal unrest, riots, law & order problems, and potential spread of radicalism. All of this is because India refused to toe the dictum of Western neo-imperialists, or the Deep State, and continued to exercise strategic autonomy in the greater interest of the nation.
How Modi’s Patience Saved India
It is not that efforts of regime change have not been attempted in India. When the Modi Government returned to power with an even bigger majority in 2019, and pushed for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, it became pretty clear to the Deep State that India would change forever and would continue to become stronger if Modi remains in power. Through a series of orchestrated protests, hit jobs, disinformation campaigns in social and digital media, efforts have been made to weaken the Modi Government and fund uprisings against the Modi Government.
The likes of George Soros and various other fronts, as well as their proxies in India played their part in pushing false narratives to evoke mass outrage. Both during the anti-CAA protests, as well as anti-Farm Law protests.
In spite of extreme provocations, the Modi Government showed tremendous restraint and did not resort to firing on protestors. Those who had hoped that protests would lead to firing, which would lead to a larger civil unrest, global criticism, sanctions, armed rebellion, anarchy, civil war kind of situation, and eventual regime change in India, failed to do so because Modi Government waited with patience for the manufactured protests to get exposed, so that people realise the real motive behind the protests. The protests eventually were defeated by patience. Today those who protest in the name of farmers, while travelling in luxury cars, and those who hope for uprising just before elections, have been totally exposed and are termed as Andolan Jeevis by common people of India.
