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The perils of the 'Great Game'

Z A Khan
THE 'Great Game' planned towards the end of nineteenth century was aimed at challenging the nineteenth century belief that 'European Civilization had its beginning in Middle East' and to establish global supremacy of Europeans. “The European powers at that time believed that they could change the Muslim majority Asia in the very fundamentals of its political existence, and in their attempt to do so introduced an artificial state system into the Middle East that has made its way into a region of countries, many of which have not become nations by definition even today."
Religion, which was the basis of political life in the Middle East, was called into question by the Russians who proposed communism, and by the British who proposed nationalism or dynastic loyalty in its place, while the French championed one sect against the others and that too, is an issue kept alive, notably in the communal strife in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Intrigues and ploys were on cards to set the various clans of the Middle East on collusion courses.
When oil was not an important factor it was believed that Muslims and Jews were natural allies and, on the other hand, the French and the Arabs were dangerous enemies of the Zionist movement Between mid to end of the twentieth century, many needless and endless wars were fought between Israel and her neigh -bors which snowballed into major wars in the '50s and '70s of the twentieth century involving major actors _of the region
Meanwhile, Britain commenced putting in place her plan mapped in 1922 which was to destroy the old order in the region. The crisis of political imbroglio of the Middle East grew not only from the distortion of existing order but also from the lack of conviction about the 'modus operandi' to impose the settlement plan bf 1922 to which she was pledged. The failed bid to impose the plan led the British to modify or revamp the strategy so that its imperial ambition did not end in fiasco. The British strategist decided to craft an enduring plan to dominate sealanes to India, which served as the backbone of Britain's economy. They thought that to save the Sea Empire’ from uninterrupted back and forth movement from British Isles to India, no government along the sea-lane should be hostile to her.
A sudden spurt of nationhood saw the exit of the monarchies friendly to Britain, at times by violent means that had almost hampered the British dream design. Meanwhile, a steady growth of the demand fuel for energy' was observed among the growing Industrial nations and urgency was intensely felt to dominate the major source of energy, petrol It was interesting to note how loyalty shifted for partisan interest from one power block to another.
Many pacts were designed to accommodate long-term strategy to maintain energy flow without which indus tries would shutdown. The race for control of the energy source saw a split among the erstwhile strategic partners. Religion, which formed the basis of nationhood in the Middle East in the past, once again tiptoed to
the centre stage of the political culture, which was not relished by USA and her allies.
The allies quickly moved to sow the seed of sectarian difference and pitted one Muslim nation against another. The allies very skillfully raised groups to oppose die governments and funded handsomely to stage coup d’dta successfully. Insularity persisted in the region for quite a while which resulted into hijacking and limited terrorism. One alleges that western sources funded die rise of die militant groups in the garb of organizing groups to oppose the rise of a relatively new political culture (communism). Gradually some of these groups grew into strong force to challenge the government and this snowballed to fuel fratricidal campaign among the nations of the region. This brought in power brokers to play their role to pave the way for 'peace' but appar-endy their bid failed.
Nationalists all over the world complained of their insincerity while brokering peace, as they wanted to fish in troubled water, an intriguing act indeed. This revelation has turned people at large into passive, agitated and insatiable state, a fatal configuration that had put into jeopardy all endeavours to catch up with the elusive peace. After overcoming post colonial hangover, the Muslim nations across the globe got down to settling themselves by forsaking hatred with a view to restoring peace and crafted a road map to peace and development.
When these nations were at work towards this end, they were silently robbed of their pursuit by western nations who. through instigations,
put one Muslim nation against another in the Middle East. Fratricidal wars were fought which denuded them of their wealth and forced them into selling their oil cheap to help restore their postwar abysmal economy. Realizing that they were being fooled by the vested quarters, a fierce nationalism grew which made power blocks to rethink and redesign their exploitation strategy. Allegedly, the growing nationalists were arming themselves to assail their adversaries that were power block's strategic partners.
The power blocks with partisan media support sensitized their partners about the need to abort the efforts of nations that wanted to assert their sovereignty alleging that these nations if allowed to act independently will destroy peace in the Middle East and deprive west of the much needed oil. So the west got busy to garner support primarily of the non-Muslim countries. Even if some of the Muslim nations had tacit support for operations brokered and proposed by the west, they could not expose themselves for fear of being isolated.
The UN was bypassed and world was made to preside over the destruction of a sovereign nation by the allies, most of whom were supplied with 'doctored' intelligence. The battle was won by the allies without facing any resistance as Iraq opted to save the life and property of her citizens. The allies thought that 'the war was over' but it turned out to beafauxpas.
The lies that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) made many otherwise peace loving countries to support the allies’ campaign but were baffled when they found that there were no WMD. The world sympathized with the families of innocent dead Iraqis who died at the instance of allies' intransigence. The post war estimate of Iraqi casualties is a few times more than the number of people dead or wounded during Saddam's dreadful regime. One does not see any possibility of peace settling not only Iraq which is dropped into darkness for shortage of power.
The US and her western allies' hope to control oil wealth might diminish as the Arab nations realize the need to reinvigorate and start asserting themselves after forcing the US allies to withdraw from the Middle East. Graffiti on the wall clearly reads that there is no moral high ground for the allies to subvert the march to peace for its own vested interest. Western effort to make 'peace' in the Middle East seems to be ending peace in hitherto peaceful regions.
Billions of dollars invested to keep the West's war effort alive is making poor people elsewhere in the world poorer as those countries are being pressurized to foot their war bill When the world realized that the threat of WMD was a hoax, they refused to pay the bills that were spent for killing those that spoke for peace for themselves. The people of the world should wake up now or never; save the world from the self-styled policemen of peace* lest the killing of innocents should rule the roost. This will also help the humanist desire to encourage all of us human beings to say T too belong' to this world despite diversity in religion, culture and unequal distribution of wealth.