Opinion / Blogs
Crucifying the innocent, feting Barabas
21 Sep 2011 at 02:21hrs | Views
Well the UN General Assembly is underway and nowhere was Robert Copper's dream of a world of double standards evident than at this great gathering of animals great and small.
To those who may not have heard of Robert Cooper. He was former British premier, Tony Blair's chief policy advisor and wrote a treatise titled, "Re-Ordering the World: The Long Term Implications of September 11" that helped shape the doctrine of neo-liberal humanitarian intervention blind to state sovereignty.
Cooper's essay, which was published in April 2002; envisaged a world of double standards in pursuit of a new form of 'acceptable' imperialism.
Said Copper in part, "the challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standards.
"Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the postmodern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, and deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself.
"Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle . . .
"All the conditions for imperialism are there, but both the supply and demand for imperialism have dried up . . . What is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a world of human rights and cosmopolitan values.
"We can already discern its outline: an imperialism which, like all imperialism, aims to bring order and organisation but which rests today on the voluntary principle."
Well, well, well this doctrine has been underway in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya without even a whimper from the UN which was formed on the back of the lofty ideal of "saving the world from the scourge of war."
To all intents and purposes the annual UN General Assembly is one big masquerade where the little people are invited to the world of the big and given 15 minutes to speak as equals in the General Assembly though they are not welcome to the roundtable where the real decisions are made.
That exclusive club called the UN Security Council where the little ones are only welcome as visitors, and on a rotational basis at that. They will be there just to rub shoulders with the big boys for two years at a time but without full powers to disturb the will of the big boys. Thats is why they do not wield the veto; the power to tamper with the decisions of the big boys.
The UN, as currently constituted, is a sorry excuse for an international organisation and the sooner it goes the way of the League of Nations, to the dustbins of history, the better for everyone.
This became even more apparent to me yesterday as I witnessed two events that really exposed the need for UN reforms, failing which member states should pull out and form an alternative organisation that is truly international and where all member states are equal in every sense of the word.
One pertained to Libya, recently ravished by the plunderers and bleeding to boot for the entire world to see.
The other pertained to the long-suffering people of Palestine who had their land stolen courtesy of the same country that masquerades as a global policeman today and who are seeing their dream of statehood going up in flames as one of the big boys is digging in that they won't get recognition.
Opposition is coming from the fork-tongued US that only a year ago promised that the 66th UNGA would welcome a new Palestinian state "living at peace with Israel," or so a Pollyanna Obama, who did not yet know he did not have the power he thought he had, told the 65th UNGA to applause from the politically innocent and cynicism from those who know how forked Uncle Sam's tongue is. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas formally informed the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, of his intension to submit an application on Friday for Palestine to become a UN member state.
Under the provisions of the Charter, the secretary-general is tasked with verifying a letter requesting UN membership, following which he sends it to the Security Council and the General Assembly.
The application is considered by the Council, which decides whether or not to recommend admission to the 193-member Assembly, which has to adopt a resolution for the admission of any new member state.
Since Palestine only has observer status at the UN, Abbas will submit the membership bid in his capacity as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. He will address the General Assembly on the same day after which he will present the request to Ban.
He is pressing for a Palestinian state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, encompassing Gaza and the West Bank and including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
For the request to be passed to the UN General Assembly for approval, it must garner nine Security Council votes and avoid being vetoed by one of the five permanent members.
It is highly unlikely that it will get to the General Assembly stage since the US has made it clear that it will veto the Palestinian request.
It was at the UN that international crime was legitimised yesterday through a flag raising ceremony where the flag of the NATO Transitional Council, sorry National Transitional Council, rose majestically to replace the all green of the Gaddafi era.
Earlier on two UN security details brought and posed with the new Libyan and UN flags to applause from Secretary General Ban ki-Moon who was sitting side by side with Mustapha Jalil, the man NATO chose as the face of the new Libya. All this before the eyes of a world that knows the heinous crimes committed in Libya.
To rub salt into the womb, it was at the same UN HQ that long-suffering Palestinians are being denied statehood and effectively told they have to continue living under the boot of the Zionists.
These are Palestinians represented by a legitimate leadership that they chose and who are not fronting anybody.
Contrast that with the so-called NTC (whose N should stand for NATO, the real power behind the Libyan invasion), who were feted as the legitimate representatives of the people of Libya.
One wouldn't believe a UN resolution authorising "the (protection) of civilians and civilian-populated areas under the threat of attack", has been flagrantly violated by NATO to bring the likes of Jalil to the UN.
NATO which furthered its own agenda by bending a UN resolution to effect regime change in Libya by raining cluster and depleted uranium bombs on civilian-populated Sirte and other "Gaddafi strongholds."
One wouldn't believe that Gaddafi, who only a year ago today was received at the UN headquarters and addressed it as a legitimate leader of the Libyan people today is being hounded like an animal with NATO having put a bounty on his head, wanting him dead or alive; all of which was not authorised by resolution 1973 that was all about effecting a no-fly zone over Libya.
And still some of the leaders pontificate oblivious to the irony of the charade before their eyes.
At this rate, we Africans should not be surprised if they come to chain and yoke us again.
These men of the white skin, surely they shall finish us all off if we continue watching our eyelids.
To those who may not have heard of Robert Cooper. He was former British premier, Tony Blair's chief policy advisor and wrote a treatise titled, "Re-Ordering the World: The Long Term Implications of September 11" that helped shape the doctrine of neo-liberal humanitarian intervention blind to state sovereignty.
Cooper's essay, which was published in April 2002; envisaged a world of double standards in pursuit of a new form of 'acceptable' imperialism.
Said Copper in part, "the challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standards.
"Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the postmodern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, and deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself.
"Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle . . .
"All the conditions for imperialism are there, but both the supply and demand for imperialism have dried up . . . What is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a world of human rights and cosmopolitan values.
"We can already discern its outline: an imperialism which, like all imperialism, aims to bring order and organisation but which rests today on the voluntary principle."
Well, well, well this doctrine has been underway in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya without even a whimper from the UN which was formed on the back of the lofty ideal of "saving the world from the scourge of war."
To all intents and purposes the annual UN General Assembly is one big masquerade where the little people are invited to the world of the big and given 15 minutes to speak as equals in the General Assembly though they are not welcome to the roundtable where the real decisions are made.
That exclusive club called the UN Security Council where the little ones are only welcome as visitors, and on a rotational basis at that. They will be there just to rub shoulders with the big boys for two years at a time but without full powers to disturb the will of the big boys. Thats is why they do not wield the veto; the power to tamper with the decisions of the big boys.
The UN, as currently constituted, is a sorry excuse for an international organisation and the sooner it goes the way of the League of Nations, to the dustbins of history, the better for everyone.
This became even more apparent to me yesterday as I witnessed two events that really exposed the need for UN reforms, failing which member states should pull out and form an alternative organisation that is truly international and where all member states are equal in every sense of the word.
One pertained to Libya, recently ravished by the plunderers and bleeding to boot for the entire world to see.
The other pertained to the long-suffering people of Palestine who had their land stolen courtesy of the same country that masquerades as a global policeman today and who are seeing their dream of statehood going up in flames as one of the big boys is digging in that they won't get recognition.
Opposition is coming from the fork-tongued US that only a year ago promised that the 66th UNGA would welcome a new Palestinian state "living at peace with Israel," or so a Pollyanna Obama, who did not yet know he did not have the power he thought he had, told the 65th UNGA to applause from the politically innocent and cynicism from those who know how forked Uncle Sam's tongue is. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas formally informed the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, of his intension to submit an application on Friday for Palestine to become a UN member state.
The application is considered by the Council, which decides whether or not to recommend admission to the 193-member Assembly, which has to adopt a resolution for the admission of any new member state.
Since Palestine only has observer status at the UN, Abbas will submit the membership bid in his capacity as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. He will address the General Assembly on the same day after which he will present the request to Ban.
He is pressing for a Palestinian state on the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, encompassing Gaza and the West Bank and including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
For the request to be passed to the UN General Assembly for approval, it must garner nine Security Council votes and avoid being vetoed by one of the five permanent members.
It is highly unlikely that it will get to the General Assembly stage since the US has made it clear that it will veto the Palestinian request.
It was at the UN that international crime was legitimised yesterday through a flag raising ceremony where the flag of the NATO Transitional Council, sorry National Transitional Council, rose majestically to replace the all green of the Gaddafi era.
Earlier on two UN security details brought and posed with the new Libyan and UN flags to applause from Secretary General Ban ki-Moon who was sitting side by side with Mustapha Jalil, the man NATO chose as the face of the new Libya. All this before the eyes of a world that knows the heinous crimes committed in Libya.
To rub salt into the womb, it was at the same UN HQ that long-suffering Palestinians are being denied statehood and effectively told they have to continue living under the boot of the Zionists.
These are Palestinians represented by a legitimate leadership that they chose and who are not fronting anybody.
Contrast that with the so-called NTC (whose N should stand for NATO, the real power behind the Libyan invasion), who were feted as the legitimate representatives of the people of Libya.
One wouldn't believe a UN resolution authorising "the (protection) of civilians and civilian-populated areas under the threat of attack", has been flagrantly violated by NATO to bring the likes of Jalil to the UN.
NATO which furthered its own agenda by bending a UN resolution to effect regime change in Libya by raining cluster and depleted uranium bombs on civilian-populated Sirte and other "Gaddafi strongholds."
One wouldn't believe that Gaddafi, who only a year ago today was received at the UN headquarters and addressed it as a legitimate leader of the Libyan people today is being hounded like an animal with NATO having put a bounty on his head, wanting him dead or alive; all of which was not authorised by resolution 1973 that was all about effecting a no-fly zone over Libya.
And still some of the leaders pontificate oblivious to the irony of the charade before their eyes.
At this rate, we Africans should not be surprised if they come to chain and yoke us again.
These men of the white skin, surely they shall finish us all off if we continue watching our eyelids.
Source - zimpapers
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