Dilrook Kannangara

After decades of manhunt all over the world and after the deaths of millions of Muslims mostly civilians, the US government finally got their man in Pakistan. He was unarmed and was with his family but he was needlessly killed. Punishing Osama for his crimes is a good thing as it eliminated one more terrorist. The US government refuses to release his death photos fearing they will give away vital clues of his death. The timing of his death cannot be better for the US president. It came at the wake of the US PresidentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s long bid to win the 2012 presidential race. However, the four wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Libya will not end with the end of the rebel leader. They will continue. Funnily though, Obama was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize when he was fighting two wars that killed millions of people mostly civilians. After winning the peace prize he increased his behaviours that won him the peace prize. Now he deserves to win the Noble Peace Prize for the second time, a rare feat.

At the same time, the US government point its bloody finger at other countries that objectively hunted down terrorist leaders not to take revenge but to end decades of war. This makes him laden with sins; not just the sins of killing peaceful civilians living in their own nations far away from USA, but also the graver sin of hypocrisy. But as it goes, sins attract no retribution because God is not revengeful! But evil is revengeful and it will strike back. Sadly, following the American revenge model, their revenge too will be aimed at civilians.

Where will it all lead to? Will there be any solace, peace or equilibrium? Very unlikely.

Tiny but Mighty

So what can rival OSLƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mad killing spree throughout the world? The answer comes from a tiny nation hitherto not recognized. Palestine. The UN takes up the case of Palestine in September and it is certain as the sun and the moon that Palestine will become the newest nation and the newest UN member. USA will vote against it along with a very few others, but most UN members will vote in favour of Palestine. This will be the first time after Cuba and Vietnam when USA will feel helpless, defeated and humiliated. Ronald Reagan, the most popular US president of recent times, rose to prominence thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe. He was credited with that outstanding victory US interests scored. In the same token OSL will be remembered as the US president during whose reign Palestine was separated from Israeli rule. This makes him extremely unpopular among the powerful pro-Israel lobby at home and abroad.

But the creation of Palestine nation has far wide repercussions for the US than anything else ever happened.

What are the Repercussions?

US not just helped in the creation and survival of Israel but also ensured its closest neighbours are submissive to both US and Israeli command. Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey are IsraelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s closest neighbours. All these nations have followed a pro-US stand for the past few decades. But things are slowly changing. The closest neighbour of Israel is going to be Palestine. The spread of Palestine (including Gaza and West Bank) will pose very interesting defence concerns for both USA and Israel.

Once created Palestine will certainly veer away from USA on defence matters. It is impossible to trust USA which will be IsraelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s biggest defence partner and the main obstacle to the creation of Palestine. How about Western Europe? Western European nations have been helping Palestinians under the Palestine Authority until now. It was a trick but it will not work with Palestine the nation, once created.

Western European nations supported Palestinians not because they had any concern for them but because that prevented Palestinians from seeking help elsewhere ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” especially from other Arab nations, Russia and China. But once the nation is created, its defence would be its biggest concern and thatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s when the Americans and Western Europeans will turn away from it. Oil rich nations will pour billions of dollars into Palestine and a large amount of it will go to defence. Once the nation is created, outsiders cannot dictate how the budget should be allocated. Major weapons exporting nations will be eager to win as much as they can of this money. Weapons sellers to Palestine are obvious. Saudi money that buys a large amount of US weapons will go to other weapons suppliers too.

To aggravate matters Israel and Palestine disagree on the rights of new Israeli settlers. Palestine considers it encroachment while Israel sees nothing wrong. This means a war of nations between Palestine and Israel. It will be impossible for USA to keep out and obviously the other party will not be alone. Given PalestineƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s strategic importance at the moment and in future, others will grab the opportunity to help it. US interests in the Middle East will be shaken by these events.

How the US Tried to Avoid It and How It All Failed

Obviously the Americans were not going to give up without a fight. They had a plan to undermine the Arab support for Palestine at the UN in September. This was the reason for all the agitations in the Arab world. Although Mubarak was pro-US, he still supported the formation of Palestine. The US plan was to inject the democracy craze to the Arab world so that at least initially they will be pro-US. This happened in Eastern Europe, all former Soviet Union republics and even in Russia. But as time passed by, the euphoria ended and reality sank in. US plan was to create Boris Yeltsins and Lech Walesas around the Arab world who would stand by USA at the UN when the Palestine matter would be taken up. But this plan failed. However, USA will try few more tricks even in the last minute to garner support of the Arab world. If Arabic countries pull back their support for Palestine, it is unlikely other nations would support it.

This strategic issue cannot be suppressed as easily as killing OBL. It will be the apt response to US’s anti-Muslim policy executed around the world with ruthless determination. If hypocrisy is the name of the game, others should play it, master it and beat the west in its own game.