And so it
begins.
2014 has
certainly started on a very bad note for the dying empire of the hegemon. The failures are everywhere to be seen.
US and its
allies have done everything they can to topple President Bashar Assad of Syria
but have not succeeded. Assad has not only won the re-election but is now
gaining an upper hand in the fight against the rebels, who are supported by US
and allies. It is the most brutal gang of cut-throats ever seen on the
battlefield.
The same
rebels are now causing havoc in Iraq. As a result of their activities, Iraq is
now on the verge of disintegration. North western part of Iraq has already
fallen to them where they have declared Caliphate. The northern part of Iraq,
Kurdish area, has declared autonomy from Iraq.
Libya, where
NATO was quite gung-ho in toppling evil Muammar Gaddafi, is now another lawless
country. Things are getting out of control to such an extent that recently
British seem to have had their “Saigon”
moment.
In Egypt,
there is a lot of ill-will against US because of the support it gave to the
hated Muslim Brotherhood government led by Morsi, who now sits in jail on the
charges of inciting deadly violence.
No wonder, in
view of such disastrous policies, America’s image in the world has plummeted.
Instead of
learning from its disastrous policies, USA seems hell-bent on doubling down on
the course it has chosen – try to browbeat as many countries as it can to make
them accept unipolar view of the world ruled by USA.
Consider the
case of Ukraine. Tons of evidence has come out pointing to USA’s complicity in
financing and supporting “Maidan” activist to overthrow Yanukovych government
and install the puppet regime headed by Poroshenko and ex-PM Yatsenyuk – a
regime of Nazis, Fascist and Banderites fixated upon clearing the Ukraine of
the hated “Moskals”, break completely from Russia and join European Union.
It was quite
natural for the people of Donbass to revolt against the regime in Kiev as it
meant a loss of their identity and a threat to their survival. In order to
crush this revolt, Kiev regime has used missiles, aircrafts, tanks and MLRS
etc. The result is the massive loss of civilians – definitely a war crime.
Instead of
raising a hue and cry about the loss of civilians, USA and its allies have
sanctioned banks, individuals, corporations etc., all with a “desire to amend
the Russian behavior” and make them accept the regime in Kiev, its continued
ethnic cleansing in eastern Ukraine and its subsequent integration into NATO.
The result is
the antagonized Russia – a nuclear armed super power in much better shape than
it was in Yeltsin years.
As if this
much is not enough, it now wants to antagonize India.
Consider the
case of failure of WTO.
…
(Reuters) -
India is willing to sign a global trade deal, which it has torpedoed, if
other World Trade Organization members can agree to its parallel demand for
concessions on stockpiling food, senior officials in New Delhi said on
Friday.
…..
|
The world – read
US led bloc and their allies around the globe - was quick to blame India for
the failure of WTO.
…..
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was on a visit to India, told Prime
Minister Narendra Modi earlier on Friday that India's refusal to sign the
trade deal had undermined the country's image.
"Australia
is deeply disappointed that it has not been possible to meet the deadline.
This failure is a great blow to the confidence revived in Bali that the WTO
can deliver negotiated outcomes," Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb
said. "There are no winners from this outcome – least of all those in
developing countries which would see the biggest gains."
In
Geneva, a trade diplomat from a developing nation said: "The trust that
countries have in what India says is going to be significantly
diminished."
…
|
But, India
was also right in demanding concessions in subsidizing and stockpiling of food
than is permissible under WTO rules given its huge poor population. Here India acted in national interest and not
in the interest of globalization that is marching relentlessly only for
benefiting the western world and its allies around the globe.
……
"It
is ridiculous to say the Bali deal is dead," said a senior official at
India's trade ministry, referring to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
pact that was agreed on the Indonesian island of Bali last year.
"We
are totally committed to the TFA, and only asking for an agreement on food
security," said the official, who cannot be identified under briefing
rules.
India
has insisted that, in exchange for signing the trade facilitation agreement,
it must see more progress on the parallel pact. India's new nationalist
government has insisted that a permanent agreement on its subsidised food
stockpiling must be in place at the same time as the trade facilitation deal,
well ahead of a 2017 target set in Bali last year. Most diplomats had
expected the pact to be rubber-stamped this week, marking a unique success in
the WTO's 19-year history which, according to some estimates, would add $1
trillion and 21 million jobs to the world economy.
India
calls these estimates highly exaggerated.
…
|
But the
arrogance and the anger shown by member countries was astounding. It was the
classic “Do it our way” or “get lost” attitude.
…..
Some
countries, including the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan
and Norway, have already discussed a plan to exclude India from the facilitation
agreement and push ahead regardless, officials involved in the talks said.
An
Australian trade official involved in the talks said officials were exhausted
with the process and that there was already discussion about major reforms at
the WTO and the Doha Round of trade negotiations, which began in 2001.
"Some see it as a final trigger
for ending Doha and pressing ahead with plurilateral reform, leave behind
those that don't want to come along," he said.
A
Japanese official familiar with the situation said that while Tokyo
reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining and strengthening the multilateral
trade system, it was frustrated that such a small group of countries had
stymied the overwhelming consensus.
"The
future of the Doha Round including the Bali package is unclear at this
stage," he said.
…
|
Fortunately,
some members still have an iota of rationality left and derided the talk of
excluding India, a country of 1.2 billion people with third largest economy in
the world.
……
New
Zealand Minister of Overseas Trade, Tim Groser, told Reuters there had been
"too much drama" surrounding the negotiations and added that any talk of
excluding India was "naive" and counterproductive.
"India is the second biggest country by population, a vital
part of the world economy and will become even more important. The idea of
excluding India is ridiculous.
"I don't want to be too critical of the Indians. We have to
try and pull this together and at the end of the day putting India into a box would
not be productive," he added.
…
|
But, Peter
Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide,
correctly sums up the reason for the anger of the bloc of nations led by
western world, a bloc used to dictating terms and not in the mood of ever
compromising.
….
Still,
the failure of the agreement should signal a move away from monolithic single
undertaking agreements that have defined the body for decades, Peter
Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide,
told Reuters.
"I
think it's certainly premature to speak about the death of the WTO. I hope
we've got to the point where a little bit more realism is going to enter into
the negotiating procedures," he said.
"It's
153 countries. We can't all move at the same speed on the same things, and
it's time to let those that want to do it, do it."
…
|
The talk of
exclusion of India shows how much respect western world has for India. They
view India as someone who will always kowtow the policies of theses nations.
They expect India to act not in its own interest but in the interest of the
other economies, namely the western ones. India is nothing but just a big
market for their corporations.
This is how Wikipedia
describes Kowtow.
Kowtow, which is
borrowed from kau tau in Cantonese, or koutou in Mandarin
Chinese, is the act of deep respect shown by prostration,
that is, kneeling
and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground.
|
The recent
launch of BRICS seems to have exacerbated this anger. Every one of the nation
in this bloc has faced the ire of western world. Russia and China are already
the next axis of evil. And, now it is India’s turn to face the music and hence
the talk of exclusion.
Whatever
smiles the western world leaders might wear, whatever platitudes they might
heap on India, Indians must understand that it is all a facade and behind that
façade is a determination to make India amend its behavior. If it doesn’t amend
its behavior, then some kind of screws can be tightened to bring in their fold.
India is,
thus, now squarely in cross-hair of the western bloc because it is not only
about to upend the existing WTO order as dictated by western world but it also belongs
to a group – BRICS - which is a threat to
US led IMF and US dollar hegemony.
No comments:
Post a Comment