IT BEGGARS belief how citizens of the European Union (EU) reason (West wants walls to keep the chaotic world out, March 3).
Why are the hordes of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East flooding western Europe? Because the countries these mostly middle-class refugees come from now only exist in name.
Are these war refugees searching for greener pastures, or are they simply running to stay alive? The basic infrastructure in their countries is totally decimated.
Who are the chief culprits responsible for the refugees’ plight? The hawkish governments of the EU, through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), are complicit in causing destabilisation in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
What is the key lesson from this? Newton’s third law of motion says for every action there is a reaction.
Libya is not a failed state like Somalia. Rather, it is a destroyed state. Before 2011, Libya’s standard of living, per capita income and literacy rate were comparable with most developed Western countries.
Perhaps this explains why Nato and the US dropped such tonnage of bombs on Libya’s advanced infrastructure. Such hubris was famously highlighted by Hillary Clinton when she declared after Muammar Gaddafi’s execution: "We came, we saw, he died."
Cold War redux mentality helps explain the proxy wars fought in North Africa, the Middle East and the South China Sea. These are conflicts to determine a new world order in the 21st century.
At stake is the Washington consensus hegemony versus an ascendant Russian and Chinese consensus. Also in the mix is the bloody "broedertwis" between Iran and Saudi Arabia, even though a sizeable percentage of Syrian armed forces are Sunnis.
It is an oxymoron to speak of military defence spending. Creating conflicts and engendering wars elsewhere is good business for the EU and US military industrial complexes. But blowback in the form of a refugee influx and home-grown terrorism should also be factored in.
Jeffrey Sehume
KwaThema
Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, applauds during a Democratic Town Hall event in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. Picture: PATRICK T. FALLON/BlOOMBERG
IT BEGGARS belief how citizens of the European Union (EU) reason (West wants walls to keep the chaotic world out, March 3).
Why are the hordes of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East flooding western Europe? Because the countries these mostly middle-class refugees come from now only exist in name.
Are these war refugees searching for greener pastures, or are they simply running to stay alive? The basic infrastructure in their countries is totally decimated.
Who are the chief culprits responsible for the refugees’ plight? The hawkish governments of the EU, through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), are complicit in causing destabilisation in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
What is the key lesson from this? Newton’s third law of motion says for every action there is a reaction.
Libya is not a failed state like Somalia. Rather, it is a destroyed state. Before 2011, Libya’s standard of living, per capita income and literacy rate were comparable with most developed Western countries.
Perhaps this explains why Nato and the US dropped such tonnage of bombs on Libya’s advanced infrastructure. Such hubris was famously highlighted by Hillary Clinton when she declared after Muammar Gaddafi’s execution: "We came, we saw, he died."
Cold War redux mentality helps explain the proxy wars fought in North Africa, the Middle East and the South China Sea. These are conflicts to determine a new world order in the 21st century.
At stake is the Washington consensus hegemony versus an ascendant Russian and Chinese consensus. Also in the mix is the bloody "broedertwis" between Iran and Saudi Arabia, even though a sizeable percentage of Syrian armed forces are Sunnis.
It is an oxymoron to speak of military defence spending. Creating conflicts and engendering wars elsewhere is good business for the EU and US military industrial complexes. But blowback in the form of a refugee influx and home-grown terrorism should also be factored in.
Jeffrey Sehume
KwaThema
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