Sunday, April 1, 2018

Pakistan Helped US Become Superpower- In the Service of Neocolonialism

[To understand the context of this post please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
How Pakistan helped US become a superpower is a classic case study of how developing countries are maneuvered to help neo-colonial powers achieve their global agenda. This was admitted on record by DG ISPR in Pakistan,  "Had Pakistan not played its positive role, USA might not be the uni-super power in the world". This was reported in the papers of 29th March 2018 including News, Nation, Dawn etc. The role which has largely been "positive" for the super power is actually "negative" in its fall outs on economy and stability of the country. It has mired us in un-wanted wars for benefits that in the long term turned out to be exorbitant costs. Neocolonialism is the control of developing countries through hegemony and imperialism and through installation of unrepresentative governments and dictators. Pakistan has suffered tremendously on each of these accounts to service neocolonialism. 

Becoming a Pawn in US-USSR Cold War

Pakistan joined SEATO and CENTO which were setup in 1954-55 as alliances to defend against communism threat. It was thrown some crumbs like some disease or cholera centers established in Dacca (East Pakistan) [2,3]. In return Pakistan provided the Badaber Base from which U2 espionage planes used to fly to take pictures of USSR facilities. It was also the staging post for sending of CIA agents to USSR. The most famous incident in which Pakistan found itself entangled was the U2 plane which was shot down in Soviet Airspace and the pilot Garry Powers was captured [4]. This became a big mess for Pakistan as USSR, in turn, cultivated and promoted communists in Pakistan.

Pakistan took on USSR on behalf of USA and was in return ditched by USA when the crunch time came for Pakistan; for example during the East Pakistan war or during the 1965 war.

Becoming a Pawn in US's Afghanistan Jehad War against Soviet Occupation: 1980-88

CIA established training facilities for the manufacture and supply of Jehadis from Pakistan. Impact of this supply chain established in the 1980s is being felt even today in the form of the culture of terrorism, intolerance, extremism, drugs, arms and violence. To finance the Afghan War, the arms trade, drugs trade and smuggling was encouraged and was facilitated through NLC and other carriers [5]. This had a disastrous impact on safety and security of Pakistani cities. There was mass migration from Afghanistan of about 2-3 million refugees whose feeding and support is being done by Pakistan till today. There is no accounting of any of the USAID that came to Pakistan was ever utilized for an positive purposes in Pakistan. Most of it was siphoned off and created a rentier class that thrived on corruption and nepotism.

Becoming a Pawn in US' War on Terror:

See other posts on this subject in this blog:

Becoming a Pawn in US's Middle East War and Alliance Against Iran

Pakistan can not afford to join this insane US' alliance for promoting terrorism and pumping of arms in the Middle East to "Make America Great Again" for Trump who has just signed over 300 Billion USD deal with Saudi Arabia for this purpose [6]. Iraq, Syria and Yemen are already in flame and going through tragic costs of lives and infrastructure. Over 2 million Iraqis have died over the last two decades. Over half Million Syrians have died over the last five years. Over 100,000 Yemenis have died [7]. US plan is to involve Pakistan also in this so that the CPEC project can be thwarted through the military intervention in this region. This Pakistan can not afford at all.

Narratives to Support Dictatorial Interventions and Continuous Series of Destabilizations 

A deeper look at the dictatorial interventions and a continuous series of destabilization efforts during civilian rules indicate that this kind of destabilization is present in all the developing countries and is part of post-colonialism exploitation by the world superpowers, this has been named as neo-colonialism. My post on narratives designed to dishonor popular choice and support neocolonialism explains how neocolonialism spreads destructive narratives in developing countries which are taken up by vested interests and un-elected elites. These narratives are used to dishonor the will of the people, and justify the takeover by un-elected elites. This seems to be the history of post-colonialism in developing countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and on and on through out all the old colonies of the imperial powers. This is how they are kept perpetually destabilized and hence "perpetually developing".

Neo-colonialism

[begin Wikipedia excerpt]
Neo-colonialism or neo-imperialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization and cultural imperialism to influence a developing country in lieu of direct military control (imperialism) or indirect political control (hegemony). It was coined by Kwame Nkrumah in the context of African countries undergoing decolonization in the 1960s.

In Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah wrote:

In place of colonialism, as the main instrument of imperialism, we have today neo-colonialism . . . [which] like colonialism, is an attempt to export the social conflicts of the capitalist countries. . . .

The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment, under neo-colonialism, increases, rather than decreases, the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world. The struggle against neo-colonialism is not aimed at excluding the capital of the developed world from operating in less developed countries. It is aimed at preventing the financial power of the developed countries being used in such a way as to impoverish the less developed.
[End excerpts from Wikipedia]

References:

[1] New Middle East War
[2] SEATO and CENTO:
[3] SECURITY GAME: SEATO and CENTO as Instrument of Economic and Military Assistance to Encircle Pakistan MUSSARAT JABEEN and MUHAMMAD SALEEM MAZHAR, Pakistan Economic and Social Review Volume 49, No. 1 (Summer 2011), pp. 109-132
[3] Shooting Down of U2 in Soviet Airspace, Capture of Gary Powers and its Fallout for Pakistan
[4] Afghan Jehad Factory Established in Pakistan and its Fallout for Pakistan
[5] Trump's US Middle East Policy to Make America Great Again
[6]

See also:

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