Mid-East 'disorder' highlights divisive global Multi-polarity

The recent US decision to bomb what are made out to be some of Iran's nuclear enrichment plants and connected infrastructure has astonished many an international quarter but it only should be expected given the US' post-Cold War tendency to engage in pre-emptive strikes against what are seen by it as 'enemy targets'. We may say that it is part of an almost familiar pattern.

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

The immediate post-Cold War years marked the US' emergence as what is popularly referred to as the 'global hegemon'. One turning point in this regard was the US decision to militarily intervene in Kuwait in 1991. It was a virtual 'dress rehearsal' for its later invasion of Iraq, in efforts to eliminate what was made out to be Iraq's 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' or its nuclear capability. The world is now aware that no such arms capability ever existed in Iraq.

Among other things, these military interventions underscored the fact that the US could go around flexing its military muscle almost unopposed. To all intents and purposes it was indeed the 'global hegemon'. It was clearly seeking out and pre-emptively neutralizing perceived threats to its global dominance. Such exercises in the Middle East region were of special importance for the US given its enduring interest in carving out and securing the 'oil wells' of the region.

However, Iraq for the US, was a 'job half done' because it could never establish a firm foothold in the country on account of its multitude of internal conflicts that centred on religion and ethnicity. Sooner rather than later the US found out that Iraq was ungovernable and the best that it could do was to withdraw from the conflict-ridden country gradually after putting in place US-friendly administrations.

The same was applicable to Afghanistan where the US militarily intervened after 9/11. Partly the US intervention here was dictated by the necessity to crack down on religious fundamentalist outfits, such as Al-Qaeda, which were seen as responsible for the 'Twin Tower' carnage. The exercise was necessary to quell the popular outrage at home that accompanied 9/11.