USA – India friendship will be a great thing for us, is what many feel. After all, it is the strongest country in the world, and committed to establishing democracy and peace, isn’t it! But is it really so? Before going further, please do attempt the GK Quiz. And read on to check out the answers!
The image of USA really took a beating in my eyes when I started studying the USA’s Asia policy recently, and I must share some of my findings with you!
By the way, when we refer to “US” or “India” in this article, we are talking about their respective governments, NOT the people.
- The US is 6000 miles away from Asia and 7000 miles away from Australia. Still American military is present in 156 (out of 200) countries.
- 63 countries have American military bases. 25, 00,000 American soldiers are present outside the U.S.A.
- Countries like Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq have U.S. military bases: these are not very far from India! Thus, the entire northwest border of India has presence of US military force.
- Also in Southeast Asia, countries like Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Guam, Malacca straits, Singapore, Darwin, and Perth have the US military in one form or the other.
In 2001 the US attacked Afghanistan in the name of War against Terrorism and occupied it for over 10 years. It destroyed Afghanistan, and killed countless innocent men, women and even children.
The US used to be friends with Saddam Hussein when he was the president of Iraq. It supported Saddam in attacking Iran in 1980, and later incited Iraq to attack Kuwait in the 1990s. However, this friendship was forgotten, and in March 2003, the US attacked Iraq under the false pretext of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). These attacks killed over 12 lakh innocent people. 50 lakh children became war orphans because their parents were killed by the US armed forces. Many youths were captured and tortured. The US forces are still there.
The US has been a ‘friend’ of Pakistan for decades. But today this ‘friend’ is using unmanned planes called drones to bomb Pakistan in the name of fighting terrorism, and killing countless innocent people including women and children! Refer to videos on YouTube, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_x-RTI1kyA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh-Ory1VIBo
In the past few years the US has also similarly attacked countries like Bosnia, Yugoslavia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Somalia, etc. Thousands of people have been killed in these attacks.
Why is the US doing all this? Look at the mineral map of the world.
Asia is rich in valuable minerals like uranium, silver, oil, lead and zinc, iron, diamond, bauxite, coal, copper, gold etc. Wages in Asia are much lower than in developed countries. It also offers a huge market to sell its products. By controlling Asia, the US will get access to its raw materials, its cheap labour and the huge market. Also the US can achieve control over important trading routes of the world. Just as the British established colonies all over the world, today the US wants to rule the whole world. To conquer the whole world it is necessary to conquer Asia first.
The US economy is heavily dependent on its weapons industry. The biggest capitalists in the US own all sorts of companies, including those that manufacture weapons. The weapon manufacturing companies are interested in exporting weapons and earning huge profits. They do not want peace, they want war! War is profitable for them. It is in their interest to sell weapons to countries that are neighbours, like India and Pakistan, and incite them to fight against each other. Who dies in such wars? Ordinary soldiers and people from both sides! How many netas or for that matter their family members have been killed in them?
Do you know that those who own the large weapon-making companies also own construction companies as well as oil companies? After devastating Iraq, major construction companies were quick to make profits in so-called rebuilding! And the other name for oil is “Black Gold”!
Is the US really establishing peace in the countries where its military is stationed? Is it really promoting democracy? How reliable a friend has it proved to be?
Wars in which the US is involved is good for its rulers and for the owners of its big companies, but it is bad for the targeted people as well as for the US people. That is why lots of Americans including war veterans (soldiers who fought in the wars) are against wars that their government has been waging. Refer to videos, for example: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/21/no_nato_no_war_us_veterans
Many organizations all over the world, including students’ organizations, are opposing war. Lok Raj Sangathan is also one of the active organizations which are against war. Don’t you want to join this effort?
We must not forget that only people can stop wars!
By now you have probably realized that the answers to Q. Nos. 1 – 20 of the GK Quiz are all the same – USA!
– Prathamesh
