A Different Truth

“Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye, could frame their fearful symmetry?”

Well, if I were to concoct an argument opposing the uprising in the Arab World, based on what William Blake expresses in the above poem (i.e. for every good in the world there is something bad), it would be preposterously lame; but so would be living in the world too vulnerable to economic changes and a world over influenced by U.S.A. or for that matter any other country.

There are times in our lives when we wish we would have looked back at a situation with a totally different perspective; my readers, this article is about the same new perspective on what is termed as one of the greatest uprising in the recent times—the uprising in the Middle East.

But before we go any further ahead on the topic, let us have some brief information on the countries of Middle East. Geographically speaking, Middle East mainly comprises the countries situated near the Persian Gulf. Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, U.A.E., Saudi Arabia etc. with a few countries falling in the greater middle eastern region, countries like Tunisia, Libya, Algeria etc. Most of these countries have a few things in common. Firstly they all are oil rich countries. Secondly, almost all of them are Muslim countries and thirdly, most of them are ruled by monarchs or the so called dictators.

We live in in the world so crowded by the news and media that sometimes while listening others we fail to have our own perspectives. We judge the events at their face value, without bothering to read between the lines and discovering an entirely new truth—an uncomforting new revelation. The same set of logic applies to our perception of the uprising in the Middle East. Sitting in sofas in the comforts of our homes we rejoice the uprising. Of course what better to applaud that the heroic efforts of the people who rose against the oppressive regimes in their countries; but, what we fail to notice is what has been liberally omitted from the most of the news stories—the negative impact of the Arab uprising.

When we analyse the recent military, political and foreign policy of U.S.A. a few events stand out; events that changed future of two countries and future of certain thousand soldiers of one country. We come across the US invasion of Afghanistan and that of Iraq. The former being an “attempt to dismantle Al-Qaida” and the latter and attempt to overthrow a tyrant in possession of “weapons of mass destruction”. But the underlying obvious reason was US craving to influence a nation and control the oil reserves of the other. Now, US suffered criticism for its actions and its soldiers paid a heavy price for it. The events transpiring in the Middle East, if looked at with this information in mind, paint a clear picture. It may be an attempt to reap the same benefits (the oil and control), without collateral damage. Middle East as already mentioned, abounds in oil. And it is a well-known fact that US has been trying to save its oil reserves and at the same time trying to get its hands on the oil in the Middle East. The invasion of Iraq was one such attempt. While the US government cannot launch a full scale military invasion on any of these countries, it can definitely control the ruling power and hence achieve the same aim without the Damage. Wiki leak cables suggest that C.I.A. had been planning to topple Egypt for three years and finally it did happen and now all that is left is to share the spoils.

After Iraq invasion, Ray McGovern, one of the high ranking officers of C.I.A. claimed that a part of US administration is being controlled by what are known as “the crazies”, some people who believe in absolute monopoly of US on international front; following this chain of thought one can strongly suggest that all the recent events maybe an attempt to do just the same.

US had a lot to gain form the uprising. Despite, several contradictions from both the governments, there is no taking away the fact that there is no love lost between United States and Russia. Russia supplied arms to Libya. Now with the recent events Russia had to ban all the arms supplies thus losing a huge arms market and a lot of capital. Probably this is a coincidence or maybe all the events were planned to put US in the fore the world.

Even if we neglect any foul play on the part of United States, there are other reasons which place the Arab uprising in a very critical situation. Libya for instance, is huge supplier of oil in the international market, but with the entire drama with Gaddafi playing the epic villain, the oil market and the world economy face a serious threat. Recently the oil prices have gone up, with a barrel costing more than 100$ in US and 120$ in Britain. This price rise may be attributed to the fact that Libya due to civil war has been divided into two parts, with the east being under the influence of the rebels and the west being under the influence of Mohammed Gaddafi. The rebels control the very important export centres of Tobruk and Zuteina while the Gaddafi regime controls the refineries and other ports. So, the oil from refineries is not reaching the export centres. This coupled with the fact that there is no effective leader of the rebels to negotiate with the oil companies, has led to the soaring oil prices. Though Saudi Arabia has promised to make up for the lost oil supplies but its high sulphur oil is in no way a replacement for the low sulphur oil of Libya. This price rise though seems pretty harmless may be the cause of another economic crisis in the world.

Lastly one should also keep in mind that Al Qaeda, one of the largest terrorist organisations in the world has welcomed the uprising and there seems to be a lot of thought going on behind this; for most of us have been ignorant of the fact that Gaddafi though a tyrant, had abolished all the radical Islamic practices from Libya. Can this be an opportunity for the radicals and the terrorist organisations to strengthen their position in the Arab Countries?

While the author welcomes the new oppression free life of the citizens of the concerned countries, and is no way against the enunciation of civil liberties, when one looks at the other side of the story and see the pieces of the zig saw puzzle falling together, revealing a grotesque picture, for one moment one feels inclined to think was world a better place without the uprising?