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A world Perspective on 2004; an Annus Mirabilis that is What It was!
How would you like to remember the departing year 2004? As the eventful year is winding down very fast, it is a time to reflect back all the good things that happened this year and bad things that plagued the blue planet of ours. Apart from the election in Afghanistan and the handover of governance to Iraqis by America in the middle of the year, I cannot think of any good thing that I will remember further down the road. Yes, we had quite a few elections that took place in different democracies round the world with contrasting results.
In May 2004, Indians went to polling place in droves to oust the Hindu fundamentalist government of Atal Behari Vajpayee to reinstitute the secular party Congress at the helm. On November 2, we witnessed a tightly contested race in America. Even though John Kerry had received more votes � percentage wise � than Bill Clinton or any other Democrats in recent times, he lost to a warmongering president who represents the conservatives in America. Then in November 21, the Ukrainians went to poll to elect their new president. This election according to many observers were rigged a big time favoring a Putin-backed candidate, which led to a popular revolt dubbed as �Orange Revolution.� The rigged election results were annulled setting the stage for a new election on December 26. Ukrainians on that day will make history to set the record right. Of course, these are the marvels of a democratic nation. What did happen to Ukraine vis-�-vis the �Orange Revolution� is unthinkable during the Soviet days. The New World Order that became a catchphrase after 1991 dismantling of the Old Russian Empire (sarcastically put, though) is like a bonanza for freedom-loving people. Former Soviet democracies could boast having many rich oligarchs. Indeed, a Ukrainian colleague of mine told me that both Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych are part of this newly formed oligarchic system. It is a power play between two groups of oligarchs. The common people however think that they are fighting for a cause. Politicians indeed have a way with their people. They know what to say to their people to give the impression that they are fighting for a vause.
Mr. George Bush�s war effort in Iraq did not go the way Pentagon planners wanted; instead, the insurgency reared its ugly head causing many deaths and destruction. The largest single day casualty happens to take place on December 21 killing 22 men in a mess in northern city Mosul; most of them were U.S. soldiers. Mr. Rumsfeld, U.S. defense secretary, went to Iraq for boosting the morale of American soldiers only to find that insurgents detonating yet another bomb minutes after Secretary Rumsfeld had left Baghdad airport. The bottom line is that insurgencies had grown by leaps and bounds in Iraq and one may thank Mr. Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld profusely for this nasty development.
The two nations that played the game �hide and go seek� throughout the year were North Korea (infant terrible) and Iran (Mullah�s paradise). Pyongyang�s neighbors and America had arranged not one but two meetings (Beijing Two and Beijing Three) one in February and the other in June 2004 to pacify that rogue nation from blasting its nuke it clams to have possessed; the meetings went nowhere and threats still linger. The Mullahs in Iran gave conflicting signals to IAEA and the world. Iran claims to have gas centrifuges for enrichment of uranium, which is obligatory in nuke making.
Early in January 2004, the architect of Pakistan�s Islamic Atom bomb, Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, and one of his top aids, General Mirza Aslam Beg, was in proverbial political hot water. Mr. Khan and his military aid, Gen. M. Aslam Beg were about to be prosecuted under Pakistan �Official Secrets Act� when that nation�s investigators unearthed some very damaging evidences that point out the duo�s involvement in selling nuclear secrets to Iran during 1980s. Nonetheless, Gen. Musharraf pardoned Dr. Khan in an emotional televised speech for the fear that the entire military establishment in Pakistan might be dragged into this fiasco. During the debates between Bush and Kerry in September and October 2004, Mr. Bush wrongly said that A.Q. Khan was brought to justice. But you know what? No news network or print newspaper that I know of took Mr. Bush to task for his wrong assertion.
Some civil rights group had unearthed the news of the genocide of indigenous Sudanese people in Darfur region early in the year; however, no major nations took any actions before an estimated twenty to thirty thousand people had vanished into the thin air. The U.S. finally took an interest in Darfur massacre. It seems as if the Khartoum Administration was playing games with the lives of the indigenous people in western Sudan as �Janjawid� horsemen wreaked havoc by burning villages, raping women, and killing able-bodied men. It is heartening to know that because of too much publicity in the news another Rwanda was averted.
Osama bin Laden and his �fine� organization were in the news throughout 2004. Thanks to al-Jazeerah television network for a �fine job� they are doing. The terror organization, al-Qaeda, and their partner from North African states had successfully bombed some train compartments on March 11, 2004 resulting in the deaths of 190 people and worse influencing the national election in Spain. Both Mr. bin Laden and his trusted lieutenant, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri had sent either audio or videotaped message to al-Jazeerah in which both of the terrorist leaders have given empty threats to America. Mr. bin Laden�s videotaped message was released in late October right before the U.S. election. That action of Mr. bin Laden may have strengthened Mr. Bush�s candidacy. However, in all honesty, both Mr. Bush and bin Laden need each other to cling to the catbird seat of power.
To catch Mr. bin Laden and to hand over the renegade Islamist, Gen. Musharraf sent soldiers in Waziristan near Pak-Afghanistan border. It made the General extremely unpopular amongst the Islamists and Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) politicians. Musharraf is paying a heavy price for being such a loyal ally of America. He has abandoned his alliance with MMA and now trying to appease Ms. Benazir Bhutto to form an alliance with Pakistan Peoples� Party (PPP).
This is the year Mr. Muammar Gaddafi, who used to be the poster boy Islamic world in the eighties finally saw a divine light. His nation not only paid the blood money to relatives of the Lockerbie plane crash but also make amends to his political philosophy. Mr. Gaddafi had all but renounced terrorism if one could believe him. From now onwards, he wants to be a team player and asking Americans to set up factories in his country, which suffering from economic malaise. However, the Saudis now they say that Gaddafi sent mercenaries to kill the crown prince of their nation. Old habit does not die so early or does it?
Mr. Putin�s Russia has seen a lot in 2004. The presidential election was a big deal for Russians and Mr. Putin wanted to win it by a big margin. He became way too much authoritarian as a president. He jailed a few oligarchs who became very rich by buying state-run petroleum companies at low low price during the heydays of President Boris Yeltsin when the fever of free market economy was running amuck allover Russia. The Kremlin brought charges against billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Chairman of oil giant Yukus and put him behind the bar in a place crammed with common Moscow criminals because Khodorkovsky financed the election of a few presidential aspirants to show his disdain for Mr. Vladimir Putin. A streak of authoritarianism now runs in Mr. Putin�s presidency. Consequently, the oil giant, Yukus, is now on the verge of bankruptcy. Will this deter foreign investment in Russia? Yes, you had better believe it. Russians have endured an assault on them by Chechen separatists who blasted bombs in a schoolyard that killed hundreds of innocent victims. What a shame!
Amongst all these negative developments in the world, the bright spot is South Asian where the nations are making a stride to improve their economies notwithstanding gross civil rights violations in one of them (Bangladesh). Other Muslim majority nations are also making an effort to improve their economy. The nation of Turkey just got the word out that EU may let the nation in but after watching it for 10-15 years. The Saudis have finally taken steps to curb fund raising activities by terrorists in the name of charity. For example, al-Haramain, a well-known Muslim charity in Saudi Arabia was banned because it was unearthed by America�s intelligence that the charity was deeply involved in funding all kinds of terrorist outfits. For this action and for being way too much loyal to America, terrorists have attacked some oil installations in remote part of the kingdom where Americans lived and worked. After these attacks, many Americans left Saudi Arabia for good. On top of it, al-Qaeda militants struck a major Saudi target, a police station, on April 21, 2004 in Riyadh.
Amidst all this hopelessness, a shinning star gave us some sense of hope and direction. The world economy was not in the doldrums this year. The world had endured a nasty recession in 2001 and 2002. The economic expansion that was started in 2003 continued throughout 2004. In all likelihood, the economy probably will improve in the coming year. The financial market behaved properly without any nasty surprise.
In summary, I will call 2004 an annus mirabilis (a fateful year) for reasons that I enumerated in this article. The news of Iraqi insurgency-led death and destruction had dominated the headlines in this eventful year. Amidst all these negativities, our humanity is trying to cope up with the vengeance unleashed by America in the post 9-11 days. I hope that as we internalize 9-11 incident, the world will condemn the barbaric act unleashed by both al-Qaeda and their archenemy, America and shun violence brought on by forces. Indeed, it is a New World Order. ------------------------------- Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA
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