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First Post
28-04-2025
- Business
- First Post
Fall of the West, rise of the Rest
As America withdraws into a Trumpian shell, Europe will be forced to fight its own tribal wars. Postcolonial Europe's economies are struggling with low growth. Immigration from Asia and Africa has turned cities like London into a white-minority metropolis read more Two brutal intra-European wars between 1914 and 1945, which dragged the rest of the world into them, marked the beginning of the end of Western global supremacy. This wasn't, however, immediately apparent at the end of the Second World War in 1945. The United States was a superpower. Western Europe possessed dozens of colonies across Asia and Africa. Its cultural influence in film, literature and media held global sway. The West was at the peak of its geopolitical power. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan said: 'Britain must play Greece to America's Rome.' Washington, he implied, would provide the brawn, London the brains. The West may eventually lose its colonies, but with US military and economic leadership it could remain the world's dominant civilisation force. The Ottoman Empire that had periodically threatened Western supremacy for centuries was gone. Its rump successor, Turkey, was absorbed into the European ecosystem. It joined NATO in 1952. The oil-rich Middle East the Ottomans had controlled now lay in Western hands. Iran was a Western protectorate. Its luxury-loving Shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, allowed US and European companies access to Iran's vast oil reserves. In Iraq, the CIA engineered a coup to oust the government of Prime Minister Abdul Karim-Qasim in 1963 and installed the Ba'athist Party in power. Iraq's oil fields too were now under Western control. Across Asia, Africa and South America, the writ of the West ran large. Most European colonies became independent decades after India: British-ruled Malaya split into Malaysia and Singapore in 1957 but Britain's African colonies gained freedom only in the 1960s: Nigeria in 1960, Uganda in 1962, and Kenya in 1963. India was widely resented in the West, especially in Britain, for setting off a domino effect of de-colonisation in 1947 that led to the extinguishment of British, French and Dutch colonial empires, built over centuries, in a matter of years. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD That resentment continues to fester, especially as India has defied Western predictions of postcolonial balkanisation. Instead of breaking up, India is on the verge of becoming the world's third largest economy in 2027. At independence, after 200 years of British colonial rule, India's absolute poverty rate was 80 per cent. Today it is 8 per cent. None of this would have caused the US-led West's undue concern. The West's economic and military dominance was still overwhelming. Then an old European habit struck. Just as in 1914, and again in 1939, when Europeans had waged suicidal war on one another, history repeated itself in the 1990s. The Balkan wars stretched through the decade to 1999. Yugoslavia was dismembered into seven new countries ranging from Croatia and Serbia to Slovenia and Montenegro. But all seemed well in the Western world as 2000 dawned: the Soviet Union had been dismantled. Its diminished successor, Russia, was invited to join the exclusive G7 group of nations, renamed the G8. For a while Russia toyed with the idea of joining the European Union (EU) and perhaps even NATO. The US, distracted by the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, let matters drift in Europe through the early 2000s. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But Europe's deep-rooted tribal animosities between Slavs, led by Russia, and Anglo-Saxons, led by Britain and Germany, soon resurfaced. The spark was lit by NATO's relentless expansion towards Russia's borders. The CIA meanwhile overthrew the pro-Russian Yanukovych government in Ukraine in 2014. A furious Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Ukraine's Crimea to protect its Baltic Sea fleet. Russia was immediately evicted from the US-led G8 which was once again renamed the G7 and sanctions imposed on Moscow. By 2022, Europe had fully turned on itself following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as it had in WWI, WW2 and the Balkan wars. Abandoning Ukraine With US President Donald Trump threatening last week to wash his hands off the Russia-Ukraine war which has killed and wounded several lakh Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, Europe may be left alone to fight its continent's wars. But as in previous purely European conflicts, it has again dragged in other countries: North Korea in the Kursk region and Chinese soldiers, two of whom were recently displayed in public as prisoners of war (PoW) by Ukraine, flouting international humanitarian law. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The larger problem facing the West now is America's disengagement with Europe under President Trump. If Trump abandons American peace efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and also eases sanctions on Moscow, he will be writing the first draft of the obituary of the Western alliance. The simultaneous rise of the China-Russia-North Korea-Iran axis poses the most potent threat to Western global supremacy since the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact Powers in 1950. India leads the Global South, the third axis in this evolving Great Power dynamic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Saudi Arabia and the India-Nordic summit in Oslo in May reflect India's role as a balancing pivot between the US-led West and China-led East. The Western colonial era was founded on economic exploitation, military conquest and unfair trade practices that drained the wealth of countries like India and China while enriching the West as it industrialised and built prosperous societies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The fall last week in the price of US treasury bills, regarded as the world's safe haven, is an early warning sign that the days of US exceptionalism are numbered. As America withdraws into a Trumpian shell, Europe will be forced to fight its own tribal wars. Postcolonial Europe's economies are struggling with low growth. Immigration from Asia and Africa has turned cities like London, which once billed itself as the capital of the world, into a white-minority metropolis. The ratio of British whites in London is down to 27 per cent. Another 20 per cent are whites from other European countries, principally Ireland, France, Germany and Poland. White Britons have fled to the countryside. Other large British cities like Birmingham and Leicester are also coloured-majority. But the biggest wrench for former colonial nations in Western Europe – Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal – is the ideological loss of their earliest colony across the Atlantic. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The writer is an editor, author and publisher. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
Arab News
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
1979 - The Iranian Revolution, the siege of Makkah, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
RIYADH: In a region in which major geopolitical events are almost commonplace, the trio of seismic shocks that erupted in 1979 made it a year like no other. A single thread connected the Iranian revolution, the siege of Makkah and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: The birth of a brand of Islamic extremism that would have catastrophic consequences for millions, with repercussions that continue to reverberate around the entire world to this day. The first rumblings began the previous year, amid widespread disquiet in Iran at the increasingly oppressive rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, whose 'White Revolution' reforms were seen by many as pushing the Westernization of the country too far, too quickly. A religious demonstration in January 1978 in the city of Qom, a center of Shiite scholarship 130 kilometers southwest of the capital, Tehran, was broken up violently when security forces opened fire, killing as many as 300 protesters, mainly seminary students. Demonstrations spread to cities across the country, culminating by the end of the year in widespread strikes and protests amid demands that the shah step down and Grand Ayatollah Khomeini be allowed to return from exile in France. On Jan. 16, 1979, the shah and his family left Iran, never to return. On Feb. 1, Khomeini arrived at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, stepping off an Air France flight from Paris after 15 years in exile to a tumultuous welcome by millions of Iranians. Within 10 days, the last remaining vestiges of the old regime had collapsed and Shapour Bakhtiar, the prime minister appointed by the shah barely a month earlier, fled into exile. The newspaper covered the Iranian government's 'first major crisis' as pro-Shah troops clashed with demonstrators in Ahwaz, reigniting tensions amidst a concurrent earthquake. On April 1, 1979, the results of a national referendum were revealed and, with the support of more than 98 percent of the voters, Khomeini declared the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, of which he would be supreme leader. The Iranian Revolution was founded on a sectarian constitutional basis that emphasized the export of its revolutionary ideology, and so it fueled sectarian tensions across the region. The revolution introduced the Guardianship of the Jurist theory (Wilayat Al-Faqih), a sectarian principle that positions the Islamic jurist, or expert on Islamic law, above the state and its people, granting him ultimate authority over foreign relations and national security. Crucially, the guardian jurist perceives himself to be the leader of all Muslims worldwide, his authority not limited to Iranians or even Shiites. It was this claim of universal leadership that most alarmed other countries in the region, as the theory disregards state sovereignty, promotes sectarian groups, and grants the revolutionary regime the 'right' to intervene in the affairs of other nations. The new Islamic Republic's commitment to the principle of exporting its revolution further exacerbated regional hostilities, with the Iran-Iraq War that broke out in 1980 serving as a flash point. Iran's revolutionary agenda had sought to undermine Iraq, a pivotal Arab country, by inciting and supporting Shiite groups and militias with training, financial aid and weapons. Ultimately, it would be these groups that formed the basis of the militias Iran leveraged extensively after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Saddam Hussein's Baath regime fell. It was not long before the fears among Iran's neighbors that the revolution would spread throughout the region appeared to be realized. The shah and his family flee Iran. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after 15 years in exile. Angered by Washington's refusal to return the shah for trial, revolutionaries seize the US Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Religious extremists seize control of the Grand Mosque of Makkah. Call to noon prayer brings thousands of worshippers to the mosque for the first time in three weeks. Soviet troops invade Afghanistan. Last detachment of Soviet troops leaves Afghanistan. On Nov. 20, 1979, following the dawn prayer in the Grand Mosque of Makkah, more than 200 armed men, led by Juhayman Al-Otaibi, a religious extremist, seized the sacred site and announced that the long-awaited Mahdi, the harbinger of the day of judgment, prophesied to bring justice after a period of oppression, had appeared. This supposed Mahdi was Al-Otaibi's brother-in-law, Mohammed Al-Qahtani. Al-Otaibi instructed his followers to lock the doors of the mosque and position snipers atop its minarets, which overlook Makkah. Meanwhile, the man identified as the Mahdi, who believed himself to be under divine protection, was swiftly shot by Saudi special forces when he appeared during the clashes without protection. The siege of Makkah continued for 14 days, ending with the capture and execution of Al-Otaibi and dozens of his surviving fellow insurgents. While there was no evidence to suggest direct Iranian involvement in the seizure of the Grand Mosque, the revolutionary climate in Iran provided ideological inspiration for many extremist movements and armed organizations during that period. The Saudi government's robust response to the siege sent a clear and unequivocal message to extremist factions: rebellion and violent ideologies would not be tolerated. This strategy of deterrence proved instrumental in safeguarding the Kingdom from further violence and bloodshed. Arab News reported the siege's end, citing 75 'renegades' killed, 135 captured, and 60 Saudi soldiers dead 'in the service of God.' But 1979 had a further shock in store. On Dec. 25, just over a month after the siege of Makkah ended, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. The invasion took place during a period of intense political instability in the country. In 1978, President Mohammed Daoud Khan and his family were overthrown and killed by Nur Mohammed Taraki, a Communist. Taraki's rule was short-lived; his former political party comrade, Hafizullah Amin, seized power and killed him. Amin's attempts to align Afghanistan more closely with the US prompted the Soviets to orchestrate his assassination, replacing him with Babrak Karmal, a more reliable Communist, thereby securing a more compliant leadership. The Soviet intervention was driven by a combination of motives. Economically, Afghanistan's wealth of natural resources made it a valuable target. Politically, the invasion aimed to help prop up the faltering Communist regime and ensure no hostile government emerged in Afghanistan, a key neighbor within the Soviet Union's immediate geopolitical sphere. This was particularly critical within the broader context of the Cold War, in which the US was actively working to counter Soviet influence by encircling the Soviet Union and curbing its expansionist ambitions. Arab News reported Afghan minister Muhammad Abdo Yamani urging Austria to demand Soviet forces 'out' of Afghanistan and suggesting an embargo to pressure their withdrawal. The Soviet army faced strong resistance in Afghanistan from the Islamist Mujahideen, who received substantial support from international powers, particularly the US and its regional allies, and in the end the intervention proved futile. For 10 years the Soviet Union endured significant human and material losses in Afghanistan but failed to regain control and political stability in the country through the political system they endorsed. This system lacked popular legitimacy and controlled only limited territory, with the rest of the country remaining under the control of opposition forces. All these factors finally compelled the Soviet army to withdraw from Afghanistan after almost a decade. A subsequent civil war culminated in Taliban coming to power in 1996. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had far-reaching consequences. Geopolitically, it exposed the limitations of the Soviet army, and the failure in Afghanistan coincided with internal political and economic decline within the Soviet Union, its inability to compete with the US in the arms race, and the outbreak of popular uprisings in countries that had adopted the socialist model. As such, the invasion is widely regarded as a major contributing factor in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Afghan resistance fighters repelled the Soviet invasion with immense human cost and significant Western, especially US, aid. An estimated 1.5 million Afghans died in the conflict. AFP The war also became a breeding ground for extremist jihadist movements. Arabs and Muslims who joined the Afghan resistance found the conflict to be a unifying platform, drawing leaders and fighters from several countries in the Islamic world. Upon returning to their homelands, these individuals brought with them military expertise and radical ideologies. This environment facilitated the establishment of terrorist organizations, as these veterans sought to replicate the armed struggle to overthrow regimes in their own countries. The most prominent product of this phenomenon was Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who fought alongside the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He founded the terror group Al-Qaeda, which emerged as a leading force among extremist religious organizations. Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda played a central role in the global wave of terrorism that culminated in the 9/11 attacks on the US, and all the repercussions that followed. These included the invasion of Afghanistan by a US-led coalition in 2001, and the rise of Iranian-backed terror groups in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, which ultimately led to the rise of Daesh.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iran's long rivalry with the United States
(Reuters) - Relations between Iran and the United States - once strong allies - have often been mistrustful and sometimes openly hostile since Iran's 1979 revolution. Here are some key dates: 1953 - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency helps orchestrate the overthrow of Iran's popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. 1967 - The United States provides Iran with a nuclear reactor and enriched uranium fuel. Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing it a civilian nuclear programme but not a military one, in 1968. 1972 - U.S. President Richard Nixon visits Tehran to strengthen security relations between the countries - part of a policy to make Iran and Saudi Arabia "twin pillars" of the U.S. strategy to contain Soviet influence in the Middle East. 1979 - Iran's Islamic Revolution forces the shah to flee. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile and becomes Supreme Leader. Students seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold staff hostage. 1980 - The United States cuts diplomatic ties with Iran, seizes Iranian assets and bans most trade with it. A hostage rescue mission ordered by President Jimmy Carter fails. The hostages are released minutes after Carter steps down. 1983 - Lebanon's Hezbollah group, founded and backed by Iran, is accused by the U.S. of bomb attacks on its Beirut embassy and marine barracks that kill about 300 people, mostly Americans. Hezbollah has said other groups were responsible. 1984 - The United States restores ties with Iraq, giving it diplomatic backing in a war against Iran. 1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan reveals secret arms deal with Tehran in violation of an arms embargo. 1988 - The U.S. Navy destroys two Iranian oil platforms and sinks a frigate in retaliation for damage to a U.S. vessel that hit an Iranian mine. U.S. warship Vincennes mistakenly shoots down an Iranian passenger plane over the Gulf, killing all 290 aboard. 2002 - President George W. Bush declares Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil". U.S. officials accuse Tehran of operating a secret nuclear weapons program. 2003 - Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias gain wide sway in parts of the country and stage attacks on U.S. forces. 2011 - The FBI says it has uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Iran denies any involvement. 2012 - U.S. law gives U.S. President Barack Obama, who has offered to extend a hand if Tehran "unclenches its fist", power to sanction foreign banks if they fail to significantly reduce imports of Iranian oil, leading to an economic downturn in Iran. 2013 - Hassan Rouhani is elected Iran's president on a platform of improving its relations with the world and boosting the economy. 2015 - Iran and six major powers, including the United States, agree to a nuclear deal curbing Iran's nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief. 2016 - Iran releases 10 U.S. sailors who ended up in Iranian territorial waters. The United States and Iran swap prisoners. 2018 - U.S. President Donald Trump withdraws from the nuclear deal and reimposes economic sanctions on Iran. 2019 - Oil tankers are attacked in the Gulf in May and June. The United States blames Iran, a charge Tehran denies. 2020 - The United States kills Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani with a strike in Iraq. Iran strikes back with missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing American troops, injuring about 100. 2022 - Major protests grip Iran. The United States imposes sanctions on entities it says are involved in the crackdown. 2023 - Iran releases five imprisoned Iranian-American dual citizens in return for a sanctions waiver. Washington releases five detained Iranians days later. On October 7, Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacks U.S.-ally Israel, killing 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, prompting an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that Palestinian health authorities say has killed more than 50,000 people. Iran-backed Hezbollah starts firing on Israel in what it calls solidarity with Gaza. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group attacks Red Sea shipping and fires drones at Israel in support of Hamas. 2024 - Israeli attacks on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel in Syria and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah prompt two direct Iranian attacks on Israel. The United States helps shoot down Iranian missiles and drones. 2025 - Trump threatens to bomb Iran if it does not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says any U.S. attack on his country would prompt "a strong reciprocal blow". (Compiled by Arshad Mohammed and Angus McDowall; Editing by Janet Lawrence and William Maclean)
Reuters
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Iran's long rivalry with the United States
April 1 (Reuters) - Relations between Iran and the United States - once strong allies - have often been mistrustful and sometimes openly hostile since Iran's 1979 revolution. Here are some key dates: 1953 - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency helps orchestrate the overthrow of Iran's popular Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, restoring to power Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. 1967 - The United States provides Iran with a nuclear reactor and enriched uranium fuel. Iran signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing it a civilian nuclear programme but not a military one, in 1968. 1972 - U.S. President Richard Nixon visits Tehran to strengthen security relations between the countries - part of a policy to make Iran and Saudi Arabia "twin pillars" of the U.S. strategy to contain Soviet influence in the Middle East. 1979 - Iran's Islamic Revolution forces the shah to flee. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns from exile and becomes Supreme Leader. Students seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold staff hostage. 1980 - The United States cuts diplomatic ties with Iran, seizes Iranian assets and bans most trade with it. A hostage rescue mission ordered by President Jimmy Carter fails. The hostages are released minutes after Carter steps down. 1983 - Lebanon's Hezbollah group, founded and backed by Iran, is accused by the U.S. of bomb attacks on its Beirut embassy and marine barracks that kill about 300 people, mostly Americans. Hezbollah has said other groups were responsible. 1984 - The United States restores ties with Iraq, giving it diplomatic backing in a war against Iran. 1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan reveals secret arms deal with Tehran in violation of an arms embargo. 1988 - The U.S. Navy destroys two Iranian oil platforms and sinks a frigate in retaliation for damage to a U.S. vessel that hit an Iranian mine. U.S. warship Vincennes mistakenly shoots down an Iranian passenger plane over the Gulf, killing all 290 aboard. 2002 - President George W. Bush declares Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil". U.S. officials accuse Tehran of operating a secret nuclear weapons program. 2003 - Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias gain wide sway in parts of the country and stage attacks on U.S. forces. 2011 - The FBI says it has uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Iran denies any involvement. 2012 - U.S. law gives U.S. President Barack Obama, who has offered to extend a hand if Tehran "unclenches its fist", power to sanction foreign banks if they fail to significantly reduce imports of Iranian oil, leading to an economic downturn in Iran. 2013 - Hassan Rouhani is elected Iran's president on a platform of improving its relations with the world and boosting the economy. 2015 - Iran and six major powers, including the United States, agree to a nuclear deal curbing Iran's nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief. 2016 - Iran releases 10 U.S. sailors who ended up in Iranian territorial waters. The United States and Iran swap prisoners. 2018 - U.S. President Donald Trump withdraws from the nuclear deal and reimposes economic sanctions on Iran. 2019 - Oil tankers are attacked in the Gulf in May and June. The United States blames Iran, a charge Tehran denies. 2020 - The United States kills Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani with a strike in Iraq. Iran strikes back with missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing American troops, injuring about 100. 2022 - Major protests grip Iran. The United States imposes sanctions on entities it says are involved in the crackdown. 2023 - Iran releases five imprisoned Iranian-American dual citizens in return for a sanctions waiver. Washington releases five detained Iranians days later. On October 7, Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacks U.S.-ally Israel, killing 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, prompting an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that Palestinian health authorities say has killed more than 50,000 people. Iran-backed Hezbollah starts firing on Israel in what it calls solidarity with Gaza. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group attacks Red Sea shipping and fires drones at Israel in support of Hamas. 2024 - Israeli attacks on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel in Syria and the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah prompt two direct Iranian attacks on Israel. The United States helps shoot down Iranian missiles and drones. 2025 - Trump threatens to bomb Iran if it does not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says any U.S. attack on his country would prompt "a strong reciprocal blow".
