Of super rogues

WHEN Noam Chomsky writes about international affairs, his conclusions are eminently predictable. But if you are a political being, you still read him in order to buttress your own intuitive suspicions with a mind-boggling array of factual information, brilliant analyses and polemic about the way power operates. And if you at all care for scruples, justice, and rights, you are bound to agree with him and share his moral indignation. Chomsky's critical tools are, unlike those of the "Realist Theory-wed" scholars of international politics, ethical and moral.

This collection of essays, offering an insightful study of the concept of "rogue states" and the way it is (ab)used by the super powers, makes a devastating critique of the political hypocrisy and abuse of power that the super powers of the world perpetrate with impunity, ostensibly to tame the much demonised "rogue states" and to bestow salvation on the people "doomed" to live under the diabolic spell of their dictatorial rulers. The true reason behind this "humanitarian hegemonic violence" - as Chomsky demonstrates through indisputable evidence - is, however, not so much indignation at violations of human rights and international law, as at states stepping out of line with the super powers.

Interestingly, the major crimes by most of those states now termed rogues, were committed while they were loyal U.S. clients. Saddam Hussain, for instance, was "supported through his worst atrocities, changing status only when he disobeyed (or misunderstood) orders" from the U.S. Trujillo, Mobuttu, Marcos, Duvalier, Noriega, are examples of other amenable thugs who began to "misbehave". Similarly, brutalities by friendly "unbranded" rogues, such as Israel, continue to be defended and supported by the super powers, so much so that even fairly drafted U.N. resolutions get vetoed without any competition. Human rights violations and mass killings by friendly states like Turkey, Indonesia never evoked any indignant response from the super powers. They were at best glossed over or at worst openly supported.

This utter disregard for international law and norms have always been a hallmark of U.S. Foreign policy. The U.S. is admirably democratic internally, so much so that even its fiercest opponents seek shelter there for it offers apparent freedom. However, it unapologetically pursues a dictatorial and belligerent foreign policy, unconcerned with democratic norms and dictated by what is called "national interest". The now consensual disinjunction between the idea of "national interest" and all the notions of civilisational norms and values helps the superpowers escape moral or ethical scrutiny: President Clinton in 1993 impudently declared to the United Nations that the U.S. will act "multilaterally when possible, but unilaterally when necessary". This position was further elaborated in 1994 by Madeline Albright, then the U.N. Ambassador, and by Secretary of Defence William Cohen in 1999 who declared that the U.S. is committed to "unilateral use of military power" to defend its vital interests, which include "ensuring uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies, and strategic resources" and indeed anything that Washington might determine to be within its "domestic jurisdiction".

Super power arrogance assumed frightening proportions in the wake of the collapse of the USSR and the end of the cold war. "The contempt of the world's leading power for the frame work of world order" prompted even a hawkish establishmentarian like Samuel Huntington to warn the U.S. government of dire consequences. In the eyes of much of the world - probably most of the world, he suggested - the U.S. is "becoming the rogue superpower", considered the single greatest external threat to their societies. Realist "international relations theory", he argued, "predicts that coalitions may arise to counter-balance the rogue Super Power".

Almost all the instances of U.S. involvement in different parts of the world in recent times have been profoundly analysed in this book. The middle East, South Asia, the Carribean, Latin America, all these regions have suffered the lethal impact of their military domination and economic imperialism. U.S. statecraft has reduced rule of law at the international level to a farce, replacing it brazenly with military might and economic suzerainty.

This latest book by Chomsky is undoubtedly one of the most radical, informed and passionate critiques of the existing world order. It is a must read for all those who care to grasp the dynamics of international politics today, particularly so if they happen to be hapless inhabitants of the vast peripheries of the contemporary world. It is also a logical sequel to his other acclaimed works such as Powers and Prospects and World Orders Old and New.

SHAJAHAN MADAMPAT

Rogue States, Noam Chomsky, Indian Research Press, p. 252, Rs. 250.

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