The New Nation - Internet Edition

Asif Haroon Raja

In the 16th and 17th century the Americans forcibly carted away African youth from Africa in ships like animals and employed them on their plantations to till their lands under most subhuman conditions. Practice of forced slavery continued till Abraham Lincoln came on the American scene and was elected president in 1860. He won the elections on the basis of his resolve to end slavery in USA and to harmonise relations between the whites and blacks. Once he took over, the southerners who favoured continuation of slavery rebelled and formed Confederate States of America. It propelled Union of Northern States to wage a war which raged for four years in which 620000 soldiers died. The culmination of civil war in 1864 led to abolition of slavery but the prejudice against blacks continued unabated. Racial segregation in public schools, restaurants, transportation remained in vogue till as late as 1964. However, despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibited discrimination of all kinds based on race, colour and creed, race tensions did not die down. Signboards reading ?dogs and blacks not allowed' in Whites dominated areas were seen till recent. A notorious gang Ku Klux Klan surfaced in America which comprised of hired assassins to assassinate blacks and those soft towards Afro-Americans.

Other than the race prejudices in USA, the American society is sharply divided between the liberals and the conservatives. The former is aligned with Democratic Party and the latter, also known as Christian fundamentalists, with Republican Party. The Afro-Americans are 44 million; non-white Hispanics from Latin America are plus of this figure and the Asians are nearly 20 million. All told, the non-whites in America are about 100 million strong and yet they have been denied higher posts in USA as a state policy. Collin Powel and Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of States and Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General were exceptions, but we also know how Powell and Alberto were used, humiliated and fired. We also know the fate of Martin Luther who had demanded civil rights for the blacks. Rice managed to sail through because of her pro-white and anti-black behaviour due to which she is the most despised women among the black community.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project survey of 24 countries as well as other surveys carried out had found Barack Hussein Obama to be the clear favourite in the 2008 presidential race. Within the Muslim world, except for Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, the rest had favoured Obama and had attached lot of hopes in him. One survey had showed majority of Israelis expressing scepticism about Obama. Amidst streaks of racial discrimination, superiority complex and egotism among white Americans, election of Democratic Party senator from Illinois Obama as the 44th president of USA on 4th November was a huge surprise and a monumental shift in world history. His colour and tag of half-Muslim added to his disqualification but he still made it to the White House despite a very close race with McCain. His election as the first black president has transformed a fanciful and wishful dream of the Afro-Americans into reality. His phenomenal rise to stardom inspires hope and it is wished that his era might herald a refreshing change from confrontation to conciliation, from intolerance to tolerance and making the world a safe place to live. Obama has promised change, both at home and internationally.

Obama's selection of his confidantes is meaningful and provides a food for thought for those who really desire to draw correct inferences based on logic and reasoning and not on whims and wishful thinking. Bruce Riedel who retired from CIA in 2006 has been appointed adviser on Pakistan. It is he who had fed Bush with the idea that Pakistan was the most dangerous country in the world. He had pressed Clinton in 1998 to fix Pakistan.

He sees Pakistan army as a source of all evil in the region and strongly advocates that it must be cut to size and turned into a police force. There is no reason to believe that Riedel would now change his mindset on Pakistan.

Ignoring 100 million Afro-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, Obama has chosen a white American Joe Biden as his Vice President. Selection of Hispanic origin Vice President would have fetched Obama tremendous political advantages and led to Afro-American-Hispanic political alliance. He has chosen a white Jew Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff which is again intriguing. It is an established fact that neither any American can hope to win presidential race without Jewish support. Even if he manages to win he cannot survive for long if he adopts anti-Israeli policy. Besides their hold on media and economy, the Jewish political strength can be gauged from the fact that it has 13 senators in 111-member strong Senate and 31 members in House of Representatives. In short, the Jewish lobby determines the fate of every president of USA and is in a position to make or break him. Every president endeavours to become the protector of Israel.

Hence it can be safely presumed that the Jews had a definite hand in Obama's election and would now like to extract their pound of flesh in return for the great favour bestowed upon him. Selection of Emanuel becomes all the more astonishing when seen in the background of his shady past. He is son of notorious Benjamin M. Emanuel who was an active member of terrorist Zionist group Irgun which carried out series of terrorist acts in Palestine from 1931 to 1948. It was declared as a terrorist group by UK as well as leading Zionist and Jewish organisations but USA refused to do so. After the creation of Israeli state, Irgun became part of Israeli government but did not refrain from terrorism.

This group supported by Bibi Netanyahu played a key role in masterminding 9/11 to trigger war on terror against the Muslims. Emanuel is a staunch supporter of Iraq war and is not expected to advise Obama to bring a change on war on terror to provide relief to the Muslims.

The nucleus of Democratic Party picked up Obama at an early stage and groomed him to assume higher responsibilities. In this, Pete Rouse who worked as Obama's COS soon after he became a Senator, John Podesta and Valerie Jarret played important roles.

Besides, Emanuel helped in arranging funds and in providing issues. As per Chicago Tribune story, he was the golden boy of Democrats who recruited the right candidate and did what no one else could do in seven cycles. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a darling of the Jews, has been tipped to take over as Secretary of State. She is known for her pro-Israel posture and had repeatedly declared during election campaign that she was committed to the cause of Israel. Mindful of Jewish and Indian sensitivities, she had returned campaign money from Pakistanis. Judging by these selections, it is likely that Obama too would follow Israeli centric policies. He has already announced his unconditional support for undivided Jerusalem as Israeli capital and his opposition to dialogue with the Hamas. He is unlikely to force Israel to settle Palestinian conflict against its wishes.

Induction of Indian-American Sonal Shah in his team rings another alarm bell. Like Emanuel, he too is linked with a terrorist group Vishwa Hari Prashad (VHP), which has an established history of terrorism. VHP hands are dripped in the blood of Indian Gujarat pogrom in 2003 and in the recent carnage of Christians in Orissa state of India. Besides Sonal, three other Indian-Americans have been inducted in the transition team namely Preeta Bansal, Nicholas Rathod and Anjan Mukherjee. Indian-American community in USA had overwhelmingly supported Obama and are being rewarded. Obama is likely to further reward India by solving the Kashmir dispute to its liking and making

Pakistan accept its hegemony in the region under the garb of collectively fighting the menace of terror. No Muslim has so far been selected despite this community being 17 million in USA and Muslims being the worst affected in war on terror unleashed by Bush in October 2001.

Obama has inherited a plate full of pressing and challenging problems. The most pressing one is the economic recession and the war on terror which has stuck American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan with little hope of their early retrieval. This war has become a bleeding wound for USA. It has so far spent over $6 trillion on this futile war which has badly damaged US reputation and credibility. USA defence expenditure is over $500 billion, its national debt is $10 trillion and domestic savings rate well below 10% of GDP and the unemployment is rising. It is the biggest debtor nation of the world since it over relies on debt as a state policy. Eight years of Bush misrule has left a bitter legacy all over the world and has badly bruised US image and credibility particularly among the Muslim world where anti-Americanism is on the rise. It is in this particular context that Obama has become relevant for White Americans. They want him to do what his predecessor could not achieve and finish the unfinished agenda.

Obama is mindful of the domestic challenges but he cannot overlook the resurgence of Russia and the economic challenge posed by China. Iran's nuclear ambitions and defiance of its leadership would bug his mind.

The Israelis that have all along pressed for a tough stance including military action against Iran would expect Osama to deal with Iran more aggressively than his predecessor. Unresolved Palestinian problem which is widely believed to be the root cause of instability in the world as well as Israeli sensitivities would figure high in his list. The Israelis would like him to deal with Hamas as well as Hezbollah firmly and resolve the Palestinian issue to their liking.