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from Japan Today March 8, 2003 http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=comment&id=355 World faces 'U.S. problem' by Osamu Nishitani While people the world over were enjoying the countdown for the 21st century, few of them realized that the century would be the era for a new war of an unprecedented kind. Of course, there had been conflicts here and there. But there no longer existed the Cold War to put them in a large framework. The problem humanity faced was no longer the threat of nuclear war but the control of regional conflicts at most. Indeed, the problem of urgently countering the threats to the global environment, and poverty and hunger, seemed uppermost. The remarkable divide separating the world into North and South was a negative result of colonial rule by so-called "civilized countries" over several centuries, and the economic structure of globalization had further accelerated the devastation of countries in the South. Therefore, to eradicate the ills of the poor countries with the assistance of the developed countries appeared to be the goal of humanity. But the unprecedented terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept 11, 2001, have drastically changed the nature of the problems in the new century. Although the "evil" of communism was defeated, there has emerged a new "evil" of terrorism, and the "civilized world" has to fight against it. The concept of peaceful development has dispersed like a dream, and the "war against terrorism" is given top priority. War is no longer to be fought unwillingly but to be fought "by all means." Diplomacy is being shaken off as if it had never existed. In order for named "enemies" to be prevented from being armed with nuclear weapons, possible nuclear attacks are openly mentioned. In order for them not to possess weapons of mass destruction, weapons of even more destructive power can be used. What is more, these claims are regarded in the international community as correct and no country seriously challenges them. What has caused these drastic changes? The cause is the attacks on the United States. U.S. leaders immediately understood who carried out the attacks, and why. They knew the "enemies" beforehand. Now, everybody knows that the people and organization named as criminals were originally nurtured by the U.S. Middle East policy but turned against their former sponsors. But the U.S. administration suppressed questions about why the United States has become the target of such violence, gave no time to its citizens to think about it and succeeded in mobilizing them for a "preemptive" war. The 21st century's war is said to be one between states and non-states (or rogue states) - a confrontation between "civilization" and "the uncivilized." If this pattern is to be followed, countries would stage wars in the name of "civilization," and crush non-states or the uncivilized by any means. With the end of the Cold War, the United States became the sole superpower. But it appears to have chosen to incorporate the world into a new "order of war" by further strengthening its military power, rather than taking responsibility to create a peaceful world order. The U.S., having a massive war industry overdeveloped in the 20th century, and requiring huge amounts of energy and materials to maintain the "American way of life," appears to need the plot of a "large-scale war" to continue to be unilaterally "prosperous." The reason modern "civilization" has become hard to tell from barbarism is that destruction and murder have been mobilized to keep it intact. Previously, "civilization" was ashamed of such a perversion. But now, those claiming to represent civilization do not conceal that they are uncivilized themselves, and boast that they would return part of Asia to the Stone Age in retaliation. At the beginning of the new century, U.S. leaders who manage world affairs think only about how to maintain their own monopolistic prosperity and carry their will, using even the United Nations as their butler. There is no country to check the United States, and those planning to resist, like Afghanistan and Iraq, are going to be remodeled by destructive air raids, which have the effect of encouraging other governments to act in line with the U.S. will. This is something that should be called "control by terror." The problems raised by the United States do not pose a danger to the world. Rather, the United States itself is the problem. World leaders are controlled by a leader who, like a thug, only wants to resort to force, and they completely lack suitability as leaders - this is the real "problem" driving the world into danger. ____________________ The writer graduated from the Law Faculty at the University of Tokyo and finished his master's course at the graduate school of Tokyo Metropolitan University. His books include, "Immortality Wonderland," "What is war against terrorism?," and "Theory of War." __________________________ http://www.japantoday.com/ ===== LMNOP http://lmno4p.org "No War for Oil!" __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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