World community leaves Palestinians and Rohingya in the lurch

Even in a bipolar world during the cold war, the international order was comparatively soberer and better balanced. Engagements of superpowers or their closer allies in armed conflicts on foreign soils or their open or clandestine support notwithstanding, the rivals stopped crossing each other's paths. Stockpiles of nuclear arsenals acted as an effective deterrent. The United Nations (UN) could still play some role of a moderator albeit the application of veto on major issues by the big five where interests of the two contending sides clashed.

Fast forward to the second decade of the new millennium--- skewed politics of the only superpower and the rise of China as an economic powerhouse complemented by its ambitious military programme and alliance with Russia, have reorganised equations among the big powers. Reversals suffered by old foes to their military campaigns in Afghanistan and other conflict-torn countries and regions may have given them enough reason for introspection but they refused to learn from those.

Invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the changed perspective of the legacy of the cold war almost was more a compulsion than an exercise of muscle flexing. It is because the aggressor was significantly weakened not only because of the fall of the Soviet Union earlier but also because of the global economic downturn in the aftermath of the Covid-19 epidemic. The failure of socialist dispensation opened the floodgates of all kinds of aberrations with the Tsarist cult resurfacing in a new form. Meanwhile, the champions of a so-called free world, individual liberty and human rights continued to give a blatant display of their hypocrisy in their relations to their protégées all across the world.

While the Western powers stoked internal strife in several countries smaller but rich in natural resources and highly important in terms of strategic locations in order to maintain their grips on them, China quietly advanced its economic interests. Not only did it capture markets with its cheaper product lines but also by buying mines of precious raw materials like that of copper in Afghanistan and Africa. Although the US still remains the world's number one economy, its prime position is threatened by China.

The world is currently facing the worst economic recession after the Great Depression that lasted a decade beginning from 1929. America and Europe are no exception to this harsh reality. This created a fertile ground for capturing power by far right political parties in Europe and by an eccentric who seems to precariously dangle on the verge of insanity but not without a method in madness.

It is because of this strange trait of character that the incumbent US president wants cessation of war between Russia and Ukraine on the one hand and wants to induct Canada as the 51st state of the US, purchase Greenland and wrest control of the Panama Canal. Clearly, Trump's 'America First' policy drives him to make all such forays in violation of international laws and principles. Obviously, he banks on his country's military might and economic prowess in total disregard for other country's rights and sovereignty. The man who made tall claim to stop war in Ukraine in 24 hours may have ended up violently destabilising the world if not igniting the third world war. To his credit, though, Trump talks straight unlike his predecessor whose double standard of sugar-coated words was diametrically opposite to the actions that followed. 

With the pandemic receding, generosity started drying up and humanitarian causes getting dumped to the back burner. The return of Donald Trump to power for the second time after the intervening traditional Joe Biden rule has suddenly brought the old order to an abrupt end. Not only generosity has become a casualty but the world has turned brutal and impervious.

It is because of this, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) falls short of providing for the displaced refugees. Food aid has been more than halved for the Rohingya. Both the Rohingya and the Palestinians have suffered brutal persecution. Given their differences, at several key points, however, their plights are tragic for no fault of their own. If the former are a stateless people, the latter have been reduced to refugees in their ancestral homeland. That such ethnic cleansing and genocide can take place in the 21st millennium is a shame to modern civilisation. Israel has become a carbuncle on the body of this civilisation courtesy of the US and Western backing.

Insanity is at its worst in Gaza and the West Bank where mass killing of the Palestinians go on with impunity and forcible settlements continue by evacuating them from their home and hearth. Similarly, around 1.0 million Rohingya evicted from Myanmar---their number has by now proliferated due to high birth rate to 1.3 million--- are now languishing in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The state-sponsored crimes in Myanmar and Palestine, not yet recognised as a sovereign state, can go on with active or indirect validation from big players on the world stage. Strangely, Trump who invalidates the policies of Biden on as important issues as relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) goes one step ahead in aiding Israel so that the latter can intensify its aggression against the Palestinians.

Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who recently visited Bangladesh, labels Israel's policy on occupation of and settlement in the West Bank as 'a war crime'. At a time Israel has renewed a wave of attacks on the Palestinians who returned to their devastated homes during the two-month ceasefire, his claim smacks of ludicrousness and an attempt to shift attention from the more burning problem.

The UN officials prove their insensitivity to the holy month of fasting. Had they have some respect for religion of the Muslims, they would put the best of their efforts to transition to the second phase of the three-phase ceasefire agreement. Israel was interested only to have their hostages released with no intention of pulling back from Gaza. The UN has failed miserably to play any role either in repatriation of the Rohingya or in persuading Israel to a permanent solution to the protracted Middle East conflict.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com