'How the other half dies'

WTO: By an intriguing co-incidence the recent WTO talks collapse almost coincided with the cataclysmic Israeli military incursion of Lebanon.

There is apparently no concrete link between the developments - one relating to multilateral trade negotiations and the other closely connected to the power politics of the Middle East - but they are both, perhaps, symptomatic of the increasing powerlessness of those states which are proving to be of less consequence in the current world order. The states in question are obviously those of the Third World or those that count as developing countries. The Lebanon of today and Iraq and Afghanistan, to a lesser degree, symbolize the growing unequal power relations between the world's biggest powers and the Third or developing world.

The conflicts in the Middle East and South West Asia, illustrate most dramatically the grossly unequal nature of the contemporary international order. They should serve to remind us that as far as the Third World is concerned, very little has changed from, for instance, the sixties and seventies of the last century, when the bulk of the Third World was compelled to champion the cause of non-alignment.

The concept of non-alignment is seen as invalid in some quarters as a result of the crumbling of the Cold War in the late eighties, but the WTO process held out some hope of the Third World garnering some economic gains for itself, even though as a collectivity, the Third World has failed to pressurise the big economic powers into reforming the world economic system in keeping with their fundamental interests.

Nevertheless, the WTO process kept Third World economic hopes alive on account of it proving an important multilateral economic fora for debating some issues facing the developing countries.

With the collapse of the WTO process, the economic outlook for the Third World could be considered as having been clouded although the WTO breakdown should not be seen as a permanent debacle which cannot be rectified.

However, the WTO setback coincides with the Lebanese tragedy in a thought-provoking twin development which epitomizes the world's current power relations and the disadvantageous position occupied by the Third World in the global power structure. Inasmuch as the Third World on the whole is not in a position to alter global economic relations radically in its favour, its relative military incapacity too renders it a victim of global military and political imbalances.

To be sure, a ceasefire is finally in place in Lebanon and Israel would be hopefully reducing its military presence in Lebanon's South, but it has gone uncondemned for violating the tenets of international law by, firstly, invading Lebanon, and secondly, by taking scores of Lebanese lives and wreaking massive destruction in the state. The 900,000 displaced Lebanese underscore the revolting nature of the military incursion.

Still, the big powers would prefer to fall short of taking Israel to task for its excesses and violations of international law. This is, of course, mainly because Israel is an ally of the US and the US is a principal member of the UN Security Council which has a decisive say in issues relating to global law and order. The problem of Hizbollah terror should have been taken up with the UN by Israel and defused early rather than by it launching military action.

Accordingly, what is thought-provoking for the powerless of the world is that their condition in the world system has hardly changed from those times when nonalignment was seen as an important principle for their survival and the advancement of their political, economic and cultural interests.

It is plain that the world community is yet to devise an international order which could meet even some of the minimal demands of the Third World. Might and not right is proving the decisive factor in moulding international relations.