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Regime change - the rationale

In the world, family governments change either democratically or violently. In the past, violent changes of governments have taken place more often. Fortunately, the current situation in government changes are comparatively non violent.

Change of government is generally known as ‘regime change’. In the present world order, rich and powerful countries manoeuvre to have control over small countries with natural resources or which are strategically situated. They want the rulers of other countries of their choice to be under their control. They want to have control over the natural resources as a long-term political strategy.


Escalating Libyan uprising has a negative impact on oil rich economy. Picture. courtesy: Google

One of the main reasons to seek control over other nations is natural resources and energy. Energy is in great demand today especially for developed and industrialized countries. The main consumers of energy today are not in possession of resources in their countries. Therefore, they depend on oil and gas rich countries. Apart from nuclear power energy, today, is still in the form of oil and gas without which rich countries cannot prosper.

Complete use of nuclear power or other sources of energy such as solar, wind, waste is not yet achievable. The best method for rich countries to have control over the natural resources of other countries is to have puppet regimes and make regime changes accordingly.

Natural resources

Some countries though rich in natural resources are poor in other ways. Nigeria and many other African countries are rich in natural resources such as oil, gold, copper, diamond and gas. Their wealth is being used by rich countries and NGOs when the local population is living in poverty and misery. Iraq has been the cradle of civilization where its history runs back to over 5,000 years. It is oil rich and was ruled by Saddam Hussain with his iron fist and had full control over the resources which he manoeuvred and manipulated.

There were allegations that Iraq is in possession of nuclear arms and despite the fact that the United Nations found the opposite, there was compulsion for a regime change with the change of the leader Saddam Hussain who was alleged to be a dictatorial leader backed by the army.

Though no nuclear arms were found, the country is now ruled by an elected regime but is unstable and has not been blessed with peace, prosperity or development. The country is in shatters since bombs are exploded, businesses are being wasted and the nation is in flames. The suffering of the people is enormous. Afghanistan is a haven for Al Qaeda and terrorist activities. Elected governments in Afghanistan are shaky and the people go through misery despite the new found resources in the country, apart from the existing traditional wealth.

Libya

Libya is another source of oil and it was governed previously by Colonel Gadaffi who had a tight grip of the country. Now it is divided and a part of it is controlled by rebels. The situation is dangerous and disruption is enormous while the loss of human lives is immense. It was an oil rich country run by the iron fist of Gadaffi and powerful countries and NGOs were continuously aiming for Libya’s oil. The situation in the Middle East is very uncertain. Egypt is another country with a proud history which also has an uncertain future.

Cyber revolution has initiated the orchestration of an anti-establishment process in Tunisia with a regime change prompted by mass rallies catalyzed by invisible forces. These forces are not yet known. But Tunisia could not have initiated this without outside help.

This pattern spread to neighbours with a ripple effect and subsequently Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Bahrain and Jordan became partial or full victims. There is agitation among the peoples. It is not clear whether they need a Western form of democracy, regime change, freedom, human rights or any other form of change. But unfortunately there are agitations, killings and destructions which have completely destabilized the countries and the region.

Sri Lanka

Currently, Sri Lanka is one of the most peaceful and stable countries in the world having defeated terrorism which prevailed for nearly 30 years. For 30 years the nation bled with the misery of terrorism which President Mahinda Rajapaksa with his strategy and leadership masterminded the eradication of the LTTE with little help from the outside world which considered the Sri Lankan issue unwinnable, irresolvable complicated. With the help of close friends and the security forces which was properly trained, President Rajapaksa saved Sri Lanka from disruption, maintaining independence, integrity and sovereignty of the nation.

Today the economy and tourism is booming, the stock market performing well and Sri Lanka is one of the most sought after destinations for tourism and investment.

The foreign policy of Sri Lanka is that it is friendly and non-aligned. Unfortunately, there are some misunderstandings which have to be eradicated and there are invisible forces; some NGOs and misguided diaspora backed by the network of LTTE front organizations, criticizing and misguiding governments and NGOs while obstructing the development and progress of Sri Lanka. The people have given the mandate for President Rajapaksa and his popularity is increasing day-by-day.

Rwanda

In Rwanda millions of civilians were massacred in a similar fashion to Vietnam and Laos. There was no pressure or agitation from invisible forces of the West or rich countries because they have no oil or natural resources.

Attention is always on countries with natural resources and regime changes are wanted in such countries. Currently, Laos and Vietnam are spending millions of dollars to get rid of criminals and carpet bombings which has hampered the people’s day-to-day life and development process. It is uncertain who are responsible for these crimes and whether it amounts to crimes against humanity.

The underlined feature is the manoeuvring of regime change by changing leaders and governments of countries with natural resources and strategic importance. In such circumstances one has to ascertain to what extent the United Nations Organization that emerged in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II could manage the affairs.

The sixty six year old organization has not brought in any change since the inception and some of the five world powers leading it are no longer world powers though they have full control over other members of the world body. The present exclusive club jealously guard the territory without bringing in any changes.

However, the global economic downtown has caused super powers to come to terms with reality and reason. It showed the current issues faced by many countries in the West and how they go through difficulties economically and otherwise forcing the world to be fair to everybody in keeping with the intentions and aspirations of the United Nations.

Therefore, it is time for the people in the world and especially the victims of the current system to rise for democracy in the UN and the world to make the ideals of human rights a reality. Democratization process is also one of the main demands of the third generation of democratic ideals. Therefore, regime change should be implemented democratically, freely and with the will of the people of the respective nations, with no outside influence.

The good news is that we are day-by-day aspiring to be a free, fair and peaceful world which respects equality, sovereignty and human rights. Sri Lanka has fortunately been extremely lucky to have embraced democracy and practised it from time immemorial. This practice helped us carry forward the democratic ideals even after decolonization. Powerful elements backed by powerful non-governmental and international organizations used their influence to appoint rulers of their choice using various direct and indirect methods.

World powers will continue to want more power. They will not like independent leaders who act for the benefit of their people. There is always conflict of interests between such countries and foreign powers seeking control for obvious reasons.

(The writer is the Sri Lankan Ambassador in UAE - [email protected])

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