Operation Absolute Resolve: Imperial Flashback – By: Qazi Suhail Akhunzada
Operation Absolute Resolve or Operation Desert Storm 2.0? The nature of American intervention disguises itself sometimes as tragedy sometimes as a farce, thus reflecting imperial flashback. There is a vivid history of disguised American operations, giving rise to a di and trilemma like that of Shakespeare’s Cesario- Sebastian comedic confusion. To pen some of them: Operation Urgent Fury,1983; Operation Red Dawn, 2003; Operation Neptune Spear 2011. And the list goes on. The targeted area in all the cases has been the clash of systems of government.
Nicolas Maduros is the current case of illustration added to the row where Saddam Hussain and Muammar Qadafi had already been aligned. This crisis is accredited to the only root cause- weaponization of democracy. Which is dubbed as Donroe Doctrine, a play on Monroe doctrine in the 19th century.
Weaponization of democracy breeds imperial national outreach, meaning the use of democracy to satiate the thirst of power struggle- that presents themselves as obedient students of Hans J Morganthau: no morality if national interest is involved.
It underscores the meaning of the use of democratic norms for the achievements of one’s own national interests. To put it in another way, major powers in the international system focus on the interest of their own by manipulating the fault lines in the domestic circle. Thus, using democracy as a weapon or tool to materialize conflicting national and regional objectives.
Being the largest oil reserves, and ninth largest natural gas reserve and possessing untapped minerals, Venezuela has become the centre of power struggle. Competing for these resources demands imperialistic initiatives disguised under the curtain of preaching virtue as the bedrock element of democracy.
There are confluence of multi- pronged factors that have contributed to this democratic exploitation.These factors are broadly classified into two categories. Global variables and domestic fault lines.
The global determinants include power politics, revolving around resources and minerals; imperial mindset, instigated by lust of power; the decaying role of the United nations resulted from multipolarity and increasing mistrust between leading global powers, etc. These variables greatly increased the space for the centres to exploit the peripheries. The use of the doctrine of neo conservatism materialized in Iraq 2008, Lebanon 2016, and moreso. All these wars were fought under the disguised theory of neo conservatism and doctrine of modernism. It can simply be explained as America’s distant burden.Thus, the current scenario in Venezuela is a glaring case in point in this regard. Operation absolute resolve is no less like operation desert storm 2.0
The secondary factors are all internal such as vicious institutions, policies of extractive nature, governance fault lines, Uncompetitiveness in production centres, lack of technical accumulation of knowledge, digital illiteracy, prevailed irrationality, missing critical mindset, curse of mismanaged resources, richness in politician, abundance of mediocrity and popularity of ignorance. Phil Gunson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group underscores the dynamics within the country.The toppling of myriad regimes owe credit to these miscellaneous engagements.
The failed institutions, governance failure and power elite policies increased the mistrust, hence creating space for the global powers to satiate their thirst for resources. The world countries are facing the same situation such as middle eastern countries, and there are myriads of countries that are rich in resources and facing governance fault lines. These resources and mismanagement give space to the global powers to exploit these countries either to improve their own power or to contain another country to acquire more power. Nepo kid and Bango youth are clear cases in this regard. These countries can be vulnerable towards the operation like absolute resolve.
What next? Shashank Goshi the defence expert , while answering to The economist’s Editor-in-Chief, Zanny Minton calls it a threatening call to the countries which are already in collision with the Trump policy of America First or Donroe Doctrine.
Way forward for Pakistan: Pakistan is a security ridden state. Due to its strategic location and arch rival neighbours, Pakistan has to be very cautious about governance and gen z ambitions, and dynamic youth demanding engraved instruction. The changing warfare system demands good governance, competitive economy, technological advancement eco-friendly bureaucratic framework to avert the situation of calling democracy Et Tu Brutus.
Qazi Suhail Akhunzada
MA English
MA IR
CSS aspirant
Ex V. lecturer English GDC Chitral lower
