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THE ULTIMATE ROGUE STATE
By F.H. Knelman, Ph.D.
A rogue animal or a rogue state is one which is no longer
governed by the norms of the collective. In fact, it assumes
that its actions are exclusively governed by its own self-defined
interests. A terrorist is one who seeks political ends by terror
or uses the threat of violence to achieve those ends. Both of
these definitions fit the behaviour of the US in the international
community, whereby they have adopted a unilateralist role that
rocks the structure of world order. In effect, the US has assumed
the role of global judge, jury and prosecutor, meting out punishment
wherever their interests are obstructed. The US is the world¹s
ultimate rogue state which has threatened to unleash nuclear
terror against all those who obstruct its interests, including
the nuclear weapons states of Russia and China. At the same time,
by refusing to abide by the Kyoto Protocol, they are the major
contributor to global warming, itself a threat of immense terror.
The utter contempt which the US holds for the rest of the world
is evident in its opposition to the creation of an International
Criminal Court (ICC). So far, seventy-six states, including those
of Western Europe, have ratified the treaty. Thus Bush also indicates
his contempt for his closest allies. Donald Rumsfeld¹s defence
of this US action is nothing short of the worst jingoism. It
suggests the US is not answerable to anybody, let alone the UN
and the international community, generally. The US even had the
gall to propose a plan to the UN Security Council to grant immunity
to US citizens found guilty of criminal actions, thus by-passing
the very essence of the ICC. The US has even gone so far as to
threaten to withhold UN Peacekeeping funds, of which it pays
some twenty-five per cent. It has also threatened to use its
Security Council veto to end the peace mission in Bosnia, pulling
out its 8,000 troops now in Bosnia as well as Kosovo.
After much debate, by July 13, 2002 the Security Council caved
in to the US threat to end its role in the UN Peacekeeping action
in Bosnia and granted the US its demand that a year's grace be
given to any American accused of war crimes by ICC. Not satisfied
with this, imperialist America warned the court from ever proceeding
against an American. US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte,
put it bluntly: "Should the ICC eventually seek to detain
any American, the United States would regard this as illegitimate
and it would have serious consequences. No nation should underestimate
our commitment to protect our citizens." (CNN, 13-07-02).
We must acknowledge that Canada¹s UN Ambassador, Paul Heinbecker,
expressed "extreme disappointment" with the Security
Council vote, adding that it was not its "mandate to interpret
treaties that are negotiated somewhere else" (Times Colonist,
Victoria, B.C., 13 July, 2002, p.A4).
On the other hand, the European Union, which had vigorously opposed
the US publicly, nevertheless voted unanimous consent to the
US proposal and Canada's 'disappointment' did not prevent it
from voting in favour also. What all this appears to state is
that Europe is unwilling to bear the burden of peacekeeping in
conflicts on its own territory and it is equally unwilling to
question US domination of NATO.
The definition of the US as both the ultimate rogue and terrorist
nation in the world is further evident in its virtual trashing
of the entire nuclear arms control regime and, in particular,
its abrogation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty (ABM).
Furthermore, the US has stated it will use nuclear weapons first
when its national interests are threatened. It is absolutely
urgent for the rest of the world to combine in opposition to
this rampant unilateralism and deny the US all support for its
plans of terror and, beyond this, to expose and condemn the US
for what it is, the ultimate rogue state in the world.
The US Nuclear Posture Review (leaked to the L.A. Times on March
9, 2002) in effect conventionalizes nuclear weapons. It proposes
that the US would use nuclear weapons (1) against targets not
amenable to conventional strikes, such as deeply buried bunkers;
(2) against an attacker who used chemical or biological weapons
and (3) to respond to surprising military developments. This
would have legitimized the use of nuclear weapons against Iraq
after its attack on Kuwait or Milosevic's march into Kosovo.
The report also lists specific instances where it would use nuclear
weapons, i.e. in an Arab-Israeli conflict, a China-Taiwan conflict,
a North Korea attack on South Korea or an attack by Iraq on Israel.
Effectively the new policy directly violates the Comprehensive
Test Ban and particularly targets Iraq in multiple ways. When
this is added to the US plan to employ nuclear-armed interceptors
in space, the nuclear is becoming the conventional. These plans
also break a powerful existing restriction on the use of nuclear
weapons, i.e. never to use them against a non-nuclear power.
Here is a list of the unilateral defeat or subversion of a
number of key treaties by the US :
1. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
2. The Mine Ban Treaty
3. The Chemical Weapons Convention
4. The Bioweapons Protocol
5. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
6. The Child Soldiers Treaty
7. The International Criminal Court
8. The Small Arms Action Plan
9. The Kyoto Protocol
10. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
As I have suggested several times before in previous articles,
US behaviour is that of the ultimate rogue state, bent on establishing
a global imperialism to match the dimensions of the globalization
process. The US makes token references to coalitions and allies,
but the facts indicate it does not really care whether they support
the US or not. The US has established the diplomacy of threat
as its normal posture.
The Japan Times, July 10, 2002 had a superb editorial titled,
The Ugly American Again. It pointed out that US intransigence
actually threatened a total of fourteen UN peacekeeping operations.
It goes on to castigate the US for threatening global order and
quotes UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who warned Colin Powell
that the "whole system of UN peacekeeping operations is
being put at risk" by Washington¹s single-minded and
totally unnecessary pursuit of immunity. Thus the entire world
is now witness to the US contempt for international treaties
and global order. This suggests the US decides what means to
use for the ends it alone chooses. SEE
also: ISOLATIONISM BLOOMS IN US
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