Part Twenty-Two
(This is a translation from the original Arabic, offered so that my grandchildren, and others of their generation, may understand something of their history— a history they were denied when they were uprooted without choice.)
Where To? Remove NATO from Arab Lands — I
I concluded the previous part with two questions: What, then, is the path forward? And what are the foundations of the Arab state we seek?
It is no secret that I am among those who believe that Arab dignity can only be preserved through unity—a unity that has become ever more urgent now that the world has transformed into vast economic, political, and military blocs in which no small state, regardless of its financial capacity, carries any real weight.
Nor is it a secret that I am among those who believe that the Arab nation must be unified even by force, should parts of it refuse—history has proven that this is the only logic that has ever prevailed and succeeded.
Yet I will not speak today of unification by force, should circumstances demand it. I will confine myself instead to a single gateway—one that must inevitably lead to Arab convergence and unity. That gateway is the education of the Arab mind to believe in the absolute necessity of removing any military presence of non-Arab powers from Arab lands. Global Zionist imperialism, which drew borders and fabricated artificial mini-states, succeeded in convincing their rulers and populations alike that it alone could protect these illusory entities through direct military presence on their soil. Any state incapable of defending itself without a foreign military presence forfeits freedom of political, economic, and social decision-making—or, more precisely, forfeits the very meaning of sovereignty and becomes a captive of its so-called protector.
And so, it came to pass. The Arabian Peninsula—historically a single land—has today become seven states (or eight, if Yemen is counted as two). Even if the Peninsula were today a single state, I believe it would still struggle to defend itself alone; how, then, can it do so when fragmented into seven?
Let us take the Emirati mini-state as an example. In a moment of transient and deceptive political circumstance, it imagined itself a regional power and proceeded to occupy an island off the Yemeni coast. But what could the Emirates do if faced with an existential threat? Suppose it were to purchase whatever number of Patriot missile systems it wished, hire Pakistani pilots or others, and deploy them in American aircraft bought at astronomical prices with Arab money—would this enable it to protect itself? Any adversary targeting the Emirates alone could eliminate its capacity for survival as a state within days, without setting foot on its soil, simply by striking three vital targets: oil pumping stations, power-generation facilities, and water desalination plants. Once these are destroyed, life in the Emirates becomes impossible.
Had the Emirates been part of a greater Arab state, no enemy could target its vital infrastructure, for doing so would mean confronting the existence of the entire Arab nation—a calculation of a wholly different order. Were it not for Iranian intervention, the Yemenis—whose island the Emirates occupies—would have struck these vital targets in the Emirates sooner rather than later.
When Emirati rulers realized the flaw in relying on Zionist American, British, and French military presence on their soil, they turned to their advisers—Zionists themselves—who recommended turning to Israel. Thus, the political maturity of these naïve rulers was revealed: treating disease with disease.
The solution does not lie in searching for a new guarantor of security for any Arab mini-state. It lies in abandoning, from the outset, the principle of reliance on external powers for the protection of Arab lands. Iran, under severe sanctions and siege, managed within four decades to develop the means to defend itself—at least at a minimal level—without dependence on external powers. Are Arabs, with Gulf wealth and the human capital of northern Arabia and North Africa, truly incapable of developing defensive capabilities for the Arab nation comparable to what the Persians achieved?
The starting point must be awareness and education founded on the principle that Arabs must not rely on outsiders to protect them under the pretence of defense. The twentieth century—particularly its second half—witnessed the rise and fall of several military alliances, foremost among them the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The existence of these two alliances maintained a global balance that prevented one side from dominating the world, making the so-called Cold War the most favourable political period for developing states—what Zionist imperialism called the “Third World.”
When the Warsaw Pact dissolved with the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO stood exposed. NATO had claimed it was established to counter the communist threat from the East; yet that threat vanished in the 1990s with the collapse of the socialist project in Eastern Europe. Had NATO been sincere in its stated purpose, it would have dissolved itself alongside the Warsaw Pact. Instead, it quickly revealed its true function: enforcing Zionist imperial hegemony over Europe first, and over as much of the rest of the world as possible thereafter. It expanded eastward despite explicit assurances to Russia that it would not do so.
More importantly, NATO revealed that it was never a defensive alliance, as it claimed, for all its operations after 1990 were offensive. The United States, Britain, Spain, Poland, and Ukraine—all NATO members—participated in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. NATO collectively attacked and devastated Serbia in 1999, and later Libya. NATO states took part in the aggression against Syria and in supporting terrorism; American and British forces remain east of the Euphrates to this day. Several NATO countriescontinue, in various forms, to participate in the daily killing of Yemeni children. Turkish forces—Turkey being a key NATO member—remain in northern Syria and northern Iraq.
Every foreign force present on Arab land today belongs to NATO. These are occupation forces, regardless of the pretexts offered for their presence in this country or that.
Urging these forces to leave Arab lands—or forcing them to do so if they refuse—would compel Arabs, rulers and peoples alike, to search seriously for means of protection that can only be achieved through unity.
For this reason, the slogan of the coming struggle must be:
Remove NATO from Arab lands.
How, then, can this objective be achieved?
This is what I shall attempt to explore in the coming parts.
To be continued…