Times Of Swaziland: THE POWER OF GREED TODAY!

THE POWER OF GREED TODAY!
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By Musa Hlophe on 30/06/2019 08:35:00


There was a time when I was growing up, where I strongly believed that western
countries or nations were democratic and Christians who believed that life is
more important than materialism-money.
But when I began reading newspapers in the early 60s, including the Rand Daily
Mail, and the monthly magazine by the governing political party in Ghana, I
began to question my earlier belief about Western Governments as those which
respected life more than money. In fact, I began to see that these nations did
not only worship materialism, but that they were actually not true Christians
just like in the manner I was made to believe by my mother at the early age of
three.
I had been made to believe that all human beings were created by God, and that
they all came from Adam, the first man God created.
If you watched the programme: ‘Shadowy World’ on Al Jazeera,  televised on
Tuesdays and Fridays last week, you would have seen how some important Western
countries’ political leaders have justified their continued selling of arms of
war to dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia , Egypt and other  dictatorships in
the Middle East. From as early as the time of Margaret Thatcher to now Donald
Trump; one saw a strong argument for the sustainability of the arms industry in
each one of these countries with only the recent withdrawals by both France and
Germany.
murderous war in Yemen
These two countries are the only ones so far who have cited the murderous war in
Yemen, which has killed over 20 000 people, mainly civilians and children, while
millions are starving to death and tens of thousands remain injured without any
chance of hospitalisation . Otherwise, many of the leaders, led by Donald Trump,
are prepared to sacrifice human life so that their arms manufacturing industries
could be sustained.
Such is the power of greed today!
Making this even worse, is that leaders such as Donald Trump would even go as
far as to violate their country’s laws which grant powers to such institutions
as The House (Congress), which is the only institution to decide whether
government should sell or not to sell arms to a country which, in the eyes of
the House; is in violation of basic human rights. Donald Trump’s White House
Administration has persisted with ignoring resolutions against doing business
with Saudi Arabia, including The House’   resolutions against Saudi Arabia’s
Crown Prince for having ordered the murder of journalist Khashoggi.
Those of us who watched global TV networks on Wednesday, shall have seen the
UN’s Investigating Team reporting to the full house of the UN’s Human Rights
Council in Geneva, Switzerland,  confirming that indeed Kashoggi’s murder was
directly  ordered  by the Crown Prince himself and his chief advisor.
Secondly, we are currently watching with shock, USA’s aggression in the Middle
East.
Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement with Iran, not because he had a better
plan for resolving this issue, but simply because such an important agreement
was achieved under the country’s leadership by a black president.
Look at what he is doing right now.  He is now waging war against Iran, claiming
that he wants the country to  consider opening new negotiations with the USA
alone, because the Paris Agreement did not go very far to meet their needs. He
has mobilised huge military moves, which are likely to end up becoming World War
III, if Iran responds as it says it is ready to fight if attacked.
But why attack Iran? What has Iran done which Saudi Arabia and its acolytes have
not done? Why is it appropriate for Trump to see and actively support Saudi
Arabia and its acolytes of UAE ; Egypt and others with heavy weaponry resulting
in tens of thousands of people being  killed on a daily basis, especially in
Yemen?
The answer is simply this: Saudi Arabia hates Iran because it (Iran) is largely
a Shia nation and therefore is seen as the supporter of most Shia nations in the
Middle East. This is Iran’s sin, for which it is being accused of being a
sponsor of terrorism, yet it was the Saudis who bombed the Twin Towers and other
places of Importance on 9/11. Clearly, to Trump, Saudi Arabia is one of
America’s most trusted allies.
But to the shock of all civilized nations, no sooner had Trump come in as
president of the USA, than he destroyed all the UN resolutions for achieving
peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
Jerusalem, Capital of Israel
He did not stop there, but went on to recognise Jerusalem as the Capital of
Israel, while ignoring Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip; and recently sent
his son-in-law to go and dangle a   E400 billion (US$50 billion) to buy the
acceptance of such funds for economic development by people whose land continues
to be illegally occupied by Israel with the encouragement of Trump himself, in
total disregard of all the UN resolutions for a two States peace settlement.
Thirdly and lastly, coming closer to home, those African dictatorships who enjoy
the support of some of the Western countries, had demonstrated similar
tendencies which point to money being more important than human life. Look at
any of Africa’s dictatorships! They all depend on military force in order to
maintain their stay on power.
Why do such dictators receive the support from the Western ‘democracies??’
It is simply because: they buy the weapons which they use in order to stay in
power, so that they too can exploit us of our national resources; while our
social needs go unmet, in a way telling us that money  is only for them (in
satisfying their insatiable greed),  and that it is more important  for them to
enjoy the huge chunks of this money than investing  it in such  needs as social
amenities, such as health infrastructures as well as high quality education
centres, from which future leaders should be produced.
But no, that cannot happen, and does not happen in any of our countries; be the
monarchical or republics: the outcome is the same; money must first satisfy the
insatiable greed of those in power, and only after that, do we begin to hope for
something for our dear lives. Such has become the power of greed!
PEACE!