In an article titled “The Era of Disorder,” Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, speaks of the world entering a new age and the difficulties of that new age. Haass predicts that turmoil in the world will increase due to changing balances of power in the new age and that the Middle East has even come to the first stage of a new ‘Thirty Years’ War.’ He complains of the inadequate nature of initiatives aimed at resolving such global problems as epidemics, drugs, greenhouse emissions and, most particularly, terrorism.
The article devotes particular space to Russia and Putin. He sets out Russian policies in the way these are perceived by the West but devotes little consideration to the likelihood of a Russian reaction against efforts to isolate it.
Haass also says, “There are also local explanations for growing global instability. The Middle East suffers from too much intolerance and too little accord … Meanwhile, countries in and near the region are doing little to prevent the rise of extremism or contend with it when and where it emerges.” This is the most crucial part of the article. Haass’s analysis is of course valuable, but he also needs to set out the solution. We can work together to propose solutions based on some of his analyses and concerns, and ensure that these are made a reality right away.
The most urgent issue is the implementation of ‘policies of love’
In describing how the turmoil in the Middle East in one sense derives from the ineffectiveness of U.S. foreign policy, Haass also says that tension and conflict have increased because of policy errors. That is a very accurate and important assessment. The consequence he goes on to describe is also very true; “The consequence of these and other episodes has been the emergence of widespread doubt about US credibility and reliability. As a result, a growing number of governments and others have begun to act independently.”
This is of course not an outcome we would wish to see. We genuinely wish to see the U.S. embrace the peoples of the world with correct policies – meaning policies of love – and thus to regain its former prestige and trust. It is of course excellent for a powerful country such as America, made up of genuine, devout and loving people to wish to bring peace and democracy to the world. However, it must first put an end to the error of “ending violence with violence” that it has insisted on implementing over the last 150 years and that has ended in defeat on every occasion.
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan Somalia, Libya, and the countries of South America and Africa: Thousands of lives were lost in all those countries in which America attempted to resolve problems through violence, yet by the time it withdrew from them, it had achieved none of its aims.
On the contrary indeed, every war, invasion and act of violence left increasing rage behind it. Every military operation led to even greater defiance of America and that is still going on today. Some data suggestive of success may be obtained from these operations, such as the elimination of ISIL and al-Qaeda leaders. But have those supposed successes managed to prevent radicalism? No. On the contrary, radical organizations are still active today, and in even wider areas, and they are also stronger than ever before; terror can only come to an end through changing people’s minds, not through killing the leaders or members of terror organizations.
Statistics reveal that the USA has spent some $7 trillion in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. In other words, millions of dollars a day have been wasted on a struggle that bore no fruit.
There is no solving problems through violence in the spirit of love. Violence and guns are never a solution. Newly manufactured weapons eventually fall into the hands of radical groups. Then very dangerous communist regimes that support violence, such as North Korea, start coming into possession of nuclear weapons as well. The way to resolve the threat of North Korea is also the intellectual demolition of the outdated communist philosophy that encourages it to arm itself in the first place.
Eliminating false and perverse ideologies by winning people over through ideas and educational mobilization will mean that money spent on the arms and security industry can be diverted to health, art, education and building a paradise on earth instead.
America must now turn to resolving problems with love and compassion rather than through violence and bombs. Had America adopted the spirit of love in the Qur’an and the Gospel, all countries in the world would now like it very much. Territories that shaped their lives on the basis of religion, particularly the Middle East, will become extremely kind and gentle in the face of such policies of love.
Extremism can be prevented through a struggle of ideas
President Obama’s words to the U.N. General Assembly that ISIL will vanish if its ideology can be eliminated were the first step to a correct policy. The next thing to be done is to accurately identify the ideology in question and organize the educational mobilization to eradicate it. This is the solution to the problem in the Middle East in the words of Mr. Haass: “extremism needs to be prevented in the Middle East”. The only way of using ideas to overcome extremist movements that appear in the name of Islam but that are fed by nonsense rather than the Qur’an, the source of the true Islam, is by opposing them with the Qur’an, not with guns. One has to approach people who say they believe in the Qur’an with the Qur’an. (Here is a link to one of my earlier articles on the subject http://www.weeklyblitz.net/2014/09/isis-destroyed-military-operations-terror-will-cease-collapse-ideology/)
It seems likely that there will be a considerable increase in wars, conflict and human rights violations in Africa and Asia, and particularly the MENA region in the years ahead. However, this will not last long. As Haass states on the subject of the Middle East in particular, the region will be the scene of intense fighting but only for another three years, not 30. After that, the world will see that ISIL abandons violence in the face of an educational mobilization based on the Qur’an. If this is not done, it would even be wrong to think that war and violence will persist for another 30 years, because violence begets violence and this will carry on until the Day of Reckoning.
There is absolutely no comparing the 21st Century with the conditions of 200-300 years ago. Bearing in mind all the advances in technology, communications, the internet, recognition of human values and shared international and scientific developments, information sharing in our day is immeasurably faster than it has ever been before. It is up to us to make use of these blessings and equip people with accurate information. This is very easy; America has the power to do it, and Turkey also possesses profound experience and accumulated knowledge on the subject.
The world must now be freed from a climate in which power blocs are opposed to one another, and which is swamped by inhumanity and lovelessness. That climate also harms the superpowers. Even a superpower such as the U.S. is living in a constant state of alarm over terror. The economy is in trouble, and tension and hatred have begun to dominate the world.
We have now reached the age when policies of love will soon be made a reality, when teachers of love who preach acting in the light of love will be heeded. We are approaching the time when the sincere love and humility that Jesus the Messiah encouraged in his disciples will reign across the world. We are on the eve of a Golden Age when people reveal their consciences with the joy of faith and when societies will live by love and democracy in their purest forms.
Adnan Oktar's piece on Opinion Maker & Daily Mail & Jefferson Corner:
http://www.opinion-maker.org/2014/11/the-global-system-can-be-changed-into-a-call-for-love/
http://dailymailnews.com/2014/11/19/global-system-can-be-changed-into-a-call-for-love/
http://www.jeffersoncorner.com/the-global-system-can-be-changed-into-a-call-for-love/
