If Bin Laden Were Still Alive, He Would Definitely Be Snickering at the West

Ever Carl von Clausewitz defined war, it has been considered “a true political instrument, a continuation of political activities by other means.” It seems hard for us to unravel, however, the real political motivation of the air raid in Libya by the united forces of the West. A rushed-into military operation not only fails to constitute a clear and definite step in a long-term political scheme, but also, apparently, runs against the political goal that the Western world has been chasing all along.

The West supporting the Libyan rebels seems to be their only viable reaction despite the fact that the West is still unclear about the motivation of the insurgency, the public support rate, the combat capacity of the rebels, the real political pursuit and even the main ideological and political inclination of the insurgency. However, if those political leaders in the West turned a blind eye to this humanitarian disaster, the West would lose its authority as world leader. The idea that the Western countries’ rule of the world is ending has been shouted out loud for half a century. If they stop exercising their powers now, it amounts to a loud announcement of the end of their authority and their retirement from the world’s main stage. Therefore, their war is now no longer a “continuation of political activities”; instead, it shows that the political situation in the West is in a big mess.

The air strikes’ damage to the anti-proliferation movement has been widely mentioned. Anti-proliferation is one of the most important strategic pursuits of the U.S. Gadhafi refused to give up nuclear weapons despite the persuasion of the West, so a war began. This led other countries which were thinking about developing nuclear weapons to be more cautious and weigh issues like surviving and being allowed to survive. When all the hopes of a friendly political attitude from the West are gone, the anti-proliferation efforts of the world will have even more difficulty bearing fruit.

To the Western world, which wanted to smooth the relationship between the West and the Muslim world, the political effect generated by the air raid may be the exact opposite of what they have hoped for. It seems that the West is supporting the democratic movement in the Arabic world, but more many Muslims wishing to turn their despair into dignity, the power to interpret the political legality of the air raid still belongs to the West, and such a situation is no doubt just another part of the continuous humiliation that the West has been dumping on the Muslim world for centuries.

If bin Laden were still alive, he would be snickering in an unknown cave. The Western world is losing its battle against terrorism. Those leaders of other countries who followed America in her strike against al-Qaida are either deprived of their authority or are close to being deprived of their authority. Political turmoil is the warm bed of al-Qaida; NATO, under the leadership of the U.S., is creating more room for their terrorist activities.

More importantly, the financial capacity of the West can no longer support continuous military spending. After the financial crisis, severe economic problems have crushed America’s political ambition.

The so-called protection of civilians is only confusing political terminology with morality. Human rights do not only belong to the people on one side in a war. If elections no longer served as a way of making better the political situation within a country but rather became a tool of overturning authorities with military menaces, it would be a major blow to the West, which has emphasized again and again that democracy is the most important “soft power.”

Anti-proliferation, anti-terrorism, human rights and the promotion of the democratic cause are the long-term political pursuits of the West, but now the West itself is tearing these goals down. A war sometimes is not the continuation of wise politics but rather distorted politics influenced by the voting of rival parties. The political arena of the West has become a confusing place; it is losing its foresight into the long-term future.