THE NEW WORLD ORDER IN ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST

THEME
USA rose as the ultimate hegemon from the ashes of cold war. Enjoying great economic leverage and military might, USA assumed the role of dominant world power and that of a decisive arbiter in world affairs. This comprehensive American hold is a manifestation of a deliberate and ambitious American worldview termed as New World Order. USA making use of tragic events of 11 September has moved towards materialization of its long awaited desire of attaining a position capable of exploiting the energy resources of Central Asian Republics (CARs). CARs and closely located South Asia and Middle East have become areas of immense importance for US policy makers in post 9/11sceanario.
Critically examine the New World Order, its parameters and objectives. Also highlight the importance of CARs, South Asia and Middle East in US objectives and policies pursued by it to materialize its objectives in these regions.
ABSTRACT
During the last decade, major transformations and changes have taken place in the international system with far reaching implications especially for Asia. From bipolar world to unipolar world Asia has emerged as a central actor since one of the powers of the bipolar days is located in Asia, future powers and economic centers are also located in this continent. It enhances its importance once the rich Central Asia is taken into account. The US New World Order (NWO) though is designed for the whole world but basically revolves around Asia due to its geography, natural resources and ethno- religious diversities. Most of the regions and countries are facing the challenge of how to save themselves from the negative effects and hegemonic designs of the New World Order.
The focus of this paper is on the complex environments created by the US in Asia in pursuance of the New World Order. This situation is likely to remain in flux in the near future whereas it has already started receiving retaliation in various forms, 9/11 is one such example. The principle objectives of the New World Order have been analyzed in this paper along with some historical perspective and an attempt has been made to identify the challenges to Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East with regards to the New World Order.
PART – I
INTRODUCTION
1. During the past two decades the global politics has changed fundamentally in two ways. First, it has been substantially reconfigured along cultural and civilizational lines. Second, as argued, global politics is also always about power and the struggle for power, and today international relations is changing along that crucial dimension. The global structure of power in the cold war was basically bipolar whereas the emerging structure is very different. There is now only one superpower. But that does not mean the only power. Though US rose as the ultimate hegemon from the ashes of the bipolar days but there still are regional powers and blocs against a clear run by the US. In the dipolar world there were two super powers and their relations were central to international politics, each dominated a coalition of allied states and competed with the other super power for influence among nonaligned countries. On the breakup of dipolar world due to its decisive economic and military might US felt the need for a comprehensive hold.
2. Gorbochievean peace had falsely created hopes for a world without war and with a lasting peace. There have been wars and conflicts after that and US either directly or through UN kept herself involved on the plea of her so called new world order (NWO) which may be order for some and disorder for others. The varying manifestations of the new world order within a particular region have given new dimension to the power struggle at regional and international levels. It is very obvious that most of the times the options with the affected are non-but to accede. Thus a need is felt to analyze the US new world order with a view to looking into the policies being followed by the US to further her interests in various regions of the world especially Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia.
Aim
3. To analyze the US New World Order with reference to various regions around Pakistan while looking into post 9/11 scenario.
PART – II
PRELUDE TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER

1. End of the Second World War. As the World War 2 ended on a favorable note for USA and the USSR, both developed credibility, the alliances already existing with the two started growing. Before this also the international relations had been viewed as virtual clashes of super powers for centuries, France VS England, Spain VS France, Spain VS England, Germany VS France, England Vs Ottoman Empire, the Astro Hungarian Empire VS the Ottomans and so on. The period of cold war can be defined as a period once there was cold conflict between the two powers and there was no direct war between the two powers so diplomacy was at the paramount. The divided world had two clear blocs of direct influence of the US and USSR and some neutral alliances the quest for dominance of which became the actual cold war. Bipolar relationship between the US and the USSR became clear when president Truman gave his containment policy. This bipolarity included two kinds of conflicts, ideological conflict between capitalism and communism and a substantial struggle over balance of power between the two blocs. This struggle started from dominance of Europe hence dividing Europe into two followed by division of Asia. This US policy of containment of communism drove the world towards Korean War, Vietnam War and Afghan War 1989. This era affected the world in following manner :-
a. On the soviet side the events of cold war were, interventions in Eastern Europe, tanks in East Berlin, Budapest and Prague. This had been the old route of Russian invasions in the past.
b. Russian invasion of Afghanistan was one example of intervention out side that route.
c. On the US side, intervention was world wide reflecting the ‘contain communism policy’.
d. On the domestic front, the cold war helped the Soviet Union to entrench its military – bureaucratic ruling class in power and it gave the US a way to compel its population to subsidize high – tech industry. The technique used was the old stand–by-fear of the great enemy.
e. US conducted its war against the third world under this tacit arrangement.
2. The Initial Blocs. At the end of the WW-2 the allies comprised of USA, UK, France and their colonies in Asia and Africa in general and Sub Continent and the Middle East in particular. Germany was divided into two whereas the Russian bloc mainly consisted of USSR including Central Asian Region and some Eastern European countries. The quest for influence in rest of the world started thereafter .
3. Environment during the Cold War. Due to the fact that many regions were still to be brought under the influence of either of the blocs the capitulation struggle started of and various world bodies and alliances came on the world scene.
a. UNO. As the League of Nations ended the WW-1, the United Nations declaration of 1942 brought the end to WW-2 and first session of 50 countries took place on 24 October 1945.
b. Warsaw Pact. A treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance, between Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, USSR and Czechoslovakia in May 1955 which was basically for an organized system of collective security in Europe. This was primarily to capitulate maximum of Europe (at least the eastern half) in favour of USSR.
c. Paris Agreement. About at the same time when Warsaw Pact was taking birth the allies went through ‘Paris Agreement ‘ hence forming Western European Union.
d. NATO. Immediately at the end of the war the allies felt the threat of spread of communism and influence of USSR. This brought the western European Nations and the US into a military alliance in 1949, called North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The NATO countries thought that, the Soviet Union would not wage war against the western European nations since that would mean triggering the whole NATO including USA.
4. Arms Race and Interests in Various Regions. The automatic fall out of formation of various treaties and alliances was in the form of strengthening one against the other. This in a way helped many countries, to develop and take financial advantages but in another it introduced an unending arms race around the globe hence giving birth to regional powers and new dimensions to the wars and conflicts. Interests of the US and those of the USSR around the globe were:
a. Geographical proximity, ethno-religious identity and energy related issues gave prime importance to Central Asian Region, which had always been on the wanted list from the days of the Great Game.
b. Oil rich Middle East was an obvious area of interest.
c. Influence in Europe would mean economic strength and influence at various forums.
d. Contain China was a policy on both sides.
5. The above given is the block division of the world into areas of interest for the powers of bipolar days. These became the causes of various big and small conflicts and arms race around the globe. But still various alliances and treaties had been somewhat balancing the world affairs.
6. Demise of USSR. The fall of Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany ended the division of Europe. Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika led to the end of communism. The Soviet Union and most of its allies seized to be ruled by communist governments. This slow process supported by the West reached its climax during the Russo-Afghan war and finally Soviet state itself collapsed fragmenting into over 15 sovereign successors. This brought following major affects around the world.
a. Separated CARs from USSR, hence making of long awaited target

vulnerable to the western allies.

b. Disintegration of Eastern European Treaties and increased the chances of NATO to enter these countries in the name of restoration of peace.
c. Tilt of world power ultimately toward USA.
d. Importance of China enhanced from regional power to a global actor.

e. End of the bipolar order.
f. Global role of USA into play.

PART – III
EMERGENCE OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

1. The end of the cold war was widely expected to offer the world a peace dividend. But the collapse of the USSR and the victory of the west, leaving only the US as the sole super power needed the US to retranslate the global harmony. At the end of the Gulf War President Bush while about to deliver the new world order expressed his concern for an expected arms race and wanted to reorder the world to contain this threat, not to mention that within three days of that announcement, the New York Times reported “the US has emerged from the war as the Gulf’s premier arms seller, the White House has told the Congress in a classified report, it wanted some five Middle East allies to buy an 18 billion dollars package of top drawer arms”.
2. US first got Iran beaten by Iraq and then to clip the wing of a future power in the ME encouraged Iraq to attack Kuwait through a bait by US envoy Gillespie’s visit to Saddam in July 1990, days before attack on Kuwait. This gave a chance to US to help the weaker hence direct hegemony over the Arab oil and reason for US fleet in the Gulf. While delivering the new world order following was claimed by the US :-
a. In future no aggressor would go unpunished.
b. Arbitrary change in international boundaries would not be allowed.
c. It would be ensured that any violation of human rights is brought to an end with out the constraint of national boundaries.
d. The UN will play a new role as the peacekeeper of the world.
3. The Ideas Like No Aggressor, International Boundaries and Human Rights. In the fundamental principles of the NWO such terms were used whereas these had their own connotations for the US. The events following the NWO clearly support these self-suiting manifestations, the continued attack on Iraq, UNSCOM scandal, economic and military sanctions through UNO and other international financial organizations show the confusion in the term ‘aggressor’. There are different standards of human rights for Afghanistan, China, Kosovo, Bosnia, Kashmir and different for East Timor. Even the violations of national boundaries by the west in following cases show the manifestations of the NWO which support the self adopted role by the US as the world’s police man :-
a. Imposition of no fly zone on Iraq by US & British Air Forces.
b. Missile attacks by the US on Afghanistan and Sudan.
c. Landing of cruise missiles in Pakistan and Iran.
4. Concepts like Interrelated Security, Peace and Development. This policy of making the two fight and then coming in as an arbiter has been pursued by the US in conjunction with the EU with highly specific aims. From Kosovo to Iraq to Afghanistan, following chronology is self-explaining:-
a. Make the two fight.
b. Strengthen one of them.
c. The weaker one has to either ask for support or resort to unconventional means, called terrorism.
d. The stronger one then needs clipping of wing
e. The region becomes in danger in particular and the world in general.
f. Most threats are directed to the West and to the US.
g. A concept of interrelated security comes into play.
5. Such chronology is followed in most of the regions of the world, particularly in Asia for following reasons:
a. To allow the US to stay in Middle East and control the world oil market.
b. To create opportunities to enter into Central Asia to explore its riches of oil and gas and also be present in the region to look after Iran, China and any resurgence on the part of Russia. Caspian region oil resources are of great attraction to the West.
c. To allow the West to be around South Asia and East Asia i.e. Korea, Taiwan, Japan, etc to control a region of extreme economic importance for future. Since countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan have great economic potential it would specifically be dangerous for the West if there starts some concept of regional cooperation and harmony especially in conjunction with China or Japan.
6. Policies to be Pursued under NWO. The manifestations of NWO have also been pushed in almost all spheres of life through the principle plea of human rights. It clearly demonstrates that the words “New World Order” are serious and have been is use even before 1990. The old world order was based on the policy of independent nation-states. Most of the NWO proposals involve following policies, which may well be covered under the heading of conspiracies:
a. Conversion of the UN and its agencies into a world government, complete with a world army, a world parliament, a world court and numerous other agencies to control education, nutrition, population, immigration, commerce, agriculture and environment.
b. Let the world recognize the capitalism to be a successful economic order, which will automatically bring in the need for an effective and a central control the question would then be, who is to lead?
c. Pursue the concept of sharing of the world resources (by conquest or consent), recognize a single world authority and that the concept of national sovereignty is not such a great idea, it rather restricts options for the nations, multi-national companies and even individuals.
d. Keep the idea of convergence of goals between US, EU, Russia and China open, basically to avoid direct resistance or making of anti US blocs.
e. Further global progress is only possible through universal consensus.
7. Need for Alliance Building. What so ever may the US policies be in the garb of NWO, the need for some alliances and favorable opinion building cannot be set a side. In the presence of various religious concepts, zones of economic cooperation and regional powers the US is clever enough to know how to process with her aims:
a. Europe/NATO. Europe has under gone profound changes. The original European Economic Community has blossomed into European Union embracing the entire continent from the Atlantic to the Urals. They have moved towards a common currency and are furthering towards a common foreign policy and also a defense policy. The US-Europe alliance is a must for the US not only for economic reasons but to control NATO, which had gone irrelevant after the end of the cold war. Under American pressure NATO has found a new role of creeping closer to the historic borders of Russia. The US had also provoked the Baltic States into NATO to finally threaten the Russian security.
b. Following other alliances with varying degrees of engagements are a must for the US to pursue the NWO:
(1) US-Japan, to contain China.
(2) US-India, since India is thought to be a predominant regional power with credible armed forces. It is a vast economic market and has all the potentials to pursue the US policy of containment in Asia especially in terms of China and the ASEAN. Any cooperation between India and ASEAN has to be avoided by the US.
(3) Conditional alliance with Pakistan being a gate way to Afghanistan and the CARs.
(4) Korea and Taiwan follow suit.
(5) Israel- to keep the reasons for US presence in ME alive.

PART – IV
VIABILITY/OPPOSITION TO THE NWO

1. Theory of Clash of Civilizations. An analysis of various conflicts around the globe in the last 2 decades shows consumerist capitalism versus religions and tribal fundamentalism . These diametrically opposite but strangely interlinked forces are tearing apart and also bringing together, the world. On the one hand capitalism is a so-called dissolving force for the social and economic barriers and on the other, ethno-religious and racial hatred are fragmenting the landscape into smaller groups. Critics and political leaders have already heralded the dangerous chaos in the post-cold war world. The concept of “Jihad” is not only getting strength as a holy war against the suppressor or the supporter of the suppressor but has become a form of ethnocentrism and nationalism. The question is to see that if a three hundred years old ‘system of states’ is nearing its end, what is emerging – a new world order, or chaos and anarchy
2. The global politics have always been multicivilizational in character and maybe only economic luring or use of force might not be able to deliver as envisaged in the NWO. In the days of the cold war the world was divided into three parts, two halves believed as per their leaders i.e. USA and USSR and third half was the Third World itself, the playground for the other two. These third world nations never needed to emphasis to cultural boundaries since existence of bipolarity was providing refuge in many ways. With the break up of bipolar world the most important distinctions left amongst the people are following:
a. Cultural distinctions instead of ideological or economic.
b. Questions like who are we, are being answered by reference to the things that mean most to them, in some the right religion, in others independence, in some other cases right of self-determination, ancestry, values etc. The concept of ‘we know who we are only when we know who we are not and often only when we know who we are against’ is becoming the cause of strength within various societies and civilizations. Following trends, which have emerged as opposite to NWO need attention:-
(1) Global politics are still multicivilizational hence multi polar to an extent. Modernization is still distinct from westernization and no universal civilization has been produced as yet.
(2) The balance of power is shifting, the West is declining in relative influence, Asian civilizations are expanding; Islam is exploding demographically and is being portrayed as destabilizing factor for Muslim countries and their neighbors.
(3) Lead or core states of particular civilizations are transforming into regional powers.
(4) The West’s universalistic pretensions are bringing it into conflict with other civilizations, especially Islam and China.
2. Concept of East VS West. West always meant US along with Western Europe. East is Old Russian bloc countries in Asia, the Muslim world and East Asia etc. The standard ‘West’ following NWO is unintentionally giving strength to the concept of East VS West, which is putting the viability of the NWO into question. Non-Western societies, particularly in East Asia are developing their economic wealth and creating enhanced military power. As their power and self-confidence increase the non-Western societies assert their own cultural values. The international system of the twenty first century, as noted by Henry Kissinger will contain at least six major powers, the US, Europe, China, Japan, Russia and probably India. Out of these, four belong to East so any coalition will mean dangerous for the West. Keeping them separate is one of the manifestations of the NWO.
3. Emergence of Oppositions for the NWO. The main constituents of the NWO may be the US and Europe but with in this due to its history and inherent cohesion Europe has its own standing. Russia may be called as a broken state out of USSR it still has the arsenal to influence a portion of Asia at least. China the ever threatening dormant giant, economically capable North East Asia and various other countries often named as rogue stated by the US are seen as oppositions for the NWO, off course with varying degrees. There are trends of regionalism in this otherwise shrinking world. Following are being seen as the obvious oppositions in the way of a clear go by the US in the wake of NWO:-
a. European Union. Europe itself is a multicultural society and there exists a great divide in Western and Eastern Europe. It is not possible for all the European countries to be united on matters like US interventions into European Union or even NATO, hence America will always have to work hard to keep better relations with Europe. Though right after 9/11 all Europeans showed solidarity with the US and slogans like “ We are all Americans now” were heralded but soon differences cropped up some of the prevailing US-EU differences are as follows:
(1) President Clinton’s failure to secure ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty from the US Congress.
(2) America’s abandonment of ABM treaty to proceed with the NMD programme.
(3) US withdrawal from Kyoto protocol.
(4) Some of the US domestic policies are being criticized by EU notably, tax breaks to the rich, lack of concern for the environment etc..
(5) Firmer pronouncement of the US Military hegemony through enhanced defense budget is thought to be a potential challenge to EU as well.
(6) Europe’s opposition in last few months to the US terminologies like ‘rogue sates’, ‘axis of evil’ and policies towards, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
(7) Various EU officials have been terming the US war against terrorism as ‘ Unilateralism’.
b. The Trans-Atlantic Agenda (NTA)-1995 was a step towards institutional and a broader political partnership between EU and US and show that EU is a serious and a capable partner in the world affairs. EU has much to contribute to the so-called global war on terrorism and by its nature is equipped to address the growing array of global challenges. This feeling of isolation on their own continent by US-Britain relations or future US-Russia direct relations leaving the Europe aside and threat to CARs make many Europeans to think anti-US.
c. Resurgence of Russia. At present Russia needs the West, their loans, cooperation in rescheduling of debts and foreign investments. Russia cannot afford an open confrontation against the West but it is not to be forgotten that Russia is a serious, important and a powerful country. It has always been a threat to the NWO, could the old Soviet nuclear arsenal be aimed once again at the west? Will Russia re-supply Seryia’s Army? Will India acquire more Russian missile technology? And will Russia and China combine against the US interest in Asia?
d. No mater who is in power in Russia the west needs Russia’s cooperation on the international scene. There has been marked resurgence in Russia. On the political scene emergence of new and young generation of politicians is of great significance. Sino- Russia relations have got out of their traditional rivalry of 1960s & 70s, expansion of NATO has put the two heads together. Following chronology of major events is self-expalainatory of the resurgence of Russia on the world scene, which is not very favorable to the NWO :-
(1) Rehabilitation of KGB (Dec 2000).
(2) Deployment of a third regiment of ICBMs (Dec 2000).
(3) Restoration of soviet programme in Cuba.
(4) Moscow’s increased arms / nuclear trade with Iran.
(5) Russia keeps chipping away the US Missile Defense programmes.
(6) Russia has been denouncing the US Rogue Regime Defense a number of times.
(7) Russia has been warning US, and has showed tough arms control stance and threatened to join China against US.
(8) Apr 95. Russia bombed Chechnya and Afghanistan.
(9) Russian economy showed stability and huge loans were sanctioned by IMF.
(10) May 95. Russia gave 30 Million dollars in nuclear plant construction credits to Cuba.
(11) Russia continues to help Iraq and Libya.
(12) Russia declared guarding of traditional strategic Bosnian supply corridor.
(13) Exchange of military hardware and technology between Russia and Ukraine.
(14) Russia threatened military measures had Hungary joined NATO.
e. The Russo-Indian, Russo-Syrian or Russo-Chinese nexus in any form would be very dangerous for NWO. Off course the Russian support to Cuba and Iran have always been thorns in the US side.
f. Dormant Giant – China. Though China presumably remains away from the active world political scene but its economic and military power has always rendered it the status of a giant. Its dormancy at times becomes a dilemma for the West. As far as regional matters are concerned China has always held a strong position. Beijing’s leadership has always envisaged a united China that is the indisputable economic, political and military power in the East. Its population, proximity of Russia, CARs, Japan and South East Asia adds to making it look like a future super power and probably the only one to oppose US and especially the NWO. Despite the best tries by the US in exploring new channels of positive interaction with China it has not been able to achieve the desired results. Following pattern clearly shows China’s aspirations in the region and its anti US sentiment: -
(1) Since 1995, a number of exchanges of missiles, technology (nuclear) and sub-marines have taken place between Russia and China.
(2) The forming of Shanghai- 5 is a very clear manifestation of China’s anti US interest in CAR’s, on the face of it there may be other reasons of regional or ethnic nature.
(3) America’s strategic partnership with China as envisaged by President Bill Clinton went blown away with the so-called mistaken NATO strikes against Chinese embassy at Belgrade. This brought China in the lead role in Kosovo crises.
(4) China did get the membership of WTO despite opposition by the US.
g. China and Pakistan are also into traditional cooperation. China’s interest in the gulf region through Gawadar port is a portion of it but primarily it is to support Pakistan against India, which is a future power in the region. China has also embarked upon a very ambitious plan to develop a strong Navy primarily to counter the US strategy in South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, pressuring Taiwan and acquiring disputed islands is Southeast Asia. It even seeks a permanent naval presence in the Indian Ocean. China also seeks to be a green water naval power i.e. extending eastwards in the Pacific Ocean. More than half of the world trade fleet tonnage passes through the Straits of Malacca, Sundae and Lombok with the majority of these converging in South China Sea. The dominance of the SLOCs is one of the objectives of PLAN (People Liberation Army Navy)
h. Rogue States and Un Conventional Opposition. Despite the tendency of viewing the cold war in retrospect as a time of simplicity between good and evil, the era did contain many dilemmas for the US policy makers. In the wake of the NWO and the unipolar world and in the name of combating communism initially and terrorism subsequently the US is getting engaged with all sorts of regions, from South America to Africa and to Asia. In the last twelve years of the NWO the simplicity that the US had anticipated has proved elusive. Instead new sorts of problems have beset the West and particularly America. Among these is the appropriate strategy for dealing with various civilizations, diverse groups and states. These are then called rogue states and the US sets out to punish these.
(1) What is Rogue State. A state which opposes the American interests specifically and so called global security generally. This concept emerged at least as early as the 1980 when President Reagan branded Qadafi as an outlaw. This concept has been popularized in the last decade in response to the changing nature of threats facing the US. For the US the nightmare is these so-called rogue states getting into weapon race in this era of theatre and missile defense.
(2) What makes a Rogue State. The US policies driven by the NWO towards some counties without realizing their internal and regional dynamics makes them retaliate which allows the US to brand these regimes or these countries as rogue states.
(a) Countries that seek to challenge the US so called international order.
(b) Countries that US accuses of trying to acquire WMD (weapons of mass destruction).
(c) Countries, which support terrorism, no matter what the basic reasons and facts, are.
(d) Countries that the US accuses of often-reprehensible treatment of their own citizens, without any realization for their internal dynamics.
j. The opposition to the NWO through Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Cuba etc is on the increase and the so called near rogue regimes like Syria, Serbia, China and Sudan will certainly keep creating ripples in the US policy makers. The American policy of isolating such states, putting economic sanctions and military strikes etc creates more resentment hence room for terrorist groups which then find softer spots to foster, like Al Qadea in Afghanistan and many other such groups in ME and Kashmir etc. This fosters another opposition to the NWO in the form of unconventional acts termed as terrorism. Sep 11 was the end of the era in which the US perfected its zero-dead approach to conflicts, with minimum casualties to the US and maximum damages to the enemy. The new opposition is mobile and transnational. This kind of opposition to NWO can be further divided into two following categories:
(1) The concept of asymmetric warfare to be fought by an opponent who might have a non–nation state base, such as an ideology or religion.
(2) The second concept has been the larger conflict by rogue states. The making of anti missile defense shield to protect America from incoming ballistic missiles carrying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons seems to be the next step towards enforcement of NWO in this context.
k. Unconventional Opposition specific to Asia. In Asia and particularly around Central and South Asia there are powers, Russia, China and India. All the three have one thing common, these are bordering various ideological or civilizational diversities, Islam in most cases. The US policy in ME and against Iraq and Libya etc brings this opposition into stronger bondage and a sort of collectiveness is being experienced from Afghanistan to Palestine and to Sudan. The bordering Muslim countries get naturally involved (with varying degrees). There is another view of this unconventional threat to NWO, which says that such threat provides reasons for the US to pursue its policies by entering these regions in the name of bringing peace but it is worth noting that this multiplies the resentment hence unconventional opposition increases and transforms in to various concentrations. The cyber space becomes another very vulnerable target for such an opposition and this would be much more harmful to the US than the day of 11 September was.

PART – V
NEW WORLD ORDER IN ASIA
“ Makinder saw CARs as pivotal to the global power and termed it the Heartland whereas Spykman gave importance to the Peninsular Europe and the Far East and called it the Rim land with respect to already recognized Heartland”
1. US Interest in CARs. The last decade of the twentieth century has witness a fundamental restructuring of the world order . The breaking of Russia and the introduction of NWO had profound affects on the Eurasian region and more particularly the Central Asian Region, from Black Sea to Pamir Plateau. The new sovereign states in the region felt an immediate politico-strategic and economic vacuum despite their enormous natural resources like oil and gas. Their geographic proximity of Iran, Eastern Europe, Russia and China and the energy related issues have always been the cause of such great games in this region.
2. Several powers, both from within the region and outside are trying to achieve influence in the CARs. The US interest in the region will directly affect the geopolitics of a larger region to include, South Asia, Central Asia and South East Asia. Major factors that would affect are:
a. Direction, the new world order takes, which means how much oppositions would the US receive while being interested to have a hold over the CARs.
b. A major factor, which is likely to affect this region, is the drive towards globalization, which discredits the idea of centrally planned economy. The new states would not be able to and have not been able to actively handle their economies being transformed from centrally planned (communism days) economy to the global concept.
3. The CARs are rich in natural resources, to mention few Uzbekistan produces large quantity of gold, Azerbaijan- oil, Turkmenistan- natural gas, Tajikistan-electricity and oil, Kazakhstan is rich in agriculture and minerals. These state do not have any experience of free market economic system or infra structure to meet such requirements, they are now looking outwards for guidance and capitalist world attracts them. The Russian Federation is incapable of providing that guidance Afghanistan remains in turmoil and Eastern European nations are also not very clear about their identity under the rage of NATO. This quagmire is very attractive for the US to offer her abilities hence furthering her objectives of the NWO. Following are the broad US policy parameters in this region:
a. Since the NWO draws much support from the idea of globalization the US wants a foothold in CARs whereas the easiest route is through Pakistan and Afghanistan as against the Eastern European side for its obvious technicalities.
b. Turmoil in Afghanistan and Sub-Continent provides a reason for such US interventions.
c. An encirclement of Iran, Russia, and China by the US and the NATO would then be possible.
d. The US has divided the region as following
(1) CENT COM – Five Central Asian Republics
(2) EU COM- Three Caspian states.
(3) Russia.
e. US Policy towards Caspian Region. The oil rich Caspian can be termed as major bone of contention between various powers of the world. CARs and Turkey are major actors in this game and the US policy on this has three pillars:
(1) Integrate CARs and Turkey into Euro-Atlantic and other international treaties under the leadership of USA.
(2) Promote the concept of free market and keep the human rights in the fore. This is primarily an option in case the direct access to oil and minerals is denied to the US.
(3) Take up the role of savior by creating mutual interests like combating terrorism, control of narcotics and weapons proliferation.
4. US Interest in Middle East. For decades the Arab-Israel conflict has been the most important factor in defining US relations with the Middle East . Other important policy concerns have been so called prevention of Soviet expansion, providing protection to ME nations, securing oil supplies. With the introduction of NWO the policy concerns of the US are changing rapidly, allowing Kuwait to occupy certain areas, which it never possessed, amounts to even affecting the geography. So despite the end of the cold war a peaceful order seems as remote as ever. Despite the self sufficient and rich nations and no major ethnic problems in the ME the conflict never finishes in this part of Asia. All solutions have become hostage to military conflict between US & Iraq, desired hegemony of Israel and domination of oil market. These invented conflicts were basically designed to preserve the vast apparatus of the West’s military power (primarily the US) in the post cold war era present in the region. The main US interests in ME can be envisaged as under:
a. Control oil production, prices and supply around the world, As per World Bank reports such military stand offs have shot the oil prices to present heights.
b. Master the very rich financial activity in the gulf region and benefit from investments.
c. Create turmoil for sale of arms and preserve continued US presence in the region.
c. Contain any expansions of Russian influence out of Syria and Iraq.
d. Create stability turmoil for Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan being in the proximity and some what related.
e. Contain Iraq’s capability of WMDs.
5. Behind all this is the US commitment to the global projection of military power, which can be traced back to the restructuring of the US intervention forces, ventures in Granada, Libya & Iraq etc and testing and selling of new generation of weapons. The Jewish lobby around the world and particularly in US is working to support Israel. Some of the new realities will shape the NWO in ME:-
a. Israel now enjoys paralleled supremacy politically and militarily and especially because of its nuclear status. In the post cold war world and in the absence of another power to neutralize this trend it seems to prevail as such.
b. The ME talks have brought most of the Arab countries and Israel around for direct negotiations hence providing defecto recognition to the Jewish state.
c. The Gulf States are being ruled by ineffective monarchies and the people have started getting feeling that they need the West to protect them.
d. The fact that Iraq has started rebuilding its military strength despite all sanctions would play a major role in the US interest in ME by creating security implications.
e. The fact that OIC if becomes a potent body which at present it is not will be a danger to the NWO.
6. US Interests in South and South East Asia. There are several factors that affect the conduct of US foreign policy in a particular region. These include the level of continuity of American interest in the region and amount and quality of constraints that exist on American government and within that region . The understand this it is important to draw comparison between US policy toward Europe and that towards South Asia. As far as Europe in concerned it has strong governments, and continuous economic importance so attracts high level of US attention and continuous engagement, whereas in South Asia after the cold war the US policy has been changing from a crises to another one. Europe has a lot of influence within USA so much constraint on US government in policies about Europe, conversely about South Asia there exists a lot of initiative with the US government, following can be the US interests in South Asia:
a. As far as US economic interests are concerned, these have always been limited since India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are not of any significance in term of raw material. The region has not been of much attraction for foreign investment. Only India due to its size and population becomes a lucrative consumer market.
b. The geography of this area i.e. the proximity of CARs, Iran, China, ASEAN and the Gulf makes it of utmost importance for the US in the context of NWO.
7. Historical Perspective (South Asia). The US south Asia policy has been a story of ups and downs and these periods can be divided from 1950 to 1965 and from 1980 to 1989 and the third phase is now, since Sep 11. These patterns are based on different calculations of what constitutes the American interest and what are the perceptions of South Asian countries. The pattern is analyzed as under:-
a. From 1950 to 1965, the US became very much engaged in South Asia, which was given very high priority during this period and is marked by the high point in cold war. It was taken as a bridge between Europe and Far East and a major physical barrier for southward expansion by USSR or China. This led to the pacts like SEATO and CENTO under the cover of containment policy. It also brought a lot of aid to India and Pakistan.
b. From 1967 to 1979 a policy of disengagement was felt since the priority went to ME and emergence of OPEC and problems in Sino-Soviet relations also eased the pressure on US security role in South Asia.
c. 1979 – Due to Russian intervention in Afghanistan this region became of concern once again, US then had three objectives to pursue the NWO:
(1) Contain USSR’s expansion.
(2) Lessen the Indian dependence on USSR
(3) Avoid nuclear proliferation.
d. Pakistan emerged important during this period on the plea of assistance by the US against direct Soviet aggression. The whole episode facilitated in breaking of USSR.
e. A disengagement policy was adopted for some time to develop the situation.
f. Events of 11 September provided an opportunity to US to re-engage the region and this time physical intervention in the name of a global war against terrorism, is actually supporting the overall design of NWO in terms of entering in CARs, containing China, Iran and Russia.
8. It would be very appropriate to sum up the South Asian discussion seeing the past perspective that this region is more of geostratigic importance than of economic consideration. The Indian market is of lower priority for the time being than the CARs and the American deployments around China and Russia. Most of all any meaning full cooperation at the level of SAARC would not be in the greater interest of US, so a turmoil in the region in the forms of Kashmir suits the US for the time being.
9. ASEAN and the NWO. The Association of South East Asian Nations actually groups Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, whereas India is the member of the ASEAN Regional Forum, a broader 37 member security grouping. This region is of great importance due to its location along the important sea routes and straits linking Indian Ocean with the Pacific in general and Arabian Sea with South China Sea to the Sea of Japan in particular. Along this belt dwell some of the world’s most economically capable nations. Malaysia, the leader of ASEAN has become a nightmare for the US policy makers and any regional cooperation between ASEAN, Japan, Korea and China would be completely opposite the now.

PART VI
EFFECTS TILL NOW AND FUTURE OF NWO
1. A summary of events contrary to the proclaimed principle of NWO that no aggressor, in future, would go unpunished, that international boundaries would not be allowed to be changed arbitrarily, that no violation of human rights be let, that the UN would play a peacekeepers role etcetera would easily lead us to the affects of the NWO up till now.
a. Continued attacks on Iraq and thrusting UNSCOM.
b. Different standards of human rights.
c. International Financial Agencies are controlled by the US.
d. US in backing up Israel’s mocked aggression on Palestinians.
e. Financing opposition parties in various countries to bring governments of the US choice.
f. Dual standards on the issues of nuclearization.
g. Control of world oil market ultimately in US hands.
2. Once all the principles of the proclaimed order itself were violated on the plea of one principle supporting the other every region under the effect felt bruised since resentment is a natural phenomenon. In some cases the governments due to either weak leadership or some other compulsions/compromises did not announce it and in the other cases it was openly opposed so they were called ‘rogue sates’.
3. Where the suppression in all forms crossed the human patience and the nations-states were also weak the people took over themselves and independent groups with ideological or religious bases took over and terrorism took birth. A point to note is that this phenomenon never existed in the bipolar days since a particular people had options to deal with problems. The major effects, which have been experienced by the today’s world due to NWO, can be envisaged as :-
a. Birth of terrorism – since weaker governments could not retaliate to the US policies and unipolarity did not leave any option the independent groups became the decisive authorities.
b. Since the US is controlling the world financial institutions and oil market etc it has been controlling the development in certain countries especially those where it has interests.
c. Since turmoil in certain regions helped US policies to be pushed, the UN has been controlled by the US to avoid resolutions.
d. Cultural, civilization and ethnic concepts are gaining strength as a refuge against the NWO.
4. Effects specific to Islamic World. After having gone through the general effects of the NWO the question is as to why to study the effects especially on Islamic world separately? There are two main reasons :-
a. In spite of the fact that Muslims constitute over one fifth of the humanity, yet Islam remains the most misunderstood religion in the west. The bogey of Islamic fundamentalism, therefore, is perceived to be the next threat to the West.
b. In the past, Muslims have suffered at the hands of the western colonial powers. The Islamic world therefore, perceives to be threatened by the new style of colonization reflected by the unfolding of NWO.
5. After the demise of Soviet Union, Iraq, being the most powerful Arab country became the first victim of NWO. This was followed by missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan. Coercion against Libya, Pakistan and Iran continued, the human rights standards have been different for Islamic world. Politically, the Muslim countries are divided and OIC, Arab League, GCC and ECO are victims of America. In spite of resources the Muslim world has been made to depend upon international financial institution. Only few Muslim countries have some element of power namely Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan. Following policy is containing these:
a. Imposition of technology blockade to deny them self-reliance in arms and ecnonly.
b. Changing them into debilitating regimes through arms control and containing these to low-level defense capability to keep them under effective control of the regional powers.
4. September 11 and Pakistan. Strongest of the effects of pursuance of NWO was the birth of terrorism, which is a relative term. This culminated in the form of events of 11 September. These presumably Al-Qaida strikes, which were based in Afghanistan, brought Pakistan in to moonlight once again. The county had experienced many ups and downs in the Pak-US relations in the past. The nations momentarily was at the crossroads but due to inherent strength in NWO and US ambitions to physically step into this region Pakistan had to allow US to have bases and strike Afghanistan from Pakistan’s territory.
5. Being consistently under threat from India due to Kashmir Issue, a heavily under debt nation with mixed but crafted impression at the world scene this was a crucial point in the country’s history. Pakistan did achieve some temporary benefits and must have been at loss in some respects.
6. Future of the NWO. The already experienced manifestations of the NWO and the events of September 11 are a food for thought about the future of the NWO. Resurgence of Russia, expected role of China and EU, US public sentiments about their country’s policies (immediately after the events of 11 September) enforce the need for revision of basic principles of the NWO. It can now be visualized that following will be the guidelines for the shaping of future of the NWO for the US policy makers :-
a. Avoidance of multi-civilizational multi-polar global war (terrorism) is only possible if more diplomatic approach in adopted.
b. The survival of NWO depends upon the America’s affirming of their western identity and West’s acceptance of their civilization as unique not universal and their unity to renew and preserve it against challenges from non-western societies.
c. Military power is likely to be increased but will be used very sparingly.

CONCLUSION
Though the US needs to be more diplomatic in the present scenario of resurgence of Russia, upcoming China and EU and anti-US sentiment resulting in 9/11, it seems that there will be some amendments in pursuance of NWO but the basic spirit is likely to remain the same. In the absence of concept of civilizational diversities and presence of regional powers the whole concept of NWO seems to be very controversial. What needs to be seen is where Pakistan stands in the mosaic and what has the country achieved till now or what are the future policy paradigms for Pakistan. Pakistan has options like all out support of the post 9/11 coalition, no support at all or recently adopted option of limited/conditional support taking strength from UN resolutions. Relying on Muslim World which itself is in the US shackles would prove nothing. It is felt that in view of the US military might and her influence in the world this was the best option.

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