New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said, “The dominant symbol of the Cold War era was the Berlin Wall, and its counterpart today is the World Wide Web.” According to Friedman, our world is considered as being closely connected by the modern telecommunications, such as smart phones, twitter, Facebook, Face Time, and as being interdependent economically, socially, and politically.
Another American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama, best known for his book The End of History and the Last Man, argues that the end of free market capitalism of the West, and its lifestyle will lead to the end point of the human sociocultural change and become the last and final form of the human system of government.
Francis Fukuyama was wrong and failed to understand that the Islamic world presents another challenge to liberal democracies and has a plan to change the world according to Islamic governance. An example would be the current rise of political Islam in the Middle East and in Africa.
During the Cold War, we had a balance of power. The West was dominated by America and the East dominated by the Soviet Union. The balance of the world was finally over, and the liberal system as practiced by America had won over the socialist system as practiced by the Eastern blocks and the Soviet Union.
When we look at today’s world, the balance of power has sifted from a bi- polar to a multi-polar world power. We have China, the United States, the European Union, the African Union, the Turkic Union, the Muslim Union, India, Russia, the French troops’ involvement in Mali, Turkey’s support of civil war in Syria, global terrorism whose authority is not rooted in nations but is without borders, and finally, the ethnic and religious polarization in Myanmar, Africa, the Middle East, and Western Europe–all pervading world politics.
The rise of China and America’s frustration with the political developments in the Middle East and Africa over the last two years compelled America to shift its focus to East Asia and the Pacific. It is a not coincidence that world attention is now focused on the Korean Peninsula after six decades. Is this the beginning of some kind of global Cold War because of the change of strategy in America’s willingness to contain and cooperate with China as a new regional and global power?
Yet, China continues to support North Korea as its strategic interest intensifies in the region. America seems to refuse to talk directly to North Korea, preferring to continue with the isolation. The world knows that sanctions and isolationism do not work and are the wrong approach to solve world politics. I really believe North Korea, Iran’s nuclear issues, and any other world issues can be solved if there is a sincere effort to let diplomacy work rather than imposing sanctions and practicing isolationism.
The unsuccessful talks between Iran and the 5+1 group of major world powers about Iran’s nuclear ambition were held in Kazakhstan. The reason they failed was because Iran asked for unilateral concessions, lifting of UN imposed sanctions, and solemn recognition of its right to enrich uranium even up to the weapons grade levels.
Diplomacy was invented to enable us to talk to our enemies not to our friends. Today, the issue is not about North Korea or Iran dismantling their nuclear program; it is about America and other countries choosing not to have worked through diplomacy and their not giving diplomacy a chance to work. It is true that there have been many indirect encounters between North Korean diplomats and those from the US, but it is not enough. Diplomacy should be the main channel of communication. North Korea is a good opportunity for the US to change the rules of the game and to set up new rules for diplomacy. Most analysts think the North Korean leader Kim Jun Un is young, crazy, and difficult to read, so that it is hard to know whether to take his threat seriously, but it is also harder not to talk him. America has a great opportunity to engage a new form of geopolitical thinking with regard to Iran’s nuclear program and North Korea.
The main problem with most of America’s strategic thinking is that America is supporting Turkey’s brand of Islam over Iran’s brand of Islam and not having diplomacy with Iran does not help America, but only helps Turkey. We were not called “the first world” until the Second World War broke up other alliances. North Korea’s and South Korea’s continued war rhetoric in recent weeks has increased the likelihood of a new confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, and Israel is considering a military option if Iran does not stop its nuclear activities. Now we are witnessing a global Cold War, not a Global Village.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com, Mindanao Times and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com.