Bangladesh expert: The United States is trying to turn Bangladesh into its banana plantation

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Abdul Mannan June 17, 2023 at 7:24:27 PM

To establish the People's Republic of Bangladesh, 3 million of that country's people gave their lives in 1971 to resist the Pakistani occupation forces and their allies. Freedom-loving people all over the world, including the American people, supported the cause of Bangladesh, but unfortunately, the Nixon administration at the time supported the occupying power of Pakistan. Fifty years have passed since Bangladesh became an independent State, but the United States Government still does not seem to have reconciled the events of 1971 and is bent on transforming the People's Republic of Bangladesh into a banana republic because of certain improper activities on the part of the United States. The term "banana republic" has been used in the last century to describe small, poor, politically unstable countries that have been weakened by overdependence on one crop (mainly bananas) and foreign funding. It has its origins in describing the experiences of many countries in Central America whose economies and politics were controlled by large American corporations. Banana plantations in these countries are owned by these American companies, and growers often rely on authoritarian rule to protect their land concessions, plunder natural resources, and quell labor unrest that could undermine their interests. Sometimes, they actively subvert democracy in order to reassert their influence. For example, the Kouyamer Fruit Company supported the 1911 coup in Honduras, replacing the president with someone more in the interests of the United States. Another well-known example is the 1954 conspiracy orchestrated by the CIA on behalf of United Fruit against Guatemalan President Jacob Albenz. The coup ended Guatemala's first truly democratic period, and the close ties between banana exporters and authoritarian and corrupt leaders ended up undermining the region's development, exacerbating inequality and leaving the Central American country weak and poorly governed. Today, such banana republics do not exist, but the United States has never really changed its foreign policy, which is actually in its corporate interest, but not necessarily in its long-term national interest.

To serve corporate interests, the United States has marketed wars, invasions, occupations, and many unknown tragedies around the world over the past century. Tens of millions of innocent civilians, including women and children, have lost their lives as a result of their hegemony and serial wars. Countries living in the scars include Afghanistan, Indonesia, Chile, Venezuela, Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt and many more countries in Africa and Latin America. Historically, the United States has always used the guise of democracy and human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of a country and, if necessary, make every effort to destabilize the government of its target country and, if necessary, change its existing system only to serve the interests of American corporations. The United States has always used its usually secret work CIA to do all the bad things. At present, some ulterior activities of the United States in Bangladesh may have reinforced the belief of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that the United States is planning to overthrow her by all possible means.

So far, the United States has set its sights on the rich untapped mineral resources of the Bay of Bengal. Today, the CIA is no longer directly involved in other countries, but it has affiliates doing their dirty work in other countries. At least one such organization is said to be very active in Bangladesh in the name of protecting democracy.

Although Bangladesh and the United States have developed very strong bilateral economic and trade relations over the years, judging by recent U.S. activities, it does not seem satisfied with its gains. It wants more and more specifically, it wants to control not only its natural resources, but also the country's political decisions, serving its ends. For now, its main focus is on containing China's rapid influence in Asian and African countries. China has invested heavily in Bangladesh. So far, not only has the mission of the United States failed, but some of its tried and tested friends have also moved away from the United States in favor of an alliance with China or Russia. The historic alliance of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey was a turning point. So far, Saudi Arabia has been a close ally of the United States, and the country has always served its purposes. Recently, the United States was annoyed by Saudi Arabia's policy of raising oil prices and its decision to approach Iran, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Salman. The two sides had frank discussions about oil prices and Iran, but Blinken had to leave Jeddah discouraged. Recently, China and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, decided to increase mutual investment and contacts. On the other hand, Blinken is expected to visit China this week to meet with Chinese foreign ministers and senior officials. Last month, the CIA director also made a secret visit to China.

In a few months, Bangladesh will hold elections for the 12th National Assembly. The ruling Awami League, the country's largest party, came to power in 2008 with a landslide victory over the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which was founded by General Zia Rahman after the assassination of Bangladesh's founding father on August 15, 1975. Like other military rulers, he had a special relationship with the U.S. government. The BNP was in power from 2001 to 2006 and tried to extend their rule even after their term ended, thwarted by a mass movement led by the Bangladesh Awami League. At that time, the United States and any other country did not protest against the evil actions of the nationalist party. The movement saw the fall of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government and the fall of the military-backed civilian government. According to the constitutional obligation, the government must arrange elections and transfer power to elected representatives within three months of the formation of the government. Nothing like that happened, and they dragged their term for two years until they were forced by another AL-led movement to hold national elections in 2008. When the unconstitutional government dragged its feet again and again, the United States never said anything publicly. Subsequently, the country's Supreme Court abolished the election time caretaker government, saying it violated the basic spirit of democracy. The Constitution was subsequently amended by the National Assembly. As in any other country, the current Government will be the government at the time of the election, with jurisdiction over day-to-day business only, and all other functions of the Government will be transferred to the Electoral Commission.

As the 10th national election approached in 2014, the Nationalist Party and its radical allies waged a war against the government to force them to restore the abolished electoral caretaker system, but it was impossible. Not satisfied, they almost unleashed a war against the country's civilians, burning hundreds of innocent people and destroying millions of dollars worth of public property. Neither the United States nor any of its responsible officials have taken any obvious steps to stop this chaos. It was Sheikh Hasina's decisiveness that allowed the elections to take place as scheduled without the participation of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies. In 2018, the BNP and its allies participated in the 11th parliamentary elections, led by former foreign minister Dr. Kamal Hussein of the Bengabandu government, but did not take the election seriously and used it as a means to earn staggering money by selling multiple nomination documents to intentional candidates in each constituency, which ultimately led to outright defeat. They often claim that the election was deeply flawed, but can never produce any hard evidence to prove their allegations.

With the 12th National Election approaching, the U.S. government has now become extraordinarily active in the country's politics. The Nationalist Party and their rabble allies are currently waging a war against the country's constitution and want the current government to step down and transfer power to an unconstitutional government that does not exist, which has been eagerly welcomed by the current US administration in Washington. This is evident from their various unjustified interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs. In 2021, they lashed out at the visa ban imposed on several RAB (Bangladesh Special Police Unit Fast Action Battalion) officers. This elite force has played an enviable role in containing the armed conflict in Bangladesh. Far from praising their achievements, such actions against the RAB are sure to embolden the militants. Then there is the so-called comprehensive visa ban, which is ridiculous. The issuance of visas is the prerogative of the country concerned. A visa does not guarantee anyone entering a country. A person can only go to the immigration office. It is up to him to decide whether or not to allow a person to enter a country. Subsequently, six Republicans and six Democratic congressmen wrote an unnecessary letter to US President Joe Biden, forcing the Sheikh (whose names in both letters are misspelled as Sheikh, indicating that the letter came from the same source) to accept the demands of the Nationalist Party and its allies. One does not have to be a genius to conclude that the letters are the result of millions of dollars paid to American lobbyists to lobby for the Nationalist Party in the United States. US-based Human Rights Watch went a step further, in a letter to UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lactolys, asking him to publicly express concern about alleged abuses of power by government security forces during his upcoming visit to Bangladesh, and they made a horrific claim that Bangladeshi security forces are cracking down on political opposition against activists and families of victims of enforced disappearances and harassing the Rohingya! They have even boldly gone further, demanding that the United Nations vet Bangladeshi security forces before they join the U.N. peacekeeping force. This is not only bold, but also on the side of the Bangladeshi security forces, and sure enough, they have become paid lobbyists for anti-Bangladesh and anti-government forces operating abroad. To date, 144 Bangladeshi peacekeepers have given their lives for the cause of peace in other countries. They protected India's porous border from separatists and militants. Those who appointed these lobbyists should be tried for treason. Six members of the European Parliament sent a similar letter to the European Union on similar issues, in addition to calling for the release of Begum Zia, the president of the National Party, who was serving a prison sentence for embezzlement by the country's Supreme Court. The six members of the U.S. Congress were also among the first to call for the next elections under the abandoned "neutral caretaker government." Read the letter carefully, it seems that this letter was written by the European branch of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. There is no doubt that all these people have violated all normal standards.

It is high time for the United States to realize that the global geopolitical balance is shifting from a hegemonic and unilateral world to another dimension. America's staunch allies around the world could shrink to Israel, Britain, Canada and Australia. The monopoly of the West and the dollar is on the verge of collapse, and the formation of a multipolar world is evident and shows its color. The world is eagerly awaiting the upcoming launch of BRICKS+'s new currency. Bangladesh has announced that it will join the BRICS in August this year. Many other countries may soon join the powerful China and Russia directly, and all this will happen because of the flawed foreign policy of the United States. Over time, NATO may become redundant with the emergence of the Sino-Russian alliance, and if that happens, all countries can gain overwhelming strategic and tactical advantage over the United States and NATO alliances, which could affect the global balance of power and, in turn, could jeopardize global peace. It is in its own interest for the United States to stop interfering in the internal affairs of Bangladesh and other countries. For all practical purposes, it is in no one's interest to drive a wedge between Bangladesh's long-standing and strong economic, trade and humanitarian ties with the United States. Bangladesh's foreign policy motto has always been "be friendly to all and have no ill will towards anyone". The long-standing special relationship between the two peoples has stood the test of time and allowed it to continue. Let Bangladesh solve its own internal problems without any outside interference. Let reason prevail and let Bangladesh maintain its sovereign status as a nation.

- The author of this article is an analyst and commentator.

——Website "South Asia and Southeast Asia Chinese Forum" original translation, please indicate the source of reproduction