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Speech of Dr. Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd
( Commissioner for Dialogue between Civilizations of Arab League )
Page (2)
This, however, is not our concern in this conference, a concern
that would internally take us to the ongoing heated debate as to
the advantages and disadvantages of a liberalized market economy
required by the ongoing globalization process. Rather, I would
focus on attempting to find an answer to one single question,
namely : if it is agreed by all that peace is a prerequisite
for the successful operation of development and that its
prevalence is beneficial to both the highly and the less developed
countries and regions of the world, why is it not being adequately
promoted, and what is it that stands as an impediment hindering
the achievement of sustainable peace in almost all the regions
that, for one reason or the other are suffering from conflicts,
confrontations and a serious danger of exploding with the
inevitable risk of uncontrollable chaos, involving large scale
disturbance, blood shed, and violence.
Instead of resorting to an overly diplomatic language, or simply
preferring to hit around the bush, I would give the following
straightforward answer :
The reason for the present absence of an atmosphere of peace, and
the almost total failure in the attempt to bring about peace to
such troubled regions like the Middle East and other regions in
Asia, Africa and certain parts of Europe is to be found in the
following four developments :
1.
Since the almost sudden collapse of the so called Communist
block led by the Soviet Union and joined by most countries of
Eastern Europe, the world order had lost the minimum balance of
powers that, for decades had provided a state of equilibrium
conducive to peace among the different countries of the world.
The advent of a one polar system dominated by the USA, deprived
world relations of the famous rule by which "le pouvoir arête le
pouvoir" to use the famous words of Montesque.
In the absence of an effective system of checks and balances, it
becomes possible for the one omnipotent superpower to dictate
its own values, culture and ways of life upon the rest of the
world without meeting any serious challenge. Unilateral
interference in the systems of government adopted by many
developing countries, particularly those of the Arab and Muslim
countries has become a source of disruption in many regions. It
is my contention that part of this omnipotence in not
necessarily "American", rather it is almost inherent in the
situation, where the world order has only one superpower whose
power and dominance are not tampered by any other competing
power.
Events of the last two years give ample evidence of the serious
negative side effects created by such monopoly of power.
Excessive reliance on said monopoly on different occasions had
generated a wave of "Anti-American" feelings, not only among
Arabs and Muslims who have been unfairly treated, taken for
granted, and categorized as a potential threat to American
security and American interests, but also in many other parts of
the worlds.
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