Editorial
France, Germany and China's 'no' to war
France, Germany and China have made it amply clear that they would oppose a military strike against Iraq under all circumstances. The United States is now left with the UK as the only country extending unconditional support to President Bush's interpretation of the latest situation in the Gulf . The members of the Security Council and Germany have also made it known that their main concern is the primacy of the UN role in the matter. That is perhaps a different way of telling that no country should make an attempt to bypass the world body. The US is reported to have been irked by the Franco-German stand which is now bolstered as China decided to join the two European powers. But it can hardly ignore that France is the current president of the UNSC, and Germany, a non-permanent member, is going to replace it next. The two countries have very rightly pointed out that war is always an evidence of failure. It could only establish the unpleasant truth that the human race as a whole is yet to develop effective mechanisms for conflict resolution, despite making tremendous progress in various fields. France and Germany have further committed themselves by elaborating how they will try to prevent war. Germany has said it will always vote against any resolution in favour of war, and France will veto any such resolution. Russia has also voiced its support for the Franco-German and Chinese position. This newspaper has also advocated a robust UN role in solving the Iraqi crisis. We believe that war will mean a human, economic, political, and geo-political catastrophe. So the countries across the globe have to make sincere efforts for avoiding it . France and Germany deserve a round of plaudits for taking the lead in this respect and China for following suit so quickly. The arms inspection process that is going on in Iraq, despite the US being skeptical about the validity of the findings, should lead to peace not war, and it must be allowed to go its full course. The inspectors led by Hans Blix will submit their report and the UNSC will act on that. That is how one has to look at the UN resolution and the fate of Iraq. Nobody would expect the process being derailed by any intervention. However, there are developments which might not give arms inspection and the ultimate assessment of Iraq's position a smooth sailing. President Bush appears to be determined to wage a war. Nothing will be more unfortunate if he tries to prejudge the inspectors' findings and act on his own sweet will. Of course, President Saddam also has to do his part in the peaceful resolution of the crisis. Iraq must give the arms inspectors full access to all the sites and installations. It must also cooperate with the inspection team, thus removing doubts regarding its purpose, and give a full inventory of its arms and ammunition.
War will be an absolute non-winner and an unbearable load on some vital sectors of the recession-hit world economy. Aviation, tourism, banking and insurance are some of the vital sectors that will be affected badly.
US concern about the weapons of mass destruction ending up in wrong hands may have its point. But is there only one suspected potential source for it? Besides, one hardly needs saying that when war is thought to be needed to prevent the possibility of another war -- in the process, risking very thing that is sought to be avoided -- there must be something wrong with the perception as a whole. The world at large has a lot of tricky issues and problems to deal with, before a just global order can emerge. It is time to replace the term weapons of mass destruction with 'weapons of mass salvation.' Poverty alleviation still remains an elusive goal . And the poorest countries have become the ideal breeding ground of terrorists and all such elements that pose a threat to us. The developed countries, which are now occupying the driver's seat of the world economy, cannot afford to be oblivious of this harsh reality. A brief study of the backgrounds of all the flash points will reveal that many things have gone wrong in those places. So the only answer to terrorism, and the more recent phenomenon of even a whole country being included on the list of terrorists, lies in tackling poverty and other debilitating socio-economic factors, and putting an end to political discrimination between states and societies. The need is to identify and eliminate the root causes behind individuals, communities or even states not behaving according to the norms set in the charter of the United Nations.
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