Daily Times

Donald Trump has certainly not forgotten the London Mayor’s standing firm against granting him a state visit to Britain. For while Sadiq Khan is here in Pakistan — the unquiet American president has ensured that the spotlight is firmly fixed on him in the wake of his Jerusalem shuffle. Talk about grudge-holding.

Yet just as Britain’s Boris Johnson can no longer hide behind his inept toff-about-town posturing — neither can Trump continue to wear the brilliant disguise of someone who simply wings it. For he is the most dangerous man in the world. And this is precisely because he knows just what he is doing. He has thrown petrol on the Middle East that some say has been burning since the world has been turning. And you can bet your bottom petro-dollar that he got a good per-barrel-deal.

But this isn’t about the showman president, as much as he would like the entire word to think otherwise. He is simply the most recent in a long line of American political actors charged with steering the march of the US empire as it navigated the new world order in the wake of the fall of communism. Indeed, Bin Laden himself is said to have retrospectively commemorated the day that the Berlin Wall came tumbling down — on 9 November 1989 — as the original 9/11; and thus more worthy of celebration. Meaning that it paved the way for Islamist extremism to actively counter the US as the unipolar power. The battle has been waged by both sides ever since. And, at times, it becomes difficult to know just who is playing who.

“Here we start, and in Jerusalem we meet”. This is one of the most memorable of Al Qaeda’s slogans. And today, it ought to send chills down the spine of the whole world. Because as of now — Donald Trump has fulfilled Bin Laden’s prophecy

Much of the world at the time couldn’t fathom why George W Bush, along with his faithful little poodle, was so defiant in refusing to have the Al Qaeda chief handed over to a third country. Or why the terrible twosome seemingly got bored overnight in Afghanistan and wanted to play the same game at the next level in Iraq. Of course, there was talk of taking the battlefield to Al Qaeda to keep the American homeland safe. It was spun as wily move; this outfoxing of the militants. Yet it was what both sides wanted. For the latter, it served its rallying cry to the Muslim world to have the world’s largest and most sophisticated military bogged down in a region that even the savviest of political pundits couldn’t resist referring to as backward.

“Here we start, and in Jerusalem we meet”. This is one of the most memorable of Al Qaeda’s slogans. And today, it ought to send chills down the spine of the whole world; assuming the international community has any sort of backbone left. Because as of now — Donald Trump has fulfilled Bin Laden’s prophecy. And once again, Britain has offered up another lapdog to help push things along. This time, though, the poodle has been swapped for a shaggy dog in the form of BoJo the Foreign Secretary.

Indeed, he has been quick to seize the day, calling for Britain to make a return to the volatile MENA region. After all, says the man who represents his country on the world stage: “We need more engagement, not less. We cannot just seal off the whole of the Middle East and North Africa and give them 50 years to sort themselves out.” Of course, here, Mr Johnson is rewriting history. For the West has never stopped its meddling over there. It has provided unconditional support to the illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land that has lasted for the same half a century. As if the Brits have ever managed to wash off the Palestinian blood with which they inked the Balfour Declaration. BoJo has even gone as far as putting the current Syrian chaos down to the West’s hesitancy when it came to military involvement. Even while admitting in the same breath that Britain’s role in the war of aggression in Iraq may actually have “helped to cause the chaos” that we see today in the region.

Both BoJo and the Trumpster may not be clowning around when they suggest that military intervention in the Middle East is the only way to defeat Islamist extremism. Well, now you are in Jerusalem. Let us see how long it will take for the Islamist extremists to meet you there.

The writer is the Deputy Managing Editor, Daily Times. She can be reached at mirandahusain@me.com and tweets @humeiwei

Published in Daily Times, December 8^th 2017.