Imam Ali’s (a.s.) ( R.A ) 1300-year old letter predicted America’s on going decline-and provided a solution. Posted on March 18, 2014 The Washington Post has published an outstanding article by former ambassador to the U.S.S.R. Jack F. Matlock Jr. A reading of the article highlights how the mass media narrative of what is happening in the U.S. at anyone given point in time is different from the reality of the situation at hand. You can read the insightful article here. Matlock’s article shows how the U.S. government and media have presented an inaccurate and disingenuous version of U.S.-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War. This is a pattern that has been repeated in the past. It happened with Iraq. The Americans claimed Saddam was defiant and dangerous. All the while, he was desperately looking for a way out, knowing full well that an American attack would finish his regime. It is happening with Iran. The American media and govt. portray Iran as dangerous and defiant. All the while, the Iranians have bent over backwards trying to reach some sort of compromise trying to avoid a confrontation with the U.S. And now it is happening with Russia. Only this time, the official govt. and mass media narrative which serves the capitalist elites might undo the U.S. not Russia. Ironically, the seeds of America’s downfall as a great power, and its eventual decline as an economic power were already pointed out by Imam Ali (a.s.) in a letter he wrote to Malik Ashtar, a trusted general and statesman appointed to be the governor of Egypt. In the letter Imam Ali (a.s) succinctly identifies the 1% who make up the capitalist elite that rule over American society. It is this 1% that formulates the majority of the mass media and govt. narrative: Remember Malik! That usually these big personages are mentally the scum of the human society, they are the people who will be the worst drag upon you during your moments of peace and happiness, and the least useful to you during your hours of need and adversity, they hate justice the most, and they will keep on demanding more and more out of the state resources and will seldom be satisfied with what they receive and will never be obliged for the favor shown to them if their demands are justifiably refused, they will never accept any reasonable excuse or any rational argument and when ties changes, you will never find them staunch, faithful and loyal. Imam Ali’s (a.s.) words are written over 1300 years ago, yet they seem very apt for present day America. It seems that this capitalist elite will ultimately destroy America. They have corrupted the political process, they have corrupted the politicians, and now they have brought the U.S. to the brink of war with Russia. Perhaps this is what Allah means in the Quran when he says: ‘They plan, but Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.’ Such is the power of the Lord, that He destroys those who defy him with the thing that they consider their greatest strength and point of pride: the Capitalist system and the elites who run it. Imam Ali (a.s.) also points to the solution for America’s ills: While the common men, the poor and apparently the less important section of your subjects are the pillars of Islam, they are the real assemblage of Muslims and the power and defensive force against the enemies of Islam. Keep your mind on their affairs, be more friendly with them and secure their trust and goodwill. Obviously, America is not an Islamic society and its masses are not Muslim majority. It should be kept in mind that Islam is ultimately the solution for America’s ills. However, there is no coercion in religion and Islam demands that it be spread not by the sword, but by rational arguments based on the intellectual development of the people. Islam and Muslims aside, the paragraph above provides a very clear minded insight into how the poor and dispossessed are actually the guardians of society. To put it in simpler terms, if millions of young men and women from the lower strata of society had not fought and died for the elites, they would never have been able to push their resource driven agenda.If these millions of soldiers, the majority of whom are very good hearted and righteous people who truly believe in the patriotic drivel that the elites use to keep them in line were not ready to die for America, America would have no super power status. The super power status of America was based on the willingness of the poor sections of America society to die for their country. It is for this reason that America is no longer a super power: The American public is no longer prepared to die for its costly wars. This in itself is a manifestation of Imam Ali (a.s.) succinct insight: If the poor abandon a country/state/idea then nothing can prop it up. If the elites abandon a country/state/idea the country can manage and carry on. Of course, this observation is not black and white. And it is not about the rich and poor. It is about a select elite who are mega-rich, and who control American society and the larger world to pursue their multi-national interests. The close collusion between the NSA and Google is an example of the complete and utter contempt that the elites have for the larger sections of society, their constant refrains for inclusion aside. Thus the formula that Imam Ali (a.s.) provides applies to all societies, irrespective of time and space. The reality is that the capitalist elite of the U.S. has looted the country’s coffers, destroyed its real economy, corrupted its political system (The Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson being examples) and crushed and decimated the American middle class, all the while desiring and pushing for confrontations with the likes of Russia and Iran. All of this so that they can control greater amounts of the world’s resources and gains access to new markets for their conglomerates. For further proof of this point look no further than America’s impotence in the face of what it perceives as Russian intransigence. The Russian people are very willing to die for Putin. This is because Putin, for all his faults, has done far more for the poor of Russia than Obama has for the poor sections of American society. A reading of an article written by Putin in 2012 points to his core philosophy: Russia is a welfare state. We have a much higher level of social guarantees than other countries with similar productivity and per capita income levels. In recent years, more than a half of public expenditure has been going into the social sphere. Over the past four years, our social spending has grown by 50% in absolute numbers, or from 21% to 27% in relation to GDP. None of these social guarantees was shaken by the crisis of 2008-2009. In fact, the wages of public sector employees even grew during that period, together with pensions and other social benefits. But our people are definitely not satisfied with the current situation, and their dissatisfaction is well justified. One can only imagine if Obama were to pen the words above! Whether Putin has succeeded in his stated goal is up for debate. The point, here, however, is that Putin recognizes what Imam Ali (a.s.) identified in his letter to Malik: If you as a ruler are loyal to the poor, they will lay down their lives for you. If you are loyal to the rich elite, they will kick you to the curb once they’re done using you. The capitalist elite want poor, ordinary, every day Americans to continue to fight and die for them so that they can pursue their capitalist agenda. Poor, ordinary Americans, however, are fed up. Obama has failed in his promise of hope and change. His slogan of hope and change took advantage of how dissatisfied ordinary Americans were with the rich elite who who had created the disastrous 2008-2009 credit crisis. The irony is that even Obama’s much touted Affordable Care Act does not insure the most vulnerable sections of American society. In a supreme irony, if you are too poor, you do not qualify for Affordable Care. Yes. You heard right. You can read the details here. Eventually, all the American Football, UFC, and NBA basketball and other distractions won’t save the elite from the poor masses waking up and taking their country back. When this inevitably occurs, America will experience the same kind of turmoil that rocked countries such as Russia bank in the 1990s. It has already had a taste of this with the Occupy Wall Street Protests. The next round of protests will be much harder to put down and the public will not be as easy to placate.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 08:31:02 +0000
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