HEADLINE = Divide and conquer: West replays old partition game in Ukraine

By taking sides in the political divide in Ukraine, the West has sent the country of 46 million hurtling towards fragmentation. This is deeply ironic because the Ukrainian capital Kiev where the medieval state of Kievan Rus' was based is acknowledged as their historic homeland by the Slavs of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. But this divide and conquer policy is nothing new for the West. Colonial Britain perfected the art of splitting countries and creating fault lines for the benefit of empire. When a shell-shocked Britain retired hurt after WW II, its imperial role was usurped by the United States, which has since intervened in dozens of countries. The American role in Ukraine, where they have armed a bunch of street thugs and neo-Nazis to hold an entire country hostage, has an uncanny parallel to Britains role in the partition of India in 1947. In Ukraine a small but vocal and violent mob comprising ultra-nationalists and opportunists, backed and armed by Americans, has conducted a successful coup against a democratically elected government. Similarly, in pre-independence India it was a small number of Muslims carefully picked by the British who voted for Pakistan. The British role in India's division is best summed up by free Indias first interior minister Sardar Patel. He said (http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritualblogs/seekers/self-improvement/are-spiritual-people-under-threat) on August 9, 1945: The British talk of Hindu-Muslim quarrels, but who has thrust the burden on their shoulders? Give me just a week's rule over Britain; I will create such disagreements that England, Wales and Scotland will fight one another forever. One of the little known facts about Indias partition and the creation of Pakistan is that very few Indian Muslims voted for a separate homeland. In 1947, Muslims comprised around 95 million of Indias population of 320 million. The Muslims

who lived in the areas that are part of todays Pakistan and Bangladesh initially did not want a separate country. Being the majority (around 55 per cent) in these areas they hardly felt threatened by the Hindus, and rejected the separatist Muslim League. The vast majority of Muslims voted for M.K. Gandhis proindependence Congress party. Less than 500,000 Muslims from the landowning and intellectual elites voted for the Muslim League. The Muslim elites feared an independent and democratic India would end their feudal privileges and hereditary titles, and introduce land reforms. The British played up these fears and showed them a way out: demand a separate homeland and Britain would broker a deal. The feudal lords of West Punjab could run the new country as they pleased; the only condition was Pakistan should ally with the West in containing the Soviet Union. Red factor The fear of Russia and the desire to contain it was a big factor in Britains decision to divide India. Those fears were magnified when the Reds took over Russia. But it was the scenario of getting caught in a pincer between Russian Reds and another set of Reds in India that gave the British nightmares. These new Reds were the Khudai Khidmatgars (Servants of God) from the Pathan areas of northwest India. Founded by the ascetic and gentle Badshah Khan, they were the opposite of the machismo flaunting stereotype of the average Pathan. Badshah Khan also known as the Frontier Gandhi made them give up weapons and follow the path of non-violence at all costs. Known as Red Shirts because of their red uniforms, these volunteers quickly moved to the frontlines of the Indian freedom movement and demanded a speedy end to the hated British rule. Tahir Mehdi writes (http://www.dawn.com/news/742169/the-two-muslimtheory) in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn: The Bolshevik revolution of Russia in 1917 was emerging as a huge challenge for imperialism. It had a natural affinity

with the nations oppressed by the British. The Russian revolution was colored red. The sight of a Red Shirt in the Peshawar valley gave the British a fright. In 1930 at Qisa Khani Bazar in present day Pakhtunkwa, the British conducted one of their many massacres in India. Frenzied British forces fired directly at a protest rally of unarmed Khudai Khidmatgars killing many hundreds. The movement and its committed cadre did not budge. They stood fast. Many estimate that at its peak there were as many as a hundred thousand Red Shirts. Finding it impossible to crack the Red Shirts, the British decided to hold elections, hoping to cool down Pathan anger. But heres what happened. Led by Badshah Khan, the Pathans allied with Gandhis Congress and formed a majority government in Pakhtunkwa. Mehdi says that despite the vociferous anti-India and anti-Hindu campaign by the Muslim League it could not ignite fears of Hindu domination among the Pathans. Pakhtun Muslims simply did not see Pakhtun Hindus as threat to their religion or politics. Badshah Khan was completely against the idea of dividing India along religious lines. His biggest frustration was the geographical isolation of Pakhtunkwa from the Indian heartland, forcing the Pathans to become part of Pakistan. His parting words to his idol Gandhi were: You have thrown us to the wolves. Lust for power The United States has for long dreamt of getting a toehold in Ukraine in its relentless quest to become the pre-eminent power in the Eurasian landmass that extends from Lisbon in the west to Vladivostok in the east. Washingtons geopolitical bible is "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives". In this hate-filled tome, former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says by creating instability in every country in Russias neighbourhood, especially in the Central Asian stans and Ukraine, and disrupting the flow of oil and gas, the US can isolate Russia, so that Moscow ceases to be a great power.

Brzezinski, a Pole, openly espouses provoking instability by exploiting the ethnic and religious diversity of the region. The grand idea was to create an "Arc of Instability" extending from Afghanistan to the stans in the southern part of the former Soviet Union. The creation of Pakistan was key to this outcome. Pakistan was used as military outpost for covert U-2 spy flights over the Soviet Union. It became a staging post for baiting the bear in Afghanistan in the hope that Moscow would make a reckless move. Brzezinski has publicly taken credit for drawing Russia into the disastrous Afghanistan war. With Russias southern underbelly in turmoil, the Wests military pact with Pakistan is now past its use by date. The Great Game now rolls west. Spinoffs for the West Ukraine is an insanely industrious country, with a fertile bread basket in the west and a highly industrialised east. If the countrys 46 million people are added to the Western alliance it would be a huge untapped market for American armament companies and German consumer goods. Ukraine has also been an eager accomplice in Western military misadventures in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Ukrainian missile gunners embedded with the Georgian military shot down a Russian aircraft. And in the backdrop of an ageing West, the well-populated Ukraine is expected to provide soldiers for tomorrows NATO. This impending exploitation of Ukraine calls to mind another parallel with Indias partition. Back in 1947 Badshah Khan implored people in Muslim majority areas not to vote for the Muslim League because according to him the only gainers from the creation of Pakistan would be the Leagues elite Punjabi backers who coveted the electricity of Pathans, the land of Sindhis and the minerals of Baluchis. Empire strikes back In Iowa during the Republican caucus in 2012, Congressman Rick Santorum, a Christian fundamentalist, said

(http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0117/How-RickSantorum-and-America-can-be-exceptional-Avoid-empire) the sun set on the British Empire because they lost heart and faith in their heart in themselves and in their mission. Not just for the betterment of the world, but safety and security and the benefit of their country. But now, Santorum assured his right wing nuts, the United States has taken up that cause. D.C. detritus such as Susan Rice and Victoria Nuland have fanned the flames of separatism. The blood of over 100 Ukrainian citizens is on their grubby hands. Nuland has been caught on tape (http://qz.com/174674/the-kremlin-this-leakedtape-shows-the-us-is-backing-ukraines-opposition/) plotting the coup and playing kingmaker. It is incredible that the Western media continues to portray the rioters and coup plotters as democrats when they have in fact destroyed democracy. It just points to the sad state of the global media. Keeping Ukraine united Hopefully the Ukrainians will not commit the same mistakes committed by the Indians 65 years ago. Ukraines advantage is that things are being played out in the glare of the 21st century where interested parties cannot obfuscate things as the British did in 1947. How to deal with a jealous Russia is the least of Ukraines worries. The country is neck-deep in debt and a recession-hit Europe doesnt have the money to bail it out. Ukraine also depends entirely on Russia for its energy needs. Even if ultra-right Ukrainians believe their destiny is with the West, they cant wish away the demographic reality of the pro-Russian east. The countrys industry is also based largely in the east. If the country split, those holding the bread basket should be prepared to become citizens of a basket case economy. The only leverage Ukraine has currently is that some Russian pipelines supplying gas to Europe run through it. However, with Nord Stream now fully operational, Russias biggest gas market, Germany, is free of Kievan blackmail. Newer pipelines

will soon make the Ukrainian route an option rather than a necessity for Russian gas exporting corporations. And as for American threats, President Barack Obama telling Russia not to meddle in Ukraine a message Putin didnt hear is a little late to be taken seriously. In 2008 Russian President Vladimir Putin had waved aside George W. Bushs protests and sent in tanks into Georgia to ensure safety for the South Ossetians from Georgian shelling. Like any major power, Russia is entitled to keep its neighbourhood safe and friendly. Hasnt the United States declared it will not allow a Russian military base in Cuba? Considering the high stakes involved, the Russian response has been remarkably restrained. During the months of standoffs in Kiev, Russias actual role was much more modest than advertised by the international media or the rumor mill in Kiev, says Dmitry Trenin (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/opinion/why-russiawont-interfere.html?_r=0). The Russian ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, was conspicuously absent from public view. The Kremlin ordered all Duma members to stay out of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are like a husband and wife who may not get along with each other anymore but are too old to contemplate divorce. As Andrei Klimov, a Russian diplomat and lawmaker, says (http://world.time.com/2014/02/25/russiaukraine-putin-intervene/#ixzz2uUbrVX00): Russia and Ukraine have been a union religious, political, economic, you name it for a thousand years. And if you look at it from the perspective not of days but of decades, that tradition will live on. Theres no getting away from it.