Being a peoples’ movement, it is difficult to predict how things would shape up there. Till things clear up at the ground level, everyone’s waiting with bated breath.
The smile pockets a rattling controversy.

Commentators around the world are debating this hot topic in the light of the continued crisis gripping the American economy, and its fabled markets.   Some are convinced that America, the super power, is truly and well on its way to demise.   And going by the increasingly negative news emanating from the United States, one cannot be blamed for imagining the worst.

Whether America can continue to hold its position as the sole super power of the world may depend on a very simple and mundane asset, namely, CASH!   How deep are America’s pockets?   In order to retain its present position in the comity of nations, America may have to go on spending cash, and more cash,  till it reaches a point when its economy finds its feet once again, and America can go back to strutting around on the world stage as the only super power!

What does America need to spend money on?   Here are some of the areas where the U.S. has to spend billions upon billions of dollars without really counting them (saves time!), in order to keep its number one position.

Take Care Of Own:  The American Government has to naturally take care of its own citizens first, like any good Government, and that requires a hell of a lot of money.   Its not an easy task for the American Government to keep its citizens happy, given their proclivity to wasteful spending, and lack of the savings habit.  

The American Government has not only to take care of the basic needs of its citizens, but also to pamper them with innumerable goodies.   Cheap gas, for one.   Americans are hooked to the automobile, and keeping them happy on the road costs the American state quite a packet!

America has to ensure unemployment within its population to the bare minimum, or pay unemployment doles to the unemployed.   On the other hand,it has also to provide job opportunities to a large number of aliens, in order to retain its competitive edge by attracting the best talent from all over the world.   Also a large number of aliens throughout the world, looking up to America for a better future, does its image a whale of good.   And the Social Security system that American citizens are entitled to, takes up a large chunk of the American State spending.

Military Power:  America has to maintain a vast, and first rate defence force, that has the capability of intervening in any part of the world, at short notice.  This entails maintaining and sustaining a steady supply of arms and ammunitions of every variety and description, in huge quanities, and of the best quality of course.   Land, Sea and Air based, and in future, space based weapons systems of the highest quality and accuracy are needed to project America’s muscle power before the rest of the world-to friends and foes alike.

Projecting Power Abroad:   Propping up friendly, even if brutal regimes with little or no concern for human rights, like Israel, and Egypt in the pursuit of its strategic interests, takes up a huge chunk of America’s resources.   Israel is the top beneficiary of American aid, so much so that every morsel of food that the Israelis consume, and every drop of water they drink is either partly or fully financed by America!  The second largest receipient of American aid is Egypt.

And then there are states like Pakistan and South Korea, that are supposed to act as a bulwark against perceived threats to not only American interests, but to world peace and prosperity.   Pakistan is supposed to counter the threat of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and South Korea is supposed to halt the spread of red (communism) from North Korea!   Both these friendly states, especially Pakistan, swallow up a considerable amount of American money year after year.

As if this were not enough, America has a bounden duty to punish unfriendly regimes like Iraq and Afghanistan by occupying these states physically;  and subverting their systems to make them America-friendly requires a virtual pipeline of cash to be put in place between America and these countries.   In spite of all this, the end result may not be satisfactory for America, which means all the money spent going down the drain.

Intelligence gathering:  This is another area where America spends countless billions of dollars to maintain its ‘edge’ over the rest of the world, in the hierarchy of nations.   The American intelligence set up is said to be as expansive as it is expensive.  The cost of  maintaining and running such a vast network of intelligence gathering mechanism, both human and non-human can only be imagined, as a lot of the expenditure is of a secret nature, and not accounted for.

By no means, is the above, a complete list of the expenditure incurred by the American Government to maintain its power and prestige, and more importantly, its ’sole super power’ status.

The current economic crisis that has America in a vice like grip, refuses to ease up soon, thereby putting enormous pressure on the American system, and pushing America into more and more debt, thereby mortgaging the future of the coming generations of Americans.   If this situation continues, America may soon be left with the hard choice of saving its flesh and bones, by letting off its enviable, or hated, as you please, status, of the sole super power of the world.

Historical Perspective:  And just who are the Good and the Bad Taliban?   You guessed it right!   The Good Taliban are those, that support America and the West, and the Bad Taliban are those that oppose the West, especially, America!

In the 1980’s through the 90’s though, there was no such distinction within the Taliban.   There was only one Taliban, and that was the Good Taliban.   Because, they were fighting the Soviets who had occupied Afghanistan, with American assistance.   Of course, the Americans supported the Taliban for their own strategic interests, and not because they sympathised with them for the wrongful occupation of their country, by the Soviet Union.   Another point to be noted here is, that, the Taliban and the Al Qaeda were jointly fighting the Soviets and receiving military and other aid from the Americans.

The Americans did not mind hobnobbing with the Taliban and indeed the Al Qaeda, oh yes, in their determination to give a bloody nose to the red communists!   Ridding the world of Communism was well worth the price of  sleeping with the Taliban and the Al Qaeda.   And what was the rationale and purpose of eliminating the communists from the world political landscape?   Of course, not democracy, freedom and the like.   The Soviet Union stood in the way of America becoming the only Super Power of the world.   Then came the 911 (some say rigged up) and all that followed.

Emerging Scenario:  Now the Americans are up to their old game again.   Old habits…….!   There is talk of identifying, read dividing, the Taliban, read Afghans, into two distinct groups.   The Good and the Bad.   The good being pro-west, and the bad being anti-west.   A divided Taliban would fit in perfectly well with the Western strategy for the region.   The recent compromise of the Pakistan Government with the Taliban in the Swat Valley would appear to be part of this strategy.

Will the Taliban fall for this bait?   Does the Taliban have an inkling about what the United States and its allies, may have in store for them?   Will the United States succeed in dividing the Taliban?   Looking to the continued violence in the Swat Valley, one would be inclined to believe that America and its ally, Pakistan, are still some way away from befooling the Taliban.   The West seems to favor the same strategy against the Taliban, that they had successfully employed against the Palestine Liberation Organisation.   Remember how the PLO was broken up?   Now there are two groups of Palestinians, one good, that are aligned to the pro-west Mahmoud Abbas, and the other, anti-west aligned to the Hamas of Khaled Meshaal.   Once you divide a community into good and bad parts, it becomes that much easier to go after the ‘bad’ ones, the ‘terrorists’, with the added bonus of not being accountable for your actions.   After all, ‘terrorists’ that kill innocent women and children do not deserve our sympathy, do they?   But the fact remains, that, dividing the Palestinians has not brought peace to the the Middle East, and the expected dividends to Israel.

And so the great game goes on.   Only this time, with the West, especially the sole Super Power, beset, as it is, with crippling economic problems, may not be able to play the great game for much longer.

What could be the game plan of America and Pakistan?   To lull the Taliban into a false sense of security and then to make a ‘final assault’ to wipe them out?   In much the same way as the Israelis went after the Hamas in the Gaza, reportedly preparing for the ‘final assault’ during the six month long ceasefire?

View expressed are author’s personal.