By Hiren Gohain
Now that the top leadership of the Hezbullah headed by Hasan Nasrallah have been liquidated in one fell swoop and Netanyuhu is chortling that such will be the end of all enemies of ‘the free world’ ,it is clear that the fateful occurrence had not been just a happy accident for him and his backers,but the outcome of an elaborate and meticulously planned and executed campaign.One only awaits the apparently episodic and haphazard expansion of the war to Iran,with rulers of major Arab states watching complacently from a ‘safe’ distance.Not realizing that it is also going to pinion them to the American strategy and squeeze them to an insignificant role in the middle east.
While the American war machine seemed to sweep all before it Hezbullah had emerged in the aftermath of the second Gulf War in Iraq as a major force of resistance to American hegemony.The organization was not simply a small fighting group aiming at inflicting injuries on the apparently invincible American forces.It received popular support,clearly had precise well-defined goals and caused much headache to the Americans.Its leader emerged as one of the most effective leaders of serious popular and military resistance to American goals.They have been on his trail since then.Now Israel has acted as a star sniper for Americans.That is why Netanyuhu has been invited to speak to the US Congress twice and applauded.Pentagon seems to have been complicit in not only the determination of the military goals,but also the actual planning of the campaign.
In the meanwhile the advent of new electronic devices in the shadow war of intelligence had radically altered the nature of the larger war.The capacity for gathering vital intelligence on location and movements of targeted people whether from mobile watchtowers in space or from snoopers below on earth has qualitatively altered the balance of power in favour of America and its most favoured ally.The allies on the other side have been caught napping.The dividends that technological advance in war preparations received from lavish expenditure on electronic and weapons research by the West had been neglected by them as they sat snugly in their triumph about their temporary local successes.It is a war to the death, not a struggle for pockets of influence.The power and success of Israel in inflicting serious damage deep inside enemy territory with the help of advanced gadgetry and powerful American weapons must not from now on to be discounted.For the Hezbullah is not going to disband itself and go into monastic retreat.
The rising clamour for ceasefire and the hypocritical ambiguously worded American advocacy for such a settlement is hardly a cure for the infected wound.It will settle nothing but will give Israel time to consolidate its gains and prepare for the next assault.Every Palestinian attempt to regain advantage may be turned into an opportunity to widen the war and further weaken the enemies of Israel.The next target is likely to be Iran.
The idea is not in my view a total victory over a dangerous enemy but an expansion of area under control in an unending war.Keeping the issue alive brings more political dividends than a conclusive victory or settlement.Only a rabid jingoistic and insatiable blood-thirsty government in Israel will serve this purpose.This might not ensure some sort of monopoly control of the world’s petroleum reserves(recent discoveries the world over no longer support such a view),but it will certainly ensure control of the world’s major trade route. Besides it will keep at bay such unsettling alien initiatives as the Chinese moves for peace and reduction of conflict among countries of the region.Thousands of people,including children,women and the elderly, might be incinerated every year.But in the accounts of the managers of this war such collateral damage is considered unavoidable.Crooked politicians who had raised such a hue and cry about the ‘acts of terror’ by Hamas a year ago have not even raised an eyebrow at the flagrant terrorist attack on Hezbolla planting miniature explosive devices in electronic gadgets like mobiles and walki-talkies which did not confine its toll to combatants.
Now what does it signify for the targeted nations and countries?They must have in use and in store effective electronic devices to offset the current advantage of Israel and its senior partner.Such pinpointed accuracy of successful attacks not only indicate systematic and effective surveillance from space but also a humming network of collaborators on the ground to relay precise and instantaneous information.To locate and disarm such an elaborate and efficient network highly effective jamming devices must be put to work.The vacancy on the ground where enemy agents can perform at will is a major disadvantage for the target nations or armies.
Facial and physical recognition technologies as well as the capacity to relay such information second by second must have helped the enemy to score such spectacular successes.Old methods of direct contact and conflict are perhaps no longer so vital.Or perhaps these can no longer serve as an all-purpose approach.
The backwardness of science education and research against such a background in the countries concerned must be admitted as a disadvantage.The major and senior partner in this alliance against American hegemony and Israeli brutality,Iran has turned half of its population against itself with its blind religious dogmatism.The religious control over education is unlikely to ensure advances in science, research and technology.
The people are certainly a mighty force in themselves.But had they been armed with science they could have performed much much better.Besides the iron-fisted attitude to those not inclined to orthodoxy is bound to breed disgruntled infomers. Now that a charismatic popular leader with a clear mind and broad outlook as well as an incomparable strategic grasp,as well as his immediate successors, have been martyred, the next generation of leadership must address such fundamental problems creatively and energetically. The technological gap must be narrowed.
Israel is hard at work trying to throw its opponents off its scent by declaring that thanks to double agents in the ranks of Hamas or Hezbullah it has had the prompt and precise information that enabled it to hunt down the enemy commanders.While the chaos of insecurity and confusion lasting years on the ground might have bred the odd traitor or two,the main loophole appears to be the edge in technological or electronic advance as well as the reliance on accurate intelligence that helped elimination of key figures in the command of the enemy forces.
Nor must it be taken for granted that there cannot be any native innovative skill to outwit sophisticated Israeli and American electronic warfare.Vietnam made up for lack of radar with big funnel-shaped cavities on the ground with prostrate individuals with keen ears could hear the drone of aircraft from a distance way ahead of its actual appearance in the skies of a particular area. Israel has to be fought to a standstill and America robbed of its power to terrorise the world.
Hiren Gohain is a political commentator
2 October 2024
Source: countercurrents.org