US Sanctions on RAB Officials and Its Geopolitical Impact on Bangladesh -A Al Mujahid

The US embargo on Bangladesh’s elite force RAB and their assets & transactions, including travel bans against some former and current RAB officers, caused controversy around the world. A day after the incident, news came out that former army chief General Aziz’s US visa had been revoked. While these incidents were creating various rumors, news caused quite a stir in Bangladesh. The Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh made a statement directly on behalf of the ruling party, avoiding all the customs & traditions of their country.

The point of the Chinese ambassador’s speech is that Bangladesh has an excellent democracy. The people of the country love the Awami League and the sanctions imposed by the Americans are unjust & illegal and these sanctions will not harm Bangladesh. On the other hand, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh also praised democracy in Bangladesh. Prior to these incidents, Russia had welcomed Bangladesh in an unprecedented way as the latter didn’t receive invitation to the Democracy Conference held in the US. On the line, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh said that only weak democracies were invited to the Democracy Conference. Since Bangladesh is a country of strong democracy in all respects, Bangladesh was not invited to such a conference.

One more news in the mentioned chronology has stirred up our country. Our State Department has unprecedentedly summoned the US ambassador to the ministry and asked for an explanation for the US sanctions. Apart from this, various leaders of the ruling party, ministers and MPs have been protesting against America. Some say, they caused the famine in 1974, while others say they opposed our great liberation war and wanted to send the Seventh Fleet to help the Pakistan Army. Some scholars are referring to the lack of democracy in the US and the annual accounts of disappearances and crossfire in their country, saying that nothing has happened in Bangladesh compared to the US.

In fact, Joe Biden is following Trump’s footsteps. US foreign policy is inextricably linked to world politics. Both Democrats and Republicans have similar tactics; authoritarianism is their goal and their foreign policy is determined with that goal in mind. After the departure of Trump, a new world politics was supposed to be created.

But it turns out that Biden is following Trump’s policy internationally; The old-fashioned conflict with other economic powers in the world, China and Russia. He is pursuing the same policy as his predecessor, Donald Trump. Externally, he has tried to make a difference in world politics, but it is not very effective. Biden has sided with Ukraine in Russia’s conflict with Ukraine as U.S. weapons have begun to arrive there.

The recently held ‘Democratic Conference’ of the United States has been hosted 100 countries of the world. The participating countries are essentially allies and supporters of the current US foreign policy. One of the reasons for keeping Bangladesh away from this conference may be the recent Bangladesh-China relations. After the incumbent government came to power in 2009, the World Bank withdrew from the Padma Bridge.

Both Democrats and Republicans in the United States have long maintained relations with Pakistan for the interest of arms trade. Donald Trump stepped out of the fray and extended a hand of friendship to the Modi government in India. By exploiting China’s enmity with India, Mr. Trump prepared the ground for US aid there. To date, however, the United States has not commented on the repeal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. They also did not disclose how they view the ongoing incidents against the Kashmiri people. In the last US election, Modi publicly asked for a vote for Trump. But, now India has some distance with Joe Biden.

Even so, China has now surpassed the Americans in many arena. The former has surpassed the latter in almost every field of fourth industrial revolution, trade, IT & artificial intelligence. In such a situation, US politicians cannot accept the rise of China. That is why anti-China sentiment has been made acute in all levels of the US administration. Following this, various foreign policies are being created in different countries of the world.

With technical assistance on the Padma Bridge, China has helped the current government achieve great political success. The post-2001 government allowed Taiwan to open a trade center in Bangladesh, creating an atmosphere of lasting animosity with China that re-established relations with China after the current government came to power. The Taiwan question is a sensitive one for China. But The Americans, who are so vocal about Taiwan today, annexed China in 1972 by abolishing Taiwan’s membership of the United Nations. However, it is not clear on what grounds or under what circumstances our then government allowed the consulate of Taiwan.

Today, Bangladesh has deep economic ties with China, which made the United States fed up. Hence, it has accused Bangladesh of human rights abuses. Though, the United States has made allegations of human rights abuses, it itself massively violated human rights at different times. How can they get away of the allegations of destroying the whole of Iraq in 2003 by ‘weapons of mass destruction’? The Americans cannot get indemnity anymore in the question of war and the destruction in the Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Afghanistan. They have never given an excuse to the world for their numerous barbaric wars that massively violated human rights but today they are looking for images of human rights violations in different parts of the world which is tantamount to deception.

No blockade can be imposed against the Americans because the US dollar has long been the driver of world trade. The control of the dollar is in the hands of the Americans. That is why they can impose various kinds of blockades and sanctions on any country of their choice. They have imposed sanctions on a special forces force in Bangladesh or a former military chief and current police chief. Apart from Bangladesh, there are similar allegations against many other countries, including neighboring India.

The history of gun war & human rights abuse in different countries of the world is well known. In some countries, gun battles may have given an apparent solution to the problem, but in the meantime it has given birth to thousands more. The weakness of the existing law, the laxity of law enforcement, the inefficiency of law enforcement and the protracted nature of the judiciary have created a kind of support for gunfights in the minds of the people. People want to see the destruction of the oppressor and terrorists, gunfights sometimes become the fulfillment of that desire of the people. This trend is dangerous and It is a violation of human rights & civilization. In this case, relying on gunfight could be prevented by removing any weakness of the existing law, any limitation of law enforcement or any kind of delay in the trial.

What should be the international diplomacy of Bangladesh? According to the researchers, we do not have the efficient bureaucracy to handle China and America together. Even we do not have the skills to handle India and China together. Today, the way India’s foreign ministry handles Russia, the US, China and Afghanistan is an example of shrewd diplomacy. As a result, Beijing provides billions of dollars to the Indian government even during the Sino-Indian border war.
As well as, The Pakistani bureaucracy maintains a three-dimensional friendship with China, the US and Beijing. When the war was raging on the Indo-Pakistan border, the top leaders and top bureaucrats of the two countries had a direct telephone conversation.

The United States and the West are deeply involved in our economic success. A large part of our export trade depends on these two zones. The rapid development of our garment industry has now taken place with the United States. It is probably a product of the Sino-US trade conflict. Even then, we have to look at the whole matter very carefully. The responsibility of the state must be taken care of. Our country has not yet achieved complete food self-sufficiency. As can be seen in a documentary, Bangladesh is the second highest rice importing country in the world! In view of this dire situation, it is important to ensure that our state policy is reflected in the interest of keeping our economic & foreign gains intact.

The writer is an independent analyst on national & international affairs