Turkey for UN SC Permanent Membership

Turkey for UN SC Permanent Membership

A consideration of criteria for the selection of a Muslim country as permanent member of the UN Security Council. The Vicar of the Islamic World at the UN must be a modern, secular, democratic country, and not a barbaric and analphabetic realm ruled by the lunatic sheikhs of impoverished countries.

A Chance for Global Future: Reforming the UN. Part III

Turkey for UN Security Council Permanent Membership

By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

In a series of previous articles, we advocated the extension of the veto right (Security Council permanent membership) to India, Japan, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Mexico. We argued that this would help the international body reflect best today’s realities, and meet a reasonable level of representatively, which is condition sine qua non for a democratically organized international community.

We also suggested the extension of the veto right to one Islamic and one African nations, stating that the two candidate countries would represent two, partly overlapping areas, that have been extensively colonized and politically split. Here, we will conclude and indicate the two countries that make the best choice.

Combined Criteria in order to Select an Islamic nation and an African country
It is proper therefore to question in this regard what are the truly essential criteria for the international body, and the international community in its entirety, to take into account when attempting to make a final choice for veto right UN Security Council members representing the Islamic World and Africa. As we have already implied, among the aforementioned seven criteria, some are of purely technical essence, namely population, surface, and – to some extent – economic power, whereas other criteria are of political – ideological character.

- Overall economic performance (GDP)
Certainly, economic development is a prerequisite in our world, it consists in a basic international aim by itself, and as such it can be viewed as an important political ideological criterion. At this point however we have to discuss to some extent the relativity of the GDP, as a solid and ideologically – politically correct criterion. Nazi Germany and USSR achieved memorable scores in this regard, but they hardly represent an international model state and/or society. Totalitarian societies stress at times their success in terms of overall economic performance (GDP), but this adds to their regrettable character. Stakhanovism is the bottom of a problematic society, not the peak of a national paradigmatic achievement! Attempting to combine today a Realpolitik with basics of democratic and pluralistic political ideology, we have to explain the reasons we believe China deserves its position, despite that nation’s poor democratic record.

We would not become China’s advocate, if we focalize on three major reasons; first, historical, since the country was accepted as Security Council permanent member at a moment when it was not yet ruled by a totalitarian Communist regime. The second reason is certainly the volume of China’s GDP and trade, significant figures that cannot be ignored. Compared to them, the combined GDP figures of Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria (US $ 759 b, 318 b, 295 b, and 115 b respectively) are just an infinitesimal detail. The four third world’s dwarfs amount to approximately half the population of China, but their combined GDP is almost as large as one fifth of China’s. The third reason is rather political – diplomatic in the sense that, by letting this huge country better integrate with the democratic world, the international community helps in generating local political developments that herald Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights in China.

- Governmental Budget and Participation in the World Trade
Other economic indicators that have to be taken into consideration – although they are relative as well – are the governmental budget and the country’s trade. Totalitarian governments have limited budget resources, and poor participation in the world trade. Iran (70 million people) exports account for approximately US$ 30 b, whereas Thailand’s (65 million people) exports are 2.5 times larger (US$ 76 b), and Malaysia’s (24 million people) exports are more than triple (US$ 98 b). Worse than Iran, Pakistan (160 million people) and Egypt (75 million people) have - practically speaking - nothing to export (respectively US$ 11 b and US$ 8.8 b). Taking active part in the world trade necessitates liberal economy, and proper dismantling of all the state run economy’s structures; to proceed so a country has to establish first a democratic, representative parliamentarian system, which means abolition of autocracies, theocracies and fake leadership personal cults. Of course, there are limits in this approach as well, and we all understand that China, despite its large participation in the world trade, does not represent a model state and society.

- Per capita GDP – Rail and Paved Highway Networks – Telephony & Internet Penetration
Per capita GDP is a much safer indicator, since it represents social and technological development rather than the economic development in its national dimensions. As indicator, it can be strengthened and corroborated by other significant indicators, such as railway and paved highway networks, as well as fixed line, mobile line and Internet penetration. Yet, it can be met with a counter-argumentation, since some small countries, which advanced tremendously at the economic and technological levels, achieved excellent scores with regard to all these indicators without developing a truly humanist culture, a multicultural educational systems and a pluralistic, democratic political life devoid of discrimination. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Emirates and Brunei can hardly be a proper model in our global world. These nations cultivate sex, ethnic, and religious discrimination; foreign workers are denied basic international labor rights, although forming a large portion of the inhabitants, whereas women are treated as almost animals, being deprived from basic political rights. In most of these countries, ‘tolerance’ is an unknown word, whereas the political decision making process is a small family affair. Yet, the money is there! These semi-cannibalistic societies reflect the primitivism of the mobile user and BMW owner, who never heard of Shakespeare, Voltaire, Goethe, Dante, Tolstoy, and Cervantes, let alone Gilgamesh, the Codex of Hammurapi, Ullikummi, the Book of the Dead, Avesta, Bundahisn, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hermes Trismegistus, and the Vedas. The difference between New Zealand and Kuwait, Norway and the Emirates, or Malta and Qatar is not economic: it is educational, cultural and political.

- Democratic parliamentarian system, Human Rights, Minority Rights
Unadulterated Democracy is the ultimate epitome of all choices, the most important measure to take into consideration. We should keep in mind that first of all the UN represents the Victory of Democracy over Totalitarianism, the embodiment of the defeat of all tyrannies, Fascist, Nazi, Communist or Islamist. As such, the UN came to surface in 1945; as such, it was reconfirmed in 1989 – 1991, when we attested the collapse of so many dictators. As such, the UN must be reinstated through its forthcoming reform.

If we do not use today the UN reform as a key tool to eradicate the existing anachronistic, dysfunctional and totalitarian regimes, if the developed democracies do not cooperate on this seminal point, the entire world will soon face serious threats from these ominous establishments. This is the reason America should better consider exercising influence in this direction, within the UN and the UNESCO, rather than opting for unilateralism.

Conclusions
Having gone through all that, we can safely claim that in the same way Spain – as a fascist, anachronistic structure – could not possibly be selected for UN Security Council permanent membership in 1945, the four Islamic anachronistic and dysfunctional societies, namely Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia are unquestionably out of any discussion for a similar position in the year 2004. Their poor Human Rights record, their deficiency in basics of modern democratic and humanistic politics, the deep involvement of their military in politics, the criminal embrace of all aspects of social, artistic and intellectual life by secret - and therefore uncontrolled - religious groups and by uncultured, uneducated, quasi-illiterate and at times murderous ‘sheikhs’, their underdevelopment - due to prevailing anachronistic and erroneous conceptions of god, religion, Mankind and Progress -, their unprecedented failure in propagating the humano-centric Weltanschauung of our modern world, all this and much more prevents the aforementioned countries from any accreditation to an improved membership within the UN Security Council whatsoever.

Beyond their ominous record in terms of Democracy, Education and Culture, the aforementioned four nonstarters present a tenebrous economic picture that is – literally speaking – the ultimate denial of progress and development by all means. It would therefore be quite illustrative to compare them to Turkey.

Indonesia
With 239 million people (more than triple than that of Turkey), Indonesia has less than half of Turkey’s per capita GDP. Indonesian government’s income is a little bit more than half of Turkey’s (US$ 41 b – US$ 67 b), whereas its expenditures are just half of it(US$ 45 b – US$ 93 b). With a public debt representing 73% of its GDP, Indonesia is in much worse shape than Turkey because precisely of its low budget figures. Indonesian exports are somewhat larger than the Turkish (US$ 63 b – US$ 49 b), but when this is the result of a three times larger population, the figure looks disastrous. The real lack of consumerism in Indonesia is demonstrated through a very low imports figure (US$ 40 b – instead of US$ 62 b for Turkey). The infrastructure is not there either; although its territory is 2.5 times larger than that of Turkey, the total rail and paved highway network is even arithmetically poorer (railways in Turkey: 8671 km, and in Indonesia: 6450km / highways in Turkey: 131000km, and in Indonesia: 158000km). When it comes to Communication and Information Technology, we realize that Turkey and Indonesia are on the opposite sides of the CIT gap (fixed line subscribers: 19 million / 7.8 million, mobile line users: 29 million / 12 million, Internet users: 5.5 million /8 million).

The conclusion is formulated in just a question: what can Indonesia possibly represent, within the UN, except the misery of the face and the hatred of the heart of its silly sheikhs who, instead of focusing on social, educational, cultural and economic improvement, incite their bestialized followers to Anti-Semitic and Anti-Christian hysteria?

Pakistan
Here we enter into the sphere of the economic nightmare! With a population more than twice larger than Turkey’s, Pakistan produces a little more than half of Turkey’s GDP (Turkey US$ 458 b – Pakistan US$ 318 b), and as a consequence its per capita GDP is less than one third of Turkey’s. The impoverished Pakistani government’s budget is a minimal portion of Turkey’s (income: US$ 67 b – US$ 12 b / expenditures: US$ 93 b – US$ 15 b). The same is valid for the Pakistani trade with the rest of the world, since Pakistan’s exports and imports are both at the level of one fifth of the respective Turkish figures! When it comes to exports, Pakistan (160 million people) is at the same level with the Sub-Saharan 10 million nation of Angola (US$ 11 b for Pakistan and US$ 10 b for Angola)! Not much is to be expected from the abode of the analphabets ‘Pakistan’ (literacy rate: 45.7% - Turkey: 86.5% - Brazil: 86.4%). With just 4 million fixed line subscribers (Turkey: 19 million), with less than one tenth of Turkey’s mobile users, with Internet penetration at the level of 25% of Turkey’s, Pakistan possesses forex and gold reserves less than one third of Turkey’s. In addition, Pakistan is in possession of some nuclear bombs that can easily become the prey of some lunatic sheikhs in their apocalyptic vision against the Civilized world, since this is ‘Satan’ according to their disgraceful and contaminated mind.

Who dares say that such a country must be left to exist? This is the correct question we must ask ourselves, not whether Pakistan should be considered as a speaker for the Islamic countries within the UN Security Council!

Nigeria
Nigeria is the right African counterpart of Pakistan! Ominous realm of permanent civil war between fanatic Muslim (50% of the population) and Christian (40%) parties, Nigeria is slightly larger than Pakistan in terms of surface, whereas the Indus river valley country is a little more populated (160 million vs. 137 million). Nigerian population growth (2.45%) promises a worse future than Pakistan’s (1.98%). Literacy figures are somewhat better (68% instead of Pakistan’s 45.7%), thanks to the extensive use of English. Nigeria presents an abominable economic and social record, even if this is compared to Pakistan’s! Nigerian GDP is at the level of just one third of Pakistan’s, that is why the African country reaches bottom, when it comes to per capita GDP (under US $ 1000). Nigeria’s exports and imports are at the level of Pakistan’s (US $ 21 b – 14.5 b respectively for Nigeria, and US $ 11 b – 12.5 b for Pakistan). We have to stress that a double figure means absolutely nothing, when the level is so desperately low. However, the Nigerian government is much poorer than the lords of Islamabad, and the poor Nigerian budget figures (income US $ 8 b – expenditures US $ 11 b) are lower than the respective figures for Croatia, a tiny (4.5 million people) and poor Balkan nation! The Nigerian primitivism is perfectly depicted in the following figures: 853000 fixed line subscribers (approximately at the level of 20% of Pakistan’s), 750000 Internet users (less than half of Pakistan’s), and 3550 km railway network (less than half of Pakistan’s). It becomes obvious that the Nigerian external debt figures (US $ 31 b) are a heavier burden than Pakistan’s, and it is even more so as Nigeria’s gold and forex reserves are almost half of Pakistan’s. Under these circumstances, it becomes automatically clear why one can find in Google no less than 347000 references, when searching for ‘Nigerian scam’. The international community should consider the Nigerian administration’s involvement in the notorious scam more seriously and take proper action as soon as possible. It is difficult to understand why a Conference for the Middle East, as announced by the British premier, is more urgent for Europe, since more Europeans fell victims of the Nigerian scam than of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Offering such a country the veto right within the UN Security Council equals to total commitment to the expansion of the Nigerian scam. If some delegates dare vote for such a criminal proposal, the international public opinion will demand details about the level and the extent of the bribery. And this is the least we can say.

Egypt
One must never confuse the Ancient Egyptian Civilization with the misery, the poverty, and the contamination that currently prevail throughout the Valley of the Nile. Before shedding light on the ominous economic performance and the extreme poverty, isolation and desolation of today’s Egypt, one should explicitly denounce the unbelievably poor work done by Western journalists and press establishments. When presenting features on Egypt, Western medias focus on tourism and antiquities, and whenever they do not proceed so, they focus on international affairs, namely the relations between Egypt, Israel, and Palestine. This is not an acceptable level of information. In reality, the Western public opinion has been totally misinformed about today’s Egypt. Although it is very common for a Western reader to find an article with details about everyday life in the streets of Istanbul, Singapore or Tbilisi, about social life and economic development in New Delhi, Lisbon or Athens, about the favelas of Rio, and about the poverty of the Argentinean Patagonia, total obscurity characterizes the Western mass medias when it comes to daily life in Egypt. Irrespective of location, the millions of rubbish eaters, homeless, beggars, have-nots, the dozens of millions of barefoot people wearing dirty, tore off, stinking gallabiyas, the omnipresent, open air rubbish is a non-reality for the Western tourist in Egypt, but cannot be disregarded by the statesmen and the politicians, the diplomats and the high rank administrators of the world’s leading democracies.

One could contend that the same situation – and at times even worse – prevails in China (already a Veto Club member), India, Brazil, and eventually Mexico (that we support for veto membership). The truth is that per capita GDP is a relative economic and social indicator. China’s per capita GDP is higher than Egypt’s (respectively US $ 5000 and US $ 4000), and Egypt’s is higher than that of India (US $ 2900). However with economic growth at 8.3% and with population growth rate at 1.44%, India is expected to have soon a higher per capita GDP than that of Egypt (where an anemic – for third world country – economic growth, 3.1%, matches the ominous population growth rate, 1.83%, since this is the top choice of the idiotic, fanatic and extremist sheikhs in their aberration that larger population means stronger ‘islam’).

The truly proper answer to all these considerations is that the selection of a country hinges on many parameters, and when one or two parameters (population, GDP) make the country in question rank among the two or three top in the world, one may consider that another parameter may get relativized to some extent (an earlier example in this regard was our discussion about China’s poor Human Rights record). We cannot afford to exclude China because of its clumsy democratic system, because the other parameters are very important in China’s case. Quite contrarily to China, Egypt is insignificant for all the aforementioned criteria. Even when compared to Indonesia, Pakistan and Nigeria, Egypt looks unimportant and secondary. It is true that Egypt’s per capita GDP is higher than the respective figures for Indonesia, Pakistan and Nigeria. But this makes no sense, since the country is much smaller in terms of population without being significantly better in any of the rest parameters. At the end, one would be justified to suggest Lebanon – instead of Egypt – for a veto membership offered to a Muslim country!

Iran is a much larger and more important country, but as long as its totalitarian and terrorist regime remains unchallenged, Iran will be the outcast of our civilized world. And even if Iran were a democratic country, we would conclude, through a thorough study of figures, that it is less developed and less important than Turkey. It is even more so for undeveloped Egypt.

Turkey for UN Security Council Permanent Membership
Turkey is the only Muslim country to have established – already 80 years ago – a secular society and a laic educational and cultural system that match totally with the country’s strong republican commitment that took a Jacobin dimension with the military playing the role of the Vicars of the democratic, multipartite since 1938, system. Women rights were promoted since the famous Kastamonu meeting (1923) and the social-political integration of women in Turkey was more rapid than in France; women voted and were voted for the Parliament in Turkey four (4) years before they were able to exercise similar rights in France. It will not be a surprise, if gay marriage is first legalized in Turkey and then in France.

Certainly, the Turkish nationalistic character of the Kemalist state was a burden for the various minorities of the country, the Aramaeans of the Tur Abdin, Mardin and Nusaybin, the Kurds of Diyarbakir, Urfa, Van, Erzurum and Hakkari, the Armenians, the Georgians, and the Greeks. Among them, only the Kurds are truly numerous, but today’s Turkey advances at great speed towards a fully pledged multicultural society, and the nature itself of the modern Turkish language will help greatly in this direction. In this regard, it is to be noted that around a nucleus of Turkish Grammar, Syntax, and Vocabulary, modern Turkish linguistic treasure encompasses numerous words from Farsi, French, Greek, and Arabic, making therefore of the average educated Turk (literacy 86.5% - much higher than in Iran, 79.4% - let alone Egypt, 57.7%) a very extrospective, at the same time Occidental and Oriental, citizen of the world.

Certainly, European political relics like Angela Merkel, J.P. Raffarin, L. Jospin, L. Fabius, and E. Stoiber cannot understand this, since they already attack the bases of Multiculturalism, showing how much retrospective ‘their’ Europe is going to be, if no proper action is taken…

Turkey (69 million people, GDP: US $ 458 b) exports products of total value six times higher than Egypt’s (US $ 49 b – 8.8 b), and almost double than Iran’s (US $ 30 b). Turkish imports are larger too (US $ 62 b, compared to Iran’s 25 b, and Egypt’s 14.7 b). The Turkish government’s budget is far wealthier than Iran’s or Egypt’s (income: US $ 67 b, compared to Iran’s 40 b, and Egypt’s 14.7 b / expenditures: US $ 93 b, compared to Iran’s 40 b, and Egypt’s 19 b). Turkey’s forex and gold reserves equal almost those of Iran and Egypt combined (US $ 36 b, compared to Iran’s 25 b, and Egypt’s 14 b), being at the same time of higher value than Spain’s (27 b) or Australia’s (33 b).

Although Turkey’s surface (780000 km2) is smaller than Iran’s (1.7 m km2) or Egypt’s (1 m km2) territories, the Euro-Asiatic country has larger railway network (8671 km, compared to Iran’s 7200 km, or Egypt’s 5063 km), and larger paved highway network (131226 km, compared to Iran’s 94000 km, or Egypt’s 49900 km). When it comes to high tech, Turkey distances Iran and Egypt in an even more stressed way. With 19 million fixed line subscribers (Iran: 14.5 million, Egypt: 8.7 million), 28 million mobile line users (Iran: 3.4 million, Egypt: 5.8 million), and 5.5 million Internet users (Iran 4.3 million, Egypt: 2.7 million), Turkey eclipses any other Muslim country in terms of Economic Progress, as it also does in terms of Democracy, Social Emancipation, Educational Advance, as well as of Intellectual and Ideological Development.

If we truly consider the Islamic terrorism as a most preoccupying subject, then an international promotion of the most hated (by the illiterate, fanatic and inane sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, and Pakistan) Muslim state, i.e. Turkey, will show to the enemies of Democracy, Humanism and Progress that the future does not belong to their false, Satanic version of Islam.

If we need a human and humanist Islam, incorporated within a modern secular Muslim society where the Islamic principles are kept in the hearts of the people
- without the barbaric imposition of the veil (hedjab) on the women,
- without the ridiculous prohibition of alcohol,
- without the hypocritical social – professional burden of theatrical ‘prayers’ performed during the working hours at the workplaces,
- without the pathetic imposition of Friday as weekend,
- without any social prejudice against women and gay people,
- without the social dictatorship of religious militias (that interfere in the privacy of any single person’s life, because – within that level of illiteracy and barbarism - neighbors and doormen report that to the religious militias that you entered your house accompanied by a girl, although you are unmarried),
- without the false, racist, and criminal education offered in the backward countries of Islamic lunacy,
then we need Turkey to represent Islam within the Security Council and to be promoted to Permanent Membership.

This is the only civilized Islam, this will be the only Islam possible to exist.

Instead of Western countries interfering, let Turkey do the correct job, and shape the Modern Humanist Islam.

Either we want the Free World, be it Christian, Muslim Jewish, Buddhist, etc. be happy…

Or we want hypocritical, colonial, murderous France, uncivilized ‘Arab’ dictators and/or bustard kings, and Osama Bin Laden himself be happy…

In the former case, we opt for Turkey as Permanent Member in the Security Council.

In the second case, anything else…..

(to be continued)