True, the victims are desperate and will not at this precise moment give a damn about the source of the so called "help".  However, a few months down the road they will change their perception when they discover the true dimension of this cynical "generosity" they are now subjected to. 

The hope is that we stop being naive, impressionable and allowing others to play to our emotions. The Major powers are not engaged in humane charity, but rather in competing and jockeying for strategic positioning in the South Asia arena. 

The fresh outpouring of generosity appears almost like a bidding war and is raising questions about whether rich nations are jockeying for influence on the world stage and with the hardest-hit Indonesia, which has a wealth of natural resources, as well as the eventual control of the straits of Malacca.

The question we should ask ourselves is why?  The answer is very simple. The tsunami is drawing a strategic road map to the coming conflicts of the 21st century. Starting with the struggle of the major powers in Asia (U.S., Japan, China and India) to control the south Asia theater, whose sea lanes carry not only oil, but vital trade, from the Suez Canal to the Straits of Malacca. Today there is no other region in the world, other than the Middle East, which is so critical and so vulnerable to the coming  world conflict. What is astounding is that the tsunami's devastation within a few minutes has raised a signpost to the 21st-century's future.

The Indian Ocean theater, and south Asia in particular, is becoming increasingly a strategic battlefield. The area already contains the world's largest democracy (India) a surging major player with bases in Andaman Sea, the world's most populous Muslim state (Indonesia), the greatest concentration of oil (on the Arabian Peninsula and in the  Gulf and Indonesia), the first Muslim nuclear power (Pakistan), and progressive economies in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand). 

Over the years, the U.S. government has repeatedly defined the freedom of international navigation as one key aspect of its security concerns. For the United States government, such freedom also includes that of the warships of the United States Navy. Given the history of the United States military involvement in  Asia.  U.S. demands for "innocent passage" through the Malacca straits (i.e., without having to inform the governments of countries immediately bordering the straits ) of its warships is usually used as an assurance that none of the Asian governments can have the right to demand it. Recently, the US has strenuously lobbied the Indonesian and Malaysian governments for the right of intercepting ships in the straits under the guise of fighting terrorism.  So far, both Indonesia and Malaysia have refused to bow to the U.S. demands in that respect. 

From an economic and strategic perspective, after the Suez Canal, the Straits of Malacca is perhaps the most important sea route in the world. The Straits form the main ship passage way between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The Straits carry 50,000 vessels per year, carrying between one-fifth and one quarter of the world's sea trade. Half of all oil shipments carried by sea come through the Straits. As the Straits are only one-and-a-half nautical miles wide at their narrowest point, they form a significant traffic bottleneck.  Suddenly we are hearing in the aftermath of the Tsunami:

 "that an unconfirmed report that one area of the Straits of Malacca, which divides Malaysia and the devastated Indonesian island of Sumatra, had its depth cut from 4,060 feet to just 105 feet. In another area of tsunami-effected waters, a merchant marine ship has logged that the depth was cut from 3,855 feet to just 92 feet."

This new reality is imposing itself on the Naval powers in that part of the world like the falling of a ton of bricks,  as Navy experts are finding that whole channels were moved by the earthquake that preceded the tsunami shifting the ocean floor many feet. This will require extensive recharting of these waters and therefore will need unfettered access in the Indonesian and Malaysian waters by major western Naval powers (such as the U.S., Australia and Great Britain). Which explains the outpouring of generosity to that region from these powers. 

For those who wonder about the lack of generosity of the Arabs, especially the rich Gulf nations, this is mainly due to the drastic newly imposed financial restrictions on NGO charity contributions. 

In all of this, we seem to be oblivious to the next coming conflict, which like a tsunami will engulf the area we live in from the Suez Canal to the Straits of Malacca.

If by any chance  you detect an extra dose of sarcastic cynicism in my writing, you are damned right, I just finished watching the judiciary hearings on President George Bush's choice for attorney-general, Alberto Gonzales. Mr. Gonzales bears much of the responsibility for creating the legal framework and permissive atmosphere that led to the torture and abuse at Guantanamo and elsewhere.  Imaging a guy, expert in splitting hairs,  dodging  the Senators' questions with a Howdy Doody face.  Do you get the picture?  Meanwhile, Senator Joe Biden is accusing him of outsourcing the torture of prisoners to Egypt. 

My Egypt?what?  Can't believe we are the recipient of any sort of outsourcing!  Oh shucks! The Senator must be pulling my leg.

The reality is that Egypt  seems to be engrossed in its own problems.  We are becoming a Mecca for European tourists trekking to the Red Sea while Sharm al-Shaykh is becoming the favorite destination for the British Prime Minister Blair & Co.'s winter vacation. 

Meanwhile, if corroborated, these accusations are quite unnerving and shameful. In the new Global economy,  we seem to have excelled in a new line of critical intelligence business very much in demand for the 21st century.  In catching up with the rest of the world we are cornering the market for this unusual type of outsourcing activities. 
 
 

Ishinan
 
 

* Etymology of  tsunami: 1904, from Japanese tsunami, from tsu "harbor" + nami "wave." tidal  1807, a hybrid formation from tide . A tidal wave (1830) is properly high water caused by movements of the tides; erroneous use for "tsunami, great ocean wave caused by an earthquake, etc." is recorded from 1878.

While waiting for the next calamity to befall us, the following article "THE OTHER TSUNAMI"  by John Pilger comes to mind echoing my views expressed above:
 
 

The hypocrisy, narcissism and dissembling propaganda of the rulers of the world and their sidekicks are in full cry. Superlatives abound as to their humanitarian intent while the division of humanity into worthy and unworthy victims dominates the news. The victims of a great natural disaster are worthy (though for how long is uncertain) while the victims of man-made imperial disasters are unworthy and very often unmentionable. Somehow, reporters cannot bring themselves to report what has been going on in Aceh, supported by "our" government. This one-way moral mirror allows us to ignore a trail of destruction and carnage that is another tsunami.