Is the United States Too Big and Dangerous for Anyone to Boycott?

●      "The United States has a lot of geography and little history." This is what the late famous journalist Mohammed Hassanein Heikal wrote in his book "The American Time…Talks on Politics." We will cite some of his observations about the American phenomenon!

●      The late famous journalist Mohammed Hassanein Heikal authored a book titled "Talks on Politics".... "The American Time from New York to Kabul".. He wrote the chapters of this book in the period from 2001 to 2002.. and he recounted his observations regarding the American time... in that period and before it.. based on visits that exceeded twenty-four visits, the first of which began in 1951... on journalistic missions, and others political... as a well-known journalist, and as an envoy of the Egyptian leadership... These observations, which appear for the most part to still repeat up to now.... and are not limited to the period before 2001.. Among these observations are the following:

●      The American phenomenon in that period was present on every continent of the world, pressing on every region, packed into every country, infiltrated into every home, and he labelled it (the overlapping state)..! And this phenomenon is exactly as it is now.. to the extent that one might, for example, believe that the United States has military bases... in most parts of the world. To give a recent example: on 26/7/2023, the story of the most recent military coup in the country of Niger in Africa, in which the coup leaders expelled the French forces stationed there for a long time... in addition to the French ambassador from the country.. France did not recognize the legitimacy of the aforementioned military coup..... However, the United States at that time said that its military units present in Niger would remain, and the coup leaders did not touch them with any indication or intention to expel them. The United States of America stated at the time that the presence of some of its troops there was for cooperation with partner and friendly countries in Africa to fight terrorism! Therefore, the American phenomenon—according to Heikal's description—still exists up to now, and it aims to serve its interests first, regardless of whether those interests are at the expense of the interests of the people of the country, or the interests of allied countries such as France, which have earlier temporal interests in the same country..!

●      And the late Heikal continues in his mentioned book that America, a wealthy country, was not tamed by an ingrained culture... So America is a tremendous power, but "naive"—in his words—! It had not attained the experience and wisdom of the ancient continents!

●      Heikal substantiates his description of America with the story of the American ambassador in Cairo.. in the year (the July Revolution), 1952, whose name was Jefferson Caffery, when he commented on discussions with the late Heikal on some matters of Middle Eastern policy " that the United States "will give only to the extent that it takes first and in advance"!

●      Heikal says that the American ambassador was right, for after Ambassador Caffery retired from service for many years, he was certain that the United States would not help any Arab country unless it concluded a final peace agreement with Israel!

●      Heikal described the United States as a New World that does not recognize the traditional borders of national sovereignties of states... describing it as having a lot of geography and little history...

●      Kissinger, the former United States Secretary of State, who was of Jewish origin, visited Cairo in the time of the October War in 1973, weeks after the cessation of that mentioned October War, and he told Heikal, "I want to hear from you what you want to say about the current crisis in the Middle East, on two conditions:"

-        The first: "Do not talk to me about history, talk to me about the present reality.. this moment.. from here we begin" !

-        The second: "Talk to me about Egypt alone, and do not tell me anything about what you call the Arab nation! I know there is a people in Egypt—this is a fact.. but that there is an Arab nation, that is a claim you make, an illusion that has not been proven, and therefore I am not prepared for it!"

●      And that was the cause of insomnia, as Heikal wrote, or astonishment for him, because that man (Kissinger, who died a few days ago at the age of 100), who was a scholar and a professor of history, did not consider history... but rather considered the present moment the beginning of everything!

●      Heikal says that he explained to Henry Kissinger that such a beginning cancels rights, even tramples the law; his argument was "if we want to deal with the past, we will remain in the past!! And if we want the future, what is required of us is to forget"—and of course that was the logic of American experience originally and fundamentally!!

●      On this matter, and regarding what Heikal said about Kissinger.. I read an article by the famous American journalist Thomas Friedman who writes a weekly column in the New York Times.. when he offered advice to the Arab states: if they want a peaceful settlement with Israel, they should close all the old files and start anew.. I do not know how this famous journalist, who is of Jewish origin, requests forgetting the old files.... while they still repeat the story of the Holocaust and the Nazi file to this day.. despite the end of the war more than eight decades ago.. i.e., it has become an old file.. And I see in Friedman's advice a demand to drop the historical right of the Palestinians to their land occupied for more than 75 years...!

●      The United States did not arise as a homeland. Rather it arose as a refuge, and did not begin as a state..! Perhaps here one can understand the willingness of American policy at this moment to advance toward any problem with proposals that are not bound by constants and by logic..

●      He spoke about Bill Clinton, the former American president, where he said that "it is in the Arabs' interest to leave Jerusalem to Israel and if the Arabs and Muslims are determined that Jerusalem is Arab then they can change the name of a nearby village behind the hill, which is 'Abu Dis' and call it Jerusalem, and since it is a few kilometers from the original Jerusalem in front of the hill," then he adds that they have done a lot in America: there are large cities in America named Jerusalem, and Cairo, and Alexandria, and Beirut!

●      The indigenous inhabitants must be displaced or else they are a permanent reminder to the new arrivals that there are prior rights that obstruct their subsequent rights.. and that is a material and moral confusion that must be settled by all available means.

●      And here the American view of the Palestine issue can be understood: the Jewish settler is not only an immigrant to a new land, but he is also, with the force of the tank and the machine gun, returning to a land on which he holds a long-standing privilege, and this is an additional argument; so the Palestinian void ought in the first instance to be displaced, and the original Palestinian, like the Red Indian, must disappear in existence and in shadow!!

●      Heikal related a dialogue between a journalist and Madeleine Albright, United States Secretary of State in 1998, when she was asked about the resignation of two United Nations commissioners responsible for coordinating its programs in Iraq, who resigned because neither could carry on their conscience the burden of the deaths of half a million Iraqi children who perished as victims of lack of food and medicine due to the siege imposed by the United States in the name of the United Nations on Iraq. Albright replied: "Perhaps it is a high price, as you say, but we are aiming at the goal we seek; that price is worth it and more!!!!" And this is what we now see, of the United States opposing a ceasefire more than 6 times in the Security Council, despite the vote of all countries in the Security Council in favor of a ceasefire... in the Gaza Strip, as a result of the genocidal war being waged on it by Israel.. except for the United States' representative, who used the veto against the draft resolution.. in addition to an overwhelming vote in the United Nations General Assembly (153 votes) in favor of a ceasefire and opening crossings to bring in aid to the afflicted residents of the Strip...!

●      The American conscience had to find justifications.... ethical and legal reasons and theoretical rules of American utility jurisprudence and its application from beginning to end, on the basis that if what is useful is desired, then what is useful in turn is legitimate, no matter the means of obtaining it.. and likewise law should be settled and its articles drafted.

●      As for the Palestine issue, Israel succeeded in instilling in people, contrary to the truth, an image implying that Palestine was a barren desert before the Jewish fertility descended upon it, and that the true and legal owner of the land is not the holder of the title deed, but rather the one who is most capable of working the land and holding it most strongly; for the deed is a paper, whereas rights are force!!

●      And Heikal says that this is a central point that deserves deeper Arab understanding, for justice is the dream of the weak, but the law is written by the strong and nothing else is claimed!!

●      Hechel showed in his book, The Trajectory of American Interests Strategy: how it draws its plans, and makes its moves, step by step, during that, and before and after it, control of the world’s main resources through a complex network of interests that undertakes to protect maritime resources, secure the airspace, and ensure the presence of local, well-guarded stations that are based on protecting the interests through a regional police, and these stations can be supplied with weapons, money, and expertise, without the need for a direct American presence in the theaters of conflict, and Israel is the optimal model!! And this is what we see now, in the direct and boundless support from the American administration to Israel in the extermination war it is waging on the Gaza Strip..since the 7th of October.!

●      And despite that, I read a passage from the memoirs of George Tenet, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1996 until 2004, and in the chapter discussing the American invasion of Iraq, “that the sole great power in the world must realize that there are mountains too high to climb" !