What just happened in Bangladesh is ominously similar to 2014’s “EuroMaidan” in Ukraine where legitimate grievances gave rise to a nationwide protest movement that was then co-opted by political opportunists, radicals, and external forces to carry out regime change like the West wanted.
Seems like the "student riots" were some sort of generated pretext for the military to get rid of Hasina.
But why did the military want to do that?
It has elements of Maidan 2014, May 68 in Paris and the 2013 overthrow of Morsi by Sisi in Egypt.
The supposed trigger for the "student riots," jobs preferences for families of veterans of the war of independence in 1971 could be an irritant, but is that really enough to catalyze what we are seeing?
Waker Uz Zaman attended staff college in the UK. And knowing that the US basically told the Pakistani military to get rid of Imran Khan, is this a replay of that?
But again why? Hasina recently backtracked from having China run the important water reclamation project that China had already done background work on and gave the project to India. Was that an attempt to appease the US?
I'm skeptical that the US would try to create a Christian state between Myanmar, India and Bangladesh which would, among other things, enrage Modi. In general, I have no problem believing the US would try to support regime-change Bangladesh if it felt sufficiently threatened by the GoB's actions. But what was the threat posed by Hasina?
The Indian press is promoting the idea that this coup could be the work of China/Pakistan or at least work to their advantage, but yet it was the US, not China, that was relentlessly pressuring Hasina's government.
Or maybe it's all that life in Bangladesh is horrible (from The Diplomat):
>>"Asif Nazrul, an acclaimed political analyst and professor at Dhaka University, painted a broader picture of the reasons for public disapproval of the ruling government. “Consider the current living standards: inflation and food prices have soared dramatically, with food inflation at 10.76 percent and overall inflation exceeding 9 percent for nearly a year,” he noted.
“Recently, there have been reports of leaked civil service exam questions and numerous government officials involved in widespread corruption. Now, the severe mishandling of a student-led protest, which led to over 200 deaths, adds to the discontent. It is clear that public trust in this government has completely eroded,” the Nazrul remarked.
"Since the protest movement began, the country’s economic woes have only deepened as many expatriates reportedly launched a boycott campaign to shake the Hasina government, urging people not to send remittances through official banking channels. Supporters of the boycott said their hard-earned money was being used to purchase bullets to kill their countrymen.
"According to Bangladesh Bank data, remittance inflows, the South Asian nation’s second-biggest source of foreign currency, dropped to $1.9 billion in July from $2.54 billion in June.
Experts fear that the ongoing tensions could adversely impact exports, foreign trade, and foreign direct investments, further deepening the ongoing dollar shortage."
Once again, the Global South fails to recognize just how ruthless the U.S. Empire is. And they pay the price as a result.
Great illustration of what this top down new world totalitarianism is trying to bring about.
Seems like the "student riots" were some sort of generated pretext for the military to get rid of Hasina.
But why did the military want to do that?
It has elements of Maidan 2014, May 68 in Paris and the 2013 overthrow of Morsi by Sisi in Egypt.
The supposed trigger for the "student riots," jobs preferences for families of veterans of the war of independence in 1971 could be an irritant, but is that really enough to catalyze what we are seeing?
Waker Uz Zaman attended staff college in the UK. And knowing that the US basically told the Pakistani military to get rid of Imran Khan, is this a replay of that?
But again why? Hasina recently backtracked from having China run the important water reclamation project that China had already done background work on and gave the project to India. Was that an attempt to appease the US?
I'm skeptical that the US would try to create a Christian state between Myanmar, India and Bangladesh which would, among other things, enrage Modi. In general, I have no problem believing the US would try to support regime-change Bangladesh if it felt sufficiently threatened by the GoB's actions. But what was the threat posed by Hasina?
The Indian press is promoting the idea that this coup could be the work of China/Pakistan or at least work to their advantage, but yet it was the US, not China, that was relentlessly pressuring Hasina's government.
Or maybe it's all that life in Bangladesh is horrible (from The Diplomat):
>>"Asif Nazrul, an acclaimed political analyst and professor at Dhaka University, painted a broader picture of the reasons for public disapproval of the ruling government. “Consider the current living standards: inflation and food prices have soared dramatically, with food inflation at 10.76 percent and overall inflation exceeding 9 percent for nearly a year,” he noted.
“Recently, there have been reports of leaked civil service exam questions and numerous government officials involved in widespread corruption. Now, the severe mishandling of a student-led protest, which led to over 200 deaths, adds to the discontent. It is clear that public trust in this government has completely eroded,” the Nazrul remarked.
"Since the protest movement began, the country’s economic woes have only deepened as many expatriates reportedly launched a boycott campaign to shake the Hasina government, urging people not to send remittances through official banking channels. Supporters of the boycott said their hard-earned money was being used to purchase bullets to kill their countrymen.
"According to Bangladesh Bank data, remittance inflows, the South Asian nation’s second-biggest source of foreign currency, dropped to $1.9 billion in July from $2.54 billion in June.
Experts fear that the ongoing tensions could adversely impact exports, foreign trade, and foreign direct investments, further deepening the ongoing dollar shortage."
https://archive.ph/Zlbo1