The illusion of the Oracle:
Tragedy in the Colonial Wars. Algiers 1961, Kabul, 2021.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.810.11011Keywords:
France, United States, Insurrectional war, Taliban, FLN, Colons, Harkis, colonialism, Empire.Abstract
Abstract
The familiar face of empires is external intervention as opposed to local culture. We follow Michel Onfray's thesis about the oracular illusion when one more individual or country tries to avoid the fulfillment of a nefarious prediction, which materializes as a catastrophe. Algeria conquered in 1830 was incorporated into French territory. In 1954 the FLN rebelled, and in 1961, General Charles de Gaulle negotiated the independence of Algeria, causing the disastrous departure of 750,000 French settlers and the death of French supporters. From 1962 to 2021, the withdrawals of imperial powers from their colonies, France from Algeria, the United States in Afghanistan, resulted in catastrophes and uncertainties. The imperial power of the United States aimed to defeat its bipolar antagonist, the USSR when it invaded Afghanistan. They conducted an inconsequential policy to beat their rival, arming and financing the Taliban's victorious resistance, the freedom fighters. The oracular illusion led the United States to support the future antagonist, Islamic fundamentalism, destined for the world caliphate. After the departure of the USSR, American power despised the Taliban, who harbored al Qaeda, leading to 9/11. In 2001 the United States invaded Afghanistan and abandoned it after 20 years of war without the precaution of obtaining plans or safeguards for the government in Kabul. After the disastrous retreat, the victorious Taliban demonstrated, like the FLN in Algeria, the fulfillment of the oracular illusion.
References
Anonymous. Imperial Hubris, Brasseys, Washington, 2004.
Aron, Raymond. Algérie et la République . Plon, Paris, 1958.
Bacevich, A. J. The American Empire. The Reality and Consequences of American Foreign Policy. Cambridge & London, Harvard University Press, 2003.
Beaufre. Général André. Introdution a la estratégie.Armand Colin, Paris, 1998.
Bender, Thomas. A nation among the nations. America’s place in World History. Hill and Wang, New York,2006.
Bobbio e Pasquino. Dizionario di Politica, UTET , Torino, 2018.
Brown, Mark Colonial States, Colonial Rule, Colonial Governmentalities: Implications for the Study of Historical State Crime. State Crime Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2, State Crime and Colonialism (Autumn 2018), pp. 173-198 Published by: Pluto Journals.
Buisson, Patrick. La guerre d’Algerie. Paris, Albin Michel.Paris, 2009.
Chartier, Michel . Império. Estado Guerra, Enciclopedia Einaudi. Casa da Moeda, Lisboa, 1989.
Dobbins, James. Campobell, Jason H. Mann,, Sean. Miller, Laurel E. Consequences of a Precipitous U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan Rand Corporation (2019) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/resrep19894
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 2015.
Galula, David, Counterinsurgency Warfare. Theory and Practice.Westport and London, Praeger Security International, 2006. Trinquier, Roger, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, trans. Daniel Lee. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.
Hopkins, A.G. American Empire: a Global History. Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford,2018.
Hiro Dilip. Blood of the earth. The battle for the world’s vanishing oil resources. Nation Books New York, 2007.
Horvath, Ronald J. “A Definition of Colonialism.” Current Anthropology, vol. 13, no. 1, 1972, pp. 45–57. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2741072. Accessed 29 Aug. 2021.
Harbi, Mohammed. Meyner, Gilbert. Le FLN, documents et histoire.1954-1962.Paris, Fayard, 2004.
Horne Alistair. A savage war of Peace. Algeria 1954-1962. New York Review of Books, New York, 2006.
Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy, New York, Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Kaplan, Robert D. Soldiers God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York., Vintage Bools, 1990.
Marr, D.G. Vietnam, 1945: the quest for power.Berkeley, University of California Press, 1995.
Onfray, Michel. Le réel et son double. Follio Essays, Gallimard, Paris, 1976.
Touraine, Alain. Critique de la Modernité. Fayard, Paris, 1992.
Turpin, Fréderick. De Gaulle, les gaullistes et l’Indochine. Paris, Les Indes Savants, 2005.
The OSS and Ho Chi Minh, 1945.Parallel Narratives. MHT Entry on August 11, 2021
Schumaker, Nancy. , A typology of colonialism, October 1, 2015, The newsmagazine of the American Historical Association. Perspectives on History.
Waltz, Keneth N. Man State, and War. A theoretical analysis.New York, Columbia University Press, 2001.
William, C. Grand Strategy in theory and Practice: The Need of Effective American Foreign Policy.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 José Maurício Álvarez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
