Ronald Reagan passes away.

Former US President Ronald Reagan has passed away. I feel bad that he has lost his life after a battle with Alzheimer's. Yet, I am far from saddened by this news. In fact, that isn't true. I don't feel either way about it actually. Even though it might not seem it from the news bytes that are on loop on all the major networks, this was a man that laid the foundations for our current world problems. His tenure as President saw such political fiascos as the Iran- Contra scandal in which US officials tried to depose goverments in both Nicaragua and Iran. It saw the increasing alienation of South America due to their anti-American (rather than the false accusation to anti-capitalist) stance. It saw the continuing militarisation of Israel, his time in office heightended the Afghan Crisis which led to support for the Mujahideen against the Soviets. One of these heavily supported mujahideen was none other than Osama bin Laden. His tenure as president also saw increasing support for Saddam Hussein as he was seen as an ally against Iran. Chemical and nuclear technology was exported to Iraq to help it build sophisticated weapons that have now caused a second war in Iraq.

In addition to these indidents and policies, Reagan commisioned the bombing of Beirut, Lebanon. He gave the orders for the invasion of Grenada. He funded the Contras which was a guerilla insurgency group that fought the Nicaraguan Socialist government. This secret funding of the the Contras was exposed to the world, and the US was declared a terrorist state by the International Court of Law.

Reagan also attacked Panama and deposed its government which was led by Noreiga. Noriega was a former Army Commander that the US had backed in a coup against a democraticaly elected government. The US backed his coup attempt, provided him with heavy support throughout his tenure as a brutal dictator that saw Panama lose hundreds of civilians in muders, kidnappings and tortures. It was also common knowledge that Noriega handled much of the cociane business that was on its way to the US. However, the CIA supported him completely and teh resident hailed him as the Unites States' most promising ally in the region. At the first sign of disagreement however, Reagain invaded Panama and put in place another government that would follow Washington's orders without arguing. This occupation was declared illegal and condemned across the world once the facts were known.

President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher of England also put in place a world economic system that saw their international organisations such as the IMF and World Bank gain ascendancy to the highest positions of the world order. They saw their own economies flourish at the expense of others for close to ten years. These economic measures were hailed in the United States and England but came under heavy fire in the rest of the world.

Regan's adinistration also completely ignored the AIDS crisis that was emerging both in the US and around the world. He failed to act decisively on the topic of AIDS research choosing instead to satisfy the prejudices of his supporters by ignoring the "Gay Cancer" (AIDS was considered to be an exclusively homosexual disease back then). He did this knowing full well that his own son was gay. If Ronald Reagan had acted as a world leader with the means of undertaking a reaserch study to combat the disease, and commisioned studies, the world would be much farther in its fight against AIDS.

President Reagan was perhaps the first Neo-Con to ever hold office. Remnants of his administartion such as Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Dick Cheney have played a major role in the construction of policies for the current administration too. In fact, they hold the most powerful positions within the Bush administration. Reagan's time as President was a horrendous period for world politics. He epitomised the East vs. West enmity. His was the first administration to politicise religion and use it to form policies and agendas. His methods used a gun and bribe money first and negotiations later. His was the first US administration to clearly state that it considered the lives of Americans as more important than the lives of all others when it came to a disagreement. His government's actions underlined this belief convincingly enough more than once.

No, I am not saddened by Ronald Reagan's death. However, I hope God grants his soul the peace that Reagan so willingly snatched away from millions of people all over the world.