Press Release
Colonial America Uses Its Agent Excelerate Energy
to Control Our Strategic Ports and Seas to Enhance Its Geopolitical Dominance
Former US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, held a meeting that lasted nearly an hour with Foreign Minister Asad Alam Siam on Thursday, September 4. Although neither side disclosed the details of the discussion, media sources reported that the talks covered the possibility of importing liquefied natural gas from the United States, in addition to existing cooperation and future projects.
Haas currently holds the position of Strategic Advisor for Excelerate Energy, a multinational company based in Texas, which operates a floating LNG terminal in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar. It has plans to build another LNG terminal in Payra, Patuakhali in the future. Haas met with the Foreign Minister as a representative of the company in Dhaka. Companies like Excelerate Energy play a pivotal role in enhancing US geopolitical influence, which is perfectly in line with the broader Indo-Pacific strategy, and this "soft colonialism" is the discourse practiced by America through the tools of economic diplomacy. America today no longer seeks global influence through colonial occupation in the manner of the eighteenth century, but rather through tools such as energy deals to build a system of interdependence, where countries voluntarily align themselves with its geopolitical interests. This global system ultimately ensures that strategic sea lanes and geopolitical chokepoints remain under its control.
Therefore, energy deals with America are not just about handing over our energy infrastructure and endangering our economic sovereignty. The matter does not stop at threatening our energy security by creating a permanent dependence on imported and expensive LNG, but extends to making Bangladesh dependent in the long run on the US-led maritime security system to meet its energy needs. Our economic stability will become dependent on the protection provided by America to maintain its dominance.
Bangladesh's distinct strategic location is the reason why it has become a major arena of conflict for the United States to maintain its global superiority in the region. The Bay of Bengal is a highly strategic theater, adjacent to the critical Strait of Malacca and overseeing key Chinese energy supply routes. Therefore, America has pushed Japan, its strongest agent in the region, to invest in the Matarbari deep-sea port in Bangladesh. This port is capable of receiving giant ships, a pivotal strategic advantage, and in the future it can support military ships from Japan, America, India and other Quad partners, which directly serves American strategic interests at the expense of our local interests.
O People: We warn you of the imminent danger to our sovereignty and our future. This danger is the unbridled hegemony of colonial America, which does not reach us with its armies raising its flag on our shores, but through energy deals in the corridors of our ministries. This is more insidious, and therefore more dangerous. It presents itself as a partnership, but it exploits our strategic ports and seas and weakens our sovereignty.
It is not surprising that these contracts buy the silence of our corrupt capitalist elites and our bribed politicians, but what is truly worrying and disappointing is the silence of the sincere politicians and thinkers we know, especially after the July uprising, about these American deals! Their silence is the result of the United States' long-standing engagement with our political institutions and (civil society), which has produced leaders who are aligned with the American vision of the world. At best, these people view these deals from a purely economic perspective, without realizing that politically they reduce us to the status of a "permanent client" of the United States instead of a partner.
Accordingly, we in Hizb ut-Tahrir / Wilayah Bangladesh call on you to no longer be silent bystanders to our subjugation. Work with us, for we carry a clear project to confront the hegemony of colonial America. With your strong and unwavering support, Hizb ut-Tahrir can, by Allah's permission, establish the Righteous Caliphate on the method of Prophethood, to take you to a position of collective strength that prevents the enslavement of the colonizers.
Allah Almighty said: ﴿Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them...﴾.
The Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
in Wilayah Bangladesh