M A Hossain<\/p>\n
There is something uniquely reckless about waging political war on your own country\u2019s foreign relations while enjoying the protections of another\u2019s. Sajeeb Wazed Joy has been doing exactly that. Sitting comfortably in the United States, the son of Bangladesh\u2019s former prime minister has taken to public forums to smear Washington, insult its institutions, and poison a bilateral relationship that\u2014after years of strain\u2014is finally showing signs of repair.
\nIt would be bad enough if this were merely bombast. It is worse because it is strategic vandalism.
\nCalling the Bangladesh Nationalist Party an \u201cAmerican puppet\u201d, warning darkly of Jamaat-e-Islami\u2019s looming takeover, alleging a \u201cpre-determined\u201d election outcome, and urging international condemnation of Bangladesh\u2019s polls\u2014these are not the words of a responsible political actor. They are the words of a man trying to internationalise his party\u2019s domestic failures, even if it means burning bridges Dhaka needs to cross.
\nStart with the timing. U.S.\u2013Bangladesh relations are, quietly but unmistakably, improving. Military-to-military engagement has stabilised. Dialogue with major political parties has widened. Washington\u2019s posture towards Dhaka has shifted from punitive suspicion to conditional engagement. This is not idealism; it is geopolitics. The Bay of Bengal matters. Bangladesh matters. And after a bruising period of mistrust, both sides appear willing to reset.
\nEnter Joy, stage left, with a flamethrower.
\nFrom American soil, he denounces American influence. He sneers at U.S. diplomacy. He frames Bangladesh\u2019s opposition as Washington\u2019s marionettes. He insinuates that terrorists roam freely and elections are rigged beyond redemption. None of this helps Bangladesh\u2019s credibility. None of it strengthens democratic norms. All of it invites external pressure and internal polarisation.
\nWhich raises an uncomfortable question: whose interests does he serve?
\nIt certainly does not serve Bangladesh\u2019s. Nor does it serve the Awami League\u2019s long-term survival. What it does do is undermine U.S. confidence at a moment when Washington is reassessing its South Asia strategy\u2014and when Beijing is eager to fill any vacuum created by American disengagement. China does not need to persuade Washington to step back from Bangladesh if Bangladeshi elites are willing to do the job themselves.
\nJoy\u2019s rhetoric reads like a gift-wrapped brief for those who argue that Bangladesh is unstable, unreliable, and unworthy of deeper partnership. That argument, once accepted in Washington, rarely benefits Dhaka. It benefits others\u2014actors who prefer a Bangladesh insulated from Western scrutiny and embedded more deeply in illiberal spheres of influence.
\nThe irony is thick. Joy warns of Jamaat\u2019s influence while performing the very act that historically empowers fringe forces: delegitimising electoral processes in advance and urging international isolation. He speaks of security while broadcasting instability. He claims to defend constitutional democracy while inviting foreign condemnation that weakens civilian institutions.
\nThere is also the matter of credibility. Joy is not an impartial observer. He is a partisan actor whose own record shadows every word he speaks. The U.S. administration\u2019s seizure and forfeiture actions against assets linked to him were not symbolic gestures; they were legal determinations grounded in investigations. Those actions, widely reported, raised serious questions about corruption during his time in power. They punctured the moral authority he now claims when lecturing others about democracy and governance.
\nCorruption, after all, is not a footnote in Bangladesh\u2019s political crisis. It is central to it. And when a figure associated\u2014fairly or not\u2014with illicit enrichment positions himself as the guardian of democratic virtue, the message collapses under its own weight.
\nJoy\u2019s behaviour is also politically unacumenal. The Awami League does not need an exiled surrogate antagonising Washington. It needs to rebuild trust\u2014at home and abroad\u2014through restraint, reform, and realism. Instead, Joy\u2019s interventions suggest a bunker mentality: if we cannot control the outcome, we will discredit the arena.
\nThat strategy rarely ends well. Ask leaders who mistook international isolation for nationalist defiance. Ask parties that confused loudness with legitimacy.
\nThe United States, for its part, should not be passive. Washington has laws precisely for this reason: to prevent its territory from being used as a platform for activities that undermine foreign relations or launder the reputations of individuals implicated in corruption. If Joy is, as records suggest, a convicted or legally sanctioned figure with confiscated assets, then the Trump administration\u2014or any administration serious about accountability\u2014should act accordingly.
\nThis is not about silencing dissent. It is about enforcing standards. America cannot credibly promote good governance abroad while offering safe harbour to those accused of hollowing it out elsewhere. Nor can it tolerate the use of its freedoms to sabotage diplomatic relationships it is actively trying to repair.
\nJoy\u2019s recent remarks about militants \u201copenly roaming\u201d, about mobs running Bangladesh, about elections being the \u201clast chance\u201d to stop catastrophe\u2014these are not analyses. They are alarms pulled without evidence, broadcast to foreign audiences with predictable consequences. They harden attitudes in Washington, alarm partners in the region, and feed a narrative of Bangladesh as perpetually on the brink.
\nOne need not be a BNP supporter to see the damage. One need only be a Bangladeshi who understands how fragile external confidence can be\u2014and how costly its loss becomes.
\nBangladesh has legitimate challenges. Electoral credibility matters. Extremism must be confronted. Political violence is unacceptable. These issues require sober engagement, not transatlantic grandstanding. They require institutions, not influencers.
\nJoy claims to fear instability. Yet instability is precisely what his interventions encourage. By casting elections as illegitimate before ballots are cast, by framing opposition as foreign puppets, by urging international condemnation, he reduces the incentives for compromise and raises the stakes for confrontation.
\nThe result is a narrower path forward for everyone else.
\nThere is a final, more personal tragedy here. Joy could have chosen restraint. He could have used his access to advocate quietly for reforms, to bridge misunderstandings, to lower the temperature. Instead, he chose the megaphone. He chose accusation over persuasion. He chose spectacle over statecraft.
\nBangladesh will outlast him. U.S.\u2013Bangladesh relations, if handled with care, will recover. But the damage he inflicts now is real, and it will be paid by others\u2014by diplomats trying to rebuild trust, by soldiers navigating partnerships, by citizens whose country is portrayed as a problem rather than a partner.
\nHistory is unkind to those who confuse personal vendettas with national interest. It is even harsher on those who pursue them from abroad.<\/p>\n
The writer is a political and defense analyst based in Bangladesh. He can be reached at writetomahossain@gmail.com<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
M A Hossain There is something uniquely reckless about waging political war on your own country\u2019s foreign relations while enjoying the protections of another\u2019s. Sajeeb Wazed Joy has been doing exactly that. Sitting comfortably in the United States, the son of Bangladesh\u2019s former prime minister has taken to public forums to smear Washington, insult its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13085],"class_list":{"0":"post-530084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-m-a-hossain"},"yoast_head":"\n