Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Doublespeak

We live in a world full of hypocrisy, not least shown in British politics.

My MP was amongst those who rejected to accept 3,000 unaccompanied children to the UK, back in 2016. Yet, he belongs to a party who's leader stated that we striked Syria recently on humanitarian grounds. So in essence we have the money to bomb a country on humanitarian grounds yet no money to help the very same civilians who require safety from chemical weapons, bombs, bullets and torture.

We also have an opposition leader who was formerly part of the Stop the War Coalition and advocating for no British involvement (and in extension no Western involvement) in Syria militarily yet we hear no words of condemnation of Russian and Iranian terrorism in Syria despite the continuous Russian vetoes at the UN security council. It's ironic how Stop the War activists complain about British and American imperialism but not one word in protest of Russian and Iranian imperialism in Syria. One Russian ambassador stated that "the Syrian people support Russian involvement". Anyone care to find a Syrian that welcomes Russian fighter jets dropping bombs on schools, hospitals and residential areas? (Scrap that, I can imagine all the pro-Assadists being gleeful about bombing "terrorists".)

It would be great to see the opposition leader give alternative solutions to military intervention if that's what he so passionately believes in and change the debate from "let's not intervene militarily" and doing nothing else to paving the way for real change in how British foreign policy deals with the Middle East so that as a country we can intervene in a way he believes is humanely possible. But all we have is an opposition leader who gives talk of diplomacy but when it comes down to it, doesn't walk the walk and a government who bombs and strikes a country on humanitarian grounds as a result of chemical weapon use but doesn't extend the courtesy of helping the very same people who require safety from the very same chemical weapons use we are supposedly making a stand against as well as bombs, bullets and torture. But we also have a government who finds it perfectly acceptable that the Syrian government and its allies use barrel bombs, bullets and torture on Syrians, just as long as it ain't chemical weapons. Go figure.
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Saturday, December 17, 2016

Updates from Aleppo




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Monday, March 03, 2014

Russia's hypocrisy?

On 11th September 2013, Putin wrote an op-ed article, "A Plea for Caution From Russia. What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria" which appeared in the New York Times. The article was written in relation to the air strike that America (and other western countries) were debating on. In that article he mentioned the following: 
"From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States....

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement...."
Around that time, there were anti-war protests in London as well as in other cities, against any western foreign intervention in Syria (though they seemed to have overlooked Iranian, Russian and Hezbollah interference in the country and only focused on USA/UK/France etc.)

I refer back to that article for a reason in relation to the current events in Ukraine. It's been recently reported that, Russia has sent troops to Ukraine, that there's been a build up of armoured vehicles near a ferry port on the Russian side of the Kerch Channel, which separates the two countries with more recent news that now pro-Russian troops have taken over the ferry terminal on the Ukrainian side.

So what about all that talk on Syria, arguing against any western intervention against their own internal affairs?

Where are all those anti-war protesters around the world, calling against Russia's interference in Ukraine? Isn't Russia's actions an act of aggression? Why isn't international law applicable to Ukraine and their sovereignty protected? Or is it only American and British imperialism that the anti-war movement objects to but when it's Russia, that's fine?
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