Anti-War Hypocrisy

My word of the day is "Hypocrisy" Anti war sentiment is  currently being splashed all over the mainstream media here in the UK, Daily the news bombards us with images of innocent people who have been bombed, shot at  displaced and lost loved ones, We are officially urged to sympathise with these people, John Lennon's song "Give peace a chance" was played at the international rugby match at Twickenham at the weekend.

The terrifying images of death and destruction inflicted on Ukraine by the Russians brutal, criminal  and irresponsible invasion have rightly aroused widespread horror, and accompanying sympathy and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. This sentiment is encouraged by Western media and politicians.

Yet when  Russia bombed Chechnya and Syria, the Western media looked the other way. In Syria, victims of Assad’s chemical weapons attacks were initially worthy of our sympathy. But once Syria’s revolution had developed into a civil war, involving parties over which Washington had little control, the Obama administration was happy to reach an agreement with Putin: he could bomb Aleppo indiscriminately while the US focused its efforts on destroying ISIS.

Both Russia and the US had a shared interest in keeping Assad in power, even when his regime’s repression cost 350,000 lives and created millions of refugees. While Obama may have had a different strategy for achieving this objective, he shared Putin’s contempt for Syria’s democratic opposition.

Similarly, when Hilary Clinton  needed to justify the extension and escalation of Washington’s two-decade long occupation of Afghanistan, Afghan women and girls became sympathetic victims needing rescuing from the Taliban. Once US troops evacuated Kabul last October, Afghan women had served their purpose—they have been erased from our TV screens, while their country lies in ruins.. 

Lets also compare and contrast to the US/ UK- led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was justified by lies about non existent weapons of mass destruction, which broke international laws. No mention of the thousands of  innocent casualties, No news coverage of bereaved parents and orphaned children, Criticism of our involvement barely tolerated and treated by some as tantamount to treason. Anti-war songs banned from the radio. Recently Tony Blair, one of the main architects of this atrocity, was awarded for his criminal efforts with a knighthood. I am reminded too that 73% of the world dictators are supported by the United States, Britain sells arms to rogue state Saudi Arabia, which have been used to kill children in Yemen. Yesterday the Saudi regime executed 81 men , in its largest mass execution in history, yet Boris Johnson is about to visit the country to beg for more oil. If our government rally cared about human rights, it would end it's cosy relationship with the Saudis, But I guess it's ok for them to have double standards.

 A strong  argument could also  be made that the crisis in the Ukraine could have been avoided if NATO had been willing to rule out membership for Ukraine, granting the nation  a neutral statussimilar to Finland and Austria during the Cold War, At the same time , Putin's rewriting of history and his insistence that Ukraine  is inherently part of Russia , along with his decision to launch a full scale invasion  is indicative that he would have done so regardless, and far from keeping the peace Nato throughout it's existence is a threat to it, agressive in manner and in action  and is a continued threat to all our safety..

And if  the West is so opposed to bombing schools, clinics and peoples homes why is it that Palestine Action activists are currently on bail for trying to stop Elbit Systems making killer drones for use in  Gaza and Yemen? And surely seperating the people who die under falling bombs into Ukrainians, Dombassions, Kurds, Afghanis, Palestinians, Alvis, Yazidis, Christians, Shias or Sunnis etc etc and taking a stance accordingly is the height of immorality, Are not all these lives equal ?

The people of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and those fleeing wars, instability and poverty in North Africa and elsewhere are dehumanised and presented as unworthy of our sympathy by the mainstream media.Their victimhood must, at all costs, be concealed—lest it bring into question the capacity of the US and its allies to dominate and control (often with the most brutal and naked military force) those parts of the world.I will also point out that the state of Israel has been occupying and killing innocent children and women for years with impunity and the world's media turns a blind eye at best, and at worst acts as a mouthpiece for Israeli government propaganda,

Russia breaks International Humanitarian Law, commits war crimes and we all go mad - quite rightly. Israel has been doing the same every single day since June 1967 and we just shrug our shoulders and occasionally slap their wrists.

We impose sanctions - quite rightly - on Russia but we do not impose any on Israel. Worse - legislation is currently going through Parliament which will make it illegal to practise Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel

I am proudly anti-war and have been since my teenage years, I just don't understand  .how anybody can be flexible on what is essentially a moral issue. 

The victims of war deserve our solidarity and support, whoever they are, and wherever they happen to be. The Ukrainians who are bravely fighting against Russian invasion deserve it. But so too do the Palestinians, Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis etc. We should not be fooled by the hypocritical statements of out political leaders. They'd happily increase the mayhem by sending British men and women to fight and possibly die,if it was not for the threat of a nuclear war which would devastate the whole of Europe.

At least representatives if Uktaine and Russia have met today, with an agenda about a way to restore peace. Let's all continue to fight wars, not war, for a world of peace.