Holding a mirror to the US - on exceptionalism, double standards & global police supra-state
As the Middle East continues to descend into madness, wrecked by wars and convulsed by human tragedies, America stands at the center of it all - the grand engineer of instability, the architect of a world system which cornerstone is profoundly ademocratic.
For well over a decade now the world has been force-fed American exceptionalism; taught to believe that America knows best what the world needs, how it needs to be organized and more importantly under whose leadership countries should be allowed to function.
Any challenge to Washington's authority and its supra-national moral legitimacy have systematically been met by furious media slander and threats of sanctions - Russia, more than any other country knows what it cost to stand up to this new American political deity.
The self-appointed political world police, the US has run, dominated and of course dictated the world's media narrative, playing democratic mind games with a gullible public while pursuing violent covert agendas. The Middle East of course has stood at the epicenter of this grand play for regime change and race for control.
If you thought America' s military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq in the wake of 9/11 only exacerbated tensions, adding more fire to the predetermined narrative of perpetual war, then what of the destruction which has rained on Libya, Syria and now Yemen? Where exactly will the drones and tanks stop? How many communities will have to be laid waste before this prodigal democratic era US politicians have so fervently talked about actually manifests itself?
We have gone so far down the rabbit hole that people have become desensitized to human rights violations, breaches in privacy laws and blatant disregard for international law, all in the name of evasive national security.
With US politicians running the rationale of fear on all platforms available, reason and logic have been labeled under temporary insanity and conspiracy. According to Washington, the world needs direction - the type of righteous direction only America can give since its very constitution stands the perfect expression of all things fiercely democratic and freedom perfect. In this Orwellian play we find ourselves stuck in, all countries have been made-to-measure to Washington's political standards and expectations. Democratic devolution you say?
I would argue this train has already left the station. We have now entered the uncharted territories of a US-run supra-national police state system, where globalism rhymes with authoritarianism. A brave new world indeed.
So Arab leaders are dictatorial and despicably abusive toward their own people, or so the US says. Well in most cases that's true enough, but that never stopped the US or other Western capitals for that matter to develop close economic and political ties with them. Funny how dutiful America only woke up to the horrors of Arab fascism when nations began clamoring for independence.
From Muammar Gaddafi to Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran, Washington's friends and allies have not exactly been choir boys - more the who's who of the world most violent tyrants.
But that's not even the point. The point is, when a country decides to drop names and list offenses it better make sure that its own government is not committing the very crimes it finds so revolting in others.
US officials today have justified their intervention in Syria by arguing terror militants need to be dealt with as a matter of urgency to protect Western democracies. Those same officials have, in the same breath, argued that "moderate" radicals should be used to depose Syrian President Bashar Al Assad as the latter no longer holds popular legitimacy. The rationale here is that a democratically elected head of state should be actively brought down by way of terrorism to help promote stability. I have to say, I'm confused here.
More confusing still, in recent weeks Russia was slammed for allegedly planning to actively oppose ISIS militants in Syria. You would think that Western powers would actually hail counter-terrorism efforts. Wrong! As far as Washington is concerned only it can wield military force to oppose terror - anyone else's efforts are illegal.
Commenting on the matter on September 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed, “As we are facing unfounded accusations that we are doing something illegal and reinforcing the ISIL, I'd recommend watching the coalition's actions.” He added, "I am convinced that coordinated efforts are quite possible if double standards are rejected."
And indeed, double standards stand at the core of all the world's problems.
For example, when asked why President Assad lost all legitimacy officials and analysts have intermittently advanced that his rule was forfeited the second he began targeting his own people for political advancement. The same rhetoric has held for Libya, Yemen, Iraq and everything in between.
Since 9/11 America has moved in a higher plane of morality, on account of its political, economic and military might.
But let's turn the mirror around for a second and see what reflects back.
Wasn't it America which gifted the world with such things as renditions, institutionalized surveillance, black sites, systematic tortures, ethno-religious profiling and other niceties?
Wasn't it America again which opened an illegal black hole when its leaders decided that unmanned drones should enter the military fray as murdering weapons of choice?
America has no lesson to give when it comes to democracy building and legitimacy … and it certainly cannot claim to any form of exceptionalism; not when it has so much blood on its hands and not when it has committed so very few funds to humanitarian aid.
If anything Washington officials have mastered the art of terror-propping and radical-funding - from Ukraine to Syria, America has some of the world most despicable characters on its payroll … All for the greater good of course.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
