{"id":233455,"date":"2023-04-17T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=233455"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:03:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:03:27","slug":"u-s-hypocrisy-toward-the-world-is-another-way-of-saying-dont-do-as-we-do-do-as-we-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/04\/u-s-hypocrisy-toward-the-world-is-another-way-of-saying-dont-do-as-we-do-do-as-we-say\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Hypocrisy toward the World Is another Way of Saying, \u2018Don\u2019t Do as We Do, Do as We Say\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

[Source: pinterest.ca]<\/p><\/div>\n

7 Apr 2023 – <\/em>In February 2023, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and proceeded to give him a \u201cmoral\u201d lecture on Russia\u2019s decision to suspend its role in a nuclear arms treaty, and on Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. They were in India for the Group of 20 summit.<\/p>\n

USA Today<\/em>\u00a0quoted<\/a>\u00a0Blinken, who spoke at a news conference during the summit: \u201cI told the foreign minister, \u2018End this war of aggression. Engage in meaningful diplomacy that can produce a just and durable peace.\u2019\u201d This kind of naked hypocrisy can tend to baffle the mind. The U.S. was conducting an act of aggression in 2003 when the Bush Jr. regime lied its way into starting a war with Iraq. And it has engaged in many acts of aggression since\u2014in Libya, Syria, Somalia, Ukraine and the South China Seas, among other places. Blinken\u2019s lecturing Lavrov about diplomacy was a hollow gesture. The U.S.\/NATO alliance has subverted the efforts at diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov shaking hands in December. [Source: guernseypress.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S.\/NATO alliance\u2019s ulterior motives have been evident, for those who care to directly look at the situation and to directly understand it. It lied to Mikhail Gorbachev when it promised not to move one inch into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2014, it supported a coup against the elected president of Ukraine, a coup led by Ukrainian right-wing fanatics which included avowed Nazis and fascists. Contrary to the pronouncements by the U.S.\/NATO alliance about exporting democracy, the actual motive is to make Ukraine another market satellite, where the interests of Western corporations and local elites are realized in the form of private monopolies.<\/p>\n

USA Today<\/em>\u00a0also said that Blinken assured Lavrov that, whatever the circumstances are, the U.S. would always be willing to discuss arms control. Then why is that not happening now? It appears that the U.S. is prioritizing the fueling of the Russia-Ukraine conflict by sending more weapons to Ukraine, rather than allowing both nations to prioritize negotiations to end the conflict. Contrary to the propaganda, Russia and Ukraine were in the process of negotiating an agreement through the Minsk I and Minsk II discussions.<\/p>\n

What happened? The U.S. military-industrial complex, especially the arms industry, is not interested in prioritizing peace. Profits resulting from the conflict are a priority.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0NPR<\/em>\u00a0piece<\/a>, Blinken was quoted as saying that Russia was irresponsible for backing out of the New Start Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). This may be so, but what provoked Russia into backing out of the treaty? Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the international situation has changed.<\/p>\n

Operators of the U.S. military-industrial complex have seen this as an opportunity to continue further to dominate the world through the rule of capital (and usually at the expense of labor). With Russia, the U.S.\/NATO alliance has attempted to encircle it with weaponry in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. It is obvious that this is an aggressive and hostile act.<\/p>\n

While Russia is not innocent, it was nevertheless provoked into invading Ukraine, particularly in the Donbas region where there is a population composed mainly of ethnic Russians. The latter voted for independence from Ukraine after the 2014 right-wing coup. Since then, Ukrainian military battalions like the Nazi Azov Battalion have attacked the Donbas. Russia, rather than not doing anything, intervened. (This does not excuse any imperial ambitions Russia may have.)<\/p>\n

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Azov Battalion [Source: euromaidanpress.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. officials lecture Russia about it backing out of New START. So,\u00a0let\u2019s talk about treaties<\/a>, especially where the U.S. empire is concerned. The United States and the Soviet Union were making efforts to discuss the goal of limiting the arsenals of each country starting in 1969 and continuing into the 1970s. In a fact sheet published by the Arms Control Association, The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were established in May 1972, producing two agreements: the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and the Interim Agreement.<\/p>\n

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SALT I agreement signed by Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev. [Source: coldwar-meador.weebly.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In June 2002, the United States backed out of the ABM Treaty, because it said it needed its weaponry to fight terrorists and \u201crogue Nations.\u201d But this is a weak excuse since the U.S. has built up its military over the years, culminating in a bloated military budget that goes far beyond self-defense.<\/p>\n

In June 1979, the United States and Soviet Union signed the SALT II agreement. But U.S. President Jimmy Carter discouraged its continuation when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan (which was a whole other story) in December 1979. The treaty was never put into force again.<\/p>\n

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Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signing SALT II agreement in 1979. [Source: coldwar-meador.weebly.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In May 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ignored the treaty because it was \u201cflawed.\u201d The real reason? Reagan was taking an adversarial position toward the USSR, declaring it an \u201cevil empire.\u201d But Reagan did continue to negotiate with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, resulting in the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START I) in July 1991 by George H.W. Bush. The agreements under START I were implemented, and the treaty expired in June 2009.<\/p>\n

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George H.W. Bush and MIkhail Gorbachev signing START I. [Source: medium.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Going beyond the U.S.-USSR\/Russia conflict, the United States, as an empire, has broken many treaties that have been established worldwide.<\/p>\n

Journalist and political analyst K.J. Noh\u00a0wrote a piece<\/a>\u00a0published in\u00a0Toward Freedom<\/em>, which asserted that the U.S. has made a mockery of treaties and international law. Noh also wrote how the term \u201cinternational outlaw\u201d characterized the U.S.: \u201c\u2026the United States refuses to sign or ratify foundational international laws and treaties that the vast majority of countries have signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noh gave examples such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), ICESCR (the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights), CRC (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), ICRMW (the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families), among other international agreements.<\/p>\n

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K.J. Noh [Source: laprogressive.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are international treaties the U.S. has signed but has violated repeatedly. \u201c\u2026examples include the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention, UN treaties prohibiting torture, rendition, kidnapping, and of course wars of aggression, considered \u2018the supreme international crime\u2019\u2014a crime that the United States engages in routinely at least once a decade, not to mention routine drone attacks, which are in violation of international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noh also provided the following example: the AUKUS agreement, the U.S. and Australia being signatories, which violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Examples of treaties that the U.S. signed but withdrew from are the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in dealing with Iran, the Agreed Framework and the Six-Party Talks with North Korea (DPRK), the Geneva Conventions, and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), among others.<\/p>\n

There are also the 368 treaties signed by the United States and Indigenous nations, most of which the U.S. violated.<\/p>\n

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[Source: usetinc.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Writing for\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Intercept<\/em>, Alleen Brown\u00a0provided information<\/a>\u00a0on the opinion of Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump-appointed judge on the U.S. Supreme Court. (One may say this is a surprising opinion, given Gorsuch\u2019s political affiliation with the right wing.)<\/p>\n

Brown wrote: \u201cGorsuch lays out the sordid history of the United States\u2019s repeated violations of its treaties with the Muscogee people, dubbed the Creek by settlers. The U.S. government typically obtained treaties coercively, through threatening violence or starvation. In the 1830s, the Muscogee, Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw people were forcibly removed from their homelands in the Southeast to what is now eastern Oklahoma. Among the Muscogee (Creek) alone, an estimated 3,500 to 15,000 people died en route to their new territory, a journey known as the Trail of Tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Neil Gorsuch [Source: whycatholic.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gorsuch, quoted by Brown, said, \u201cOn the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise. Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever.\u201d Gorsuch, however, may have sounded too good to be true. He added that treaties can be legally broken since it is the U.S. Congress that decides this. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples apparently have no real say in this decision.<\/p>\n

Other examples<\/a>\u00a0of international treaties the United States either refused to sign or did not ratify show how \u201cthe Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave\u201d has had a superiority complex.<\/p>\n

After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 ending World War I, involving the Allied Powers and Germany, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson praised the U.S. role with ultra-nationalist fervor, saying \u201cAt last the world knows America as the savior of the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1949, the International Labor Convention was established with 154 nations, including the U.S., being signatories. However, the U.S. did not ratify it.<\/p>\n

The Geneva Agreement was established in 1954, with Vietnam, France, China, the USSR and Britain as signatories. The U.S. participated in but did not sign the agreement. But it complied with the cease-fire between the two Koreas (ROK and DPRK).<\/p>\n

In 1982, the Law of the Sea Convention was established and signed. It detailed how nations would behave in international waters. The U.S. was one of the signers but did not ratify it.<\/p>\n

The Mine Ban Treaty was established in 1997, having the goal of prohibiting the production and use of anti-personnel mines. Thirty-three nations signed but did not ratify the treaty. Those nations included the United States, Russia, India and China.<\/p>\n

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[Source: wvcbl.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then there is the New START Treaty, with which Russia suspended its participation. But given past treaty violations, not signing treaties and not ratifying treaties, can the United States be trusted? All nations have committed violations at one time or another. But the United States has been somewhat consistent in that category.<\/p>\n

Another problem is that New START is inadequate. Linda Pentz Gunter,\u00a0writing in<\/a>\u00a0CounterPunch<\/em>, quoted Dr. Ira Helfand, a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, who said that \u201cThe New START Treaty, while somewhat useful, is a very limited document and a very inadequate treaty. It still allows the United States and Russia to maintain\u2014and they do\u20143,100 strategic nuclear weapons, ranging in size from 100 kilotons to 800 kilotons. That is six to 50 times more powerful than the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima. Additionally, the treaty \u201callows both the United States and Russia to maintain arsenals which are capable of destroying modern civilization six times over.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The signing of the New START Treaty in Prague, Czech Republic, by President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama on April 8, 2010. [Source: sputniknews.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gunter asked whether there is any point to START, \u201c\u2018New\u2019 or otherwise.\u201d She pointed out that the \u201cmanufacture, possession, and siting (including in other peoples\u2019 countries)\u201d of nuclear weapons can only be effectively stopped by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is encouraged by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the U.S.\/NATO alliance is trying to determine Ukraine\u2019s fate, although this should be considered a violation of Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty. But this is a characteristic of the U.S.\u2019s imperial foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelensky does not seem to have an answer for Ukrainians, when one gets down to what he represents and his obedience to Western interests. However, Zelensky may be caught between a rock and a hard place. No doubt he has been threatened by Ukrainian Nazis, even to the point of receiving death threats. He is Jewish and, of course, Nazis are not exactly fond of Jews. Then there is the Russian invasion, which can be called a violation of Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

But the situation isn\u2019t so black and white. Russia was provoked, its own sovereignty being potentially threatened by the U.S.\/NATO alliance, with U.S. weaponry placed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics, thus attempting to encircle Russia. What was not mentioned by Blinken in his lecture to Sergey Lavrov was this exact situation.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the meeting, both diplomats criticized each other\u2019s countries. Blinken continued his \u201cmoral\u201d lecture about Russia at the Raisina Dialogue\u2019s strategic affairs forum, a security meeting which both the United States and Russia attended.<\/p>\n

Quoting from Reuters<\/a>: \u201cIf we allow with impunity Russia to do what it\u2019s doing in Ukraine, then that\u2019s a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too.\u201d Lavrov recognized Blinken\u2019s hypocrisy and responded, saying that Blinken and the U.S. were practicing \u201cdouble standards.\u201d Adding to that, Lavrov said that the U.S. has invaded other countries (using the more polite term, \u201cmilitary intervention\u201d) because of \u201cthreats to its national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sergey Lavrov [Source: wionews.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. has used the excuse of protecting its national interest, as well as using and abusing the words \u201cfreedom\u201d and \u201cdemocracy\u201d and as a result invaded, occupied and bombed other nations worldwide. Lavrov cited the examples of the Iraq War, air strikes on Libya, and the bombing of Yugoslavia during its civil war in 1999, with NATO contributing to these conflicts.<\/p>\n

Lavrov also called out the West as well: \u201cEverybody is asking when Russia is going to negotiate\u2026the West is continuously saying that it is not the time to negotiate yet because Ukraine must win on the battlefield before any negotiations.\u201d In other words, the West will continue to fuel the conflict in the hopes of an unlikely victory by Ukraine. Meanwhile, ordinary Ukrainians pay the price.<\/p>\n

Antony Blinken\u2019s \u201cmoral\u201d posture toward Sergey Lavrov does not help matters. It is another example of the exceptionalist position the U.S. establishment has clung to for decades. Rather than lecture the world, the United States should contribute to prioritizing equal relationships among nations. Cooperation is better than fear and hysteria against so-called enemies.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>David Starr acknowledged his interest in politics in 1986 when he lived in Hawai\u2019i. From there, he became active, joining such groups as the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Association (LACASA), the Hawai\u2019i Union of Socialists (HUS) and Ka Lehui Hawai\u2019i (The Hawaiian Nation). Now Connecticut-based, Starr has published many pieces in\u00a0<\/em>Reader Supported News,\u00a0<\/span> the\u00a0<\/em>Daily Kos,\u00a0<\/span>and has been published in the<\/em> LA Progressive. <\/span>Email:\u00a0 dl_starr@hotmail.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Go to Original – covertactionmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Apr 2023 – The U.S.\/NATO alliance\u2019s ulterior motives have been evident, for those who care to directly look at the situation and to directly understand it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":233458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[867,2642,2914,232,550,542,1126,91,2571,112,2200,70],"class_list":["post-233455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-anglo-america","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-anti-nato","tag-capitalism","tag-corruption","tag-fascism","tag-hegemony","tag-nato","tag-official-lies-and-narratives","tag-pentagon","tag-us-empire","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233455"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233460,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233455\/revisions\/233460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}