{"id":282498,"date":"2024-12-16T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=282498"},"modified":"2024-12-13T06:23:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T06:23:37","slug":"us-hypocrisy-reaches-a-new-level-israels-occupation-of-syria-is-security-russias-moves-in-ukraine-are-aggression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/12\/us-hypocrisy-reaches-a-new-level-israels-occupation-of-syria-is-security-russias-moves-in-ukraine-are-aggression\/","title":{"rendered":"US Hypocrisy Reaches a New Level: Israel\u2019s Occupation of Syria Is \u2018Security,\u2019 Russia\u2019s Moves in Ukraine Are \u2018Aggression\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netanyahu\u2019s reasoning for his latest land grab lays bare the stark hypocrisy of his Western supporters.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

10 Dec 2024 <\/em>– This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that following the fall of Bashar Assad, the 1974 separation of forces agreement between his country and Damascus is \u201cno longer valid.\u201d<\/em> This deal, brokered by the United Nations, prohibited military deployments in the buffer zone of the Golan Heights, a region legally recognized as Syrian territory but occupied by the Jewish state since 1967.<\/p>\n

\n

Netanyahu\u2019s reasoning? Since Syria\u2019s internationally recognized government no longer exists after Assad\u2019s departure, he no longer considers prior treaties with Damascus binding. According to this interpretation, Israel is justified in bombing Syrian airfields, seizing ports, and even expanding its territorial occupation \u2013 all under the guise of ensuring its national security.<\/p>\n

The US State Department immediately endorsed this position, calling West Jerusalem\u2019s actions a \u201cnecessary security measure\u201d<\/em> in a volatile region. Washington, ever eager to back its Middle Eastern ally, showed no hesitation in adapting its \u201crules-based order\u201d<\/em> to fit its strategic goals.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s where the double standard becomes glaring. In 2014, when Ukraine\u2019s elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, was ousted in a violent coup supported by Western powers, Russia took a strikingly similar legal position. Moscow argued that with the collapse of Kiev\u2019s legitimate government, the country\u2019s constitutional framework collapsed. Crimea held a referendum, reuniting with Russia, while eastern regions in the Donbass sought autonomy.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s response? Furious condemnation. The US declared that despite the coup, Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and borders remained intact, insisting that all pre-existing agreements still applied. Moscow\u2019s actions were labeled an \u201cillegal annexation\u201d<\/em> and \u201cimperialist expansion.\u201d<\/em> This starkly contrasts with Washington\u2019s current endorsement of Israel\u2019s seizure of Syrian territory under nearly identical legal reasoning.<\/p>\n

A double standard dressed as policy<\/h2>\n

The hypocrisy couldn\u2019t be more obvious. In Syria, Israel\u2019s territorial ambitions are labeled \u201csecurity-driven\u201d<\/em> and legally defensible, despite clear violations of international law. In Ukraine, Russia\u2019s security concerns were dismissed as \u201cimperial aggression,\u201d<\/em> regardless of NATO\u2019s relentless eastward expansion threatening its borders. Both Moscow and West Jerusalem justified their actions by citing urgent national security concerns \u2013 yet only Israel\u2019s reasoning was embraced as legitimate by Washington, while Russia\u2019s was dismissed as imperialist aggression. And resulted in sanctions and condemnation.<\/p>\n

The US approach reveals a deeper truth: the so-called \u201crules-based international order\u201d<\/em> is not based on rules at all \u2013 at least not in any consistent sense. It is a system where the parameters are invented, reinterpreted, or ignored entirely, depending on whether an ally or an adversary is involved.<\/p>\n

The US justifies Israel\u2019s actions by framing them as \u201cdefensive,\u201d<\/em> despite the country bombing Syria with impunity for years, long before Assad\u2019s government fell. Meanwhile, when Russia invoked the same principle of self-defense and historical legitimacy in Crimea, it faced unprecedented sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and accusations of violating the \u201crules-based\u201d<\/em> global order.<\/p>\n

Who writes the rules?<\/h2>\n

This selective enforcement exposes the fundamental lie underpinning American foreign policy. International law is applied strictly to adversaries, while allies are given a free pass. If treaties are void when governments collapse, as Washington now claims in Syria, why did the same logic not apply after the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine?<\/p>\n

The reason is simple: the US does not care about international law or consistent principles. It only cares about advancing its strategic interests while pretending to uphold the moral high ground. This isn\u2019t diplomacy; it\u2019s raw power politics dressed up as \u201cdefending democracy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The future of the Middle East and beyond<\/h2>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s declaration sets a dangerous precedent. If international agreements can be discarded whenever a government changes due to force, what remains of global stability? If the US is willing to let Israel redraw Middle Eastern borders at will, how can it object when Russia seeks to protect its own security in Eastern Europe?<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s actions will likely escalate violence in Syria and provoke further regional instability. Moscow, meanwhile, will undoubtedly see this as confirmation that the West\u2019s legal arguments against Russia\u2019s role in Ukraine were always hollow. The lesson here is that power, not law, defines the modern international order \u2013 and Washington\u2019s selective memory is proof enough.<\/p>\n

By endorsing Israel\u2019s territorial seizures while condemning Russia\u2019s moves in Ukraine, the US has obliterated any remaining credibility it might have had on the international stage. The \u201crules-based\u201d<\/em> international order has long been a convenient fiction \u2013 now, even the pretense is gone.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Nadezhda Romanenko is a political analyst<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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

10 Dec 2024 – Netanyahu\u2019s reasoning for his latest land grab lays bare the stark hypocrisy of his Western supporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":70154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[3143,2642,87,865,88,2097,767,475,427,413,70,1025],"class_list":["post-282498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-anti-hegemony","tag-anti-imperialism","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-netanyahu","tag-palestine","tag-syria","tag-usa","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282498","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=282498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282499,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282498\/revisions\/282499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}