by Chris
Just as North Korea has proven the importance of having nuclear weapons to smaller countries hoping to resist being bombed or invaded by the US/NATO, the Skripal response has demonstrated quite clearly that the west is not able to or willing to follow basic laws, conventions, and/or treaties.
The object lessons have not been overlooked as this editorial in the Global Times of China makes abundantly clear:
Russian diplomat expulsions signal crude side of Western intention
The UK government should have an independent investigation conducted into the Skripal poisoning by representatives from the international community. An effort such as this would provide results strong enough for those following the case to make up their minds on who should or shouldn’t be accused of the crime. Now, the majority of those who support Britain’s one-sided conclusion happen to be members of NATO and the EU, while others stood behind the UK due to long-standing relations.
The fact that major Western powers can gang up and “sentence” a foreign country without following the same procedures other countries abide by and according to the basic tenets of international law is chilling. During the Cold War, not one Western nation would have dared to make such a provocation and yet today it is carried out with unrestrained ease. Such actions are nothing more than a form of Western bullying that threatens global peace and justice.
Over the past few years the international standard has been falsified and manipulated in ways never seen before. The fundamental reason behind reducing global standards is rooted in post-Cold War power disparities.
The US, along with their allies, jammed their ambitions into the international standards so their actions, which were supposed to follow a set of standardized procedures and protocol, were really nothing more than profit-seizing opportunities designed only for themselves. These same Western nations activated in full-force public opinion-shaping platforms and media agencies to defend and justify such privileges.
As of late, more foreign countries have been victimized by Western rhetoric and nonsensical diplomatic measures. In the end, the leaders of these nations are forced to wear a hat featuring slogans and words that read “oppressing their own people,” “authoritarian,” or “ethnic cleansing,” regardless of their innocence.
It is beyond outrageous how the US and Europe have treated Russia. Their actions represent a frivolity and recklessness that has grown to characterize Western hegemony that only knows how to contaminate international relations. Right now is the perfect time for non-Western nations to strengthen unity and collaborative efforts among one another. These nations need to establish a level of independence outside the reach of Western influence while breaking the chains of monopolization declarations, predetermined adjudications, and come to value their own judgement abilities.
It’s already understood that to achieve such international collective efforts is easier said than done as they require foundational support before anything can happen. Until a new line of allies emerges, multi-national associations like BRICS, or even the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, need to provide value to those non-Western nations and actively create alliances with them.
What Russia is experiencing right could serve as a reflection of how other non-Western nations can expect to be treated in the not-to-distant future. Expelling Russian diplomats simultaneously is hardly enough to deter Russia. Overall, it’s an intimidation tactic that has become emblematic of Western nations, and furthermore, such measures are not supported by international law and therefore unjustified. More importantly, the international community should have the tools and means to counterbalance such actions.
The West is only a small fraction of the world and is nowhere near the global representative it once thought it was. The silenced minorities within the international community need to realize this and prove just how deep their understanding is of such a realization by proving it to the world through action. With the Skripal case, the general public does not know the truth, and the British government has yet to provide a shred of evidence justifying their allegations against Russia.
It is firmly believed that accusations levied by one country to another that are not the end results of a thorough and professional investigation should not be encouraged. Simultaneously expelling diplomats is a form of uncivilized behavior that needs to be abolished immediately.
The level of diplomatic understanding in this editorial is many times greater than anything I can find in US or UK mainstream news.
I thought this a rather pithy representation of the entire piece: “[Western] actions represent a frivolity and recklessness that has grown to characterize Western hegemony that only knows how to contaminate international relations.”
Compare the above editorial with this one that came out last week in Bloomberg:
The West’s Skripal Response Must Go Beyond Theater
March 28, 2018
The coordinated expulsion of nearly 140 Russian diplomats by more than 20 countries is no small thing.It’s probably a stronger response to his latest provocation than President Vladimir Putin was expecting, and you’d have to go back to the height of the Cold War to find a comparable Western reaction. Even so, it’s too.
The attack on Skripal and his daughter was reckless and outrageous — and the expulsions are big enough to demonstrate that the West is affronted and takes the matter seriously. But they’re unlikely to hurt enough to make Putin behave. mild.
There are many ways to dial up the pressure, including stronger enforcement of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention and moves to block Russia’s abuse of Interpol (which it uses to harass opponents). Magnitsky-type acts that freeze assets and ban visas for Russian officials implicated in corruption and human-rights violations should be adopted more widely. In developing these tools, the U.S. and Europe should work closely together.
Bloomberg went for the Skripal story, as presented by the UK government 100%. No questioning, except to wonder if perhaps more punishments should not be levied out. Such an embarrassment for the US to have just hosted Saudi Arabia without a peep out of Bloomberg about “humans rights abuses” but now advocate for freezing of Russian assets on that same basis.
Presumably the Chinese, et al., are watching and reading all of this very closely.
To those who find themselves embarrassed that Trump is president of the US on the basis that the guy is apparently an incurious and proudly (if not profoundly) ignorant person. Well, the sort of “thinking” on display in the Bloomberg article is as profoundly incurious and ignorant as can be.
What’s the current intellectual difference between a way left of center publication like Bloomberg and Trump? Not very much as it turns out. Both are incurious and unable or unwilling (same difference, right?) to employ basic logic or reasoning.