Opinion | Sanctions, proxy wars, and lies galore — the world in disarray
By Philip Yeung, university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
The world is suffering from sanctions-fatigue. In the thick of two wars, US congress members on both sides of the aisle somehow find time to dictate to a far-away city. They are introducing a bill to slap sanctions on 49 Hong Kong justice officials for alleged "human rights violations". Their sin: enforcing the city's National Security Law.
The US congress itself is in total disarray, too busy pushing one negative agenda after another. This august body is an entity of negativity, a platform for grandstanding and playing politics to the hilt, domestically and internationally. While lecturing Hong Kong on how to govern, America itself is hopelessly misgoverned.
In just six days, over 6,000 bombs rained down on Gaza, nearly matching the total dropped on Afghanistan in one year. Lawmakers wink at Israel's orgy of killing, while flogging Hong Kong law enforcement officials for doing their duty.
This is not the first time America plays dirty. It has happened twice before in the last three years. But each time their antics have failed to achieve their objective. This time is no different—just another irritant in US-China relations.
There is an English saying: "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." In the January 6 Capitol riots, over 1,100 rioters have been charged and about half convicted so far and jailed for up to 18 years. Nine people died in this one-day insurrection. No one questioned America's right to quell the riots. But when Hong Kong tried to end its 9-month street violence without use of deadly force, America shamelessly punished its officials for restoring stability. Who gives America the moral authority to poke its nose into our internal affairs?
America has zero interest in the well-being of Hong Kongers. The city is merely a cudgel to clobber China, as is Taiwan and Xinjiang. Some 400 civilians are killed daily by Israeli bombs. At this rate, Gaza will soon be depopulated. Where is their moral outrage? Where is the Palestinians' God-given right to exist? When you turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the massacre in Gaza, please spare us your lecturing on basic rights.
America is like a lunatic asylum run by idiots. Take George Santos the congressman who is facing 23 criminal indictments. The Republican-controlled House has refused to expel him. He is free to spew more lies and hallucinations from his perch. This nutcase is laughably accusing China of the cock-and-bull story of briefly kidnapping his 5-year-old niece. This bizarre tale is a transparent trick to distract the public from his legal woes. But no one is calling him crazy simply because the victim of his vilification is China. 147 GOP members voted to overturn the election results and back Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite the claim having been rejected by 60 courts. Republicans and truth are strange bedfellows. They inhabit a moral universe inhospitable to cold hard facts. These self-appointed human rights defenders should take a look in the mirror. America is morally adrift.
Hong Kong enjoyed 23 years of absolute freedom never granted by colonial rulers. That spell of unfettered freedom ended when rioters paralyzed the city, doxing police officers, throwing Molotov cocktails and burning a man alive for challenging their political fallacy. The lunatic fringe, twelve-year-olds, and paid agitators were all blabbering about independence for Hong Kong. The freest city on earth suddenly became the capital of chaos and the land of the lawless. No government on earth would stomach this anarchy, as January 6 rioters learned to their jeopardy. Yet America does not hesitate to stigmatize our officials for restoring order.
By its callous disregard for human lives in Gaza, amoral America has disqualified itself as the world's moral guardian. Who needs hypocrites posturing about human rights when millions are denied the right to life? Get out of our hair, busybody America. You can take your rotten sanction and shove it.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
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