Shortly after the military escalation began in Middle Eastwith almost 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran against Israel and intercepted by the defensive system Iron Domethe regime Vladimir Putin (Russia) “firmly” condemned the Jewish State’s ground offensive in Lebanon. He Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country advocated for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory. In that case, Putin should do the same with his in Ukrainewhere it has violated international law. Russia and China They have historically been in good harmony with the Palestinian cause. After the terrorist massacre of October 7, 2023 They offered themselves as mediators.
Every war is political and economic and the one in the Middle East is no exception. Neither the Gaza Strip neither West Bankthe two Palestinian capitals facing each other, have oil or other resources. The appeal to Russia and Chinain its desire to create a new world order, consists of discrediting the role of West. The tension led the government of USA to make a subtle difference between the retaliation of Israel against Hamas and Hezbollahsupported by Iranand the escalation of Iranin first person, against Israel. In the words of Joe Biden“USA fully supports Israel”.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that the missile attack against Israel had been in response to the murders of the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah; the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyehand the Iranian five-star general Abbas Nilforushan. Only in the Gaza Stripturned into rubble, some 40,000 people died in almost a year, of which between 10,000 and 20,000 responded to Hamas and other terrorist groups financed by Iran. 700 Israeli soldiers also fell. Once this phase is completed, the sight of Israel concentrated on the northern border, a stronghold of Hezbollahwhile repelling Houthi attacks from Yemen.
Is the right to defense the same as the right to attack, especially when selective assassinations cause collateral damage to the civilian population?
In the Middle East, there are four wars at the same time. In Lebanonmired in a social and economic crisis that has driven 80% of its population into poverty since 2019, the Israeli advance caused more than 1,000 deaths and many others displaced. The ground incursion, in principle, allows thousands of Israelis displaced in the north of the country, besieged by rockets, to return to their homes. Hezbollah since the war broke out in Gaza Stripalmost a year ago. Is the right to defense the same as the right to attack, especially when selective assassinations cause collateral damage to the civilian population?
In that glassy scenario, what do they gain? Russia and China with their apparent role as mediators in the Middle East? Greater international influence by virtue of the eventual discredit of USA in particular and West in general. The Prime Minister’s red card Israel, Benjamin Netanyahuagainst the secretary general of the UN, Antonio Guterresdeclared persona non grata for having denounced “a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and its territorial integrity,” scores points for Putin, under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Courtsupported by the UNfor alleged war crimes relating to the deportation and illegal transfer of children from Ukraine.
After the last onslaught of Iran, Russia had to be pronounced and, in keeping with Chinahis benefactor during the war against Ukrainehad to advocate “the real search for peaceful ways to resolve the conflict in Middle East«. Words of commitment. As fake as a copper coin. In line with those of Guterres, although it may seem like a lie, defenestrated for not having been as forceful as Netanyahu wanted. The violation of the sovereignty of Lebanonbalanced with what happens in Ukraine from the February 24, 2022turns out to be almost the same in legal terms.
What did the United States and Western countries do? Approving Israel’s right to defense until it became the right to revenge
Everything adds or, perhaps, subtracts. The naturalization of barbarism leads Israelis to be disciplined every time the sirens sound. If the fire gets worse, they must take shelter in shelters. It’s not life. Neither for them nor for the others, also waiting for an aftershock that destroys an entire city in a flash. Netanyahu and Putin spoke by phone after the first chapter of this new episode, version 2023: Hamas He took advantage of a distraction by Israeli intelligence to kill 1,200 people, kidnap 250, and torture and harass many others. A horror.
What did they do USA and Western countries regarding the situation in the Middle East? Approve the right to defense of Israel until it became the right to revenge. So, when the inventory of dead and displaced people in the Gaza Stripsome voices, including Biden’s, advocated for a ceasefire and the release of the kidnapped Israelis. Russia and Chinain contact with Iran, Syria and Türkiyealso involved in the Middle East conflict, had outwitted them: they convinced in their respective capitals Hamas, Al-Fatah and other Palestinian factions of the need to form an interim reconciliation government.
What did the weak one have to do with it? government of lebanonelected and re-elected without luck more than 30 times? “The combined nature of Israeli violence with the participation of all types of forces allows us to assume that the number of victims will inevitably increase,” he predicts. Russiaattentive to its own onslaught Ukraine. A mirror, bridging the gaps, of the meaning of infringement of sovereignty from another country. Something “extremely destructive for the entire region and for the surrounding space,” according to Dmitri PeskovPutin’s spokesman. Incredible.
The world is in those hands, with governments like the Israeli one and regimes like the Iranian one delegitimized by their compatriots.
The world is in those hands, with governments like the Israeli one and regimes like the Iranian one delegitimized by their compatriots. Or autocracies like the Russian one and dictatorships like the Chinese one that insist on instilling the anti-Western and anti-colonial narrative, in order to tip the balance. Times change. Stalin recognized the State of Israel in 1948 for his socialist leanings. Shortly after, Nikita Khrushchev, the same one who transferred Crimea to Ukraine in 1954aligned himself with Arab nationalism. Behind him collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia sought a balance, although Hamas was never his favorite partner. difficult to please God and the devil.
China imports oil from countries Middle East and of Persian Gulf. Beyond the economic factor, the Xi Jinping dictatorship tries to show itself as a responsible power interested in peace while, side by side with Russia and other countries, is after a new world order. They suit them in the conflict of Middle East the zigzags of USA and Western countries, in order to consolidate themselves as preachers in the midst of barbarism.
merit of China has been sitting on Iraq and Oman to Iran with its regional archrival Saudi Arabiapartner of Israel, to reestablish diplomatic ties. sums it up Chelsea Ngoc Minh Nguyen: “The position regarding the war in Loop reveals, in addition to a double standard of Western democracies, a deeper breakdown that does not allow us to glimpse that solidarity with Ukraine lead to a more just international order. But it is not only the global North that shows profound hypocrisy: the anti-Western discourses of the South also allow us to justify culturalist and reactionary drifts.”
In perspective, “popular indignation has spread against a liberal and peripheral notion of humanity, which values the lives of civilians differently in dissimilar wars and occupations.” It’s not the same Lebanon either Loop that Ukraine. Let the defense become an attack and let the attack become a defense. Difficult to put yourself in the shoes of those who denigrated the judicial reform of Netanyahu, tailored to him to clear himself of corruption charges, and of those who hated the Iranian theocracy for the absurd death of Mahsa Amini22 years old, in 2022, for not wearing the Islamic veil properly. Everything is difficult, actually.
Note: this is an article republished from the media “El Interin” through a cooperation agreement between both parties for the dissemination of journalistic content. Original link.
Jorge Elías is a prominent Argentine journalist specializing in international politics and international relations. He was a correspondent in the United States, Mexico and Canada, as well as has vast experience in investigations related to international politics. He is also a member of the Institute of International Politics of the National Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and a consulting member of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI).
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