Irony of US Human Rights Records, Claims

Foad Izadi, faculty member at the US Studies Group, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, in an article refuted the US claims about democracy and support for human rights.

 The text of the article is as follows:

“During his presidency, Donald Trump did not care at all about cooperation and coordination with the allies, while one of the purposes of incumbent US President Joe Biden in the foreign policy sphere is to mend such approach. However, the efforts to hold the virtual Summit for Democracy in December amount to the same major policy that Trump had been pursuing against countries like China, Russia and Iran.

In the meantime, the Biden administration believes that the fact that the US has been left alone among its allies is one of the main reasons why Trump’s policies and his plans against the other countries did not produce the desired results, which is why Trump could not perform successfully in this regard.

Now Biden believes that he can revive the alliances that existed in the past with planning and arranging various strategies. The virtual Summit for Democracy has been formulated to serve those purposes.

A careful review of the record of the countries that have been invited to the summit reveals that none of them has a clean record when it comes to human rights and all face big challenges in this regard.

For instance, the shooting incident that occurred in the United States a couple of days ago is noteworthy. A teenager shoots at people at an anti-racism protest, killing two and injuring a third. But what is surprising is that the police ignored the assailant after observing him and refused to arrest him. The video of the shooting goes viral in the virtual space. The assailant was arrested under the pressure of public opinion, but was immediately acquitted on all counts. Such incidents in violation of human rights are very frequent in the US.

The US is gripped by numerous problems not only in its foreign policy, like the recent developments in Afghanistan, but also faces huge challenges in its domestic affairs surrounding the human right.

The US government’s moves to impose sanctions at the international level and carry assassination attacks are not few, such as designing and carrying out the assassination of General Soleimani. The irony is that the US is a self-proclaimed advocate of democracy and leader of democratic states.

The people of the United States attach considerable importance to the policies of their government. There are few people to pay attention to the domestic policies of the US and not realize the current existing conditions. If somebody does not recognize these crimes, he or she will not call for respect for human rights. The crimes committed by the US in the past have been so extensive that the ordinary people would have realized their nature with so little attention.

Iran criticizes the US’ foreign policies, fights against the terrorist groups receiving support from the US, and has been quite successful in this regard.

Providing support for the terrorists is an example of contradiction between the US’ words and deeds. On the one hand, the US is apparently after creating democracy in the world, and, on the other hand, everybody saw how Mr. Abdul-Mahdi, the prime minister of Iraq during Joe Biden’s tenure, was treated, although he had been elected by the people of Iraq.

One should bear in mind that the Americans definitely do not develop close ties with the states and leaders that pursue independence or are concerned about their own country’s national interests.

The Americans have imposed sanctions on Iran under various pretexts, such as the one that Iran does not respect human rights. At the same time, they block financial transactions for the purchase of vaccine.

It is concerning that a large population of Afghan people are struggling with hunger. Today, poverty has become so prevailing in Afghanistan that parents have been forced to sell their children and consider them as an asset to earn their daily bread. Afghanistan has $9 billion in reserves in the United States, however, the US refuses to pay even one dollar from the reserves to the governmental and international organizations for the battle against poverty and hunger in Afghanistan just for political reasons and on the pretext that human rights are not observed in that country. The activists and experts can use that budget to eradicate poverty in Afghanistan.

The American figures, like Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken, are witnessing poverty in Afghanistan, but refrain from addressing the trouble. This per se runs counter to human rights.

There are such creatures in the world who do not show any concern about ethics and resort to whatever crime possible against millions of people to achieve their political objectives.

As regards the coronavirus pandemic, the US remains the worst-hit country with the highest fatalities. Such statistics reveal a deep-rooted problem, one that has its roots in Social Darwinism theory. The US government does not believe in providing service to the weaker section of society. As a result, a large population of Americans have no easy access to medical services, while the government does not take any responsibility. Not all American politicians believe in Social Darwinism, but there is a sufficient number of individuals to make the situation in the US as what it is.

Darwin developed a theory that the strong would survive and the weak were diminished. Some hold the same belief in the social sphere, saying the stronger humans have a right to live, while this is the weak ones’ own problem to be weak. Such ideology has resulted in the current circumstances in the US amid the outbreak of the coronavirus.”