by Stephen Lendman
Washington supports a UN seat for the illegitimate Transitional National Council (TNC) Libyan government.
Obama vows to veto a Palestinian bid for statehood and full de jure UN membership.
Imperial America’s wrong over right agenda takes center stage across North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Death, destruction, and immiseration take precedence over rule of law principles and norms.
It’s no different at home where political leaders favor wealth and power interests over working households, struggling to cope during America’s greatest Depression.
Imperial arrogance and hypocrisy define Washington’s contempt for human and civil rights, as well as other core democratic values. Almost daily it reaches for new heights.
On September 16, New York Times writer Neil MacFarquhar headlined, “UN Takes Steps to Assist Libya’s Transitional Leaders,” saying:
The “Security Council lift(ed) some economic sanctions and the General Assembly accept(ed) the credentials of the (Illegitimate) transitional government to represent Libya in the world body.”
Reuters said Washington “welcome(d the) vote. Vow(ed) to be ‘friend’ of Libya.”
UN ambassador Susan Rice said Tripoli will have “a friend and partner in the United States. The Libyan people still have much more work to do, but they also have the full knowledge that the international community, including the United States, stands ready to help their transition towards democracy, prosperity, and the rule of law.”
In fact, Washington plans colonization, occupation, plunder, and exploitation. Libya is now wholly owned by America and its imperial partners.
Democracy, rule of law principles, and general prosperity won’t be tolerated. Only favored elitist interests will benefit. That’s what all wars are about, not freedom and a new beginning for liberated people.
Seventeen countries voted against UN membership. Venezuela’s UN Ambassador, Jorge Valero, perhaps spoke for others, saying:
Caracas rejects the “illegitimate transitory authority imposed by foreign intervention” and any attempt to make Libya a NATO or Security Council “protectorate.”
It’s already a colony to be brutally exploited like wherever imperial America shows up.
Cuban UN Ambassador Pedro Nunez Mosquera said NATO conducted “a military operation to change the regime to promote their political and economic interests.”
On September 20, Obama will welcome TNC head Mustafa Jalil in New York at the UN. He’ll also meet there with other imperial partners to discuss how to carve up their new trophy property.
White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes describes it as “US support (for) the type of Libya we’d like to see going forward.”
He barely concealed what he means, calling Libya a “success” story. Millions now suffering there might disagree. For them, in fact, the worst is yet to come.
A previous article discussed planned peacekeeper occupation of Libya, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/09/planned-peacekeeper-occupation-of-libya.html
On September 16, the Security Council authorized a “UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL),” without explaining its another illegal imperial occupation against the wishes of Libyans wanting freedom, peace, and right to govern their own affairs.
Instead they’ll get paramilitary brutality, mass rapes, and sex trafficking, as well as other atrocities and crimes against humanity.
They’re commonplace wherever Blue Helmets show up. They come as enforcers, not peacekeepers. They serve powerful interests, not those of people they’re sworn to protect.
Libyans will soon taste what 16 other countries endure, including DRC Congo, Sudan, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Haiti where local people hate them and want them out. However, they have no say or rights. Their choice is obey or else.
Libya v. Palestine
Partnered with Israel, Washington won’t tolerate Palestinian statehood and full UN membership. Note the contrast. TNC-led Libya has no legitimacy. Yet it easily got UN membership.
Palestinians have waited 63 years for their legitimate rights.
Maybe next time, not now, because Obama and Netanyahu won’t tolerate them. Neither does Abbas who signaled capitulation in a September 16 speech.
New York Times writers Ethan Bronner and Isabel Kershner weren’t listening. It shows in their September 16 article headlined, “Palestinians Set Bid for UN Seat, Clashing with UN,” saying:
Abbas “announced Friday that he would seek membership for a state of Palestine from the (Security Council) next week, putting him on a collision course with Israel and the United States….”
Fact check
The only “collision” will be Arab street anger after America’s veto, even though doing so has no teeth. The General Assembly alone admits new members. The Security Council only recommends.
A previous article said Abbas won’t petition the General Assembly, or if he does, it’ll be for less than full rights within easy reach. In other words, he’ll settle for half a loaf status quo, leaving Palestinians back at square one.
Yet both Times writers called Abbas’ plan “a double defeat for the United States. Washington not only failed to dissuade (him) from a unilateral bid for statehood, but also fell short of its goal of” preventing an easy to pass “symbolic” General Assembly vote.
Fact check
As explained above, if properly done, General Assembly membership votes are decisive, not “symbolic.”
“The United States has struggled to place itself on the side of those seeking justice and freedom in the current revolts….A veto of Palestinian membership would intensify Arab perceptions of American double standards.”
Fact check
Ask Bahrainis about Washington’s “struggle” for “justice and freedom.” Ask Yemenis being bombed by US drones. Ask Libyans enduring months of daily terror bombings and cutthroat mercenaries murdering anyone thought to be pro-Gaddafi.
Ask starving Somalis being attacked by US proxies and tortured in secret US prisons. Ask Iraqis and Afghans how they feel about Americans in their midst. Ask anyone anywhere when US forces show up. They’ll explain.
Bronner and Kershner are paid to lie and support powerful interests, not popular ones or rule of law standards.
Netanyahu – a Profile in Brazen Defiance
Haaretz writer Doron Rosenblum accused Netanyahu of “running Israel aground,” saying:
He devoted his tenure “to riding roughshod over every diplomatic finesse, to scattering threats, to provoking crises, to searching for anti-Semitism and to finding various bizarre excuses for continuing the annexationist status quo.”
“Only when (he was) absolutely forced (did he) pay lip service to ‘two states’ and ‘willingness to negotiate’ – but with a lack of conviction that was worse than a direct refusal. For in doing so, (he) did not merely lose sympathy; he lost a much more important card: trust.”
Rosenblum only stopped short of saying better trust a snake than a man known for never “having acted in good faith.”
On September 16, it showed by his rejection of Palestinians seeking statehood recognition at the UN, saying:
“Peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations with Israel,” adding:
When the PA “abandon(s) its futile measures, firstly its unilateral decision to approach the UN, it will find Israel as a partner for negotiations and peace.”
In fact, Israel only wants Palestinian leaders as an occupying power’s enforcer.
Israel never negotiates and won’t tolerate peace. Netanyahu once called it “a waste of time.”
Washington backs whatever Israel wants, even when it harms its own interests.
On September 6, US Israeli ambassador Daniel Shapiro said:
“The test of every policy the administration develops in the Middle East is whether it is consistent with the goal of ensuring Israel’s future as a secure, Jewish, democratic state. That is a commitment that runs as a common thread through our entire government.”
Israel, of course, never was democratic and isn’t now. Any nation affording rights solely to one segment of society at the expense of others is discriminatory, repressive and unfair.
Arabs comprise one-fifth of Israel’s population, but are treated more like fifth column threats than citizens.
America, of course, treats all working people as subjects to be exploited, not helped. It’s true at home and abroad. Israel modeled its economy after America’s, adopting the worst of its neoliberal harshness.
Both nations are partnered in an imperial enterprise to subjugate people throughout the Middle East/North Africa/Central Asia. America and its NATO allies plan the same thing globally, waging multiple wars to do it.
Freedom, independence, and democratic rights are notions none of these countries tolerate. Ask suffering millions. They’ll explain.
Taking Aim at Abbas
As explained above, Abbas signaled capitulation in his September 16 speech, again revealing his collaborationist credentials.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad denounced his speech.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused him of “unilateral moves” by acting without consulting Palestine’s legitimate government and other factions.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab said his objective is reopening negotiations with Israel, not independence and UN membership.
He added that Abbas should focus on implementing his May unity government agreement, now sidetracked at Washington and Israel’s behest. They, in fact, want Hamas isolated, not allied with Fatah to serve all Palestinians.
Reuters said Quartet members will meet in New York on September 18 in a last-ditch effort to derail a showdown over Palestinian statehood and UN membership.
They want resumption of bilateral Israeli/Palestinian negotiations going nowhere and won’t now. At issue is preventing Abbas from petitioning the UN, no matter how little he’ll settle for.
In a word, they want Palestinians subjugated under permanent occupation with no rights. Obama and Netanyahu call it “peace.”
Others call it bondage. Abbas calls it the best he can get.
Palestinians may finally realize they need leaders representing them, no matter what they sacrifice to do it.
Freedom never comes easily or quickly. It never comes at all without trying under committed leaders doing what they know is right.
Freedom next time isn’t good enough. Tomorrow never comes.
Palestinian statehood and full UN membership – now’s the time.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
