After his meeting with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday 25 February 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry, accompanied by Hague, addressed reporters in London with remarks that highlighted the real values that many in the Islamic world despise about Western governments – hypocrisy and arrogance.
Talking about the situation in Syria Kerry said:
We obviously discussed Syria today, and William and I agree that the Syrian people deserve better than the horrific violence that now invades and threatens their everyday lives – the lives of innocent people, the lives of people who simply want an ability to have their government be accountable and to be able to be part of the governance of their own lives. The Assad regime has rained down rockets on Aleppo in recent days, and that is just the latest example of Assad’s brutality. We condemn this indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, and we condemn it in the strongest terms. And it is just further evidence that Assad has to go.
Completely forgotten is America’s onslaught against innocent civilians around the world who have rockets and missiles launched from drones raining down on them almost daily. Many in the world condemn America’s indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians just as they condemn the killings going on in Syria.
Kerry’s remarks are typical of America’s hypocrisy.
After his remarks about Syria, Kerry moves on to the subject of Iran saying:
William and I also today discussed on a couple of occasions Iran’s nuclear program and tomorrow’s P-5+1 talks with Iran that take place in Kazakhstan. As we’ve said again and again, an Iran with a nuclear weapon in that region, and given all that has happened, is simply unacceptable. And we have stated that they will not obtain a nuclear weapon. President Obama has been crystal clear about this. And as we’ve repeatedly made clear, the window for a diplomatic solution simply cannot by definition remain open forever. But it is open today. It is open now. And there is still time, but there is only time if Iran makes the decision to come to the table and to negotiate in good faith. We are prepared to negotiate in good faith, in mutual respect, in an effort to avoid whatever terrible consequences could follow failure. And so the choice really is in the hands of the Iranians, and we hope they will make the right choice.
Time and time again Iran has stated that it is only interested in the civilian use of nuclear energy. And time and time again evidence supporting US Israel claims that Iran has a nuclear weapons program has been conspicuous by its absence. Despite years of claims that Iran is ‘only months away’ from building a bomb, there has not been a single skerrick of evidence to support any of their claims. To ignore Iran’s denials and to continue ratcheting up the threats to Iran if it doesn’t comply with America and the West’s demands while, at the same time, failing to demand Israel open up its nuclear facilities for inspection, is typical of America’s arrogance.
Western leaders have repeated loudly and often that what ‘they’ hate about ‘us’ is our values.
If hypocrisy and arrogance are the values of the West, then who can blame them?
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