Hypocrisy of the Neoliberals

Preaching Democracy While Working to Unseat an Elected Government and Rushing for Geo-Political Dominance

Arguably, the in-cubing democrat-led government of the United States has been facing multifaceted challenges at home. The chaotic influx of immigrants, a broken system of handling immigration, inefficiency in the supply chain management of commodities, significant rejection of Covid-19 vaccine by citizens, and inflation that caused price hikes on gas and other essential goods are few of the factors that attributed to the disgruntling situation American officials face. Americans are highly upset; the rift on the already divided nation has widened, and, consequently, major polls have suggested that President Biden’s overall approval rate has declined to as low as, 48Pct in the early days of December.The situation is even worse when it comes to foreign relationships. America’s prominence on global affairs has been consistently dwindling since President Barack Obama’s period. Of course, President Trump has further sidelined the US from major global leadership positions such as the deal on climate change and the Iranian Nuclear Deal. This has sharply plummeted and enhanced the fading away of American hegemony across the globe.

The disastrous evacuation of American forces from Afghanistan, which shocked the entire world, has taken a big toll on the declining of American moral value as a guardian of global peace and security. The administration of President Biden has ventured into another mess, by turning its back on one of its oldest and closest allies in Africa, Ethiopia. Owing to the ill-advice of the democrats’ gangs in the political establishment, the administration strangely chose to side with what has become a full-fledged homegrown terrorist organization—the TPLF. The terrorists have ruled Ethiopia for about three decades before they were toppled in 2018 by popular uprising. The group, in its desperate move to take power back from the democratically elected government has been enjoying full-fledged support from the Biden administration and many other western governments, as well as media and civil society organizations. According to the group’s self-claimed speaker, their action of retaking power is under the consent, if not direct guidance, of the American administration. This unholy marriage has enabled Ethiopia, galvanizing tens of millions of supporters across the world to stage several rallies in multiple countries, chanting the slogan: #NoMore!—a movement that requests America and its allies to keep their Hands off Ethiopia and Eritrea.

It is in the midst of such an extremely tense atmosphere that America convened a summit between December 7to9, 2021 that brought together over 100 countries to discuss matters regarding the safeguarding of democracy. In contrast to what has been claimed, to many who closely monitor America’s recent moves in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, the real motive of the forum was nothing but revitalizing American supremacy and its geo-political interests. The agenda also suggests the usual arrogance in the Western block, applying an old trick for solving a new challenge.

In reality, the summit failed before it started, when it politicized the invitation and discriminated countries which have differing political stances. The primary qualification for the invitation happened to be the participants’ loyalty to the US regime, rather than to their adherence to democracy. Had this been otherwise, countries with poor democracy and human rights records should not have been in the room, while countries like Ethiopia, which have at least held a peaceful and relatively credible election, were avoided. Also, worth noting in the matter are the invited countries that didn’t show-up to the event. Similarly, there were several countries that boldly aired their views on the maliciousness of the very objective of the summit. They said it would bring more harm than good in strengthening global democracy. In fact, the world took this incident as a wakeup call and started raising fundamental issues about whether America, with such a level of prejudice, double standard and moral crises could qualify to convene a summit to discuss one of the most compelling agendas of our time.

Risking the act of repeating the obvious, the summit’s intention at best is to halt and, if possible, counter the increasing influence of the BRICS countries in general and that of China, Russia, and Turkey in particular through the building of a new alliance with countries that are willing to serve as a buffer. Moreover, the summit unveiled that the real interest of the neo-colonialists is geo-political power and immigration; not terrorism, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, o rother threats to humanity.

The US’s foreign relationship performance is at an historic low level of credibility. As it went from one failure to another, without sufficient lessons drawn, its record went from bad to worse every day. What is more worrisome and scarier is the institutions that are supposed to play the check and balance role and protect democracy, i.e., the media, the two legislative houses, and the intelligence services have also lost their credibility. Sadly, this makes the failure beyond the administration or the executive to a larger system that values such institutions.

It sounds, in all indications, that the democrats in a nutshell are headed at high speeds to a cliff edge. They failed to recognize that we are living in a fast-changing world and missed that they need to be vigilant enough to cope up. A change in partnership works only if it’s cordial and based on mutual respect and benefit. The era of conspiracy and covert action for regime change using mercenaries who would sell out their own people is outdated.

Africa particularly has reached a point of no return in this regard. It is sick and tired of the double standards and the undermining. Whether the issue in the table is democracy, terrorism, or human rights, it should be on the negotiation table with equal rights and status. There should not be a difference in how a terrorist, whether identified as so by the American congress or Ethiopian parliament, should be treated. A terrorist is a terrorist! Nothing is more of a double standard than telling the Ethiopian government to negotiate with a terrorist organization when America has never given the slightest possible considerations for negotiations during their fights with Al-Qaida or ISIS.

America should adhere to certain global principles. Its foreign policy should not only take into consideration its national interest in pursuing its foreign policy. It is one thing to stand for national interests but another to strive to attain it at the expense of others. There is no big or small country when it comes to national interest. They are all sovereign equal states!

America should also refrain from a divide and rule approach. The Cold War legacy of proxy war seems to be rejuvenating itself again. It wasn’t productive back then; it will not be useful in the twenty-first century.

In light of this, for many political analysts, the underlying reason for America’s meddling in the internal affairs of Ethiopia stems from two converged reasons: the panic from the ever-growing Chinese dominance in the horn of Africa and the protection of Egypt’s interest over the Blue Nile River. America seems determined to do what it takes, including supporting a terrorist organization with a vivid record, to get its will. Its vindictive action extends beyond Ethiopia and intimidates friends of Ethiopia in the region. Sanctioning Eritrea and denouncing the alliance between Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti to partner on common development and security issues, is a living testimony. It is really a pity to see Eritrea, which only recently recovered from decades of sanction and isolation by the US administration, based on false allegations by the TPLF, now being subjected to another round of harassment.

Given how the current US government is behaving in Ethiopia and with its neighboring states, America has no moral authority to stand for democracy. This staged circus is at best a policy disguise to deter Chinese, Russian, and Turkish influence in the region. Western nations should really know that the sun has set for neo-colonialism. Africa is louder and clearer in speaking this message now more than ever. It clicks on a big “NO” to any dialogue about its affairs when it is not in the room.

While working on this article, the writer has just learned that some 50 countries, out of which 17 are permanent UN Human Rights Commission members, continue the conspiracy against Ethiopia and urge the UN to call for a special meeting on Ethiopia. Interestingly, no single African country signed this petition. While this is outrageous, it also sent a very strong message to the West and the UN that Africa will no longer be used by others to stand against its own interests. It is an understatement to conclude that the EU and the UN commission who turned a deaf ear on all kinds of atrocities by terrorists of the TPLF on Ethiopians in the states of Amhara and Afar, call this meeting to rescue the god-child before it is wiped out by patriotic Ethiopians who are determined to protect their country.

Indeed, it is a blessing and disguise; the northern Ethiopian episodes unveil the real face of the United Nations, what it stands for and who it serves as well. The refusal of Africa to take part in these evil moves is a clear message to the UN. The UN no longer lives up to its core values. It’s hypocrisy. While Africa always believes that the UN is an indispensable platform for world peace and stability, it will however want to see it fundamentally overhauled. The continent will continue working hard until it earns the rightful position proportional to its size in the rank and file of the decision-making body, including veto privilege which is now monopolized by the five permanent members of the security council. The slogan therefore is YES, we need the UN, but not this one!

10th Year • Jan 2022 • No. 103