Vetos

When countries like Russia and China use their veto rights in the Security Council to avoid a war against another member of the international community, powers led by the United States describe the diplomatic action as demonstrating an “indecent” attitude, and the large media outlets insist on repeating derogatory adjectives as part of a stunningly shady bargain to demonize the Syrian regime. A few days ago, Beijing and Moscow “saved” the Syrian government from a resolution directed against it in the highest decision-making body of the U.N. Nevertheless, nobody mentions another veto announced by the United States against a just cause: the admission of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.

The response of Russia and China to what they saw as an intervention in the domestic affairs of Syria, and as an action that doesn’t provide a peaceful solution to the crisis in that country, so offended the United States and its European allies that even the Spanish newspaper El País published an editorial maliciously castigating those two council members. But there wasn’t even a single word of condemnation directed at Washington for its support of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The economic sanctions and resolutions condemning Syria that are championed by the United States and its partners in the Old Continent do not, as they claim, aim at the stability of that country. While they demonize Bashar al-Assad, they keep supporting the Zionist government of Tel Aviv, which, as well as denying the Palestinians the right to life, occupies the Golan Heights of Syria and maintains the entire region on edge with its possession of nuclear arms.

In 1972, Washington used its privilege of veto in the Security Council to prevent the punishment of Israel for the bombing massacre of hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon.

Throughout the history of the undemocratic international body, it is the U.S. that has most abused its prerogative with intentions that have nothing to do with the preservation of international security. In the case of the Palestinians alone it has used its veto on 41 occasions to block any resolution that seeks to defend the rights of those people, and to prevent the isolation of Israel, its ally in the Middle East. Now, the U.S. has not only said that it will use its veto to prevent the entry of Palestine into the U.N., but also threatened to cut financial aid to the Palestinian Authority (P.A.).

Washington has always played dirty in the Security Council. It refused to condemn the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, as well as that government’s intent to expand into neighboring countries; it blocked the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East (because the only country that has them is Israel). Nor did it accept the calls on Israel to abandon the Golan Heights, a region occupied by force in 1967. And it used its veto to avoid condemnation of its own government for arming the contras in Nicaragua and invading Panama. The list never ends.

When the U.S. has been unable to gain support of the other members of the Council to legitimize its military adventures, it has simply attacked without bothering to cover up its impudence, as it did in Iraq in 2003.

The United States has always blocked that which doesn’t agree with its policy and interests. Using its position as permanent member with veto rights, it has manipulated the Security Council through lobbying, diplomatic ties and outright lies in order to find a loose cloak of legality to unleash wars, like the recent one against Libya.

Now, with Syria, instead of finding a path to peace, the U.S. is trying to convince the other members of the Security Council of the “necessity” of punishing the government of al-Assad, while supporting an internal subversion against that government.

The United Nations must be urgently democratized, which will necessarily involve the elimination of the incongruous right of veto, a fundamental weapon of imperialism used by the U.S. to impose its own designs and cling to its hegemonic power and unilateral behavior.