A few words on hypocrisy
The NATO summit in Bucharest was completed a few days ago. For the first time, president of Turkmenistan participated in the event. During the summit, the Turkmen leader talked eye to eye to president George W. Bush. This is an undoubted success of Berdymukhammedov, first of all, in the propaganda sphere. Events such as this improve Turkmenistan’s image abroad, and the state is becoming a credible partner on the international arena. Therefore, Berdymukhammedov’s participation in the summit is fully understandable.
It is also pretty obvious why NATO as a whole and USA in particular are interested in tightening their cooperation with Ashgabat. It’s enough to mention that Turkmenistan borders Afghanistan and has vast oil and gas resources. Therefore, Berdymukhammedov’s participation in the summit and his eye-to-eye talks with George W. Bush are no wonder. Neither is the fact that the human rights issue in Turkmenistan was not mentioned during the talks. Business is business.
Hypocrisy of the West, especially the US, is nevertheless highly annoying. It suddenly turns out that Turkmenistan - as George W. Bush has put it - is a trustworthy and very promising partner, whereas the bordering Iran, a country much more democratic than Turkmenistan, is a part of the axis of evil, where human rights are violated widely. I agree, Iran’s nuclear program is a problem, but then again, Pakistan and India have been in possession of nuclear bombs for a long time. And they also are America’s ‘trustworthy and very promising partners’…
Why then mix up geopolitics and human rights? Wouldn’t it be better to openly declare: yes, we are an empire, we have our interests, we want to cooperate with some countries (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia), while with others (like Iran) we don’t, as their strong position does not match our interests. In that case the words would correspond with the reality, and inveterate idealists and human rights defenders would finally stop daydreaming that America and Europe are the defenders of democracy over the world.
on April 5th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
A very thoughtful and honest entry. I do agree with your position to some extent. However, as experience has shown, the US tends to build strategic partnerships that serve their own national interest, and later on build on them in order to promote democracy and human rights in the countries they partnered with. That was the case in Romania in the early 90s… plenty of human rights abuses, plenty of communist legacies. The US hurried to jump into a partnership, and then USAID and other large American donors started injecting capital in democratizing Romania. Huge non-profit organizations that did wonderful human rights projects have been financed for years by American donors, in the last 15 years or so.
on April 7th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Very good point of view. Old & popular, but still good.
1. I do not agree Iran has a better democracy than Turkmenistan. We are doing far better than them, and even the west. In many countries including US, human rights is important only when it serves their interest. When its not, they just ignore it. Where is human rights in invading another country & killing thousands of innocent people for oil ??? At least we dont pretend…
2. What you are asking is called ”honesty”. If they had it, they would not be politicians. In greek Poly means many, tic means face. So, to be a ”true politician” you have to have multiple faces/personalities…
on April 7th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Iran is democratic? Say this to Mullahs and they will hang you.
on April 7th, 2008 at 4:41 am
Read about nuclear proliferation and do more analysis about the consequences of Iran having nuclear bombs.
Assuming that survival is part of everyone’s interest, it is right to say that Iran’s “strong position” doesn’t match not only the US interests but also the whole world’s ‘interests.
Turkmenistan may be a bad country, but it is better when compared to Iran. Human rights promotion is at the core of the US foreign policy, but when you have a potential nuclear threat, you deal with that in the first place. Black and white assessment isn’t wouldn’t reflect the complex reality where you have to make decisions about matters with competing priorities.
on April 7th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Acknowledging that India and Pakistan’s posession of nuclear weapons is one thing, assessing whether it is good or bad is another thing. Can you take those weapons away from them? I am afraid no. So, would it be wise to ignore one of the most threatening regime’s intentions to acquire nuclear weapons? Probably not.
Axis of evil included Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. Try to guess a common thing among these regimes? Were you able to think of one? Let me help you: aspiration to acquire nuclear weapons.
All of these regimes are more prone to use these weapons (should they ever get hold of one) against their ‘enemies’ that include: Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Israel, USA, Saudi Arabia, etc. Earth would be a messy place to live with all these countries fighting each other and blogging may become just a sweet dream.
on April 11th, 2008 at 5:53 am
“Why then mix up geopolitics and human rights?” Are you seirously posing this ingenious question..? Look around, when did the dirty geopolitical game and human rights didnt intertwine in this world? The come hand in hand.
Ugh, some of the crap i read on this website is just hideous, unfortunately, and just makes me angry. If you are going to write, please brush up on your analytical skills.
on April 11th, 2008 at 10:30 am
shihgiz, why you are so angry? Do you really like US policy?
on April 11th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
shihgiz,
You are not obliged to read this website. Calm down, it is Friday. Have a nice weekend!
on April 14th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Abdulgamid,
US foreign policy is a failure, there is no question about it, and no I dont like it.
I also don’t like wordy and futile articles, but I hope the author won’t take it negatively, and will rather develop on his/her writing as well as give/put valid thought to her articles.
Respectfully,
Shihgiz
ps …and thank you Maricula, I did have a wonderful weekend!!