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UK hypocrisy exposed over Trump’s bullshit ‘Board of Peace’

board of peace

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has not ‘yet’ committed to US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’. Apparently, their reluctance follows the open invitation to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The UK and European allies have always vowed to support Ukraine against Russia’s colonial ambitions and ongoing war crimes receiving widespread support from the British public. Of course, Israel’s Zionist settler colonial war crimes aren’t getting the same response from complicit Western governments.

And, the UK seems perfectly content to share a table with states accused of war crimes at least equal to those they publicly condemn. As a result, the double standard could hardly be clearer.

Bullshit ‘Board of Peace’ plans are colonisation

Namely, the UK government apparently no trouble sitting alongside genocidal war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu on the US’ ‘board of bullies’. Israel reportedly secured a $1bn seat, and unsurprisingly, our leaders offered not even a murmur of protest. The West’s response confirms a long-seen readiness to overlook genocide against the Palestinian people. It’s a diplomatic position that raises uncomfortable questions given the documented financial ties between some Labour MPs and pro-Israel lobby groups:

Maybe Russia and pro-Kremlin lobbyists just don’t line the pockets of Western politicians sufficiently enough. Although, Washington’s cozying up to Putin suggests the game is changing, as Trump makes it clear greed is always a primary factor.

What international community?

Cooper also doesn’t appear to have concern with Washington’s attempt to further neuter the UN, with the proposed board functioning as an equivalent body. Legal scholars and citizens the world over have long made calls protesting the nonsensical veto ability within the UN, which has allowed the biggest bullies to weaponise international law against smaller members, rather than have to adhere to it.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently shared his take on the farce world leaders have made of the UN:

This interview underscores that the UK lacks the courage to meaningfully challenge the big boss, no matter how serious the disagreement:

Western powers: the perceived good guys

This was further evidenced this week as the Davos Summit take place. Leaders and the super-rich from around the world flocked to the conference arranged by the World Economic Forum. Of course, Trump took to the stage and did what he always does: a rambling, arrogant monologue from a petty, self-obsessed man-child convinced he’s god’s gift to the world. Although, funnily enough, the US president appeared to commit a Freudian slip that may finally have exposed what was always hiding in plain sight.

Trump spent most of his speech predictably arguing that he should be allowed to buy Greenland, reducing a sovereign state to a tradable asset. Given that billionaires already treat governments as commodities, may as well finish the job and buy the whole thing outright.

In his speech, Trump stated:

make it impossible for the bad guys to do anything against the perceived good ones.

The very suggestion that Yvette Cooper would object to the Board of Peace because of Putin – not Israel, or the US – is typical hypocrisy from Labour. But it does lay bare the reality of global neoliberal politics: morality is optional, power and profit is everything.

Change the game, don’t play the game

Due to the existence of social media, citizens around the world are waking up. The ability to share information across the globe has allowed people to educate themselves, by connecting with those suffering under the current world order. This has directly impeded the ability for state-led propaganda to condition peoples’ perspectives. This has fueled mounting resistance, as more come to see the so-called rules-based order for the lie it always has been.

Consecutive UK governments have always championed our values and principle with a sense of pride. However, British people have been shown that those principles never existed amongst power, that sense of pride has all but disappeared.

We don’t need another UN

The UN and the rules-based system could uphold peace and diplomacy worldwide. Yet this will only happen when laws apply fairly, instead of bending to power or profit. The US is simply tired of having to care about something as silly as established rules and now they want to write their own. This marks a significant play by the world’s billionaires; after buying our governments and media, we cannot let them make the world and war their playground.

Citizens are subject to the laws of their lands with their actions always bearing responsibility. Therefore, it should follow that the most powerful bear the burden of legal accountability. Ignoring the rules-based order and applying it selectively has led to such a dangerous position that it has greatly appealed to a maniacal tyrant who has always found comfort with exploitation. The fact we could be referring to Trump, Netanyahu, or Putin says it all.

To actually be safe, and to avoid eternal war, that willful ignorance must change.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

This post was originally published on Canary.