U.S. protest of UN veto is hypocrisy

By Jeremy Brigham

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On Feb. 4, China and Russia of the United Nations Security Council vetoed a resolution that condemned the “widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms

by the Syrian authorities… .” The U.S. representative to the UN, Susan Rice, rightly protested the vetoes.

However, just a year ago, Rice vetoed the Security Council resolution to condemn Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory. Both of these vetoes show the power and the limitations of the UN Security Council.

What if the United States had abandoned its long-standing tradition since 1972 of vetoing resolutions critical of Israel, and joined this time with the other 14 countries on the Security Council? Would Israel not have considered backing off? As long as the United States uncritically resists any condemnation of Israel's illegal activities by international law, what credibility does it have when it protests the vetoes of other countries?

When Rice vetoed the resolution against Israel a year ago, she said, “On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity” (UN News Centre, Feb. 18, 2011). So the United States is going to deal directly with Israel to make Israel stop the settlements? Nothing effective has happened in that regard.

Russia and China may take steps to negotiate separately with Syria, but their veto is, as was the U.S. veto of a resolution against Israel, a blank check for Syria to continue illegal activities.

In both cases, arms sales connections link the vetoing countries with the country in question. The United States has supplied Israel with arms used against the Palestinians, while Russia supplies Syria with arms used to attack their own people. It is sad to think that 22 years after the Cold War, the countries most dependent on arms supplies from the old Cold Warriors are defying world condemnation while still getting arms.

The carnage in Syria has only become worse since the Feb. 4 veto. Meanwhile, U.S. television, radio and newspapers carry no information about the suffering of the people of Gaza, whose fuel supplies have been cut off by Israeli forces, where hospitals cannot keep vital equipment operating, where people are living and dying in the dark.

Until the great powers can agree to work together to protect human rights, and stop supplying governments that violate international human rights with weapons, people in many parts of the world will be subject to terror by their own governments without significant consequences. And the stage is set for much greater conflagrations.

Jeremy Brigham teaches a course on the Middle East at Kirkwood Community College and a course on International Human Rights at the University of Iowa. Comments: brighamjeremy@q.com