Xinhua’s account of Biden’s imminent trip to the Middle East; A journey under the shadow of human rights scandal

According to IRNA on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency wrote: For several decades, the Middle East has been caught in the quagmire of great danger, constant instability and economic crisis, mainly due to wars, intervention and sanctions led by the United States.

Last month, the White House claimed that Biden’s visit represents “the return of the US government to the path of bringing countries together to face common threats and challenges” and moving towards a “safer, more prosperous and more stable Middle East region”.

But in reality, the Middle East has never been safe. This is a region where competing geopolitical interests are competing and conflicting, Washington is playing with its strategic chessboard at the expense of the countries of the region but under the guise of human rights and democracy.

At the same time, the war in Ukraine, followed by the intensification of the energy crisis in the world, has given Biden a double incentive to travel to the region rich in oil and energy resources in the Middle East, as the American media wrote, “If it wasn’t for the global oil market, Biden would He did not travel to the region.”

Biden will leave for Saudi Arabia in the coming days.

Military interventions

The current American government is trying to change its foreign policy towards the Middle East, unlike the former president of this country, but his real intention and honesty, considering the weak record of American human rights in this region, has caused controversy.

Since the declaration of independence in 1776, America has sought to expand its territory and exert its influence. This country has been involved in war for almost 93% of this period.

Statistics show that from the end of World War II to 2001, there have been at least 248 armed conflicts in the world, of which the United States initiated 201.

According to the “Costs of War Project” at Brown University in the United States in Iraq, between 184,382 and 207,156 civilians have died as a result of direct violence related to the war of the United States, its allies, the Iraqi army and police, and opposition forces since the beginning of the invasion of this country. They have died by October 2019.

Ala Karim Ahmad, a 40-year-old ex-prisoner from Iraq, remembers well the misery he endured since his capture by US forces 19 years ago, as well as the shameful mistreatment and brutal torture of US soldiers against prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. brought

In Syria, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, nearly 4,000 civilians have been killed by the US-led coalition, more than half of whom are women and children.

Meanwhile, other human rights watchdogs have announced that the number of civilians killed in the Syrian war since 2014 is much higher.

In a statement in April, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Washington of committing war crimes in this Middle Eastern country through airstrikes and shelling. It resulted in the destruction of thousands of civilians between June and October 2017.

Sanctions without reason and justification

In addition to wars, sanctions have been another main tool at the disposal of America to ensure its political and economic interests.

According to the US Treasury Department, about 30 countries and territories are under Washington’s unilateral sanctions, which include almost all the continents of the earth, except Antarctica, which is uninhabitable.

In May 2018, the administration of former US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the nuclear deal signed with Iran and reimposed unilateral sanctions against Iran despite the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Union confirming Iran’s adherence to the deal. .

In its annual U.S. human rights report released in June, Iran’s State Department said Washington was using its “unilateral coercive sanctions” as a tool of “economic terrorism” that “denies Iranians’ right to life, health, development, self-determination It has violated the destiny and having the appropriate standards of life. In this report, America is described as “the biggest violator of human rights”.

The US military intervention in Syria in 2014 under the pretext of fighting terrorism caused severe damage and loss of life in this country. However, in addition to civilian casualties and widespread destruction of infrastructure, the Syrian people have witnessed the looting of their resources and the deepening economic crisis due to extensive US sanctions.

Meanwhile, US sanctions against Syria have seriously affected almost all aspects of life in this country, such as food supply, medical care, banking, housing and even charity work. According to the World Food Program’s latest assessment, 12 million Syrians, or 55% of the country’s total population, face acute food insecurity and 1.9 million people are at risk of becoming food insecure.

Peacemaking or problem-making?

Biden’s trip to the Middle East is facing debates among the media and experts about its goals, timing and sincerity.

In an article published on CNN on Sunday, it is stated that if it were not for the global oil market, Biden would not have traveled to the region.

In this article, it was stated that this trip is a kind of investment in the future due to concerns in the oil sector, especially that it is hoped that the improvement of relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia will accelerate the process of oil production by the Saudis at the end of the year and in the new year. slow

Biden’s planned trip to the occupied territories and the West Bank may also face criticism. According to the Washington Post, critics accuse America of not doing enough to end the Zionist occupation of the occupied territories.

The New York Times quoted Alon Pinkas, the former Consul General of the Zionist regime in America, wrote: America no longer prioritizes the solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Zionists and has changed the management of the coalitions, that is why, more than solving this dispute, for the coalitions formed between the Persian Gulf countries and the Zionist regime and anti-Iranian coalitions give priority.