LET’S start with a hypothetical example. The Deputy Prime Minster (DPM) of a country broke down his neighbour’s fence. The neighbour says he is going to retaliate and the DPM said he is prepared for a confrontation. Who do you think the Prime Minister (PM) should talk with to cool things down?
It has to be his colleague and perhaps, friend, because he is more likely to listen to the DPM than the neighbour. This is commonsense and has been commonsense throughout history. But now we see a break in commonsense in the way the West is acting in the imminent attack by Iran on Israel.

Western leaders have been making telephonic communication with the Iranian President asking for restraint. In some instances, Iran has been asked not to retaliate. There is nothing wrong and everything is absolutely right if global friends of Iran request that Iran stand down. But how can the West ask Iran for consideration in preventing a wider Middle East war when those leaders are closer to Israel than Iran and should have months ago demand that Israel modify its attitude. This makes no sense and is one of the most bizarre moments in the history of global affairs.
All the Western countries in the EU and NATO have ongoing sanctions against Iran. One or two of them may not even have diplomatic relations with Iran. On the other hand, many of these Western countries have intimate security and political relations with Israel. Just one example should bring out the graphic nature of this bizarre moment in global affairs.

At the same time that the West requested Iran to show restraint, the G7 boycotted the annual event of the atomic bomb being thrown on Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 by the Americans to end the war with Japan. The reason for the boycott was because the Mayor of Nagasaki did not invite Israel.
Israel has been bombing Gaza non-stop with more than 40, 000 deaths including 20, 000 children. The International Criminal Court is about to issue an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu, and Israel has violated Iran’s sovereignty twice yet since October when Israel began its devastation of Gaza, the West has not pressured Israel to cease its genocidal action.

Let’s look at more contents of this bizarre moment in international politics. Israel bombed the Iranian consulate in Damacus killing Iranian officials. Iran retaliated by bombing Israel. That was the flashpoint for a Middle East war. It didn’t happen. Israel got bolder since the Damascus bombing and assassinated the Hamas leader who was a guest of the Iranian Government and did it right in the heart of Tehran.

The obvious question is why Israel isn’t being pressured to adjust to the reality but the West wants Iran to modify its stance? As I wrote before, this makes no sense and is one of the weirdest moments in international relations. Why Western leaders feel that Iran would listen to them? And basic understanding of world politics should instruct the West that the Iranian President cannot deliver a decision of non-action against Israel because he has not got that latitude.
He would lose his presidency immediately if he appeases the West because the corridors of power in Iran knows that the West is being presumptuous, insulting and arrogantly contemptuous of Iran by asking it to stand down while the West has not asked Israel for the same thing.
Iran of course has rebuffed the West and the world is waiting to see when there will be an Iranian attack. But while the world waits, the hypocrisy of the West has permanently damaged its traditional relation with the Global South. Which citizen in the Global South will see the West as the embodiment of democratic values after Israel committal of genocide?

That perception of the Western democracy and its so-called professional journalism doesn’t travel well in the Third World. No one who lives in the post-colonial world could ever imagine that Western countries that went around the world since colonialism ended after the World War 2 would have turned its back on global justice and freedom the way the West did after the Israel bombing of Gaza. And Western journalism was side by side with its government in support of Israel.

I believe the Israel committal of genocide has ruptured the relation between the West and the Global South forever. Whatever war will be forthcoming in some place on the global map, one thing for sure is whichever side the West takes, the Global south will not support it. Where is the continuing damnation against Russia in the Global South? Why is this so? I think you know.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.