Ian Sinclair says that letting all those (who broke international law and killed thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan) condemn Russia is nothing but an example of British hypocrisy.
For Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gordon Brown, former British Prime Minister, with other 140 politicians, academics, and lawyers, signed a petition. The petition is for a trial for President Vladimir Putin as he is responsible for Russia’s invasion.
There is no doubt that Putin is responsible for Russia’s attack on Ukraine. But suddenly calling him a war criminal and asking for a trial sound unreasonable. Because he is not the only person who got involved in a war.
Brown, on BBC, says that Putin should not act with such freedom, he should be warned. Putin has to face the consequences according to international law. This is a piece of positive news that concerned people are trying to pressurize Putin.
But the question is where were these people when some of their allies acted just like Putin?
In response to a question about whether Putin should be tagged as a war criminal or not, Brown echoes President Biden that the Russian leader is a war criminal.
Iraq
In 2003, the US and UK invaded and occupied Iraq despite having no support for their military activities from the United Nation. Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general, stated that the US and UK invasion was against the charter of the UN. That means, they attacked illegally Iraq.
What would the former PM, Brown, say about Britain’s involvement in the US and UK-led attack on the people of Iraq?
According to a study, 5,00,000 people died in the US-British let attack on Iraq, and, by 2007, more than 4.2 million people got displaced. As Brown was the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the US-British invasion of Iraq, he, for sure, had been directly involved in that destruction.
Afghanistan
Brown was chancellor as well as prime minister (2007-2010) during the illegal attack on Afghanistan too. The data shows that, in that invasion, about 176,000 people died, and among them 46,000 were civilians.
How would Brown justify his direct involvement in the killing of all these people?
Without any doubt, Russia’s military activities in Ukraine are intolerable from every possible angle. The number shows that thousands of civilians had died, and millions of people have become refugees.
People all around the world are talking about Putin’s activities including those who had been involved in similar activities for years. The US is showing concern, though their presidents are the best in the business of wars. Whether it is the Vietnam War or the Afghan war, the US military has always been active in a destructive manner.
They never questioned their activities or their allies never tagged themselves as war criminals. But in the case of Russia, they are active because Putin is not one of their friends.
Finally, is Brown concerned about the people of Ukraine? I do not think so. In my opinion, it is the fear of Putin’s power and his will to be able to go against Brown’s allies that make him (Brown) furious.
