Of course, it has been invariably pointed out that when it comes to getting selected rogues in front of the ICC, politicians in the West are absolute hypocrites. What about Cheney, Blair, Bush, Obama, Museveni, Kagame etc.? Nevertheless, there can be no denying that Omar al-Bashir is an out-and-out rogue and a war criminal.
Therefore, on reading in today’s ‘Guardian’ that “It looks as though Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, will be among those discussing what to do about Syria during the Arab League’s meeting in Baghdad this weekend“, …… well, what is he going to be doing? Demanding an end to the killings in Syria, when at this very moment Sudanese troops are attempting to annihilate the Nubian population in Sudan’s South Kordofan.
Still, with the same ‘Guardian’ article that reported Omar al-Bashir will be attending the Arab League’s meeting also reporting that the Bahraini activist Mohammed Ashoor has posted a list of 82 people who have been killed in Bahrain since February 14 last year – “including 35 who are said to have died from the effects of teargas” – we might wonder what Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa,the Bahraini king, is doing there? Well with thousands of Iraqis demonstrating streets of Baghdad and cities in the Shiite-majority south of the country, against his government’s suppression of the Shia population in Bahrain, we might conclude that al-Maliki is looking for the Bahraini monarch’s support as Iraq returns to the centre of Arab affairs. Expect all the hypocrites to be talking to Damascus by the end of the summer at the latest.
The Fifth Estate 