By Dennis Etler
National Guard Soldiers stand in line during a "Black Lives Matter" rally and march, that occurred in response to the death of George Floyd and other victims of Police Racism across the US, in Boston, Massachusetts on June 3, 2020. (AFP photo)
The Anglo-American response to the National Security law passed by the Chinese National People's Congress to preserve the one country, two systems policy in Hong Kong exposes the utter contempt the US has for other nations’ legitimate security needs.
Hong Kong has been subject to months of disruptive demonstrations and riots organized by forces that expressly call for the independence of Hong Kong from China. Both Hong Kong's former colonial overseer, the United Kingdom, and its protégé, the United States, have directly interfered in the internal affairs of China by supporting the Hong Kong separatists and praising their riotous behavior.
Yet, as the US descends into chaos due to years of pent up rage over brutal police killings of young black men, compounded by the shock of a political process in disarray, an intractable pandemic, and an economy in free-fall, the Trump administration has called out the troops to quell the unrest, citing threats to the national security of the United States of America. With no evidence of foreign intervention or domestic subversion, Trump has accused nebulous domestic groups of "terrorism" and unnamed "foreign agents" of sowing discord, necessitating invoking the "Insurrection Act" a Congressional act from the early 1800s that allows the President to impose martial law and dispatch the US military to occupy and "dominate" city streets, abrogating US citizens cherished rights of free assembly, freedom of speech and redress of grievances.
When other nations face similar situations during which their national security and sovereignty are challenged, the US and its allies actually support rioters with the expressed intent of subverting those nation's governments to further their own interests.
Every nation has the inherent right to promote domestic tranquility and preserve its sovereignty against threats both foreign and domestic. The US calls out the troops, be they local gendarmes, the National Guard, or the military, at a moment's notice to suppress protests and riots when they occur. This has happened repeatedly in recent decades, during the War in Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s, during the urban rebellions that have occurred since the 1960s, the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, the Ferguson Unrest of 2014, and now the uprising over George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police. In none of these incidents were foreign powers directly involved in stoking the conflict and supporting the protests with material aid.
Despite all of this, the US and its allies find it perfectly proper to instigate dissidents abroad to mobilize popular discontent to stage protests and riots against any nation they deem to be an "enemy." They say they do this to protect their national security, assuming the right to interfere and intervene wherever they like. But they deny those they target the same right to protect their own national security interests and sovereignty.
It should be clear to one and all that the US and its fellow travelers are not interested in human rights or protecting the freedoms of the citizens of their adversaries, they are only interested in furthering their own geopolitical interests and agenda.
Dennis Etler is an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. He’s a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. He wrote this article for Press TV website.
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