Experts criticize double standards from West

A fan group of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade used banners in a game last week to list US-led NATO interventions over the past decades. One of the banners read a line from Beatles songwriter John Lennon's anti-war song: "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

Western countries have always applied double standards to safeguarding peace and opposing war, said experts and citizens from various countries.

On the one hand, Western nations boast "anti-war and peace".On the other hand, these same nations have interfered militarily in other countries in pursuit of their own interests, arbitrarily imposed sanctions, created humanitarian crises and posed threats to global peace and security.

Zivadin Jovanovic, former foreign affairs minister of Yugoslavia, said NATO troops led by the United States bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days. To this day, Europe and the world still suffer from the severe consequences of the destruction.

"The precedent of aggression executed without the UN Security Council approval was reused in subsequent aggression in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria," Jovanovic said.

Significant move

The move by the Serbian fans is significant, said Hamed Vafaei, director of the Asia Research Center at the University of Tehran. He added that the Serbians experienced the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and witnessed Western double standards when it came to war.

In contemporary history, most wars worldwide have been started by Western countries, Vafaei said.

The US has applied double standards when dealing with humanitarian issues, said Muhammad Omari, a Syrian political expert.

It claimed to care about the displaced while at the same time ignoring the humanitarian crisis it created in the Middle East, said Omari, adding that the US military interventions and economic sanctions have further exacerbated humanitarian crises.

"The United States claims it is the source of good, but the truth is that it only exploits and plunders," said Ali Issa, a Syrian citizen.

The US said it protects refugees, but also attempts to occupy territories in Syria, Issa said.

Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Cambodia, said given the US' numerous illegal invasions of other countries, especially its invasion of Iraq, the country is in no position to lecture other countries on protecting peace and human rights or abiding by the international law.

"I think those football fans are sending a message to the world that it is the United States and NATO that have carried out numerous military interventions that have resulted in mass civilian casualties," said Andrew Kiboi Ndiwa, a security employee at Kenya KK Security.

Xinhua