Al-Anba, Kuwait, July 27
Has mankind suffered an unknown epidemic that causes patients to scream and wail without a cause? A pandemic that has no visible symptoms on people’s bodies; resulting in no skin rash, stomach cramps or muscle pain? This pandemic I’m talking about seems to affect international bodies and human rights organizations, as well as some European governments where traditional political forces have receded and a new ruling political echelon has emerged through alliances of social democratic parties, environmental groups, anarchists, liberals, and populists. The victims of the pandemic stay silent toward countries full of chaos and persecution, allowing them to spread crimes against humanity while criticizing nations trying to improve the living conditions of their people. They shamelessly interfere in the affairs of other nations as if they have some moral high ground that allows them to dictate the fate of other human beings. For example, in the Philippines, the government decided to wage a war against drug cartels, which is a good and blessed thing. And, of course, like in any war, innocent people were affected. However, this angered the Republic of Iceland – located thousands of miles away, in the North Atlantic – which rushed to the Human Rights Council and made a proposal for an international investigation against the Philippines. It wasn’t long before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution led by Iceland urging UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet to investigate the situation in the Philippines. In doing so, Iceland directly interfered in the internal affairs of the Republic of the Philippines. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte rejected the UN investigation and announced that his government would not cooperate with it. He also expressed his plan to sever ties with the Nordic country, indicating that there were no trade relations between the two countries with the exception, perhaps, of some fish. Thankfully, the Philippines is an archipelago of islands surrounded by seas and fish. Therefore, there is nothing standing in Duterte’s way of teaching Iceland a lesson on meddling with other countries’ affairs and putting its overzealous government back in the spot where it belongs. – Salah al-Sayer (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)