Presstv.ir: Western hypocrisy exposed in Yemen war: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed John Wight, a journalist and political commentator in Edinburgh, to ask for his take on the continued Saudi aggression against Yemen.

A rough transcription of the interview follows.

Press TV: Give us your thoughts and opinions on the continued Saudi aggression against Yemen and the failure of the international community to act in the face of an unfolding humanitarian crisis there.

Wight: Every day that these Saudi war crimes continue in Yemen is an indictment of the West, exposing that what the West describes as democracy is in truth organized hypocrisy. When you consider that every time the Assad regime and Assad’s military forces in Syria bomb rebels, they are excoriated, they are described as war criminals; it is used as further evidence in the eyes of the West that the Assad regime needs to be toppled, and yet there is total silence when the Saudis do the same and worse in Yemen against a popular revolution.

So we really are looking at the hypocrisy of the West, in the region and throughout the world; and the moral high ground upon which the West likes to lecture the rest of the world on human rights and democracy is nothing more than a dung heap of lies and double standards.

Press TV: There was a lot of focus on the broader negative repercussions of the Saudi attack on Yemen; many were pointing to the fact that it could not only jeopardize the security of the region, but also it would come back and bite the Saudis on their hand as well. Talk to us more about that issue.

Wight: Well, indeed it is. I think the Saudi air campaign against Yemen is proof that the Saudi regime has never been more insecure in its gilded palace in Riyadh. I don’t think the Saudi regime can look forward to a long future as is presently constituted. The repression and barbarism with which it keeps its own people at home and which it is inflicting currently on the people of Yemen, which is also inflicted on the people of Bahrain is only the tip of an iceberg.

A long history of extremism, chaos, and carnage has emanated from Riyadh. Up to now, it has been done so with the connivance of the US and its allies, but I think what we see… were US regional allies are pursuing their own agendas which are inimical to the US interests of trying to regain stability in the region.

So what we are seeing is a reflection of the weakness of Washington in the wake of their failed occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan ten years ago and counting. So what we are looking at is a new stage where instability is the new normal and that inevitably going to have stark repercussions on the Saudis themselves.

MTM/HJL