Qatari newspaper denounces international double standards over Mali and Syria

The Qatari newspaper Al-Arab used its editorial on Wednesday to highlight and denounce the double standards of the situations in Mali and Syria and the international response to each. It referred specifically to the French military intervention in Mali while the Paris government basically turns a blind eye to what is going on in Syria.

The international community represented by Europe and the USA, said the editorial, has used such double standards since the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq without the support of a UN resolution authorising such action.

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“What is happening in Mali is no more than an internal affair,” said Al-Arab, “and compared with what is happening in Syria it is relatively minor.” Women and children have been screaming in Syria continuously, to little avail, whereas the West’s move to get involved in Mali was swift, it added. “Is the international community hearing the echoes of the Syrian screams?”

Criticising the French intervention in Mali, the newspaper said that it will not solve the country’s problems. “Such barefaced interference will double the anger of Islamists,” claimed the editorial. “We are afraid that Muslims might consider it a war on Islam, not a war on Mali alone; especially if this interference lasts a long time.”

The newspaper stressed the need to regain credibility for the UN and its role. To do so, it argues, the double standards which have been followed since the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) in 1948 have to stop.

“France, the USA and NATO will attract more problems for the West by this action,” the editorial concluded, “as long as it turns a blind eye to what’s happening in Syria.”