中文
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- In his 1863 Gettysburg Address, the then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln expressed the hope that the government "of the people, by the people, for the people" shall not perish from the earth. However, the heroic figure in American history may not have expected that the United States today has fallen far short of his expectations.
"We lied, we cheated, we stole... It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." This "famous saying" by the former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is perfect for describing American politicians who have been backpedaling and reneging on their promises.
The American-style democracy now has descended into a game of transferring interests and political donations almost seen as "legitimate bribery." Political polarization is becoming the U.S.'s new label, and "vetocracy" makes the country run into trouble. A Pew Research Center survey found that just 20 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government just about always, or most of the time, a sign of public disappointment.
DETERIORATING HUMAN RIGHTS
Domestically, the United States is witnessing a deteriorating human rights record. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the pandemic response in the country has been taken as a chip by the Republican and Democratic parties to attack each other, leaving people's health and lives unattended. As a result, the United States, as the country with the most developed medical system, has reported more than 80 million confirmed cases and a death toll of 986,019 as of Tuesday, said the U.S. Johns Hopkins University, ranking first globally.
Notorious for its double standard regarding human rights, the United States, on the one hand, often accuses other countries of arbitrary detention and forced labor on no solid ground. On the other hand, they never mention the abuses of prisoners in their own country. The "black sites" worldwide, including the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, have arbitrarily detained and tortured people without trials.
The wanton pressure upon other countries and interference in other countries' internal affairs by the United States have led to massive human rights disasters. Statistics show over the past nearly 20 years, the so-called anti-terror wars waged by the U.S. have cost more than 929,000 lives. The persisting warfare and turbulence in Afghanistan have made one-third of its population refugees, and 3.5 million Afghans have become displaced because of conflicts.
MOCKABLE DOUBLE STANDARD
Some U.S. politicians have constantly lowered their "bottom line of morality," as demonstrated by the U.S. decision to "make up for" victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and its inflaming Russia-Ukraine conflict for its military-industrial complex to reap from the warfare, among others.
Regarding the rules-based order, the United States has abided by it when its interests can be served and discarded it when they are not.
While claiming "the basic tenet that big countries cannot bully small countries" has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States seems to have forgotten what it has done. It waged attacks on Iraq without a mandate from the UN Security Council in 2003, resulting in casualties of several hundred thousand and more than a million displaced. The United States has wantonly imposed unilateral sanctions on Cuba over the years, despite UN resolutions calling for ending such economic blocks.
The world has seen all these illegal and cruel acts, and the United States attempts to whitewash them under the pretext of "maintaining the rules-based international order." What the U.S. politicians have done displays hypocrisy and double standards, making the country the biggest destabilizing element to world peace and stability. It is also the biggest threat to international order and the global rule of law.
HYPOCRISY, NOT DEMOCRACY
While U.S. politicians have been stuck in a quagmire of false democracy at home, they are still pointing fingers at other countries' political systems, exercising hegemony and bullying in the name of democracy. It has pushed for the neo-Monroe Doctrine in Latin America under the pretext of "promoting democracy," incited "color revolution" in Eurasia, and remotely controlled the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa.
In addition, under the "inspiration" of "the glory of the American experiment," the United States has arbitrarily set traps for or intimidated and coerced other countries, such as funding the White Helmets to fabricate evidence of Syria's chemical weapons.
The American politicians' dishonesty is rooted in their contempt for justice and disregard for faith to achieve short-term political goals by stealing concepts and confusing people. If the United States continues this way, it will only make itself an outcast by the international community and history.
