Thread by @gatnash

I would like to present, for your viewing pleasure, a case study in hypocrisy - an argument for those who think that there is no rational reason for people in other parts of the world to despise the west with a burning passion.

4 days ago:
UK House of Lords finds that the UK's #Saudi weapons sales are unlawful, as they are highly likely to be the cause of significant civilian casualties in #Yemen
theguardian.com/world/2019/feb…

Yesterday:
Germany’s ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia after the murder of Khashoggi is having a bigger impact than expected, holding up many European arms deals because they rely on parts made in Germany
washingtonpost.com/world/2019/02/…

Today:
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, visiting Germany, urges them to rethink their Saudi arms sales ban and stop holding up more shipments. Gotta get that $
theguardian.com/world/2019/feb…

Picture how it feels to be young in the Middle East - educated but with minimal prospects, in failing economies, struggling to provide for your family, afraid of political repression - to see western politicians bend their "values" into hoops to collaborate with your oppressors.

Icing on the cake? @Jeremy_Hunt's speech in Germany today, courtesy of the @FCO youtube account, is titled "Alliance of Values". Shove your values, hypocritical scum.

Amoral, unprincipled actions like this by Western politicians - who hide behind the language of liberal values and human rights when it suits them only - are among the biggest obstacles faced by those who fight for liberal values and human rights in the Middle East.

They discredit the very values they claim to uphold, pull the rug out from under reformists' feet, and put bullets into the guns of those who insist that human rights and liberal values are a meaningless western ruse.

Then they cry about how hopeless the region is and how unready we are for democracy. Reminds me of the Egyptian saying:
ضربني وبكى، وسبقني واشتكى
"He hit me then cried, then beat me to the complaint"