Antony Blinken blinked and missed the truth but keeps ‘winkin’ at those committing atrocities
This letter goes to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Mr. Secretary, you have recently voiced your opinion about what’s going on in Ethiopia. In your public testimony you unfortunately characterized what’s going on in Ethiopia as “ethnic cleansing.” I say unfortunately because I want to give you the benefit of the doubt Mr. Secretary. I want to believe that you did not deliberately parrot a distorted and lie-filled campaign by the TPLF and its allies. These conspiracy theorists know exactly how to get the attention of westerners like yourself with half-truths, lies and deliberate misrepresentations of what’s going on in Ethiopia. If however, you were deliberate in your malicious accusations, then I would like to remind you of a few things.
1. You do not have the moral authority to lecture Ethiopians.
As we speak Mr. Secretary, your administration is involved in active military operations by sending thousands of troops and bombing places like Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia and to a lesser extent Bolivia and Venezuela. According to the Washington Post, you Mr. Secretary were one of the leading voices calling for the invasion of Iraq — a sovereign nation. You were duped into believing the totally fabricated story about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction — which turned out to be a big lie. The consequences of the Iraq war were devastating: thousands of Americans lost their lives and the United States spent close to a trillion dollars on the war. Even more devastating: close to 450,000 Iraqis lost their lives — including thousands of civilians — and had their home country destroyed. Tell me Mr. Secretary can we classify that as ethnic cleansing? Does that rise to the level of being a genocide Mr. Blinken? You accuse the Ethiopian government of engaging in ethnic cleansing for daring to defend its integrity and taking an operation to uphold the rule of law.
If we use your own logic, the United States is complicit in the atrocities being committed in Yemen by supporting, funding and arming groups committing war crimes. By your own words Mr. Secretary, you have said it is the worst crisis in the world right now. Since its first report in 2018, the UN human rights council-mandated Group of Eminent Experts (GEE) on Yemen has consistently documented violations and abuses of international law perpetrated by parties to the conflict that may amount to war crimes, including indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, torture, arbitrary detention, and sexual and gender-based violence. The UN Council alleges that Canada, France, the UK, Iran and the United States may be complicit in these violations due to their provision of military intelligence, arms and logistics to parties in the conflict. Please take a look in the mirror before grandstanding and trying to lecture Ethiopians.
2. Ethiopia did what any country would do given the circumstances.
The Biden Administration, that you are a part of, recently put out a document posted on the White House website that lays down its approach to foreign policy. In the document it states, “The United States will never hesitate to use force when required to defend our vital national interests. We will ensure our armed forces are equipped to deter our adversaries, defend our people, interests, and allies, and defeat threats that emerge.” I ask you Secretary Blinken, is this a right that is afforded only to the United States? Does Ethiopia not have a right to use force when required to defend our vital national interests? The document further states “But the use of military force should be a last resort, not the first; diplomacy, development, and economic statecraft should be the leading instruments of American foreign policy.” If you were paying attention sooner Mr. Secretary, you would have realized that the federal government of Ethiopia tried to solve the current crisis through peaceful dialogue and political means on multiple occasions, even going as far as sending respected elders and religious leaders from the community in an effort to resolve differences. In the end the government was left with no choice but to use force when the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) was brutally massacred in a surprise attack. That was the straw that broke the camels back and an unmistakable declaration of war. Any government worth its salt would have to respond with force under those circumstances.
And finally Mr. Secretary, you spoke about respecting the will of the people in other countries. The people of Ethiopia spoke loud and clear when they rejected the TPLF led federal government in a wave of national protests culminating in 2018 when millions took to the streets in cities and villages across the country to show support for the reforms being made by the incoming PM, Dr. Abiy Ahmed. Why then Secretary Blinken do you not respect the will of the people? The reports of crimes being committed against civilians are devastating and those involved should be investigated and held accountable. Anyone fighting for human rights should call out atrocities being committed by all sides. There has been almost no reporting of the crimes against humanity committed by TPLF and their affiliated groups during this conflict (including over 700 civilians who were ethnically profiled and massacred). Instead of condemning atrocities committed across the board, you and your allies in the west keep ignoring the TPLF thereby winking at the atrocities they are committing. All this does is embolden TPLF to act even more recklessly as they thirst for power. I implore you Mr. Secretary to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict, support the reforms taking place all over the country as the country removes the shackles of decades of brutal dictatorship and moves on to a brighter future.
