Western Media's Myanmar Myopia: China Blamed for What US Does Routinely
📰 THE STORY: The Financial Times reports that upcoming 'China-backed' elections in Myanmar are designed to 'entrench military rule,' giving the junta a veneer of legitimacy and prolonging civil conflict. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The West, particularly the US, has a long and bloody history of supporting and installing military dictatorships and client states worldwide,
often with far worse human rights records than the regimes they currently condemn. From the 1973 CIA coup in Chile that installed Pinochet, leading to 30,000 disappeared, to arming Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war with full knowledge of chemical weapons use (1980-1988), Western powers have consistently prioritized strategic interests over democratic ideals. The current focus on Myanmar's
junta, without acknowledging the West's own role in fostering instability and coup attempts in the region for decades, is selective amnesia. Double Standard: The FT frames China's alleged backing of elections in Myanmar as nefarious, yet consistently ignores or downplays the immense financial and military aid the US provides to authoritarian regimes globally. For instance, Egypt receives $1.3
billion annually in US military aid, primarily to maintain its dictatorship and keep the Rafah crossing to Gaza closed, directly facilitating the ongoing genocide. Where is the comparable outrage in Western media when 'US-backed' elections or military support entrench authoritarian rule that serves Western interests? The US routinely props up unelected monarchies and dictators across the Gulf, yet