Experts, citizens from various countries criticize West's double standards in opposing war

BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A fan group of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade on Thursday used banners in a game to list U.S.-led NATO interventions over the past decades. One of the banners read a line from Beatles songwriter John Lennon's anti-war song: "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

Western countries have always applied double standards to safeguarding peace and opposing war, said experts and citizens from various countries.

On the one hand, Western nations boast "anti-war and peace." On the other hand, in pursuit of their own interests, these same nations have interfered militarily in other countries, arbitrarily imposed sanctions, created humanitarian crises and posed threats to global peace and security, said the experts and citizens.

Zivadin Jovanovic, former minister of foreign affairs of Yugoslavia, said NATO troops led by the United States bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days. To this day, Europe and the world still suffer from the severe consequences of the destruction.

"The precedent of aggression executed without the UN Security Council approval was reused in the subsequent aggressions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria," Jovanovic said.

The move by the Serbian fans is significant, said Hamed Vafaei, director of the Asia Research Center at the University of Tehran. He added that the Serbian people experienced the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and witnessed Western double standards when it came to war.

In contemporary history, most wars worldwide have been started by Western countries, Vafaei said.

The United States has applied double standards to dealing with humanitarian issues, said Muhammad Omari, a Syrian political expert.

It has claimed to care about the displaced while at the same time ignoring the humanitarian crisis it created in the Middle East," said Omari, adding the U.S. military interventions and economic sanctions have further exacerbated humanitarian crises.

"The United States claims it is the source of good, but the truth is that it only exploits and plunders," said Ali Issa, a Syrian citizen.

The United States said it protects refugees but also attempts to occupy territories in Syria, said Issa.

Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said that given the United States' numerous illegal invasions of other countries, especially its invasion of Iraq, the country is in no position to lecture other countries on protecting peace and human rights or abiding by the international law.

"I think those football fans are sending a message to the world that it is the United States and NATO that have carried out numerous military interventions that have resulted in mass civilian casualties," said Andrew Kiboi Ndiwa, a security employee at Kenya KK Security.

The United States and its allies "are good at finding excuses for invasions. They always make decisions for other countries and people, and they say they are right. I think this is double standards," said Ndiwa.