The world had been extremely busy with the Iranian elections in June, although pre-election speculation had given equal attention to the Lebanese and Iranian elections.

The Lebanese elections, however, got over quickly when the opposition acknowledged the results the same day. And TV viewers were allowed to give their undivided attention to the series of ?debates between the Iranian presidential candidates.
This is the first time that a candidate has asked for fresh elections when the winner has led by eleven million votes. This is unheard of in a democracy. This is yet another example of Western double standards when dealing with our region. For the West, it seems, democratic rules apply to our region only in the way they comply with their views and serve their interests.

The West had rejected the results of free, democratic elections in Gaza in 2005, monitored by former US President, Jimmy Carter and the United Nations. And, it gave Israel a free hand to destroy Palestinian democracy by arresting 39 elected members of parliament. President Carter talks about how he called the Quartet, which was supposed to meet in London after the elections and asked for the permission of its Chairman to speak to the Quartet to brief them on the elections.

As for the Iranian elections, Western media fully endorsed the views of the losers. Suddenly, the word ‘mob’ acquired positive connotations in the opinion pages of Western papers. The word, which is an extremely negative word in all Western political literature, became a creative word in the case of Iran (see The Guardian, 19 June, p. 23).

President Obama noted the ‘violence’ of the Iranian police and condemned their ‘brutality’. Everybody in the West lamented the ‘violations to the right to demonstration’, while none in the West has ever ‘watched’ the killing, beating and torture by Israeli police against demonstrators in Palestine. Even today, there are weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian villages of Na’leen and Ba’leen against the Israeli racist wall of segregation. Yet, Western newspapers have never devoted separate pages for such attacks.

Had the Western world condemned the violence, racism, brutality and oppression the Israelis have been engaged in for years against Palestinian civilians it could have gained credibility with Arab readers. Had the US president condemned the killing of the young American woman, Rachael Corrie, whose body was smashed by an Israeli bulldozer because she tried to protect a Palestinian house from demolition and a Palestinian child from random killing, we would have believed that they are concerned. Had western politicians admitted at least once that they were watching the murders, violence and brutality of the Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers against demonstrators, farmers and students, we would have taken seriously what they are saying today about the events in Iran.

Is the West sending the message that our peoples are not politically mature to accept defeat in elections? Will this convince our decision makers that ?the West deals with events in our region according to their own interests ?and visions? Will this make people mature enough to realise the truth behind the illusions being marketed by the West about democracy, justice and human rights?

They choose to see or not to see, watch or not to watch, punish or keep silent according to their interest.

Dr Bouthaina Shaaban is Syria’s Minister of Political and Media Affairs