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Russia's Lavrov: West to Blame for World Turmoil

FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2023. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2023. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Russia's Lavrov: West to Blame for World Turmoil

FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2023. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, Russia December 27, 2023. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

The intrigues of Western countries whose dominance is ebbing away are largely responsible for pitching the world into turmoil, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Thursday.
Lavrov, in a year-end interview released by the official Tass news agency, warned that no one world-wide could be certain of escaping unscathed from Western machinations in 2024.
"Storms continue in the world and one of the reasons is that the ruling circles in the West provoke crises thousands of kilometers from their borders in order to resolve their own issues at the expense of other peoples," Tass quoted Lavrov as saying in extracts released ahead of full publication.
"It can be said that given conditions in which the West is clinging to the domination slipping away from it, no one can be protected against its geopolitical intrigues. There is a growing understanding of this."

Russia describes its war in Ukraine as an existential struggle against the "collective West" resolved to expand the reach of NATO and inflict a "strategic defeat" on Moscow.
It also says the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East is a result of the longstanding failures of US foreign policy and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In his comments to Tass, Lavrov called for de-escalation of the Middle East conflict, denouncing as "unacceptable" both acts of terror and "collective punishment".
"It is vital to break the vicious cycle of violence and do away with the injustice from which several generations of Palestinians have suffered," Reuters quoted him as saying.
"Only by doing this can stability be achieved in the zone of confrontation in the Middle East as a whole."
Lavrov also restated Russia's complaint that Ukraine was unwilling to hold peace talks to end the 22-month-old conflict in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".
"I must note an absence of any will for peace on the part of the regime of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy," Lavrov told Tass.
"His representatives think only in categories of war and resort to totally aggressive rhetoric. There is no consideration of holding peace talks ... Draw your own conclusions."

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Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
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Western States Encourage Belligerents by Arming Israel, HRW Chief Says

Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo
Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, addresses the audience on the impact of Latin America’s migration policies, in Bogota, Colombia September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita/File Photo

The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that states supplying weapons to Israel as it pursues conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon despite evidence of violations of international law are empowering belligerents elsewhere.

Tirana Hassan, HRW's Executive Director, said that countries like the United States, Germany and Britain could influence Israel's actions and should do so by ending arms sales.

"If there continues to be military support to the Israeli Defense Force and they (Western governments) know that these weapons are being used in the commission of war crimes, then that should be enough for weapons sales and transfers to stop," she told Reuters in an interview.

"At this stage, the parties that could have some sort of influence and curb the behavior of the warring parties, when it comes to Israel, it's the US it's the UK, and it's Germany, and it's through weapons sales and transfers."

Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It says its enemies are fighting amongst civilian populations, making its operations more difficult, and that it is acting in self-defense. Reuters has asked the Israeli authorities for comment on Hassan's remarks.

Hassan said that when states which abused rights saw there were no consequences, they felt emboldened to continue.

Governments supplying them with weapons were undermining their own credibility as defenders of international law and human rights as well as the credibility of the international system, she said.

"It sends a message that these rules apply differently to us and our allies as they do to others, and that has really serious consequences," she said.

This contradiction when Western countries were demanding accountability for Russia's invasion of Ukraine was being exploited by countries like Russia and China, she said.

"They are very quick to point out double standards from the West and are trying to use that to undermine the system."

Hassan spoke to Reuters as the UN rights office released a report on the death toll in the Israel-Hamas Gaza war where it said nearly 70% of verified fatalities were women and children.

Palestinian authorities say that more than 43,500 people have been killed in Gaza in the 13-month war triggered by Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

"This should now motivate the world into action. There is really no justification for the killing of children," Hassan said.

On Oct. 13, Washington imposed a deadline for its ally Israel to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

Asked about the likely impact of the election of Donald Trump in the United States, she said there was "little assurance" of his commitment to international law during his previous tenure as president.

"Now we have seen in some of the statements on the campaign trail threats of mass deportation of millions of people and this sends a very worrying message," she added.