The Ousting of Presidents

international | eu | opinion/analysis Friday February 28, 2014 17:52 by Albert Collins

Letter to THE IRISH TIMES from Albert Collins, Wednesday 26 / 2 / 14

"Sir,

In recent times we have witnessed the ousting of two democratically elected presidents. The Egyptian president Morsi was deposed in an army coup, which, strangely, was not regarded elsewhere as a coup. Pro-Morsi demonstrators suffered about 800 casualties at the hands of the police and army. Little outside sympathy was shown towards the massacred and their families.

The Ukrainian president Yanukovich was deposed as an outcome of anti-Yanukovich demonstrators. Approximately 80 demonstrators were killed by the police. In this case, great publicity and sympathy has been shown towards the dead and their families.

Neither of the presidents would seem to be very attractive individuals . . . However, if people elect unsavoury individuals in democratic elections then they should be free to dispose of them in subsequent elections.

Finally the US has now warned Russia not to intervene militarily. This is almost amusingly ironic given the long list of American military interventions since 1945 whenever there has been a perception of American political, economic or strategic interests being at stake. In a parallel to that of Russia and its neighbour Ukraine, one would not bet on American non-intervention."

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P.S. A lot of the coverage of last week's anti-Yanukovich demonstrations in Kiev glosses lightly over the 11 fatalities among the police. Such a high number shows the level of violence perpetrated by the very people Westerners are encouraged to identify with!