Almond, M. (2022). Mark Almond: Our need for oil will force us to turn a blind eye to world’s evils. The Daily Mail.
The article by Mark Almond is about the duality of the West in the context of oil as the Western countries did not condemn Saudi Arabia for killing 81 people in mass execution in the early March. This was done because the West is now attempting to limit its reliance on Russian petrochemicals as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine (Almond, 2022). The Saudis did mass execution of 81 people on charges of murder, terrorism and other charges. It was the biggest execution in the country for years. Almond (2022) states, that the deal with Saudi Arabia is a “pact with the devil” because the West should not intervene in human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.
A similar situation is with China as despite its human rights abuses, in particular the Xinjiang internment camps, international actors continue to cooperate with China. The Xinjiang camps are the place in which Muslim people are brainwashed and punished by the Chinese government. They are also called re-educational camps and the Chinese officials do not agree with the international community and human rights activists regarding the human rights assaults in the camps. Yet, due to the leaks of the facts that people are being forcefully imprisoned and not allowed to leave suggest that China is doing terrible abuses of human rights.
Just like the situation described in the article, the question of money outweighed human rights. However, it is also worth noting that, unlike the case in the article, the situation in China got out of control only at the authorities’ fault, and innocent people were killed. Eighty-one terrorists were indeed tried in Saudi Arabia, albeit by radical methods. Besides, it is necessary to take into account that the situation in Ukraine is much bloodier because more than a thousand innocent citizens and children were killed there, so this situation. However, it has common features with the Chinese. It is necessary to consider the context of time and the events that led to it.
5. My filed of studies is social sciences, and I am interested in international politics, economics, and sociology. My interests align with the topic of the article as it is about the economies of the West that are dependent on the oil from Russia and countries of the Middle East. It is critical to understand how the states are going to eliminate the human rights abuses of the Saudi Arabia in their oil deals. The countries of the West are placed in a difficult situation where they need to choose between two evils, Russia or the Saudi Arabia. Despite that it rises the question: should people turn a blind eye to specific violations of human rights in exchange for the benefits to others? This is similar to whether a lie can exist for good since it leads to good consequences despite the awfulness of the act itself. It all depends on what the outcome, not the process, is. And while there are people who care more about how an event takes place than its final outcome, they should also consider that the most important thing is the end goal. This theme is directly related to my interests because learning about society is fundamental to me, and seeing people’s reactions to how they should make small concessions for world peace, whether they are willing to do so and what the consequences will be significant to me.
Reference
Almond, M. (2022). Mark Almond: Our need for oil will force us to turn a blind eye to world’s evils. The Daily Mail.