THE SPECIAL METHODS OF "WORLD DEMOCRACY"

The international community is still in shock from the revelations of the use of torture by the US special services. The US Senate Intelligence Committee published a report in which it analyzed the "special methods" used by the CIA against those arrested after the terrorist acts of 2001. In secret prisons suspects were tortured by "waterboarding" (when a person is almost killed by drowning), days of being deprived of sleep, simulated execution and threats of raping their wives and children. The report claims that these "profoundly wrong" methods of interrogation often resulted in "false" information: those subjected to torture incriminated themselves and others to avoid further torture.

Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, was forced to admit that "the special services used methods of cruel treatment. Their methods were so relentless and brutal that people could hardly believe it". In her opinion, the CIA's actions have tarnished American values and history.

Former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern compared the torture methods used by the American special services with those widely used by the Gestapo in fascist Germany. 

Meanwhile, one is particularly astounded by facts in the report of the cruel torture of 26 people who, it was later disclosed, were innocent of the charges against them of terrorist activity. Among these was Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. A confession was beaten out of him that it was he who organized the terrorist act on the destroyer USS Cole in 2000. And it was only after six years of torture and humiliation that al-Nashiri was released. After his torturers admitted they were wrong…

Another important discovery contained in the American senators' report is that it has been officially admitted for the first time that it was the US president of the time - George Bush - who gave permission for the torture. And the torture was not carried out on US territory. The CIA agents tortured those accused of terrorism in secret prisons in other countries, particularly Egypt, Afghanistan, Thailand and even states who are members of the EU - Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Poland.

The revelation of these facts stunned authorities and institutions in Europe. At their plenary session on 17 December, deputies of the European Parliament demanded an investigation into the involvement of a number of EU countries in the fact that secret CIA prisons came to be on their territory.

Meanwhile, this serious blow to the image of the United States in the eyes of the international community occurred against the background of widespread acts of protest within the US itself. Demonstrations were held in many American cities - New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ferguson and others - in which the rioters protested against police tyranny and racial discrimination. The wave of popular discontent gripped 37 out of the 50 states. To avoid disturbances the authorities were forced to arrest hundreds of people. It is clear that social problems are becoming more exacerbated in the US. There are serious problems in human rights in the United States, i.e. in that political-ideological world where Washington tries to present itself as some kind of world referee, a paradigm of democracy and a "free society".

Despite such serious flaws in their own country, the US authorities are not giving up in their attempts to tell other countries and peoples how to live and behave when it comes to human rights. This policy of Washington's based on double standards is also being implemented in relation to Azerbaijan. Under cover of "democracy and human rights", the United States is unashamedly trying to interfere in Azerbaijan's internal affairs.

But if the United States is really sincere in its championing of human rights, why is it not concerned about the plight of over a million Azerbaijani refugees who have been banished from their homeland by the Armenian occupation forces? The answer is obvious and stems from the fact that human rights have long been turned by the United States into a tool to promote their own geopolitical interests. And in this context Washington's "human rights" policy in no way fits in with Azerbaijan's interests. 

The Azerbaijani president's press secretary Azar Qasimov spelt out his views on this subject: " Azerbaijan's completely independent policy, its great successes in democratic development, its consistent policy in providing basic freedoms, the increase in its international standing and other factors are a serious concern to forces that do not appreciate our country."

The Azerbaijani leader's press secretary recalled problems in the sphere of human rights within the US itself, specifically in the persecution of the media. It is no secret that the American law-enforcement bodies are fully monitoring the telephone calls and e-mails of press employees. Azar Qasimov recalled that in 2007 "the blogger Josh Wolf was detained for 226 days for not providing the law-enforcement bodies with videos of demonstrations in San Francisco". And during the recent events in Ferguson against racial discrimination "about 20 journalists were arrested for recording police violence".

Azerbaijan's basic non-acceptance of the political pressure applied by the United States has also been expressed in an article by the head of the Azerbaijani president's administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, "The world order of double standards and contemporary Azerbaijan" , which was published in our media. The author condemns the concept of double standards applied by the White House. "How can the US ignore the fact that having occupied Azerbaijani territory Armenia is conducting military exercises here involving over 40,000 servicemen and thousands of items of military equipment, directly on the contact line of the two opposing sets of troops? And why does the US not condemn Armenia for this dangerous provocation, at the same time as in connection with the events in Ukraine it is making warning statements against Russia practically every day? Where Armenia is concerned there is total silence. Is this not a clear case of double standards in US foreign policy? Mehdiyev asks.

Indeed, Washington, which has made a habit of negatively assessing Azerbaijan's activities, for some reason fails to recall the situation in Armenia which is vegetating under the rule of a criminal regime. Although everyone knows for a fact the bloody price that has been paid to keep Serzh Sargsyan, the "gallant" representative of the notorious "Karabakh clan" who is responsible for the lives of thousands of innocent Azerbaijanis and, indeed, Armenians, in power. Or has Washington forgotten that after the rigged presidential elections in 2008 in Armenia Sargsyan and his clique managed to usurp power through the brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrations in Yerevan when 10 people were killed by the police and hundreds of citizens were injured? And why is the US not concerned at the political prisoners in Armenia, whose presence was recalled at the recent hearings in the standing committee of the Armenian parliament on human rights defence and public affairs? The meeting was held against a background of protest actions organized by relatives of the political prisoners and pointedly called the "Million Mask March". The United States tries to ignore all these things that are happening within Armenia - an example if ever there was of the double standards they widely promote.

Instead, Washington reacted like lightning to the recent arrests in Turkey of supporters of the Hizmet movement, headed by the Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who, incidentally, lives in the US. A spokeswoman for the US State Department, Jen Psaki, expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the Turkish authorities were putting pressure on the "media which has openly criticized the government".

If one takes into consideration the fact the White House ignores human rights violations in some countries and doesn't in others, then one can only conclude that the policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more and more unacceptable to the US, which also accounts for Washington's increasing criticism of various actions by the Turkish authorities.

Erdogan, meanwhile, has made it clear on a number of occasions that he believes the US and the EU were the instigators of the acts of protest that have rocked Turkey in recent years. And it would appear that the West's reaction to the continuing arrests of supporters of Hizmet has given Erdogan another pretext to demonstrate his resentment at any foreign interference in Turkey's internal affairs.

"We will not fall on our knees and won't tolerate those who try to misdirect Turkey," Erdogan said. He rejected accusations that Ankara had violated democratic principles, because the special operation carried out by the Turkish police was, he said, "not aimed at infringing people's rights". In point of fact, Ankara has again made it clear to the US and the EU that it will not permit any restriction of its sovereignty.

And this once again shows the unacceptability of using the subject of human rights in the context of high-power expedience. This approach, broadly applied by the West, not only discourages an improvement in the situation in this sphere which is, of course, vital for democratic development, but also has a negative impact on inter-state relations. Not to mention the fact that it does nothing for the prestige of those world forces who have themselves taken the credit as champions of upholding democratic values and human rights.