To begin this post, Bambi would like to refresh your memory about her MANY posts on Armenia (i.e., the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict) and on Lebanon (under the total influence of Iran, mainly through the Hezbollah and its allies and with the complicity or cowardice of the world’s leaders). You can search this blog and find them yourself, if you wish.
She also has posted in the past about conflicts in other places like the Palestine (i.e., Hamas)-Israel and, most recently, the sad Ukrainian tragedy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
In all Bambi’s posts (some shown further below), there is a guiding line that can be musically summarized by a prayer-song for peace (e.g., Nicole’s German song in French on peace OR Remy Bandali’s song for peace in Arabic, French, and English).
More pragmatically, there is also the hope for neutrality for smaller countries, like Lebanon, to keep existing and to thrive.
There is also perhaps some lucidity, or less romance, with regard to world’s problems (e.g., Iran’s nuclear problem and its repercussions on Lebanon, etc.).
Most importantly, regardless of the place of conflict in the world, you can guess that Bambi is allergic to war-related suffering of innocent people whomever or wherever they are.
Of course, she has her own biases in life, namely toward Lebanon and also Armenia (to the point that her nickname with close ones is Bambineh or “I am Bambi” due to childhood-related memories with loved ones).
Perhaps all the above is easier for a non-expert deer of our world having fun writing and sharing personal thoughts on her blog?
Perhaps the choice of peace gets complicated when national (economic, strategic, cultural, etc.) interests of countries come into play?
Imagine when the personal, or even kin, interests of some world leaders collide with their countries’ national interests? We will get contradictions for sure.
Imagine when leaders lack the courage to stand up to lobbies or NGOs, including those with radical agendas. We get contradictions for sure.
Yes, double-standards seem to be increasingly common in our world, especially when we do NOT put people first. We can also see contrasts between domestic practices regarding cherished values (e.g., tolerance/democracy to all) and those expressed on the world’s stage, live or on social media, by world leaders…
To give a concrete example, in the Armenian-Azerbajian conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh refugees did not have much chance of returning to their villages after the peace deal broken by Russia (https://www.politico.eu/article/nagorno-karabakh-refugees-see-little-chance-of-returning-home-after-peace-deal/). There were many refugees, but not as many as those fleeing Ukraine now OR those who fled Syria a few years ago (or Lebanon earlier or Palestine before, etc.) OR, sadly, those who will flee in the future.
Bambi cannot recall having observed much media attention to the suffering of those Armenian residents, as much as we are now hearing about concerning the current tragedy in Ukraine.
Same for Lebanon (of course, minus the Beirut port blast when it took place). No one seems to care about the fate of the people in this tiny and now bankrupt country (to a great extent related to Iran’s nuclear issue)… at least not in the official Canada.
In Bambi’s mind, the sad recurrent realities of armed conflicts, with their resulting refugee crises, are bound to occur repeatedly when we do not solve, or help other nations, solve their problems in their own home, that is where they take place.
These conflicts may also get worsened when we sell or send weapons to fuel one conflict, in the name of justice of course. Make no mistake please: Bambi is not saying that there is no genuine justice aspirations in fighting or helping others fight their injustice.
Think of it, though, the same countries sending weapons now (us or Israel in the Armenian-Azerbajian conflict, as shown below) will be the same ones sitting at the negotiation table and helping to broker peace deals. Didn’t this happen in the 15-year-long Lebanese civil war too?
To conclude this post, Bambi will raise the following questions: Double-standards again and again… or could they be avoided? Are we observing more double-standards, especially in a world obsessed with political correctness? By the latter, Bambi means our collectively insane times where words do not necessarily match actions or they sound like empty, yet apparently powerful, slogans? Who knows? Perhaps double-standards seem more frequent to Bambi because our world’s political leaders are rather mediocre… in other terms, they are far from being statesmen, despite their grip on power?
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I think we are all prone to applying double standards in one way or another. But we should of course try to leave them behind and be as fair and objective as possible
Bambi, I think double-standards have become prevalent in society, not only in politics. My take of the phenomenon at the individual level is that it is a manifestation of the narcissistic trait, perhaps induced by underlying free-floating anxiety. Social media, unfortunately, works like PCR to amplify and multiply narcissism and its detrimental ramifications.
What an interesting, deep comment. Thank you so much James for enriching Bambi’s blog.