Ignore the hypocrisy, address the issues

LAST week the UK government imposed sanctions on Generals Shavendra Silva and Jagath Jayasuriya, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, and former deputy leader of the LTTE Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, Karannagoda and Silva had previously been sanctioned by the US government.

- 

These actions of the UK government are steeped in hypocrisy, racism and double standards. Yet, they need not and should not be ignored.

The West follows a long tradition of hypocrisy when it comes to human rights. While Europe was transforming during the Age of Enlightenment, they were also thriving through the slave and opium trades via conquest of nations by genocide. In the early 20th century while European citizens were gaining their universal franchise, colonised and subjugated peoples of Africa, Asia and South America were facing occupation and disenfranchisement. The same European champions in the fight against fascism in Europe were the imperialist scumbags causing the Bengal famine and refusing to grant independence to India.