Political Segment of Sayyed Nasrallah’s Speech on Confab Commemorating 30th Martyrdom Anniv. of Sayyed Abbas Moussawi
Translated by Al-Ahed News, Hezbollah Media Relations
Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed the latest developments involving Russia and Ukraine. He made the remarks during ‘The Master of Our Martyrs: Thought and Biography’ conference, held on Tuesday at the Imam Khomeini Cultural Complex in Beirut, to mark the 30th martyrdom anniversary of the master of the martyrs of the Islamic resistance, Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi.
Below is an excerpt of his speech:
“The battle taking place between Russia and Ukraine concerns the whole world. It is clear that it has grave and dangerous repercussions on the world, especially on Russia and Europe. We do not know how things will develop; there are serious concerns that things will go beyond a Russian-European conflict or, God forbid, escalate into World War 3.
In any case, what is happening is very dangerous, and anything is possible, regardless of the position that any of us take towards the ongoing battle. There are those who support Russia and those who oppose what Russia has done. There are those who stand on the sidelines. I do not want to delve into this issue now, but I want to call for the following, which is what many are doing now. I want to emphasize the need to keep track of this global and major event as well as its results and repercussions and to learn lessons from what is happening every hour and every day. There are many lessons to be taken from what is happening and must be built upon in our region, our country, our struggle, our events, our future, and our present. I will mention some examples.
The first of these is what many people are talking about – here, there is widespread awareness – which is the double standards. Russia has now entered Ukraine and launched a great military battle – it “launched a war.” We see the whole world objecting. Of course, there is fear that European powers will engage in a fight with Russia; there is fear that the Americans will engage in a fight with Russia. Apart from fighting, they did all they could, including embargos, sanctions, media campaigns, economy and financial restrictions, closures of airspace, the straits, oceans, and ports, providing arms to Ukraine, opening the doors for volunteers from all over the world to go there, supporting Ukraine, glorifying the [Ukrainian resistance]. We can see how the whole world is behaving. There are double standards. When America invaded Afghanistan, how did the world deal with America? You know how. When America invaded Iraq and destroyed it and killed hundreds of thousands and when it destroyed Afghanistan and killed at least tens of thousands, how did the world deal with the United States of America?
In all the wars the US waged, which are most of the wars that took place in the world, how did the world act? Now, how is the world behaving? The “Israeli” enemy – the temporary entity – and its wars against the Palestinians, past and present, its wars on Gaza, its siege on Gaza, in the latest al-Quds Sword Battle, in its wars on Lebanon, the massacres it committed in Lebanon, the 33-day July war in 2006, how did the world behave? How is it behaving now?
In Yemen, the war has entered its eighth year or will enter its eighth year; years of bombing, destruction, killing children, siege, starvation, etc. How is the world behaving?
This matter is clear. Therefore, we must learn from this. Today, we live in a world that only respects the powerful. Because America is strong, arrogant, and capable, many of those it has a grip on remain silent about its oppression. One of the latest injustices committed by America is, for example, against the Afghan people.
Afghanistan’s Central Bank has $7 billion in deposits in the United States. Biden made a decision and signed it. He divided the $7 billion into two parts – he gifted $3.5 billion to the victims of the September 11 attacks. How is this the fault of the Afghan people? Is it the Afghan people who attacked New York for you take the money of the Afghan people and give it to the victims? Then, he’ll see what to do for the Afghan people using the remaining $3.5 billion.
With a stroke of a pen, he stole $3.5 billion belonging to the Afghan people, who are now starving, cold, and in need. Has anyone in the world dared to open their mouth? This is theft. No one opened their mouth, while if another country did much less than this, the world would move heaven and earth.
One of the lessons from what is going on at the moment concerns instances when you surrender your weapons to others and rely on random guarantees. Then, when a battle takes place, you beg for help and weapons.
But one of the most important lessons about what is happening today is America’s responsibility for these events. His Eminence the Leader, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, touched on this in his speech a while ago. America is responsible for these events that are taking place now. America instigated and pushed matters in this direction. America did not help provide a diplomatic and political solution to this crisis, which is not a Russian-Ukrainian crisis. It is a Russian-European crisis; it is a Russian-American crisis; it is a Russian crisis with NATO, America did nothing to prevent events from escalating. Rather, it did everything for these events to occur and for things to go towards war. In the end, Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, Russia, and the Russian people will pay the price, and everyone will lose.
America is trying to be the winner in this battle at a time when it is putting the whole world in danger. It had forsaken those it incited and pushed them into war. In the end, Biden will pray for them. Biden called for prayers and he said they will send a few weapons and impose some sanctions. Then, we will see what will happen. This is also a lesson for everyone.
For those who trust America, rely on it, and bet on it, we must all know that the tragedy that exists now and the dangers the world is facing now are primarily the responsibility of the US administration, the Great Satan. This must be in our awareness and in our position.”
