[SS from essay by Wilfred M. Chow, Assistant Professor in the School of International Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China; and Dov H. Levin, Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong.]
On March 25, 2024, the U.S. embassy in Budapest took aim at Hungary. In a video posted to Facebook, embassy officials decried the country’s government for continuing to purchase Russian oil and gas when most of Europe was weaning itself off Moscow. “The Hungarian government has chosen to augment its reliance on Russian energy . . . at any expense,” the video declared. “Only the Hungarian political leadership has decided to keep the country dependent on Russian energy.”
A little more than a month later, [Hungary](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/hungary) fired back. It did so not by addressing the substance of Washington’s complaint, or by arguing that there was nothing wrong with buying gas from Russia. Instead, it criticized the United States. “Who was the number one supplier of uranium [to] the United States last year?” Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto indignantly asked. “Russia.” Americans had spent “more than $1 billion” on Russian uranium in 2023, he continued. And yet “they are putting pressure on us not to buy fuel from there.”
Whataboutism and hypocrisy is a standard in foreign affairs. It’s foolishness to pretend otherwise.
The US I think is vulnerable to this because as the global hegemon, it has its fingers everywhere. It’s pretty easy to find cases of human rights abuses and other unscrupulous things that America is guilty of doing, whether they’re happening right now or 50 years ago but the country must also project an image of supporting human rights, democracy and justify its foreign policy to its domestic audience under the guise of morality and obviously soft power points.
It’s a lot easier to justify everything from a cold cost-benefit analysis when you’re a smaller nation especially if you’re poor and the few educated citizens who even care about any of that, are more concerned with economic growth and improving their life prospects.
Don’t know about these incidents. But,
*whataboutism* is the label given by someone whose similar behaviour is pointed out when they blame someone of something.
Seems obvious it works. Why should anyone take criticisms about buying Russian oil seriously when the EU has no problem buying from someone who also invaded someone elses territory. What message is being sent by the EU there?
4 comments
[SS from essay by Wilfred M. Chow, Assistant Professor in the School of International Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China; and Dov H. Levin, Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong.]
On March 25, 2024, the U.S. embassy in Budapest took aim at Hungary. In a video posted to Facebook, embassy officials decried the country’s government for continuing to purchase Russian oil and gas when most of Europe was weaning itself off Moscow. “The Hungarian government has chosen to augment its reliance on Russian energy . . . at any expense,” the video declared. “Only the Hungarian political leadership has decided to keep the country dependent on Russian energy.”
A little more than a month later, [Hungary](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/hungary) fired back. It did so not by addressing the substance of Washington’s complaint, or by arguing that there was nothing wrong with buying gas from Russia. Instead, it criticized the United States. “Who was the number one supplier of uranium [to] the United States last year?” Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto indignantly asked. “Russia.” Americans had spent “more than $1 billion” on Russian uranium in 2023, he continued. And yet “they are putting pressure on us not to buy fuel from there.”
Whataboutism and hypocrisy is a standard in foreign affairs. It’s foolishness to pretend otherwise.
The US I think is vulnerable to this because as the global hegemon, it has its fingers everywhere. It’s pretty easy to find cases of human rights abuses and other unscrupulous things that America is guilty of doing, whether they’re happening right now or 50 years ago but the country must also project an image of supporting human rights, democracy and justify its foreign policy to its domestic audience under the guise of morality and obviously soft power points.
It’s a lot easier to justify everything from a cold cost-benefit analysis when you’re a smaller nation especially if you’re poor and the few educated citizens who even care about any of that, are more concerned with economic growth and improving their life prospects.
Don’t know about these incidents. But,
*whataboutism* is the label given by someone whose similar behaviour is pointed out when they blame someone of something.
Seems obvious it works. Why should anyone take criticisms about buying Russian oil seriously when the EU has no problem buying from someone who also invaded someone elses territory. What message is being sent by the EU there?