'Nauseating' Praise for Dead Saudi King Exposes Hypocrisy of West, Say Critics

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/23/nauseating-praise-dead-saudi-king-exposes-hypocrisy-west-say-critics

At The Intercept, Greenwald highlighted the White House's very different responses to the deaths of King Abdullah and the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

"At home, King Abdullah's vision was dedicated to the education of his people and to greater engagement with the world," President Barack Obama said in a four-paragraph statement on Friday. "As a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions."

For comparison, here is the full statement released by the White House on March 5, 2013, following Chavez's death:

At this challenging time of President Hugo Chavez’s passing, the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.

"One obvious difference between the two leaders was that Chávez was elected and Abdullah was not," Greenwald notes. "Another is that Chávez used the nation’s oil resources to attempt to improve the lives of the nation’s most impoverished while Abdullah used his to further enrich Saudi oligarchs and western elites. Another is that the severity of Abdullah’s human rights abuses and militarism makes Chávez look in comparison like Gandhi."