It's lonely at the top. Especially, if you are standing on a mountain railing against the world, declaiming the sins of those beneath you. Especially, if the mountain is only in your mind, and your ranting, your sudden outbursts of violence and the cloying sycophancy of the few hangers-on you've managed to attract are cause for irritation and concern to those around you.

Such is the lot of Washington, which, in its decrying of human rights abuses, here, there and everywhere, has become like the deranged individual ranting on the street that people give a wide berth to, just to err on the side of caution.

The extent to which it has become divorced from reality can be seen in the US State Department's 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which supposedly detail the "human rights records" of 198 countries and regions all over the world — notably, with the US itself being the only exception.

By drafting and releasing the reports, Washington is keen to point out "the sins" of others so that it can, by way of contrast, praise the purity of its "freedom agenda".

Apparently, promotion of respect for human rights is a central goal of US foreign policy according to the US State Department. This will be a revelation for those countries which have had or have the misfortune to be subjected to its endeavors in that regard.

For the US, as the State Department says, does indeed use a wide range of tools to advance its agenda, although these, unlike the more benign ones it lists, include bullying and coercion; interference in the internal affairs of other countries, the fomenting of color revolutions to overthrow regimes not to its liking; drone strikes, airstrikes and military invasions; cyber infiltration and misinformation; and long-arm jurisdiction, misappropriation of others' money and sanctions.

But to give Washington its due, it not only runs roughshod over human rights in other countries, it also does that at home. The human rights problems in the US are glaringly obvious to all, except it seems politicians in Washington, for whom they merit not a word.

This year, the US has drafted a 90-page report on China that, as was to be expected, is full of biases, inaccuracies and falsehoods. It exposes the lie that human rights reports are "factual and objective" as the US State Department claims. Instead, they are just another weapon in the US' arsenal.

In the preface to the reports, the US Department of State said that "we can come closer to building a world where respect for human rights is truly universal". That at least is true, but only if the US takes a good long look at itself and gains some sense.