Repression in Egypt

In the midst of growing violence, Egypt's rulers are cracking down on organizations committed to fostering democracy in the country. They are planning to try forty-three foreign employees of international NGOs for illegally working with Egyptian democracy activists. Among those groups whose offices have been raided are the International Republican Institute, which is loosely affiliated with America's Republican Party, and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, affiliated with the Democratic Party.

My Gut Analysis: I can see wanting to drive the Republicans out of your country, but this is rather extreme.

Analysis: The Egyptian government claims it is just enforcing Egyptian laws by prosecuting unregistered international groups. They can also point to the rather unsavory reputation of some of the NGOs in question. For example, the International Republican Institute has been accused of involvement with the 2004 Haitian coup by critics including former US Ambassador to Haiti Brian Dean Curran.

However, human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch have stated that this is just part of Egypt's effort to suppress democratic activists. Furthermore, the NDI points out that it did in fact register with the Egyptian government. The supposed law violations are just an excuse to further repress the Egyptian people.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that these actions could result in funding cuts to the Egyptian government. One hopes she'll have the guts to follow through and stop taxpayer money from going to these thugs.

Coming Home

A Virginia teenager, Gulet Mohamed, has finally returned to the United States after being held in Kuwait for a month due to the fact that he was on the no-fly list. Government officials had apparently placed him on the list because he had visited Yemen and Somalia. Mohamed is of Somali descent, and alleges that he was tortured by Kuwaiti authorities while in that country.

My Gut Reaction: Proud of your allies, President Obama?

Analysis: This seems to be a case of the United States government using foreign allies to carry out interrogations and torture that they would not be able to get away with in this country. As Amnesty International documents in its 2010 Annual Report, the Kuwaiti government itself has admitted to torturing people suspected of involvement in terrorism. Given this background, it seems likely that Mohamed's allegations are true.

I cannot make any judgments about Gulet Mohamed's involvement or lack thereof in terrorism. However, anyone with an ounce of moral decency should acknowledge that the way to deal with terrorism is to investigate and stop it through proven intelligence methods, not to outsource torture to some third world regime we are involved with.

Misplaced Priorities

A recent blog post by the animal rights group In Defense of Animals (IDA) complains that the nation of Zimbabwe is planning to sell baby elephants to North Korea. In the face of two countries that continually engage in human rights abuses, the most this group can find to complain about is an elephant.

My Gut Reaction: One cannot help but wonder whether IDA, upon learning that Nazi Germany was using the skins of Jewish people to make lamp shades, would not congratulate the Germans for no longer using animal leather.

Analysis: It is worth remembering that Zimbabwe and North Korea are two of the worst human rights offenders in the world today, as can be demonstrated by looking at the 2009 Amnesty International Annual Report. In its section on Zimbabwe, the report characterizes the country as having undergone "an unprecedented wave of state-sponsored human rights violations," pointing to post-election violence and the disappearances of dissidents. Similarly, North Korea faced issues such as executions, prison abuse, and widespread food shortages.

In the face of such atrocities, to focus attention on animals seems short sighted, misguided, even warped. Although one does not want to see animals suffer, in the end the interests of humans must trump those of animals. To do otherwise risks devaluing the lives of humans, rather than advancing the interests of animals.

What is particularly disturbing in this case is that the countries in question are both populated by non-white people. One cannot help but wonder whether the group in question would be so quick to focus on the interests of elephants if the populations of Zimbabwe and North Korea were largely Caucasian. Indeed, many people in Africa have come to have unflattering opinions of the environmental movement, as they believe that many white environmentalists value the life of one elephant over those of one hundred Africans, as Barack Obama reported in his memoir Dreams of My Father.

This is not to claim that the animal rights movement is composed of conscious racists. Most would be horrified at such an accusation, and would never think of themselves in such a way. However, it is worth wondering whether the hidden structures of societal racism could be, however subconsciously, affecting their attitudes, with results they never intended.

Iraq: Land of the Death Penalty

According to Amnesty International, there are roughly one thousand people on death row in the country of Iraq. They are currently being held by the Iraqi Ministry of Justice, with some alleging that they were tortured to give false confessions. Iraq's current government has admitted to carrying out executions in secret.

My Gut Reaction: Ah, Iraq, that beacon of freedom in the Middle East.

Analysis: There are a number of human rights issues confronting the Iraqi government which should give observers extreme pause in trusting their use of capital punishment. For example, the Iraqi justice system has been documented to have difficulty dealing efficiently with lesser criminal cases. This is hardly an encouraging prospect for someone facing the death penalty.

I believe the death penalty is barbaric in all cases, no matter how serious the crime. Admittedly, many, although not all, of those facing death in Iraq are terrorists. However, that does not mean we should trust a government to kill them, particularly in a country that was so recently under a dictatorship.

Burma Backstep

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently dropped hints that the Obama Administration is considering weakening or dropping sanctions against the state of Myanmar. Her argument is that sanctions have not worked, and have only harmed the people of Burma.

Can we all say appeasement?

This is what I was afraid of when Secretary Clinton was first named to this post. Her record on human rights has been abysmal, as witnessed by her well-documented opposition to American intervention in Bosnia. She is transferring her weak position on fighting for human rights during her husband's term in office to her tenure as Secretary of State. We can only hope that President Obama has the wisdom and the strength to oppose this cowardly action and take a strong stance on human rights in Myanmar.

Hitchens Under the Gun

The Blue Girl, Red State blog features photos of journalist and Iraq war advocate Christopher Hitchens undergoing waterboarding, for an article in Vanity Fair magazine. Unlike many who support the Iraq war, Hitchens has demonstrated a willingness to explore the consequences of that war. One hopes the neocons will have the courage to follow his example.

Olympic Protests

You have to give kudos to the protestors who are standing up to China and the Olympic Committee. They're putting the Chinese government on notice that they cannot attack human rights with impunity.

The Chinese government, of course, is having none of it. They, and their appeasers in the Olympic Committee, are calling this an insult to the Chinese people.

Well, perhaps not all the Chinese people. I suspect the inhabitants of Beijing who were forcibly expelled from their homes as part of Olympic "redevelopment" plans probably commiserate with the protestors. Ditto for the Tibetans whom the Chinese government claims as its subjects.

Yeah, Great Priorities, Opie

Oprah's getting socially conscious again. In a world where millions of Chinese and Tibetans are having their human rights violated, guess what she's up in arms about?

Yep, you guessed it: puppy mills. Torture, executions, and robbing entire cultures and religions of their freedoms are all trumped by dogs.

Who do we have to thank for this stupidity? Take a look at the morons at Main Line Animal Rescue, who think the life of a dog or puppy is more important than those of a thousand Chinese people. If you air-dropped these mental cases into Auschwitz, one cannot help but wonder if their main concern would be how the attack dogs used by the SS were being treated.

A Power-less Interview

Carlin Romano's interview with Samantha Power, who is appearing at the Free Library tonight, in today's Inquirer is a complete waste of print. Mr. Romano has time for a short conversation with one of the world's leading experts on human rights and genocide, and all he can think to ask her about is a lousy comment she made about Hillary Clinton.

Reading Romano's interview, I actually began to wonder whether he knew anything about Ms. Power's background. For instance, he briefly mentions that her book, A Problem from Hell, won "major book prizes." Umm, Carlin, specifically, she won the Pulitzer. He glances over all this to focus on campaign politics.

This is a pity, because if he had bothered to read the book, Romano would have gathered some of the background behind her comments, which called Hillary Clinton a monster, and perhaps even have given consideration to whether they might be justified.

As the introduction to A Problem from Hell makes clear, the prevarications of the Clinton Administration endangered innocent people in Bosnia. Although Bill Clinton made strong statements of support whenever a major atrocity took place, he did not intervene until late in his second term. His statements of support gave many Bosnians the impression they would be protected by the Americans. As Power graphically illustrates in her book, this misconception led them to allow their children outside to play, only to be used for target practice by Serbian artillery.

Had Mr. Romano paid attention to this background, he might have conducted a better, more informative, interview. This is just further evidence of the political and intellectual decline of America. Rather than actually look at an issue, people are interested in cheap soundbites.

Tibet Troubles

They told us that bringing the Olympics to China would quell Beijing's human rights issues.

Yeah, just like the 1936 Berlin Olympics turned Nazi Germany into a human rights leader.