Chuck Bao
7/4/2010, 09:48 AM
I have got to say that I appreciate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Many here may not like her but they should at least hear what she is saying – that democracies and freedoms around the world are under attack.
Truthfully, it frightens me to think that overseas governments are systematically crushing any opposition. And since there is no one willing or able to stop them, it is going to get a whole lot worse in the near future, I’m afraid.
Take Thailand for example. The state of emergency decree (basically suspending constitutional rights), which has been in effect for Bangkok and 23 other provinces, was further extended yesterday from its original expiration on July 7. Strangely enough, this didn’t even make local headlines. Instead, local news focused on the US House of Representatives voting 411-4 to endorse the political reconciliation roadmap of Prime Minister Abhisit’s government which doesn’t include specifics on either constitutional reform or an election. In case you are wondering Ron Paul was one of the four voting against it.
I’m just wondering what the hell our representatives are doing. Why was there even a vote? Of course they would vote for reconciliation. Since it is being used as propaganda, I also have to give kudos to Ron Paul for being his normal rebel self and voting against the so-called “reconciliation”.
I was shocked to learn that anyone attending a Red Shirt pro-democracy rally in Bangkok over the last several months (even before the torching of buildings and real criminal activity and bloodshed) can be arrested and prosecuted at any time over the next 5 years until the statute of limitations, I guess, run out on illegal political protests under a state of emergency decree. I got an email from a friend telling me to immediately delete all of the pics of me attending Red Shirt rallies that I had posted on Facebook. LIKE WTF?
With that being said, happy Independence Day to all Americans. Love your freedom and support our troops and just don’t go posting incriminating evidence on Facebook.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38072827/ns/world_news-europe/
Clinton: 'Steel vise' crushing civic activists
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at the Schindler Factory Museum in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday.by Robert Burns
updated 7/3/2010 2:24:23 PM ET
KRAKOW, Poland — Intolerant governments across the globe are "slowly crushing" activist and advocacy groups that play an essential role in the development of democracy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday.
She cited a broad range of countries where "the walls are closing in" on civic organizations such as unions, religious groups, rights advocates and other nongovernmental organizations that press for social change and shine a light on governments' shortcomings.
Among those she named were Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Venezuela, China and Russia.
"Some of the countries engaging in these behaviors still claim to be democracies," Clinton said at an international conference on the promotion of democracy and human rights. "Democracies don't fear their own people. They recognize that citizens must be free to come together, to advocate and agitate."
Before an audience of several hundred senior government officials, Clinton recalled Winston Churchill's warning 60 years ago at Fulton, Mo., that an iron curtain was descending across Europe. She noted that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, that curtain no longer remains.
"But we must be wary of the steel vise in which governments around the world are slowly crushing civil society and the human spirit," she said. Social activists, Clinton said, are being harassed, censored, cut off from funding, arrested, prosecuted or killed.
Clinton's speech came at the opening of a 10th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Community of Democracies, which has 16 members and is meant to forge international consensus on ways to support and promote democracy.
She recommended that the organization set up an independent means of monitoring repressive measures against social advocacy groups, and that the U.N. Human Rights Council do more to protect civil society. She announced that the U.S. would contribute $2 million to support the work of embattled non-governmental groups.
Poland was a fitting setting for Clinton's address. The country escaped from decades of totalitarianism in the downfall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s…Go to the article to read the rest)
Truthfully, it frightens me to think that overseas governments are systematically crushing any opposition. And since there is no one willing or able to stop them, it is going to get a whole lot worse in the near future, I’m afraid.
Take Thailand for example. The state of emergency decree (basically suspending constitutional rights), which has been in effect for Bangkok and 23 other provinces, was further extended yesterday from its original expiration on July 7. Strangely enough, this didn’t even make local headlines. Instead, local news focused on the US House of Representatives voting 411-4 to endorse the political reconciliation roadmap of Prime Minister Abhisit’s government which doesn’t include specifics on either constitutional reform or an election. In case you are wondering Ron Paul was one of the four voting against it.
I’m just wondering what the hell our representatives are doing. Why was there even a vote? Of course they would vote for reconciliation. Since it is being used as propaganda, I also have to give kudos to Ron Paul for being his normal rebel self and voting against the so-called “reconciliation”.
I was shocked to learn that anyone attending a Red Shirt pro-democracy rally in Bangkok over the last several months (even before the torching of buildings and real criminal activity and bloodshed) can be arrested and prosecuted at any time over the next 5 years until the statute of limitations, I guess, run out on illegal political protests under a state of emergency decree. I got an email from a friend telling me to immediately delete all of the pics of me attending Red Shirt rallies that I had posted on Facebook. LIKE WTF?
With that being said, happy Independence Day to all Americans. Love your freedom and support our troops and just don’t go posting incriminating evidence on Facebook.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38072827/ns/world_news-europe/
Clinton: 'Steel vise' crushing civic activists
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at the Schindler Factory Museum in Krakow, Poland, on Saturday.by Robert Burns
updated 7/3/2010 2:24:23 PM ET
KRAKOW, Poland — Intolerant governments across the globe are "slowly crushing" activist and advocacy groups that play an essential role in the development of democracy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday.
She cited a broad range of countries where "the walls are closing in" on civic organizations such as unions, religious groups, rights advocates and other nongovernmental organizations that press for social change and shine a light on governments' shortcomings.
Among those she named were Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Venezuela, China and Russia.
"Some of the countries engaging in these behaviors still claim to be democracies," Clinton said at an international conference on the promotion of democracy and human rights. "Democracies don't fear their own people. They recognize that citizens must be free to come together, to advocate and agitate."
Before an audience of several hundred senior government officials, Clinton recalled Winston Churchill's warning 60 years ago at Fulton, Mo., that an iron curtain was descending across Europe. She noted that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, that curtain no longer remains.
"But we must be wary of the steel vise in which governments around the world are slowly crushing civil society and the human spirit," she said. Social activists, Clinton said, are being harassed, censored, cut off from funding, arrested, prosecuted or killed.
Clinton's speech came at the opening of a 10th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Community of Democracies, which has 16 members and is meant to forge international consensus on ways to support and promote democracy.
She recommended that the organization set up an independent means of monitoring repressive measures against social advocacy groups, and that the U.N. Human Rights Council do more to protect civil society. She announced that the U.S. would contribute $2 million to support the work of embattled non-governmental groups.
Poland was a fitting setting for Clinton's address. The country escaped from decades of totalitarianism in the downfall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s…Go to the article to read the rest)