From Foreign Policy
Information about North Korea, one of the few remaining Stalinist regimes, is hard to come by. With no human rights organizations allowed into the country, a strictly controlled state-run media, and very little citizen access to the Internet or news from the outside world, North Korea is the most secretive society in the world.
Nonetheless, based on testimonies from the estimated 300,000 North Koreans who have been able to escape, as well as satellite evidence, it is known that the Pyongyang regime runs the world's most extensive system of gulags, or Kwan li so, incarcerating as many as 200,000 unknown political prisoners spread out across six large prison camps. Testimonies from defectors describe the treatment of these prisoners in terms that amount to crimes against humanity, including systematic torture, public executions, slave labor, and forced abortions. Moreover, the regime practices "guilt by association," incarcerating family members of political prisoners, including children, for up to three generations.
Makes me feel very grateful to live in an open society, despite its problems, God Bless America.
Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cyber War
I'd like to thank Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making me laugh this morning when I read a quote of his about the recent WikiLeaks release of US secret diplomatic cables about US foreign policy around the world. This has been a fascinating story on so many levels, the most fundamental being how could the US let this happen? Its such a massive breach of security.
Cyber warfare is only just starting to make its way onto the stage just like terrorism did post 9/11. Iran is battling the Stuxnet virus and a Chinese group called Government Leaks has announced a June 1, 2011 launch of leaks from the Chinese government just in time for the twenty second anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Very interesting times, heres the quote from Foreign Policy:
Cyber warfare is only just starting to make its way onto the stage just like terrorism did post 9/11. Iran is battling the Stuxnet virus and a Chinese group called Government Leaks has announced a June 1, 2011 launch of leaks from the Chinese government just in time for the twenty second anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Very interesting times, heres the quote from Foreign Policy:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the information in the cables confirms Israel's own assessment of the Iranian threat. “There is not a huge gap between what we say behind closed doors and what we say openly,”
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Israel and the Saudis
War makes interesting bed fellows of us all. I say this because this morning I was reading about the United States impending $60 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia which Israel was implicitly endorsed. What would once have seemed a fantasy is now a reality. Israel is supportive of helping arm a country which is has no formal diplomatic ties to and we have Iran to thank for that. How strange would it be if the rising threat of a nuclear Iran, of a new Persian empire is what it takes to unite Israel and a significant portion of the Arab world together? It’s just a thought and it seems like a crazy one but sometimes that is exactly what people need to come together. The threat of a terrible enemy to make them realize that in the face of that, they’re differences can be overcome and dealt with. I don’t know if anything will come out of this but it’s certainly a fascinating development.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The UN and Autocracy
From Foreign Policy, excerpts below:
The U.N.'s relationship with autocracy has always been fraught, but the organization has only grown more schizophrenic toward repressive rulers since the fall of the Berlin Wall, becoming more openly pro-democracy even as it has remained at times astonishingly accommodating of dictators. It's true that the U.N.'s commendable corps of experts has provided important technical assistance for elections in dozens of developing countries taking halting steps toward democracy in recent years. But most of the U.N. system remains a safe haven, offering an imprimatur of legitimacy that dictators often can't find elsewhere.
As the developing world increasingly came under the rule of military juntas, one-party systems, and other forms of authoritarianism, the U.N. accordingly became a place dictators were welcomed and outrageous abuses were ignored. No matter how loathed by their people, ghastly rulers like Uganda's Idi Amin could make use of the U.N. platform and continue to participate in U.N. activities even as they oversaw massive violations of human rights.
Decades later, the organization has not done much better in combating the pathologies of dictatorship within such countries. Look at Darfur, where the U.N. leadership decried widespread killing, but then stood by and watched.
Is the U.N. to blame for the persistence of dictators? In the end, the answer must be "no," if only because the U.N. does not have that much clout. Dictators come to power because of complex and powerful domestic forces, and that often gives them the ability to resist significant international pressure, much less the moral suasion and limited sanctions that the U.N. can propose.
Of course the U.N. could do more. But that would require an effort on the part of the great powers that, they haven't exactly been interested in. Unless they change their ways, both the U.N. and the dictators it gives aid and comfort to will look increasingly like relics of a bygone era.
The U.N.'s relationship with autocracy has always been fraught, but the organization has only grown more schizophrenic toward repressive rulers since the fall of the Berlin Wall, becoming more openly pro-democracy even as it has remained at times astonishingly accommodating of dictators. It's true that the U.N.'s commendable corps of experts has provided important technical assistance for elections in dozens of developing countries taking halting steps toward democracy in recent years. But most of the U.N. system remains a safe haven, offering an imprimatur of legitimacy that dictators often can't find elsewhere.
As the developing world increasingly came under the rule of military juntas, one-party systems, and other forms of authoritarianism, the U.N. accordingly became a place dictators were welcomed and outrageous abuses were ignored. No matter how loathed by their people, ghastly rulers like Uganda's Idi Amin could make use of the U.N. platform and continue to participate in U.N. activities even as they oversaw massive violations of human rights.
Decades later, the organization has not done much better in combating the pathologies of dictatorship within such countries. Look at Darfur, where the U.N. leadership decried widespread killing, but then stood by and watched.
Is the U.N. to blame for the persistence of dictators? In the end, the answer must be "no," if only because the U.N. does not have that much clout. Dictators come to power because of complex and powerful domestic forces, and that often gives them the ability to resist significant international pressure, much less the moral suasion and limited sanctions that the U.N. can propose.
Of course the U.N. could do more. But that would require an effort on the part of the great powers that, they haven't exactly been interested in. Unless they change their ways, both the U.N. and the dictators it gives aid and comfort to will look increasingly like relics of a bygone era.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
