The fact that, inter alia, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran, countries that are, with respect to internal human rights abuses, (at this time) official allies, escape the scrutiny of the Left--are completely ignored by it to be precise--while countries that are official enemies like Iran or Cuba are viewed under a microscope proves that the interest in them has nothing to do with human rights.** On the contrary this scrutiny has an ideological function--"softening" the Western public in preparation for the terrible imperial crimes that will soon follow.***
As nefarious a reactionaries may be I can't help feeling that one respect in which they are superior to liberals is in being less hypocritical--of course we are all terrible hypocrites, but some of us fall further out on the spectrum than others.
Peter Ward
*My uncle has actually been to Iran and reports that in fact, if the country is left alone, the regime is so unpopular among the young, who have a huge demographic majority, it is in little danger of surviving another generation. However, for the sake of argument, I will leave this fact to the side.
**China appears at first glance to be something of a paradox. It's human rights record though well know is rarely discussed but the country is openly regarded as a serious threat by imperial Washington. But if you simply examine the back of the computer you are reading this on you will find the resolution: corporations are making too much money exploiting these abuses. (Personally, I'm quite amazed at the level of cooperation among our rulers;--in fact a level of solidarity the Left desperately needs to attempt to emulate-- however China apparently provides an example of a case dissension among elites.)
***Let me emphasize that I haven't made a mistake; my accusations are indeed aimed at the Left. The Right, for its part, has never been especially worried about finding humanitarian justifications for the same crimes (to its detriment, in my opinion--from the point of view of it's own narrow interests, i.e.).