[Marxism] Oppenheimer predicts US defeat in Geneva this year!

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The subject line above is not the headline of the story
in the MIAMI HERALD. This is sign if there ever was one
of Washington's declining standing, behind which his a
decline in its ability to muscle the countries of the
world to do its bidding against Cuba. If this prediction 
comes to pass it will be of extraordinary signficance,
all the more so in line with the economic changes which
are now being rolled out inside the island, a sort of
double-whammy as it were. 

Perhaps more significantly, coming as it does from the
MIAMI HERALD'S Oppenheimer, it's also a sign of both
decline and disarray in the camp of the Cuban-American
right-wing exile militant world. If this does happen,
it should help wake up a few people even in the rather
somnolent and narcotized world of Miami, Florida. The
weed of crime, as The Shadow used to say, bears bitter
fruit. Here we're seeing a hint of the consequences of
Washington's unilateralism, its invasion and its failed
effort to occupy Iraq coming asunder.


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com 
=======================================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Sun, Mar. 20, 2005

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT

Latin American human rights support weakening

Bad news on the human rights front: Both in Latin America
and in Washington, there are dangerous signs of a retreat
from the collective support for democracy and human rights
abroad.

In Latin America, many democratic presidents are making a
mistake that could come back to haunt them: They are
walking away from the principle that we should all condemn
countries that violate human rights, regardless of whether
the abusers are rightist or leftist dictators.

Next month, for the first time in recent memory, Cuba is
likely to avoid a condemnation at the United Nations Human
Rights Commission annual meeting in Geneva. This will be in
part because many Latin American democracies will either
abstain or vote against a motion to condemn Cuba's abuses,
which Amnesty International and other monitoring groups say
are as bad or worse than ever.

Ironically, the leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and
other Latin American countries that are refraining from
criticizing Cuba are former human rights activists who
campaigned for international solidarity during their
struggle against rightist dictatorships in the 1970s.
Today, much like their adversaries did in the '70s, they
are placing ''realpolitik'' over human rights principles.

In an interview last week, former Mexican Foreign Minister
Jorge Castañeda noted a curious paradox in Latin America:
Respect for human rights domestically is generally better
in most countries than it has been in many years, while
support for the collective defense of human rights abroad
is fading away.

`WORRISOME'

''It's worrisome,'' Castañeda told me, ``because the best
way to secure respect for human rights at home is by
supporting international pressure against human rights
abusers. If we weaken our support for human rights
internationally, in the long run we are weakening human
rights at home.''

Even the center-right government of Mexican President
Vicente Fox, which until last year condemned Cuba at the
United Nations, may change its vote to an abstention this
year, Castañeda said.

This may be in exchange for Cuba's help to sway several
Caribbean votes in support of Mexico's bid to win the
chairmanship of the 34-country Organization of American
States, he said.

Asked about it, a senior Mexican foreign ministry official
told me that such statements are ``speculation without
foundation.''

Granted, the 53-country U.N. Human Rights Commission is a
joke. Among its most active members are Cuba, Sudan, Nepal,
Pakistan, Bhutan, China and other dictatorships that go out
of their way to win seats on the commission to block any
international efforts to monitor their human rights abuses.

But the fact is that -- with a few exceptions, such as
Chile's President Ricardo Lagos -- most Latin American
presidents are abandoning the defense of democracy and
human rights abroad.

Their main argument is that the United States is doing so
too by having friendly relations with dictatorships such as
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Late last week, the Bush administration gave new ammunition
to such criticisms by announcing that it will not seek a
condemnation of China at next month's U.N. Human Rights
Commission meeting in Geneva. U.S. officials say there have
been ''improvements'' in China's human rights record.

`OBVIOUS RETREAT'

''There is an obvious retreat from all sides in the
collective defense of human rights,'' says José Miguel
Vivanco, a senior official at the Human Rights Watch
monitoring group.

``We're definitely seeing a growing silence from countries
on human rights abuses abroad when it touches their
ideological, economic or political interests.''

Human rights activists agree that this will set a precedent
for growing international apathy regarding future human
rights abuses and dictatorial regimes.

My conclusion: Something needs to be done to prevent a
further erosion of the international human rights cause.
Reforming the U.N. Human Rights Commission may be hopeless:
It has already been kidnapped by the world's most ruthless
dictatorships.

Perhaps the only hope would be for the United Nations to
appoint an independent panel of human rights experts with a
proven record of condemning abuses on all sides of the
political spectrum, much like today's OAS or European
Commission on Human Rights.

Short of that, we may indeed be setting the stage for a new
period of dictatorships.


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