How does the case of Edward Snowden stand in comparison to
those of Chen Guangcheng, Boris Berezovsky, and Andrei Borodin?
Russia and China are more than resisting pressure from the U.S.
for their role in harboring Edward Snowden, Chinese and Russian leaders might
use it to limit the West’s support of activists in the two countries. Consider
the following official statements and editorials to get a sense of the reversal
of roles and the declining U.S. credibility when it comes to foreign policy.
Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma's international
affairs committee :
"By promising asylum to Snowden, Moscow has taken upon
itself the protection of those persecuted for political reasons… There will be
hysterics in the US. They only recognize this right for themselves.”
As an editorial in the Guardian pointed out, one of the
recurring themes in Russian foreign policy is to slam the West for having “double
standards,” such as judging pro-Western dictatorships by a totally different
yardstick from anti-Western ones, a tactic that works extremely well because it
is so often true. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov most recently used
that line in a tough statement hammering Western hypocrisy about Syria. Speaking
in a recent interview with America's CBS network released on Monday evening,
Lavrov said the West had a policy of double standards in approaching foreign
regimes, particularly in the current Syrian conflict between the government and
rebel forces.
“You either deny terrorists any acceptance in international
life, or you make your double standard policy work the way it has been working
- 'I don't like that guy in this country, so we will be calling him a dictator
and topple him. This guy in another country is also dictatorial, but he's our
dictator.”
Here are a couple of news items and editorials that stress
the same points. Of particular interest is the case of academic freedom
stemming from NYU support of the Chinese activist and buckling under pressure
to save an expansion opportunity.
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