The US say they did it because the elections in Belarus were "flawed/rigged" raw and because of the crackdown against the opposition by Lukashenko.
Also ask her why the Bush administration were quick to condemn actions taken by the Belarus gov't against the opposition and protesters, but were silent kapag ganito naman ang ginagawa ng Arroyo administration sa media at sa opposition (like the Batasan 5 at yung torture na ginawa sa Erap supporters to make them "confess"?)
Did you hear any public condemnation from the US embassy here in manila nung ni raid ang Daily Tribune?
Don't think so.
We heard reports from the media that the US privately reprimanded the Arroyo admin about her abuses and crackdown on the media via Christopher Hill.
If it's true, then too bad because it was done privately, and it's difficult to know kung totoo ngang nangyari yan o hindi. But my gut feel is that this is just a leak from the US embassy to make themselves look good without actually condeming Arroyo in public.
More here on Mr. Hill:
I also listened to the remarks of US Undersecretary Christopher Hill yesterday, here on a 3-day sudden visit at midweek. He said it was "up to the Filipino people" and that the US government was not about to interfere in an internal matter.
Ahhh... pero yan rin ba ang sinabi nyo sa Belarus, Mr Hill? Na they're on their own here? Bahala na sila sa problema nila kay Lukashenko? Look, I'm not asking the US to make pakialam in a manner similar to what they did in Iraq. All I'm asking is that they be true to their word in supporting true democracy and credible elections... that they condemn the highly flawed "elections" of 2004 and ask Arroyo to step down so that we can conduct special elections to find her replacement... and that they support the anti-Arroyo opposition and 60% of Filipinos who want the corrupt, cheating Arroyo out.
UDPATE: Ito ang report nila sa Philippines on Democracy and Human Rights:
Philippines
The Republic of the Philippines is a vibrant democracy with an elected president, an elected bicameral legislature, and a functioning but fractious multiparty system. The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Some elements of the security forces were allegedly responsible for extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention. The physical abuse of suspects and detainees remained a problem, as did police, prosecutorial, and judicial corruption.
No wonder ganito ang attitude the US. They mostly focused on the generic human rights issue. Hindi issue ang GLORIAGATE, nakawan ng election, abuse of power at massive gov't corruption ni Arroyo sa kanila.
Eto naman ang report nila sa Belarus:
Belarus
Under its constitution, Belarus is a republic with a directly elected president and a bicameral parliament. President Aleksandr Lukashenko, first elected in 1994, has waged a systematic assault on critical elements of democracy: political parties, the independent media, and civil society. Through a series of flawed referenda, manipulated and fraudulent elections, and repressive laws and regulations, President Lukashenko has concentrated power in his hands, extended presidential tenure, and eliminated presidential term limits. The Parliament, chosen through a flawed election process, routinely approved presidential initiatives. The judiciary was not independent. The Government’s human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas. Pro-democracy activists, including opposition politicians, independent trade union leaders, and newspaper editors, were detained, fined, and imprisoned for criticizing the Government...
The U.S. strategy to promote democracy and human rights in Belarus consisted of applying political and economic restrictions; maintaining bilateral and multilateral diplomatic pressure; limiting high-level engagement with Belarusian officials to the assistant secretary level or below; monitoring, reporting, and speaking out on abuses; supporting democracy and human rights programs; and facilitating educational and professional exchanges.
Sigh...
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3 comments:
I have my own question for the US,
If Senator Lugar questions arroyo quietly like in this link about violence to journalists:
http://www.newssafety.com/hotspots/countries/philippines/afp/philippines030506.htm
Why ca't he give GMA a phonecall and ask her to cut clean???....
With his track record of being part of throwing out dictators like when he asked Marcos to cut and cut clean ;he can do the same to gloria(wishful thinking).
He had many years on the comitte on foreign relations, I don't know if he is still the chairman of the committee at present,but maybe he is just waiting for the situation to escalate or something....
or to be cynical, like maybe his playing his cards right and is waiting to know what's in it for him?
"(G)eneric human rights issue"? I hope you don't mean that because Filipino soldiers and policemen routinely commit torture, forcible disappearances and murder, such brutal disregard for human life has become so ordinary as to be -- what, tolerable? Or perhaps even acceptable? -- so that the credibility of an election is far more important than these egregious violations of human rights. That would be sad.
The US report makes it sound generic/general. As if this is just garden variety corrupt local cops/military doing their own thing, failing to mention the fact na karamihan ng abuses na ito stem from the recent political/legitimacy issues at scandls ni Gloria.
The arbitrary arrests and detention, the filing of bogus criminal charges against Arroyo critics, the torture issue, the kidnapping/abduction of pidal and GLORIAGATE witnesses, and the assassinations of leftist critics of arroyo by suspected military/police elements... etc etc...
And the US actually gave the philippines a passing grade here when it said: "The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens;"
I guess that's technically accurate. But you can make the same claim with the Belarus gov't too, since "generally speaking", a significant majority of the Belarusian population and it's citizens never suffered human rights abuses under Lukashenko.
But the US of course, did not do that.
Under its constitution, Belarus is a republic with a directly elected president and a bicameral parliament. President Aleksandr Lukashenko, first elected in 1994, has waged a systematic assault on critical elements of democracy: political parties, the independent media, and civil society. Through a series of flawed referenda, manipulated and fraudulent elections, and repressive laws and regulations, President Lukashenko has concentrated power in his hands, extended presidential tenure, and eliminated presidential term limits. The Parliament, chosen through a flawed election process, routinely approved presidential initiatives. The judiciary was not independent. The Government’s human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas. Pro-democracy activists, including opposition politicians, independent trade union leaders, and newspaper editors, were detained, fined, and imprisoned for criticizing the Government.
Hmmm... very familiar ang ginagawa ng Belarus gov't na ito... ;)
I think the human rights issue and arroyo's legitimacy and corruption issues are all important. In fact, konektado sila.
By legitimizing Arroyo (democratically elected president raw siya) and by giving the governemnt basically a pass on the human rights abuses (while blaming it mostly a some rogue policemen and military), the US has pretty much sided with their important ally Marcos... este Arroyo pala, while they talk about "supporting the Filipinos" on the other side of their mouth.
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