'US report lists rights [and] abuses in China, Russia'

Jerusalem Post: ‘US report lists rights abuses in China, Russia’ – March 11th, 2008

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205261307224&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Summary: This article is about a report that the US released on Tuesday about human rights in Chinese and other societies around the world. It talks about the recession of rights that have been devoted to basic human freedoms such as freedom of speech. Also the mistreatment of prisoners, journalists, and also foreign aid workers. The government has been tightening restrictions on the Internet as well as on writers. This recession of freedom has been noted in the past year not just in China but in Russia, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and Syria as well.

Reactions:

A) One of the world history themes that this article relates to is ‘impact of interaction among and within major societies’. It talks about things that are happening in cases of human rights and how the country interacts with the rest of the world (i.e. restrictions on the Internet). By limiting people’s rights in prisons or limiting journalists rights to freedom of the press they are changing the way that their own society is run.

B) For many years before this these countries (China, Russia, North Korea, etc.) have been under scrutiny for their mistreatment of basic human principals. North Korea has been a suffocating dictatorship for many years and since 2007 have been under surveillance from US.

C) The point of view of the writer of this article is the ‘Associated Press’ from the Jerusalem Post. Since it is a newspaper from Jerusalem I would expect the author to be Jewish and also this/these writer/s are outsiders because they are not living in these damaged societies.

D) The authors idea of the issue may have been skewed in that, they might feel hatred against the religions in these societies. From the bombings that happened a few days ago for example they might not feel to kindly to the Muslim societies in Pakistan or Iran. So the ‘horrific’ events that were said to have happened might have been in dome way fabricated.

E) A view that I would have liked to have heard from is perhaps a journalist who had recently gone to one of these societies. He could shed some light on how they really treated writers and what he thought of the rights and regulations of these regions.

F) I am shocked by what I have learned from this article. How a government could be so controlling and intolerant that they support ‘forced abortions’ in prisons or going so far as to kill the baby at birth. I am a firm believer that woman have the right to choose whether or not they should keep their own child. Also how people today in this day and age can still be deprived of their basic human rights is appalling.