Tag: expansion

U.S. To Expand Assistance To Repressive Uzbek Regime

Politicians are scrambling to trim unnecessary government spending, but the United States is simultaneously considering expanding its financial assistance to a country with a deplorable human rights record — further proof that, despite its rhetoric, the Obama Administration still focuses on American strategic interests while completely disregarding human rights.

Uzbekistan has long been criticized for its repressive policies, systematic torture, lack of freedoms like speech and religion, and forced child labor. Nevertheless, on Sept. 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill that would waive the restrictions currently in place and allow the United States to give more taxpayer-funded military and police assistance to the Uzbek government, despite the fact that the human rights situation there remains among the worst in the world.

In a Sept. 27 letter urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reconsider this move, a coalition of rights groups wrote,

More than a dozen human rights defenders and numerous journalists and political activists are languishing in prison in Uzbekistan because of their work. Torture and ill-treatment are systematic and widespread in pretrial detention and prisons, and the Uzbek government persistently refuses to allow domestic and international nongovernmental organizations to operate in the country.

Recent dramatic developments elsewhere in Central Asia and across the Middle East make clear that Uzbekistan’s status as a strategic partner to the United States should not be allowed to eclipse concerns about its appalling human rights record.

As President Obama recognized in a speech on the “Arab Spring” earlier this year, “failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the United States pursues our own interests at their expense. … Societies held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time, but they are built upon fault lines that will eventually tear asunder.”

Given the president’s previous statements supporting protesters elsewhere and condemning repressive regimes, the U.S. government’s move to offer more support to Uzbekistan is blatantly hypocritical. But unlike the high-profile riots in Egypt or Libya, many Americans are unaware of the human rights crisis in Uzbekistan — and their ignorance is allowing their government to support yet another regime that mistreats its citizens. Clearly, Obama and the U.S. government only support human rights when it is convenient.

Clinton Encourages India To Work With U.S. To Block China’s Global Influence

CHENNAI, India (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday challenged India to expand its traditional sphere of interest from South Asia to neighboring regions where it can help the United States blunt China’s increasing assertiveness.

Clinton appealed for India to project its influence eastward, toward China’s backyard in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, as well as boost engagement in Central Asia, on China’s western flank. She said the U.S. and India shared values that made them powerful partners in promoting security, democracy and development in areas into which China has made a push for dominance.

“Our interests align and our values converge,” she said in a speech in India’s southeastern port of Chennai, a fast-growing manufacturing hub chosen as the venue by U.S. officials who believe it is a natural jumping-off point for a greater Indian role in East Asia. With its democratic traditions, India can “inspire others to follow a similar path of openness and tolerance,” Clinton said.

“India’s leadership has the potential to positively shape the future of the Asia-Pacific,” she said. “We think that America and India share a fundamentally similar vision for the future of this region.”

Clinton announced that the Obama administration would soon launch a three-way dialogue with India and Japan, long America’s chief ally in countering Chinese ambitions.

In another bid to lure Indian eyes east, the administration has decided to invite India to participate as an observer, for the first time, in the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that the U.S. will host in Hawaii in November, according to American officials. Membership in the group is limited to nations and economies that border the Pacific Ocean, which India does not.

Clinton was careful not to specifically identify China as the target of the effort to court India as an Asia-Pacific power. But, her comments left little doubt about U.S. intentions.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.