Dana Milbank, in a column for today's Washington Post, observed that President Bush had proclaimed a "Freedom Agenda," to spread democracy across the world. He said, "We are standing with those who yearn for liberty."
But now that Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf has suspended his country's constitution, his aides are saying "we think what we ought to be doing is using our various forms of influence ... to help a friend, who we think has done something ill-advised." Mr. Milbank suggests that even a "diplomatic slap on the wrist" is unlikely at this time.
So which is it? Freedom or alliance-at-all-costs? My mother used to say, "Actions speak louder than words," and right now, President Bush's actions in contempt of human rights are deafening.
A small nation such as the Ohio Republic would have too few resources and even less desire, to engage in such hypocritical nonsense -- since its foreign policy would be focused principally on trade.
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