-
Artur Davis Says Scandals Are Real
May 19, 2013 | 3 comments
-
Good New Book: ‘Precipice’
May 19, 2013 | 1 comment
-
A Long Record of Obamite Thuggery
May 16, 2013 | 4 comments
-
DeMint Supports Defense
May 14, 2013 | 5 comments
-
Update on Tom Perez
May 14, 2013 | 0 comments
The Spectacle Blog
If anybody, anybody with sense, actually believes that Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is happy to be staying in China, or that he and his family will be safe for longer than a few months, that person is, in the old terminology, a “useful idiot” for the Communist cause. The American agreement that sends Chen back from the U.S. Embassy is a craven capitulation to Chinese Communist thuggishness.
What should have been done? The United States ought to have demanded that China also provide safe haven for Chen’s family and offered asylum to all of them within the United States. The Obama administration ought to have made clear that the fate of this family is of paramount importance, and that it will continue to highlight their situation, and thus embarrass China, for as long as it takes to get them free.
As Ronald Reagan showed when dealing with the Soviets, stalwart moral pressure can work to provide avenues of freedom to prominent and honorable dissidents. Ask Yelena Bonner. Ask Natan Sharansky.
But this administration has no moral courage. This administration lets Iranian freedom fighters be slaughtered. This administration drags its feet in protecting Syrians being butchered. This administration has failed to speak up effectively for prominent dissidents in Cuba and China. This administration is an embarrassment.
View all comments (29) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/05/02/hillary-and-barack-kneel-at-ch
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Maxwell| 5.2.12 @ 11:40AM
Every time I see Barry I picture him on his girls bike or hanging drapes. As for Hillary, well, since this is a family web page, I'll pass, as Mama used to say, thank you very kindly.
Reid Smith| 5.2.12 @ 11:43AM
Quin,
For the sake of clarification...
When you refer to "Iranian freedom fighters," are you referring to the Green Party "revolutionaries" who supported Mir Hossein Moussavi, or more questionable organizations such as the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), Hezb-e Tudeh Iran (Tudeh), Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), etc.?
Agreed re: Chen, particularly in light of alleged threats made by the CPC against the dissident's wife.
Thomas J Smith| 5.2.12 @ 1:04PM
Reid,
So based on your interactions with members of the green movement, it is an ideological monolith. Unlike the heroes of democracy in Tahrir or the liberators of Tripoli.
Reid Smith| 5.2.12 @ 1:41PM
The Green Movement is definitely not monolithic and it never really was.
At present, I think an astute observer of Iranian politics would suggest that remnants of the movement (e.g. Moussavi's Green Path of Hope) form a branded, marginalized coalition of interests that exists loosely beyond the authority of the Interior Ministry.
Also, I really don't think the folks who marched on Tahrir have much to do with Misratha elements in Libya -- themselves marginalized by Gaddafi's patchwork, tribal patronage system that disproportionately favored his preferred networks.
solidground| 5.2.12 @ 12:15PM
The outcome was predictable from the get go.
Brendan| 5.3.12 @ 10:01AM
Yes. Another "Gutsy Call"
Oldefarte| 5.2.12 @ 12:20PM
Yes indeed CORRECT, similar to those Mobile residents that are gutless to come forward and describe the circumstances of the beatdown of Matthew Owens, A????? Clinton [along with Hillbilly] and Obama are three peas in a pod.....and that POD is known as THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Shazam, failing to stand up to China over this in addition to their manipulation of their currency, in addition to the USAG's failure to turn over requested documents to congress, in addition to failure of the USID to issue oil drilling permits, in addition to the US State Dept's failure to grant permission for the Keystone Pipeline to be built, in addition to the USJD suing Alabama, Arizona etc......my-oh-my the list just goes on and on, right? And the least common denominator here? Possibly the DEMOCRATS [and are we all STUPID for electing them].....uh oh here comes TAS POLICE [no paragraphs]????????????
Paul McGrath| 5.2.12 @ 12:35PM
I did not realize that we had released him to the Chinese until I read your article. This is heartbreaking; the worst news I've read in a week.
The National Review once stated that a good way to judge the morality of our foreign policy is to determine whether it gives hope or despair to those political prisoners around the world rotting in totalitarian jails.
We've failed again. Pathetic. What a buch of cowards our leaders are. Sickening.
spike59| 5.3.12 @ 6:00AM
I am disgusted, but hardly surprised, that our Administration has thrown him under the bus
albert constantine jr.| 5.2.12 @ 1:15PM
Some jackass posted on another thread a couple of days ago that people in China are more free than people here.
If China is such a bulwark of freedom and opportunity, I am uncertain why it convicts people of criticizing its policies (not espionage), and denies them the ability to emigrate freely.
For the "pro-choice" crowd, "reproductive freedom" is supposed to involve the ability to bear a child as well as kill one. Apparently, in China, it is a choice that can only be exercised once.
Jacobite| 5.3.12 @ 3:48PM
No, pro-abortion forces recognize only the choice to abort. Just like our old Com-symps (strangely, mostly the same people), they were ready to oppose the Soviets as soon as the right moment presented itself. Hey, we're still waiting for that one. The pro-choicers simply oppose any option for life, but, in theory, they might find one that is okay. Someday.
Conseravtive Bob| 5.2.12 @ 1:25PM
Obama has neither Courage or Morals.
He disgraces the office he holds and the country he pretends to serve everytime he opens his mouth.
Since taking office he has done exactly 2 laudable things; give the OK to shoot the pirates to free the captain and allow the Seals to kill Osama.
He then tarnished and diminished both acts by he never ending victory laps.
Vic 5| 5.2.12 @ 1:27PM
It's hard for the Obama admin to support a dissident who is fighting against forced abortions and sterilizations when they have hired people to work in their administration who have spoken in favor of those exact things!
MyGirlFriday| 5.2.12 @ 4:28PM
Your absolutely correct! Chen Guangcheng's translated diary is proof to the atrocities of China's "One Child Policy."
The human rights groups that helped him escape must be in absolute shock to find that he was turned out/forced to return to his captors. They must have been under the impression that the U.S. would intervene on he and his families behalf as such, convinced Chen of the same. He and his family are now at greater risk as well as all other dissidents because the U.S.A. has been publicly slapped down by China. This is a warning to all other dissidents who think that they can rely on the help of the U.S.A.
When the administration dispatched Tax Cheat Tiny Tim Geither with Hilary Clinton, it was pretty much over! You notice there were no quotes from Geithner. He was told in no uncertain terms to give back Chen or the U.S. treasury would be very soon facing some financial instabilities.
Perplexed| 5.2.12 @ 1:39PM
hillary and obama are two neophytes who subscribe to the philosophy of appeasement in dealing with enemies. We are suffering from the consequences of two people who are clueless when it comes to foreign policy because they had no prior experience in this area when they assumed their respective offices and are wimps. Our enemies know this and take advantage of it.
JmsA| 5.2.12 @ 1:55PM
Perplexed, they're not so much neophytes, as they are cynical and hypocritical dye-in-the wool socialists, and enablers of tyrants.
FeFe| 5.2.12 @ 2:04PM
But we'll always have the rent-seeking, human rights industry's spin to mock online. Our harmonizing Big "It's alive!" Government USA, Inc. with the rice bowl UN and the morphing EU into the FU, no no, they can't take that away from us. Freeborn men can look out upon the horizon and see the "For Sale" sign on American principles has been changed to "Foreclosure." How freely those affluent, highly-educated suburbanite voters roll over for Marxism. But don't you worry, the GOP "vote your financial interests over your values" Establishment started targeting them long ago with their product: Mitt Romney For President. Freedom and less government? Global corporatists can't monetize that, move along. Coo to me again that at least Romney, Inc. will be good for Big "seeming to care" Business. Individual sovereignty is passe so get up with the common cause and re-inflate the Bush bubble.
Paul McGrath| 5.2.12 @ 11:00PM
Learn to write and I might pay attention to you.
spike59| 5.3.12 @ 6:02AM
I'm sure there's a 'thought' in there somewhere; but you've cleverly hidden it behind a load of the usual Leftist bumper-sticker blather
Bob| 5.2.12 @ 3:11PM
Seems like a potential hit to Hillary's popularity, six mo's before the election. Entire affair shames us, and shames U.S.
arhooley| 5.2.12 @ 3:12PM
But there's this from State spokesman Victoria Nuland:
“At no point during his time in the Embassy did Chen ever request political asylum in the U.S.,” Ms. Nuland said. “At every opportunity, he expressed his desire to stay in China, reunify with his family, continue his education and work for reform in his country. All our diplomacy was directed at putting him in the best possible position to achieve his objectives.”
Paul McGrath| 5.2.12 @ 4:51PM
Right. That's why he risked his life and the health and welfare of others to escape, and to escape to the U. S. Embassy. Because he wanted to stay in China. Right.
I am filled with loathing and contempt for our current leaders. Liars. Cowards. Pigs. Every goddamn one of them.
Angela Alef | 5.2.12 @ 7:44PM
So do our most of our Governors:
http://www.thepeoplellc.com/files/china_stuff.pdf
http://www.thepeoplellc.com/fi....._forum.pdf
Bob K.| 5.2.12 @ 7:46PM
Come on Quin!
You know that no Administration is going to do anything about Syria as long as it has the backing of Russia and China! This kind of nonsense will not do the Republicans any good when they defeat Obama!
Angela Alef | 5.2.12 @ 7:46PM
So do most of our Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils:
http://www.usccc.org/current/mem-b.htm
https://www.uschina.org/
Bob S| 5.3.12 @ 12:54AM
Even more shameful that whenever someone tries to bring up Obama's foreign policy, he inevitably resorts to the story that he killed Bin Laden.
Paul McGrath| 5.3.12 @ 2:04AM
Hey. Barack. Yeah, you. Do you think Chen Guangcheng could be your son?
jimchina| 5.3.12 @ 9:49AM
Anyone remember Elian Gonzales?
Wes| 5.4.12 @ 8:21AM
Two problems with this article. 1) Barry made a deal that no harm come to Chen....until, say... mid-November, 2) RR did not owe money to the russians (although, he still probably would have acted the same way...).