Advocates of a sustained U.S. commitment to promoting human rights and democracy in the Middle East are pleased that Obama’s Cairo speech addressed the issue, writes leading analyst Larry Diamond.
But much remained “unsaid, or disappointingly vague,” he suggests, quoting Ayman Nour’s comment that the speech was “better than we expected, but not as good as we hoped. … His stance on democracy was very general, a bit weak, we hoped for more detail.”
Diamond concurs:
Democrats in Egypt and other Arab (and Muslim-majority) countries wanted to hear more. They wanted some specific criticism of authoritarian practices. They wanted Obama to call for the release of political prisoners and an end to the persecution (and torture) of regime opponents. Without violating his vow not to “impose” a system of government on another nation, Obama could much more clearly have aligned himself with Egyptians who are seeking such basic human rights as freedom of speech, freedom to organize, and an independent judiciary.
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