As promised, North Korea has just conducted another test of a nuclear bomb. Literally on the eve of the test, I saw a high-ranking American diplomat on television, who was reassuring the world with a smile that the United States would never let it happen. This makes me wonder whether the North Koreans and the Americans can think straight.
On another occasion I saw an optimistic EuroNews report about the parliamentary elections in Latvia. It had just one reservation - that despite numerous recommendations of its European partners, dozens of thousands of citizens had failed to take part in them. In real fact, the figure was 400,000. These are Russian-speaking residents, who have the status of "non-citizens", which is absurd in the current international law. The number of "non-voters", as such people were called in the U.S.S.R. under Stalin, has been underestimated 10 times over, but let's give the EuroNews the benefit of the doubt - maybe, it was an accidental mistake.
But it is no accident that the democratic European Union keeps Latvia in its ranks, and considers normal the elections in a country where 400,000 people have been deprived of basic democratic rights for decades. Or is the European political elite unable to tell democracy from its imitation?
Elections to the local authorities took place in Georgia but the scenario was different. First, the most active part of the political opposition was put in prison under a feigned excuse (conspiracy). Second, the elections were held earlier than planned so that the remaining part of the opposition had no time to recover from the blow. Incidentally, the Georgian opposition reports that the President-approved death squadrons have long been operating in Georgia. Why shouldn't European human rights activists check on these complaints, just in case...?
Thirdly, the Georgian central electoral committee conducted the elections, and, most important, made the right calculations. Needless to say, it did not go without a snag, and at one district the number of winners reached 114%. There were other violations but who in Europe, not to mention the U.S., is interested in those if Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili keeps saying that he wants to join NATO? Isn't the prospect of gaining a foothold in the Caucasus worth the imprisoned opposition? Maybe, European Parliament members could comment on this question.
Russian-Georgian relations have been in a state of fever for two weeks now. They have been bad for a long time, but have recently become simply apalling. The deterioration was triggered off by the arrest of several Russian officers in Tbilisi by the Georgian authorities on charges of espionage. Nobody will now be able to find out whether they were guilty or not. With no access to lawyers, the suspects were kept in prison for two months (they were promised 20 year sentences). When OSCE representatives came to help them, President Saakashvili just handed them over to the diplomats without any legal decision. Why does Georgia need judicial bodies at all? The release of the Russian officers was televised as a big operation. How can it be called otherwise if each detainee was escorted by 30-40 guards - apparently, to prevent them from fleeing back to prison for a 20 year long term. We are grateful to the OSCE. It is a serious international organization. But have its diplomats heard about law at all? Weren't they surprised that the Russians were detained and released with such amazing ease? Without trial and investigation?
The Spaniards have also recently contradicted the civilized world by saying that Iran has every right to do in the nuclear sphere whatever it wants because any bans are undemocratic. If this logic is followed, official Madrid should now welcome the North Korean nuclear test.
Iran not only pursues the peaceful uses of atom - otherwise, it would accept the numerous proposals of the world community and the guarantees of non-proliferation. It is obviously trying to get the nuclear bomb, and in this context Madrid's position is dubious, to put it mildly, all the more so since that Iranian President Ahmadinejad declares almost every week that Israel (a UN member like Spain) should be erased from the face of the Earth. Haven't even the recent awful fires taught Madrid to keep matches away from arsonists?
Incidentally, Russia can also be put on this list. Like any other capital, Moscow likes talking about double standards. Its official position on the Iranian nuclear file is that the imposition of sanctions against Iran is stupid and counterproductive. Who will explain to me why it is smart and effective to introduce sanctions against Georgia?
Can the world's political elite think straight at all?
