In the Democrats’ presidential primary debate last night in Austin, Texas, both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama called for the release of political prisoners: Sen. Clinton: “I’m going to be looking for some of those changes: releasing political prisoners, ending some of the oppressive practices on the press, opening up the economy. Of course the United States stands ready.” Sen. Obama: “It is very important for us to make sure that there was an agenda, and on that agenda was human rights, releasing of political prisoners, opening up the press. And that preparation might take some time. But I do think that it’s important for the United States not just to talk to its friends, but also to talk to its enemies. In fact, that’s where diplomacy makes the biggest difference.” They were both of course speaking about post-Castro Cuba, but nevertheless it stands to reason that they should require the same of Russia. However, the country was not mentioned even once last night.
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3 Comments
James:I typically enjoy the blog. I think it’s a good point to raise that Russia was not discussed once last night and has not regularly been discussed at the presidential debates.Although, this is a bit of a stretch. And I doubt either candidate would say that they would set these same requirements for a meeting with Putin / Medvedev… sadly.
True enough – I was being a bit tongue in cheek on that one… No one expects a U.S. president to set requirements before meeting with Russia, but one would hope that the candidates stay true to this promise to stand up for political prisoners.
I couldn’t disagree more strongly. John McCain has very clearly already set such requirements.And let’s not forget that he himself WAS a prisoner. There is no better candidate for dealing with Russia, the two Democrats are craven shadows next to him, and I’m disappointed that this blog has not show him more support.