The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) requires a review of all signatories every five years. The US signed the Treaty in 1992 and 2014 is one of its review years. Its record on human rights was sharply criticized by the UN panel for a variety of human rights failings. The panel cited the US for human rights abuses that included “everything from detention without charge at Guantánamo, drone strikes and NSA surveillance, to the death penalty, rampant gun violence and endemic racial inequality.” The panel is not empowered to impose any sanctions on states, but the US record is humiliating to a country that prides itself on its human rights protections.
The Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, vigorously defended Crimea’s right to hold a referendum on whether Crimea should join with Russia. The Russian position is that the referendum is an exercise in the right of self-determination. There is some legitimacy to this position, but it is hard to accept uncritically as long as there are Russian troops positioned within Crimea. One should ask a simple counterfactual question: How would Russian respond to a proposal for a referendum in Chechnya?
The CIA hacked into the Senate computers? I’m shocked!
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