New Legislation Could Change U.S.-Vietnamese Relations

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Ahn “Joseph” Cao (R-La) announced today at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that he will introduce legislation that would reinstate Vietnam into the Countries of Particular Concern list.

A Country of Particular Concern is a designation from the State Department indicating that a nation is guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act.

The roots for the new legislation stem from religious freedom violations by the Vietnamese government. According to a statement released by the commission, Vietnam continues to backslide on human rights by discriminating against certain religious practices in the country, detaining some and forcing others to renounce their respective faiths.

Cao said that Vietnam is seeking to create a stronger relationship with the United States. Despite provisions in the Vietnamese Constitution that protect human rights, Cao said that discriminatory actions imposed against certain religions makes creating this relationship a futile effort.

“We have very real concerns about backsliding on issues of human rights and religious freedom issues,” Cao said. “It’s going to be very hard to have that kind of relationship, [and] it cannot happen without the improvements of human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam.”

Cao believes that designating Vietnam as a Country of Particular Concern would shed light on the situation and help convince the Vietnamese government to sway from discriminating its own people.

Human Rights Group Decries Actions Of Iranian Security Forces

By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Human rights activists met on Monday to call attention to the abuse of power by the Iranian government towards the NGO Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA).

Their main concern is whether or not Iranian Security forces carried out internet attacks against HRA websites, as well as personal computers belonging to members of the group.

"The raids of March 2 and 3, 2010 led to the arrest of thirty human rights activists. The HRA members and other activists arrested are being held incommunicado in unknown locations," said Leila R. Milani with Human Rights Activists in Iran.

According to HRA, the so-called "cyber-warfare" was conducted by units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IROC). HRA members say they have been labeled by IROC officials on television programs as being enemies of the state.

"The state run television has done a number of programs on the HRA providing falsified and fabricated information about its members and leadership, waging full scale propaganda... using personal photographs illegally obtained from members' computers," said Milani.

HRA says these attacks are not just happening in Iran, but also on American soil.

"These attacks, some of which were done in American soil, involved hacking into servers used by HRA...leading to unauthorized access to membership lists, theft of critical information and shutting down of more than twenty-five news and human rights websites," Milani added.

According to the HRA, its members who are being detained have not been able to contact their families, nor have they had access to attorneys or medical care.

‘Anti-Homosexuality’ Bill Threatening LGBT Ugandans

By Sofia Sanchez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

The United States is being called upon to help terminate an ‘Anti-Homosexuality' bill’ that is being proposed in Uganda.

Darlene Nipper, Deputy Executive Director of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), told Talk Radio News Service on Friday that the legislation "would essentially make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment or death."

Accoring to Nipper, passage of the bill would also affect the already limited distribution of information on HIV in Uganda through a provision criminalizing the “promotion of homosexuality.” In addition, the bill would establish a new crime, “aggravated homosexuality,” also punishable by death for anyone in Uganda. Citizens who are HIV positive and have consensual “same-sex relations” would face the same harsh penalties as well.

According to a statement released by the NGLTF, “it is imperative that the Obama administration and Congress push Uganda to withdraw this bill in its entirety. Simply removing the death penalty doesn’t somehow make this a humane bill. Weather it be the state-sponsored murder of LGTB Ugandans or their life imprisonment for simply being who they are is barbaric and unacceptable.”

American officials have taken initial steps toward terminating the bill, said Nipper. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has contacted President Yoweri Museveni to express concerns about the proposed law. In addition, a congressional hearing will be held next week which will be chaired by U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) under the support of Human Rights Commission President Tom Lantos.

The NGLTF is also calling upon all Americans to help halt the passage of this bill. “All Americans should be concerned about basic human rights violations wherever they occur in the world,” said Nipper. “It’s in many ways who we are as a people, we care about all people and we care about the dignity of all people regardless of race, sexual orientation or identity, it is important for us to stand by the values we established in the world.”

Big Brother: Alive And Well In Beijing

By Paul Brandus - Talk Radio News Service

Metal detectors. Visitors getting wanded. Backpacks and packages carefully screened. It’s awfully nice of the Chinese authorities to lay on all the extra security here at the Beijing Marriott while President Obama is in town.

They say it’s for our protection, we grizzled war correspondents who’ve survived Iraq, Afghanistan and other hellholes. I for one am scared to death here and appreciate the dainty young ladies with white gloves keeping the bad guys out of this plush oasis. Phew!

I sincerely doubt it’s for our benefit. More likely it’s to make it harder for us to conduct interviews with dissidents, rogue Chinese journalists and others who may have something to say that displeases the regime. We can certainly go out and meet these people in other locations, but the tight schedule we’re on makes it logistically very difficult to get away. Easier for them to come to us, hence the watchdogs downstairs. The authorities know how the game is played.

But Big Brother’s not just down in the lobby. He's right here in room 9055. He's blocked me from accessing Twitter and Facebook on my laptop (though they haven’t figured out how to keep me from tweeting on my BlackBerry). And even though this sparkling Marriott is high-tech from top to bottom, the phone on the desk makes some strange clicks whenever I make a call. Maybe it’s nothing, but it reminds me of trying to make phone calls when I worked in the Soviet Union during the bad old days of the KGB.

Indeed, China’s version of the KGB – which, by the way, I can’t seem to research on Google – has apparently been busy clamping down both before and during Obama’s visit. Agence France Presse reported earlier this week that authorities rounded up several dissidents and activists, fearing they could embarrass the leadership.

One person rounded up, says AFP, was a man named Zhao Lianhai, leader of an activist group of parents whose children were allegedly sickened by tainted milk. Zhao’s wife says he was “criminally detained for ‘provoking an incident’.” Another activist group, Human Rights in China, claims Zhao was handcuffed and taken away last week by police officers who also seized computers, a video camera and an address book.

Obama himself has made things easier for the authorities. He hasn’t met anyone who wasn’t prescreened. No free press advocates, no human rights groups, no political opposition. What about Tuesday’s “town hall” in Shanghai? Every student was carefully vetted for their reliability and prepped on how to behave.

Even worse, the White House advance team considered, but rejected a meeting with political activists, only to drop it from the schedule due to time constraints, reports the New York Times. Yet Obama found time yesterday to stroll through the Forbidden City and today visits the Great Wall of China.

It’s the first time an American President has tacitly agreed to be muzzled here. In 1998, President Clinton went on state-run TV and angered his Chinese hosts by discussing human rights, the Dalai Lama and the still-taboo bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square. In 2002, President Bush talked about the importance of personal freedom and the rule of law. But for Obama’s visit, the White House didn’t insist on a national platform for the President, and the Chinese never offered him one.

Paul Brandus filed this report from Beijing

Obama Aims To Tighten Asian Alliances During Upcoming Visit

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

President Obama’s inaugural visit to Asia was postponed due to the his and First Lady Michelle Obama’s participation in the memorial service on Tuesday for those killed in the Fort Hood tragedy.

Still, the President intends to tell Asian countries when he visits later this week that the U.S. is engaged and committed to strengthening alliances with Asia and helping Asian nations achieve prosperity and security, according to Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.

Jeffrey Bader, Senior Director for East Asian Affairs for the National Security Council, said that the President plans to raise the issue of human rights while in China.

“I think the kinds of issues that are on our minds are the freedom of expression, access to information...and certainly Tibet. I have every reason to believe that the issue of Tibet will come up on the trip,” Bader said.

Bader did not foresee discussions with the Japanese government on the realignment of Futenma Air Base, which houses 47,000 U.S. military personnel on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. The base is set to relocate to a smaller facility in 2014.

“I don’t see the Okinawa base issue being a dominant or essential issue on this visit,” Bader said. “The new Japanese government is reviewing how it wishes to move forward on [the base issue].”

The President is scheduled to leave for Japan on Thursday, followed by visits to Singapore, China and South Korea.