Last week, the Washington Post published journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s final column. Khashoggi was apparently murdered by dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this month.
“The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain,” Khashoggi wrote, “imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power.”
Decrying that “Arab governments . . . continue silencing the media at an increasing rate,” he called for the U.S. to “[play] an important role in fostering and sustaining the hope of freedom,” advocating the equivalent of a Radio Free Europe to reach nearly 400 million Arabs.
The Saudi dissident highlighted Freedom House’s 2018 report “Freedom in the World,” noting that “only one country in the Arab world . . . has been classified as ‘free.’ That nation is Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco and Kuwait come second, with a classification of ‘partly free.’ The rest of the countries in the Arab world are classified as ‘not free.’”
Perusing that report’s coverage of the Americas, I noticed a section on “Gains and declines show value of electoral turnover.”
“Under new president Lenín Moreno, Ecuador turned away from the personalized and often repressive rule of his predecessor, Rafael Correa,” the report states. “Moreno has eased pressure on the media, promoted greater engagement with civil society, proposed the restoration of term limits, and supported anticorruption efforts . . .”
In Bolivia, sadly, “the constitutional court . . . struck down term limits that would have prevented incumbent leader Evo Morales from seeking reelection. Voters had rejected the lifting of term limits in a 2016 referendum, and international observers called the court’s reasoning a distortion of human rights law.”
Rotation in office — you know, like provided by term limits — appears strongly linked to freedom.
The lack of which having proved tragic for Jamal Khashoggi.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
3 replies on “The Bonesaw Massacre”
If Khashoggi was not a supporter of terrorism, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a lifelong buddy of Osama bin Laden, would you Democrats and the media be at all concerned about him?
As a matter of fact, the CommieRATs and media-slimes could not possibly care less about the assassination of terrorist Khashoggi, except that they think that somehow – ***somehow*** – they will be able to throw dung at President Trump over this. But so far, it has been met with overwhelming disinterest by everyone except CommieRATs and media-slimes…
You point to the situation in Bolivia where the court struck down term limits that would have prevented the incumbent from seeking another term.
Why can’t ‘voters who want term limits impose them themselves by the vote? As long as there is an alternative on the ballot, voters are free to make up their minds. If they really believe in term limits then let them prove it – at the ballot box.