There is an International Committee for Liu Xiaobo. Liu is the Chinese democracy leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago. He is a political prisoner. His wife, Liu Xia, is under house arrest.
Today, the International Committee issued a press release, here. The upshot is, 134 Nobel laureates have urged the Chinese “president” to set the Lius free.
The 2009 peace laureate is not among those 134. He is President Barack Obama — who could probably do more for Liu than anyone else. Of course, things get tricky for him: One of the reasons Obama won the prize in 2009 was his “cooperation with Beijing.” I have quoted the Nobel committee itself.
For more than 60 years, the committee passed over Chinese democrats and dissidents. At last, they honored one, with the award to Liu in 2010. That was a laudable act. It’ll be a cold day in hell, probably, before the committee honors a Cuban democrat or dissident. But you never know. (Do you?)
In the meantime, perhaps the 2009 peace laureate can say a word for the 2010 peace laureate. Maybe he is, behind the scenes.
Two years ago, some months before Liu won the peace prize, the Obama administration held “human-rights talks” with Beijing. What a liberal democracy is doing holding human-rights talks with a one-party dictatorship with a gulag, I can’t tell you. Anyway, we do it.
And, according to Michael Posner, our assistant secretary of state, we raised the issue of Arizona’s immigration law “early and often.” Because, you see, it is “a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination.”
The Chinese dictatorship kidnaps old ladies who practice Falun Gong, and then tortures them to death. Arizona is interested in making sure people come to this country legally. We’re all sinners, you know. Who are we to lecture the CCP?
Happy second term!