Last week, when he introduced the State Department’s annual human rights report, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that “President Biden has committed to putting human rights back at the center of American foreign policy.” Back? Human rights never were at the center of American foreign policy. Geopolitical and economic concerns have almost always come first. During the Cold War, the US repeatedly helped dictators suppress, or topple, leftist movements. It did so even though, as the Boston College political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke has
What Tony Blinken Means When He Says Human Rights are “Back”
What Tony Blinken Means When He Says Human…
Last week, when he introduced the State Department’s annual human rights report, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that “President Biden has committed to putting human rights back at the center of American foreign policy.” Back? Human rights never were at the center of American foreign policy. Geopolitical and economic concerns have almost always come first. During the Cold War, the US repeatedly helped dictators suppress, or topple, leftist movements. It did so even though, as the Boston College political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke has