Is freedom waning around the world?

The Associated Press

Opposition supporters, seen behind one of the opposition parties' flag, rally Tuesday in downtown Tbilisi, Georgia.

Featured Topic | Posted 44 weeks 3 days ago

Is freedom waning around the world?

Political freedom is retreating in large parts of the world including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Venezuela, and China, the independent Freedom House human rights organization reported on Wednesday.

There were reversals in political rights and civil liberties in one-fifth of the world's countries in 2007, including some politically crucial states like Russia and Pakistan, Freedom House said in its annual global survey.

Is fredom on the retreat?

Ben likes: Faltering freedom

Wall Street Journal Asia

Yet the universal hunger for liberty isn't dead, even if it's not yet sated. More than anything, this year's Freedom in the World report should be a wake-up call in the free world. Free nations once offered publicity and moral support to dissidents behind the Iron Curtain; after a post-Cold War hiatus, it's time to renew that focus. If anything, the stakes are higher now.

Joel likes: Poof: The Post-Revolutionary Disappearing Act

Josh Kurlantzick/Carnegie Endowment for International Piece

Just three months ago, the world watched, transfixed, as thousands of Burmese monks marched through the streets of Rangoon. Their demands for change after decades of harsh military rule elicited almost universal sympathy and impassioned calls for solidarity. The United Nations hastily sent its special envoy into Burma. Both President Bush and the First Lady seemed personally affected--Laura Bush, who rarely steps out of her animatronic shell, publicly called on the Burmese junta to make way for democracy and announced that "people everywhere know about the regime's atrocities."

Three months later, the protests already seem long ago.