The Current Discussion: The U.S. State Dept. says China's no longer one of the world's worst human rights offenders. Are they right?

The particulars of China's human rights record are important for the Chinese people, but more significant globally is the presumptuous manner in which the United States designates itself as the human rights arbiter of the world. In view of the damage the U.S. has done around the world in its direct militarism and support for dictators, this is also deeply hypocritical.

American ideals are impressive, and in practice the United States offers a degree of freedom, equality and opportunity that are the envy of most other societies around the developing world. This is why people from all over the world continue to emigrate to the U.S. Washington's voice on human rights is important, but it is demeaned and devalued by the inconsistent manner in which the U.S. promotes democracy in some places around the world and supports autocracy and occupation in others.

The Current Question: The UN is pulling non-critical staff from Darfur after the indictment of Sudan's president increased tensions there. Isn't this like what happened in Rwanda in 1994 just before the genocide began--protecting UN lives at the cost of African ones?

The UN move to pull noncritical staff out of Sudan's Darfur region is a wise precaution under the circumstances. The prosecutor's decision to ask for an indictment against Sudan's President Bashir reflects the difficult trade-off between taking action against mass murder and genocide -- as the ICC sees it -- and preserving the uneasy security situation and ongoing peace efforts there. On balance, the decision to prosecute is correct if the evidence is strong, which it seems to be in most cases.

An important allied issue from the Arab world's perspective is whether other people who commit crimes of equal or similar magnitude in the Middle East will also be held accountable in some legitimate way. This includes other Arab regimes, the Iranian and Israeli governments, and those who have triggered the death and destruction in Iraq, including the U.S. and UK governments. Their actions have resulted in far more death and refugee flows than events in Sudan. Will they get away with it? Prosecuting the Sudanese for their actions, via a fair trial, should be the first step towards holding accountable all those leaders who have willingly unleashed death and destruction in their societies. We should work for an end to impunity, for sure, but also for an end to racism and colonialism...

The Current Discussion: Today is "Genocide Remembrance Day" in the Armenian community, a particularly strained time of year for Turkey and Armenia. What's a realistic first step forward toward reconciliation for each of these countries?

Gestures of acknowledgment of historical crimes and atrocities are critically important for an aggrieved people. They are an essential element in a series of steps that heal the trauma and allow individuals and countries to resume relatively normal lives. Especially for people subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide, acknowledgment of what happened to them is the critical first step towards restoring normal relations between the two concerned parties. Opening borders and normalizing trade and people-to-people exchanges are constructive steps that would allow people to get to know each other better and start to build new relationships based on respect and mutual benefits.