“

Clinton responded that one problem is that some human rights standards are “so foreign to other cultures.”

“If you’re someone, as I am, who believes strongly in the empowerment of women … in a lot of places, it’s just not understood,” she said.

“Of course, we take good care of our women,” Clinton told the audience, impersonating one of those foreign leaders. “We don’t let them out of the house, so that they never get into trouble. We don’t let them drive cars, so that they can never be taken advantage of. So we are protecting the human rights of our women.”

“You can imagine the conversations that I have,” she said.

In parts of Africa and Asia, she said, gay rights is “just a totally foreign concept.”

“I mean, the first response is, ‘We don’t have any of those here,’” she said, to laughter. “Second response is, ‘If we did, we would not want to have them and would want to get rid of them as quickly as possible. And it’s your problem, United States of America, that you have so many of those people. So don’t come here and tell us to protect the rights of people we don’t have or that we don’t want.’”

“It’s a very difficult conversation because it’s just not been one that people have had up until now,” she said.

”

Hillary Clinton Gets Laughs Recounting ‘Difficult’ Talks on Human Rights
High-res nationalpost: Jonathan Kay: Bin Laden’s killing shows us the irrelevance of “international law”This past week, the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair became a figure of ridicule for suggesting that the United States doesn’t have photos of Osama bin Laden’s body — presumably, in his imagination, because the al-Qaeda leader isn’t really dead. But Mr. Mulcair made another interesting comment about the U.S. raid, which did not get as much attention: “We have to understand whether or not there was an action of self defence or whether there was something that was more in the style of a direct killing and that has to do with American law and with international law as well.”The idea that the legitimacy of this brilliantly executed American raid might be cast into doubt by the dogmas of “international law” can only be described as quaint — the sort of debating point that would have been taken seriously when the Twin Towers were still standing. In 2011, it sounds only slightly less marginal than the idea that bin Laden still walks the earth.The exact moment when we knew “international law” had little to say about the war against terrorism came on November 3, 2002. That was the day an American Predator drone, flying high above the Yemeni outback 100 miles east of Sanaa, fired a Hellfire missile into a car containing al-Qaeda’s local commander, Abu Ali al-Harithi, and five jihadi comrades. Photos of the scene show a black hole in the ground where the car once stood — a suitable metaphor for the once-fashionable notion that “international law” trumps a nation’s right to defend itself. (Illustration: Richard Johnson/National Post)

nationalpost:

Jonathan Kay: Bin Laden’s killing shows us the irrelevance of “international law”
This past week, the NDP’s Thomas Mulcair became a figure of ridicule for suggesting that the United States doesn’t have photos of Osama bin Laden’s body — presumably, in his imagination, because the al-Qaeda leader isn’t really dead. But Mr. Mulcair made another interesting comment about the U.S. raid, which did not get as much attention: “We have to understand whether or not there was an action of self defence or whether there was something that was more in the style of a direct killing and that has to do with American law and with international law as well.”

The idea that the legitimacy of this brilliantly executed American raid might be cast into doubt by the dogmas of “international law” can only be described as quaint — the sort of debating point that would have been taken seriously when the Twin Towers were still standing. In 2011, it sounds only slightly less marginal than the idea that bin Laden still walks the earth.

The exact moment when we knew “international law” had little to say about the war against terrorism came on November 3, 2002. That was the day an American Predator drone, flying high above the Yemeni outback 100 miles east of Sanaa, fired a Hellfire missile into a car containing al-Qaeda’s local commander, Abu Ali al-Harithi, and five jihadi comrades. Photos of the scene show a black hole in the ground where the car once stood — a suitable metaphor for the once-fashionable notion that “international law” trumps a nation’s right to defend itself. (Illustration: Richard Johnson/National Post)

THE DANCING BOYS OF AFGHANISTAN

They call it Bacha Bazi, or “boy play”: an ancient tradition, banned when the Taliban were in power, in which street orphans or sons from poor families are bought by businessmen. The boys, sometimes dressed in women’s clothes, are taught to sing and dance for the entertainment of male audiences, above — and then traded or sold among the men for sex. The result can be murder, and even the Afghan authorities responsible for stopping these crimes have been accused of participation. Drawing on interviews with boys, their families and their masters, Najibullah Quraishi exposes this practice, prohibited by Afghan law, for “Frontline.” - NYTimes 

Tonight on Frontline