This article must be suppressed otherwise Amnesty International may get hold of it. It would be a shame to witness AI forced to break from its passionate anti West cathexis and write a damning report on China and Vietnam.

Good article, and good comment Sage.

It won't last though, as many of the irrational posters here will try to argue, as outrageous as it is, that the west - the very cultures that invented human rights, don't practice what we preach!

Well, before the vermin get in I want to say a few things. This article is exactly right, although doesn't go far enough.

Non-western cultures are inherently abusers of human rights, due to the very values they follow. Some sickening examples of this would be the fire in the Saudi girl school (I know, I know, it sounds bizarre - Saudi girl school, well it's true...due to western pressure they have opened a few) where the girls weren't allowed out because they only had underwear on, no veil (it was the middle of the night).

They died because of their vile values. As have countless others.

The west promotes human rights everywhere it goes, and everywhere it goes is better place for it. Nth & Sth Korea most obvious example, but Japan and Germany also.

Vietnam too, because they pulled out - it's a hellhole, a dump, where no rights exist.

Look, the entire world wants to live in the west, every year the refugee flows are all to our nations, so I say this gives us a MANDATE to shape the world in our image.

How dare anyone be opposed to that unless they are willing to accept that other cultures values, FGM, beheadings of 'criminals', or, in case of Iran - execution of minors (what Islamist freaks).

Bomb Iran, bomb Saudi. We can't bomb China because we've let them grow too big, is this the world we want?

Me thinks the leftist idiots who hate the US would be screaming for their help if China ran the world...

West is best.

This article is a waste of space.

Let's all get back to the business at hand.

Demonising Israel.

Slamming the US

Hating Howard

Explaining why Bush and Olmert, not Hu and Triet, are Hitler reincarnated and why Howard is the worst of the lot.

Carey has obviously been paid by the Zionists to deflect attention from Israel's "atrocities."

To suggest that Viet Nam and China are 'communist' countries is as risible as Bush the Lesser talking about human rights - both 'Economies' are today part of the dominant, globalised mode of social production and re-production - ie, Kaputalism! They are about as 'communist' as was Russia and the USSR before the 'evil empire' imploded under the weight of the contradictions endemic to the system of state capitalism that was then 'in place'.

Despite the human rights abuses and 'nuclear threat' of Reagan's 'evil empire', his administration and U$ corporations continued to trade with them throughout the so-called 'cold war', a situation unchanged to this day in relation to Viet Nam and China. And as with their 'communist' counterparts in Russia, today's 'communist leadership' in both Asian countries form part of the same millionaire class as Bush and those whose 'interests' he represents.

the author's 30 years as a 'military analyst' would definitely benefit from a course in Political Economy 101

I think abuses has less to do with communism/capitalism but more to do with core human nature and how this separates us into two groups...which applies to all people/societies...

We can be divided into destructive/constructive by nature(I think soul is better description)...now the constructive of us usually do it by the hard yards...from nothing we make something...

The destructive want the same things but cant be bothered with the hard work...instead find a way to deceive and get into what is already created and work themselves into position of power and authority...then its just a matter of organizing with other 'destructive' and giving orders...which effects into self benefit...politics and government are favoured areas for them...as long as their orders are effected they can continue with it...they benefit while its the 'constructive' whom spend their time/mind/effort struggling to create suffer/abused...its just a repetitive pattern in history...and appears to be happening in these countries...typical sign is ignoring the facts and creating a image for the public...and for that matter it happens even here in Australia...albeit some fundamental protection for the individual exists...so far...

when are we going to learn and act to moniter/stop imbalancing groups from gaining power and authority...as the end result is the same...they usually get wiped out by popular force but the harm and damage is left...

Communism has the same potential as capitalism to be an effective form of governing society...in one the 'person' is the highest priority...in the other in 'money'...it seems that a society that balances these two would work the best...

Sam