On the first leg of a trip taking her to two
European nations that democratized in the
world’s last great series of liberal upheavals,
when the Iron Curtain came down in 1989,
Clinton spoke emphatically for democracies to
stand together and do what they can to
expand their club.
She said emerging democracies from Europe
to Latin America to Asia can help Egypt,
Tunisia and other Arab countries in transition.
And all should “show solidarity with those in
the streets of Belarus, in Libya and around the
world,” she added.
Ahead of Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary and
presidential elections, Clinton said the Obama
administration is reaching out to the Muslim
Brotherhood in a “limited” effort to build ties
and promote democratic principles.
She said it wasn’t a new policy but rather the
administration’s desire to engage all Egyptian
groups as long as they espouse nonviolence.
The Brotherhood favors a regime guided by
Islamic Sharia law and was outlawed under
former leader Hosni Mubarak.
Clinton attended the inauguration of a human
rights institute in Budapest honoring the late
Congressman Tom Lantos of California.
Clinton’s predecessor as America’s top
diplomat, Condoleezza Rice, also attended the
ceremony for the Lantos Institute, named after
the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who
died in 2008.
In a wide-ranging speech, Clinton expressed
veiled concerns about China, expressly
rejecting the creed of those countries
“trumpeting national economic growth over
freedom and human rights.” And at a news
conference afterward she cautiously chastised
the host Hungarian government over
constitutional changes and a new media law
that have been criticized in Europe.
Clinton is expected to elaborate on the same
themes when she arrives later Thursday for
the two-day “Community of Democracies”
gathering in Vilnius, Lithuania. She will also
visit Spain before returning to Washington on
Saturday.
“As we struggle to help new democracies
emerge, we cannot let any democracy
anywhere backslide,” Clinton said. “The stakes
are too high.”
Senior administration officials traveling with
Clinton highlighted Belarus as a nation of
growing concern. They noted that repression
has increased in the country, and said the U.S.
and European governments were adopting a
two-pronged approach to try to spur change.
Travel bans, asset freezes and other sanctions
are being directed at officials culpable in
human rights abuses, while funds are being
directed to promote economic development
and travel opportunities for private Belarusian
citizens and civil society members.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity
ahead of Clinton’s trip to Vilnius, near
Lithuania’s border with Belarus. Life inside
President Alexander Lukashenko’s country
will probably be a major topic of discussion
there.
On Wednesday, Belarusian police violently
dispersed the latest peaceful rally by
thousands of people protesting Lukashenko’s
regime and the country’s worst financial crisis
since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades
ago.
The Vesna rights advocacy group said police
arrested more than 100 and beat many with
truncheons. It is the latest crackdown from
the government of Lukashenko, who has ruled
the nation of 10 million people with an iron
hand for nearly 17 years, earning the
nickname of “Europe’s last dictator.”
In Budapest, where the focus was on Lantos’
legacy, officials and family members from
Hungary and the United States offered their
tributes.
Clinton noted how the Democrat founded
Congress’ human rights caucus in 1983, while
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said
Lantos represented the love of freedom
shared by the U.S. and his country. Orban,
however, also used the event to also warn
about the far-reaching effects of economic
turmoil.
“Indebtedness, whether that of households or
entire countries, clearly limits freedoms,”
Orban said. He borrowed the words of
President John Adams, who said there are two
ways to conquer and enslave a nation — by
the sword and by debt.
—
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Associated Press writer Pablo Gorondi
contributed to this report.
