Met de persvrijheid is het in Noord-Korea, Turkmenistan en Eritrea het slechtst gesteld. Het beste staan Nederland, Finland, IJsland en Ierland er voor. In deze landen waren geen meldingen van censuur, bedreiging, intimidatie of lichamelijk geweld tegen journalisten. Opvallend is de 53-ste positie van de Verenigde Staten, in het gezelschap van Tonga, Botswana en Kroatie. Sinds Bush aan het bewind is, is de VS steeds verder omlaag gezakt. De VS heeft Al Jazeera journalist Sami Al Haj zonder vorm van proces opgesloten in Quantanamo. In Irak is AP-fotograaf Bilal Hussein opgesloten. In de VS werd blogger Josh Wolf opgesloten omdat hij zijn video-archief weigerde af te staan.
GlenGreenwald:
“Clearly, we’re at the point where a belief in due process, press freedoms and basic restraints on government and military power demonstrate a hatred for America and its freedoms. A belief in those principles constitutes “siding with the enemy.” Only by joyously affirming the power of the Government to detain people for life with no charges, to break laws enacted by Congress, to spy on Americans with no warrants, to torture detainees, and to arrest war journalists and hold them for years can one prove one’s loyalty to the country.”
Zie hieronder de hele landenlijst.
1 Finland 0,50
- Iceland 0,50
- Ireland 0,50
- Netherlands 0,50
5 Czech Republic 0,75
6 Estonia 2,00
- Norway 2,00
8 Slovakia 2,50
- Switzerland 2,50
10 Hungary 3,00
- Latvia 3,00
- Portugal 3,00
- Slovenia 3,00
14 Belgium 4,00
- Sweden 4,00
16 Austria 4,50
- Bolivia 4,50
- Canada 4,50
19 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5,00
- Denmark 5,00
- New Zealand 5,00
- Trinidad and Tobago 5,00
23 Benin 5,50
- Germany 5,50
- Jamaica 5,50
26 Namibia 6,00
27 Lithuania 6,50
- United Kingdom 6,50
29 Costa Rica 6,67
30 Cyprus 7,50
31 South Korea 7,75
32 Greece 8,00
- Mauritius 8,00
34 Ghana 8,50
35 Australia 9,00
- Bulgaria 9,00
- France 9,00
- Mali 9,00
39 Panama 9,50
40 Italy 9,90
41 El Salvador 10,00
- Spain 10,00
43 Taiwan 10,50
44 South Africa 11,25
45 Cape Verde 11,50
- Macedonia 11,50
- Mozambique 11,50
- Serbia and Montenegro 11,50
49 Chile 11,63
50 Israel 12,00
51 Japan 12,50
52 Dominican Republic 12,75
53 Botswana 13,00
- Croatia 13,00
- Tonga 13,00
- United States of America 13,00
57 Uruguay 13,75
58 Fiji 14,00
- Hong-Kong 14,00
- Poland 14,00
- Romania 14,00
62 Central African Republic 14,50
- Cyprus (North) 14,50
- Guinea-Bissau 14,50
- Honduras 14,50
66 Madagascar 15,00
- Togo 15,00
68 Ecuador 15,25
69 Nicaragua 15,50
70 Burkina Faso 16,00
- Kosovo 16,00
- Lesotho 16,00
73 Congo 17,00
- Kuwait 17,00
75 Brazil 17,17
76 Argentina 17,30
77 Mauritania 17,50
- Senegal 17,50
- United Arab Emirates 17,50
80 Albania 18,00
- Qatar 18,00
82 Paraguay 18,25
83 Timor-Leste 18,50
84 Liberia 19,00
85 Moldova 19,17
86 Mongolia 19,25
87 Haiti 19,50
88 Tanzania 19,82
89 Georgia 21,00
90 Guatemala 21,25
91 Angola 21,50
92 Malaysia 22,25
93 Comoros 22,50
- Zambia 22,50
95 Niger 24,50
- Seychelles 24,50
97 Morocco 24,83
98 Bhutan 25,00
- Côte d’Ivoire 25,00
- Turkey 25,00
101 Armenia 25,50
- Malawi 25,50
103 Indonesia 26,00
- Sierra Leone 26,00
105 India 26,50
- Ukraine 26,50
107 Lebanon 27,00
108 Cambodia 27,25
109 Guinea 27,50
- Jordan 27,50
111 Bahrein 28,00
112 Cameroon 28,25
- Peru 28,25
114 Gabon 28,50
115 Venezuela 29,00
116 Uganda 29,83
117 Tajikistan 30,00
118 Kenya 30,25
119 United States of America (extra-territorial) 31,50
120 Nigeria 32,23
121 Djibouti 33,00
122 Thailand 33,50
123 Kyrgyzstan 34,00
124 Chad 35,50
125 Burundi 39,83
126 Algeria 40,00
127 Swaziland 40,50
128 Kazakhstan 41,00
- Rwanda 41,00
130 Afghanistan 44,25
131 Colombia 44,75
132 Mexico 45,83
133 Egypt 46,25
134 Palestinian Authority 46,75
135 Azerbaijan 47,00
- Israel (extra-territorial) 47,00
137 Bangladesh 48,00
- Equatorial Guinea 48,00
139 Sudan 48,13
140 Zimbabwe 50,00
141 Sri Lanka 50,75
142 Democratic Republic of Congo 51,00
- Philippines 51,00
144 Maldives 51,25
- Somalia 51,25
146 Singapore 51,50
147 Russia 52,50
148 Tunisia 53,75
149 Gambia 54,00
- Yemen 54,00
151 Belarus 57,00
152 Libya 62,50
153 Syria 63,00
154 Iraq 66,83
155 Vietnam 67,25
156 Laos 67,50
157 Pakistan 70,33
158 Uzbekistan 71,00
159 Nepal 73,50
160 Ethiopia 75,00
161 Saudi Arabia 76,00
162 Iran 90,88
163 China 94,00
164 Burma 94,75
165 Cuba 95,00
166 Eritrea 97,50
167 Turkmenistan 98,50
168 North Korea 109,00
November 7th, 2007 at 10:15 am
who simply do not believe in the founding principles of the country — have always been, and continue to be, the ones who most loudly accuse others of anti-Americanism.
Clearly, we’re at the point where a belief in due process, press freedoms and basic restraints on government and military power demonstrate a hatred for America and its freedoms.
I know your presenting the argument facetiously but in doing so, your missing an opportunity to turn the argument on its head, where it belongs. Not to put too fine a point on it, people do don’t believe in due process, press freedoms and basic restraints on government and military power are anti-American traitors. They’d clearly have trouble passing the sort of Constitution test we require of immigrants. Why they should even be allowed to call themselves Americans remains a mystery to me.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:16 am
These folks have never believed in core American political principles. I’m old enough to remember the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. When the Committee was in session, it was frequently the case that the only Unamericans in the room were the members of the Committee themselves.
How many devotees of the Enlightenment have there ever been in America? The miracle is that we’ve done as well as we have. Belief in democracy, and belief in civil liberties of the kind encapsulated in the Bill of Rights will always result in at least some cognitive dissonance in an age of powerful demagogues. That it has let to outright schizophrenia in our own time is a measure of how badly we’ve failed to measure up to the hopes that the founders had for us. Sadly, this failure didn’t begin with George Bush; it began even before the ink was dry on the Constitution itself.
- William Timberman