Anne Bayefsky of Eye on the UN has an article in today's NRO revealing the real dangers of the leftist politicization of human rights (particularly at the international level). Anne notes that leftist George Soros has just dumped $100,000 million into Human Rights Watch - and then relates the fall of HRW (as well as Amnesty Int'l) from a true guardian of individual rights to a shameful puppet of imposter rights invented by tyrannous nations to protect their own systemic and unapologetic abuses.

Human rights have been "hijacked" (to borrow the term) by leftist fanatics and the very worst of the world's human rights abusers - a glance at the ruling bloc of the UN Human Rights Council (Islamic and African states, backed by China, Russia and Cuba) suffices as ample proof. The only human rights abuser in the world, according to the UN HRC is Israel (occasionally joined by the U.S.) - states which still indulge in slavery, genocide, honor killings, female mutilation and the like are immune to criticism.

For further human-rights-as-anti-Semitism evidence, note a recent experiment by University of Illinois Professor Fred Gottheil. He wrote to hundreds of professors who had signed a petition urging the U.S. to abandon Israel over human rights abuses, and asked them to sign a similar "statement expressing concern about human rights violations in the Muslim Middle East, such as honor killing, wife beating, female genital mutilation, and violence against gays and lesbians." Less than 5% agreed to sign.

Leftists have circumvented (read: overcome) democracy for decades by corrupting and utilizing the judiciary - the entire "right to privacy" line of case law, flowing out of "emanation from penumbras" of the Constitution, have served little function but to implement liberal policies opposed by the majority of Americans. International organizations are the next weapon they hope to develop. At present, these bodies lack enforcement power over the U.S. (as they have gained over Europe), but just as the courts were originally without power to subvert democratic governance, this too could change. All that is needed is a sympathetic ear in the White House and a Congress willing to appease for American sovereignty to be curtailed by the rule of internationalization.