KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday a “steel vice” is crushing groups that promote democracy and civil liberties around the world, and defended US government funding for them.
Speaking on the eve of a Polish presidential run-off, she held the country up as a model democracy that emerged from Soviet domination strong enough to survive an air crash that killed its president, military leaders and many lawmakers in April.
However, Clinton cited many countries — from Iran and North Korea to Cuba and Zimbabwe — where nongovernmental organisations are banned, harassed or restricted.
Such repression had an ideology cast in the 20th century, particularly by communist governments, she said, but today it was often motivated by sheer power politics.
“More than 60 years ago, Winston Churchill came to the United States to warn the world’s democracies of an iron curtain descending across Europe,” she said in a speech. “Today, thankfully … that iron curtain has fallen,” she said, referring to the collapse of European communism two decades ago.
