U.S. Condemns Tunisia's 'Authoritarian Rule'; Funds Own Dictatorships
Tunisian police, notes Al-Monitor, arrested opposition figure Chaima Issa, enforcing a 20-year sentence for 'conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied.' Critics rightly label this 'increasingly authoritarian rule.' Yet, the 'authoritarian' label seems reserved for regimes not entirely aligned with Western interests. One might wonder where the same alarm is for countries like Saudi Arabia, a
steadfast US ally, which routinely jails dissidents, often with far harsher outcomes, without nearly the same level of media scrutiny. The hypocrisy is glaring: condemnation for a foreign strongman, silence for a strategic partner. It appears 'authoritarianism' is only truly problematic when it doesn't serve a geopolitical agenda, or when the strongman isn't purchasing enough Lockheed Martin
F-35s. The media's selective outrage reveals less about universal human rights and more about the delicate dance of international power politics.