Armenian genocide and Israeli apartheid; what's the world coming to?..

The fact that these two stories are prominent this week signals a major reshuffle in narrative management, which in turn reflects the diminishing influence of Sultan Erdogan in the first instance and King Bibi in the second.

I for one do not view these developments as ushering in a new era of human rights awareness in Western political circles. We're operating in the realm of PR here, not in the realm of actual "human rights." Turkey remains a NATO ally sitting on a geopolitically strategic piece of real estate. Don't hold your breath waiting for meaningful censure of the only Muslim NATO member.

That goes double for "the only democracy in the Middle East." If anything, the opprobrium will be aimed at Human Rights Watch, not Israel. Just last week 330 congressional reps from both parties renewed their vows of fealty to Israel.

The only possible consequence of this narrative turn that is of any interest is that it could lead to a Erdogan - Netanyahu rapprochement. 

Why not?

The rehabilitation of Uruhu Kenyatta

Kenyatta has gone from international pariah to president of Kenya to esteemed chappie having secret meetings with John Kerry in remarkably short order.

This is bound to frost the do-gooders at Amnesty and HRW, who have been braying for the crucifiction of Kenyatta since 2007.

And it serves to underline what's really important to the Big Dogs of the West; we are quite prepared to overlook a man's crimes against humanity if he can be of use to us.

Karzai rolls back womens' rights in Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today announced that from now on women in his country would be “strongly encouraged” to observe the Taliban-era restrictions on their dress and conduct.

He did not go on to define what he meant by strongly encouraged, but some forms of strong encouragement have included beatings, the use of battery acid, and stoning until dead.

The Sharia-based code of conduct prohibits women leaving their homes without the supervision of a male relative. They will also need to be covered in full burqa. Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch has said this represents a sell-out of Afghan women in an attempt to appease the Taliban ahead of US-Taliban negotiations about the future of the country.

The future of the country is of course a done deal. America has tired of this endless morass with no identifiable victory in sight. There are bigger fish to fry. The future of half the Afghan population is a small price to pay to get out of this mess.

Torture, arbitrary arrest, summary execution; business as usual in democratic Iraq

The international NGO Human Rights Watch has issued a scary condemnation of the goings on in Iraq. You know the place. Suffered for decades under that old dictator, Saddam Hussein. Liberated by the US. Destined to be a model democracy, the pivot point for a whole new democratic Middle East.

So how are things going in free Iraq? Free at the cost of nearly five thousand American lives and a trillion US taxpayer dollars?

According to Human Rights Watch, not that great.

The gender-equality situation is worse than it was under the old dictator. Women are more overtly second-class citizens today than they were under Saddam.

Journalists had to keep in the shadows back in Saddam's day, but they tend to die with greater frequency now that we've brought their country democracy.

Arbitrary arrest and torture of political opponents is routine.

Summary execution is routine.

Oh, and the chap we installed in the place of the evil dictator is way more chummy with Iran than Saddam ever was.

For this 5,000 Americans died and America went bankrupt?