As part of his lame-duck foreign-policy push, Obama has sought to establish friendlier relations with Laos, a nation that is still a one-party Communist state.
In a speech to the people of Laos on Tuesday announcing a $90 million payment from the U.S. for the removal of unexploded ordnance dating back to the Vietnam War, he nodded at the fact that Laos is not a free country:
As we do around the world, the United States will continue to speak up on behalf of what we consider universal human rights, including the rights of the people of Laos to express yourselves freely and decide your own future. Yet even as our governments deal candidly with our differences, I believe, as we have shown from Cuba to Burma to Vietnam, the best way to deliver progress for all of our peoples is by closer cooperation between our countries.
Obama also discussed the country’s government corruption. “We believe that there needs to be good governance, because people should not have to pay a bribe to start a business or sell their goods.”
But why would a Communist regime that is ranked 139 out of 165 in public-sector corruption abide by the Obama administration’s wishes for good governance?
