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Freedom House
East Asia Analyst for Freedom House, where she helps edit the China Media Bulletin
PROFILE
Sarah Cook
Guest
FROM Sarah Cook
To the Point
The Web at 25: Free Flow of Information or Censorship? The web was invented 25 years ago by a British physicist with a strong sense of Western values. Sir Tim Berners-Lee still envisions a free, open, democratizing system of universal communication. Berners-Lee has recently advocated a digital Bill of Rights to protect against the growth of government censorship that Google's Eric Schmidt calls " mechanisms of repression ." In China, citizen bloggers can be arrested. Pakistanis can't watch YouTube; and Russians won't read independent websites about Ukraine. Censorship and privacy violations reveal limits to the Global Village as the worldwide web becomes truly worldwide.
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To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Will the Senate write a healthcare bill in secret? While Democrats and Republicans argue White House relations with Russia, another question is being decided behind closed doors: who gets help buying health insurance and who doesn't? We hear how the pros and cons are being shrouded in secrecy.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.