Demonstrations all round

The Observer has called on Britain to ban the sale of weapons to authoritarian regimes after Libya and Bahrain used violence against demonstrators. Demonstrations occupy the media in the US, too — this time in Wisconsin.

Not all is fair in war

Britain should ban all weapons sales to authoritarian regimes, writes The Observer. In the past, the government has been “deeply selective” about what it claims to know about human-rights abuses:

When it comes to approving the sale of arms to unpleasant regimes, as the cases of Bahrain and Libya displayed depressingly last week, British governments, Labour and coalition, have been deeply selective in what they profess to know about human rights abuses and their criteria for refusal.  ... In the past two years, as each batch of new arms licences was waved through, Bahrain's government and its National Security Service committed well-documented abuses. ... A properly enforced blanket ban on those who use torture, lock up political opponents and use guns on protesters would be a place to start, regardless of economic cost.

Going Greek

Americans who think the welfare-state riots in Greece could never happen in the US should look at the demonstrations in Wisconsin, writes The Wall Street Journal. Thousands of state workers are protesting a budget-cutting strategy introduced by Governor Scott Walker, which will weaken their collective-bargaining rights.

... The unions and their Democratic friends have ... been rolling out their Hitler, Soviet Union and Hosni Mubarak analogies. “The story around the world is the rush to democracy,” offered Democratic State Senator Bob Jauch. “The story in Wisconsin is the end of the democratic process.” ...  As with the strikes against pension or labor reforms that routinely shut down Paris or Athens, the goal is to create enough mayhem that Republicans and voters will give up. ...