But the diplomatic method remains the way civilized states treat with one another. And it at least creates a public arena for the debate over justice and injustice, the decisions of which are reflected in the media. Dubious governments and criminal regimes may get away without censure in a particular resolution, but the constant drip of an annual UN debate wears away the stone just as the years of discussion about the lack of basic rights behind the Iron Curtain did during the cold war era. Misguided developments and intolerable conditions are criticized - in China as in Israel, in Russia and Cuba as in African and Asian nations. Every spring in Geneva, the truth is revealed about who is abusing human rights for the purposes of political maneuvering.
Unequal partners sit around the table in the game of diplomatic poker.
The European Union wants to avoid provoking Russia and China, so it refuses to condemn them. Against Israel it uses quite a different standard. So, instead of consistently voting against the anti-Israel resolution put forward by the Arab states, the EU offers a much milder one of its own. And yet, all countries should be measured against the same standard, that of the Human Rights Convention which they have obligated themselves to uphold. Human rights are indivisible.