COMING SOON--THE MINI-MALLS OF MEAN:

Rice names 'Outposts of Tyranny' (MARJORIE OLSTER, January 18, 2005, Associated Press)

In an echo of President Bush's "axis of evil," Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday named Cuba, Myanmar, Belarus and Zimbabwe as "outposts of tyranny" requiring close U.S. attention.

Early in Bush's first term, he listed Iraq, Iran and North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" in the post-Sept. 11 era; the United States later invaded Iraq, ousting longtime dictator Saddam Hussein.

"To be sure, in our world there remain outposts of tyranny and America stands with oppressed people on every continent ... in Cuba, and Burma (Myanmar), and North Korea, and Iran, and Belarus, and Zimbabwe," Rice told a Senate committee considering her nomination to succeed Colin Powell as secretary of state.

In what conceivable sense is a Cuba or a Zimbabwe less evil than Iran?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 18, 2005 5:55 PM