The Lantos-Wolf Act: Coming Soon to an Outpost of Tyranny Near You

The other coup for the Joongang‘s Washington reporting is this bit, about which I blogged here several weeks back. The basic thrust was that California Democrat Tom Lantos and Virginia Republican Frank Wolf were working on a new anti-dictatorship bill that from the very limited information initially reported, sounded a little like a revival of the Jackson-Vanik concept (much praised in Natan Sharansky’s The Case for Democracy) that first tied trade and economic benefits to human rights.

Reasoning that, after all, I live in Washington, I called up the offices of Congressmen Lantos and Wolf to find out more. Rep. Lantos’s press aide (who was very busy escorting Arnold to the White House, and very eager to say so, and to make that her excuse for not responding to me in detail) bitterly denied the report and said that she’d be demanding a retraction from the Joongang. She told me in not-so-few words that the entire report was B.S., promised to call me back to tell me more when she had more details, but never did. It’s tough for a blogger to get respect, I tell ya. In fairness, it’s possible that sometime during the day she learned that she’d been sidelined–who knows?

Wolff’s office told a very different story–words to the effect of, “We will release a copy to the media in March when we introduce the bill, at which time I’ll forward a copy to everyone, even you and your pissant blog.” No, he didn’t really say “pissant,” I sort of made that part up. But the Chosun Ilbo seems to have had a little extra help getting its hands on a draft copy:

The bill would place the U.S. State Department under secretary for global affairs [the above-mentioned Paula Dobriansky] in charge of democracy promotion and create a new bureau within the State Department in charge of assisting democratic movements around the world. It would also call for the designation of at least one officer in charge of human rights and democracy promotion at U.S. legations in “undemocratic” nations who, together with the legation head, would actively meet with locals to propagate democratic ideas.

It grants the U.S. president the authority to take punitive measures against undemocratic states, including the authority to confiscate their property in the U.S. It also sets aside a budget of US$700 million over a four-year period to support the work of pro-democracy individuals and civic groups abroad.

Interesting. I will eagerly await my own copy, content to water at the same trough as the Washington Post. Because great things have small beginnings, you know.

UPDATE 3/3: Thanks to Congressman Frank Wolf’s office for keeping its promise. There will be a press conference at the Senate today, and I plan to attend. Expect updates later this PM, if things don’t get too busy in the office. I also expect a draft copy of the bill shortly.

The co-sponsors are probably four of the politicians I most respect–McCain, Lieberman, and Lantos, along with Wolf. Since plenty of others feel that way, this suggests a stong start and plenty of momentum for the bill.