Freedom House: Freedom Maps & meddling with the Middle East

Freedom House publishes an annual report assessing the degree of perceived democratic freedoms in each country.

Freedom House is supposedly an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Washington, D.C. which conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights, but it is accused by a lot of analysts and activists to be a front for the American Council on Foreign Relations and its British counterpart the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Noam Chomsky has criticized Freedom House for receiving funding from and allegedly furthering the interests of the U.S. government.

In it’s annual report, titled “Freedom in the World”, Freedom House claims to evaluate  the state of global freedom. The report is published with illustrated maps, titled the “Freedom Maps”.

Here are the maps of the last 3 years alongside their charts:

As you can see from the maps above and charts below, according to “Freedom House” most of the Middle East countries are labeled as NOT FREE, while three countries only (Morocco, Lebanon and Kuwait) are labeled as PARTLY FREE, and ONE Country only is FREE, and that’s ISRAEL!

Isn’t this a very Ironic survey?! How can an occupying, bully, rouge state which have instituted terrorism, waged many wars, and oppressed the Palestinians for over 60 years be considered FREE, while the rest of the region’s countries which do not have such oppressing regimes (in comparison with the Israeli regime) be considered NOT FREE?!

However what the maps do not explain is the definition of Freedom according to which “Freedom House” considered all Arab nations NOT FREE? Well of course the definition here is obvious, it is Freedom, the Israeli way!

Of course the Middle East, being a NOT FREE region, requires alot of meddling on behalf of Freedom House’s Freedom loving operatives, to help “Free” the region. That is why, Financial Times has reported that Freedom House is one of several organizations selected by the State Department to receive funding for ‘clandestine activities’ inside Iran.

And that is also why on June 8, 2006, the vice-chairman of Freedom House’s board of trustees asked the U.S. Senate to increase the share of NGO funding aimed at helping support non-violent foreign democratic activists organize for potential overthrows of their non-democratic governments.

In regards to the Arab Activists who still defend or deny Freedom House’s role in the ongoing Arab Spring, Read:

Cooptation of Opposition Leaders

Related Freedom House Press releases:

Freedom House Demands Release of 8 Activists in Egypt, Jan 5, 2011.

Blogger Illegally Detained and Beaten in Egypt, Nov 10, 2010.

Egyptian Security Forces Shut Down Freedom of Association Conference, Sep 24, 2010.

Egypt Detains Freedom House Employee,Sep 14, 2010.

Ayman Nour Should Be Freed; U.S. Should Reassert Need for Democratic Reform in Egypt, Aug 1, 2007

U.S. Can Better Balance Human Rights Promotion with Other Strategic Interests, Freedom House Emphasizes in Testimony, Jul 12, 2007