By I couldn’t help but notice that the Google Ad on my sidebar has recently began running an advertisement advocating for freeing the two American journalists held hostage in North Korea, Laura Ling and Euna Lee:
If you look at the top of the ad you can see that it is sponsored by Amnesty International. This is just a further example of how Amnesty International will jump on a story that is in the headlines to increase their own profile. This add is not about the two journalists, it is about promoting Amnesty International. If Amnesty International really cared about the human rights situation in North Korea they would have done more then pay little more than lip service to the massive system of concentration camps in North Korea while at the same time promoting non-stop Gitmo campaigns. Now they are coming out and trying to make it seem like they actually care about the human rights situation in North Korea.
I highly recommend everyone read this posting if they want to see how much Amnesty International cares about the human rights situation in North Korea.
9:25 pm on June 26th, 2009 1
Amnesty International may be promoting themselves by paying for this ad, but it also spreads the word that Euna Lee and Laura Ling exist and should be free.
A lot of people seeing this ad probably wouldn't have even heard about the two journalists, and the ad might want to make them find out more about the story.
6:53 am on June 27th, 2009 2
I clicked on the ad to see what came next: a form email that would be sent to some unnamed representative of the Chinese government. The sender was required to submit full name, full address, and email, information that can be added to mailing and email lists that Amnesty may use for future campaigns and may sell to other organizations.
Amnesty’s campaign may spread awareness of the the two journalists’ detention, but that won’t get them released any faster. Public attention could even be counterproductive. A couple days ago news stories detailed health concerns about the women. I think North Korea let the Swedish Embassy personnel see these women and become aware of their health problems as a way of putting pressure on the US government and/or Current TV to pay ransom.