In an earlier blog I drew links between Zimbabwe and the US in terms of their efforts to marginalize key UN watchdog bodies.
Now Howard " finds himself alongside Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in an Amnesty International report which says they are among short-sighted fear-mongers dividing the world.
The human rights pressure group has accused Mr Howard of portraying asylum-seekers as a threat to national security.
The report also criticises Australia's role in the war on terror and its treatment of female victims of violence.
Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan says the fear generated by leaders such as Mr Howard thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership.
Ms Khan included Mr Howard with Mr Mugabe, US President George Bush and Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir in the same scathing paragraph in her foreword to the group's annual report published today.
Ms Khan said the fear generated by leaders such as Mr Howard "thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership''.
"The Howard government portrayed desperate asylum-seekers in leaky boats as a threat to Australia's national security and raised a false alarm of a refugee invasion,'' Ms Khan wrote."
This blog was started in response to my growing alarm at the use of fear as a political tactic by Howard. We find ourself in poor company indeed, and this is by no means hyperbole on the part of Khan.
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