Outposts of tyranny

As long as the broader Middle East remains a region of tyranny and despair and anger, it will produce extremists and movements that threaten the safety of Americans and our friends.The government of North Korea took strong exception to the label, declaring that it would not return to six-party talks on the Korean nuclear weapons crisis until the United States apologized.

Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky used the term during a speech for the Hudson Institute: "North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe and Cuba are outposts of tyranny."

In response, the North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Han Song-ryol, stated, "Resuming the six-party talks would be possible if there is restraint on the part of the U.S. from using the words 'outpost of tyranny' for one month."

For example, Amitabh Pal of The Progressive wrote that as Rice specifically refrained from applying the term to such states as Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea, and Azerbaijan, it suggested that the administration had ulterior motives for its human rights pronouncements, which are "heavily subordinate to U.S. strategic and economic interests".

[6] The Washington Post has published a series of forums and interviews pertaining to the countries which Rice chose as being examples of outposts of tyranny.