Quick comments

June 23, 1981

Did US Secretary of State Haig have to be quite so effusive in hailing the "wonderful victory" of Philippines President Marcos in an election that most of the world regards as meaningless in democratic terms?

It may be that the Reagan administration can foster progress in human rights by not blowing the whistle on authoritarian rulers in public. But it hardly seems necessary to lean so far in the other direction that the US becomes identified as the enthusiastic supporter of the dictators of this world.