You can’t precisely compare conditions in America and China, and I’m not
saying that the widespread surveillance and secrecy that Manning and
Snowden have exposed in the U.S., as frightening as it is, is the same
as the forceful suppression of dissent and civil liberties in China. Or
at least not yet. But the Nobel committee now has an opportunity to declare its independence, balance the scales a little on its most lamentable decisions, and make clear to Americans and the whole world that China isn’t the only superpower to go down the dark and dangerous road toward tyranny.
