“Strategic considerations about countering China are at play in inviting very troubled, backsliding democracies…that are in China’s neighborhood [to the Summit for Democracy]. The same might be true for inviting deeply flawed democracy Iraq.”

“Nowhere in this region is the U.S. government putting human rights at the center of its relations with any of these countries. And if that were ever to happen, we would see a completely different policy.”

“[The Trump administration is] not the right yardstick. [Biden’s willingness to engage on human rights issues is] what it means to center this issue in your foreign policy. I don’t see any evidence of that.”