Voted off the island, the United States lost its seat in the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Diplomats said one of the reasons for the ouster might have been retaliation for frequent U.S. condemnation of human rights abuses worldwide. As part of the same vote, Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Togo were elected onto the commission, where they will join Syria, Algeria, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

[Ed.: Senator John Kerry (D, MA) took the ouster as evidence that the international community now sees "a lack of a sense of honesty" in the United States.]

†