The Wall Street Journal compared the political situation in Oklahoma to that in Pakistan. Forbes Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes wondered if Oklahoma had been annexed by North Korea. Now we’re seeing similarities in Russia.

Yesterday, Russian police arrested former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov for organizing a protest against ballot access restrictions that are keeping his “Other Russia Party” off the ballot in next week’s parliamentary election. Recent changes in the ballot laws raised minimum party membership levels for ballot status to five times the previous level.

Many Americans are used to hearing about such rights violations in other countries, but there is still the belief that things are different in America. If we truly hope to keep that difference a reality, we must stand up for justice in situations like the one that the Oklahoma 3 face now.