Reference no: EM131633110

When the women prisoners are strip-searched in Moscow before they are to appear before a military tribunal, one young woman wonders whether she should turn in another woman she sees hiding earrings in her hair (144). She believes that some of the women there are actually guilty of crimes and she makes excuses for the government's actions, arguing that if they want to do away with the state's enemies, they "can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs?(i.e. they may have to hurt a few innocent people in their effort to find those who are really guilty). Think about some present-day applications of this theory (whether there might be innocent detainees being held at Guantanamo or among people from the Middle East living in America who have been held for months or years without being accused of a crime). How should a nation negotiate that fine line between protecting its security interests and violating civil and human rights? What light might the Soviet context shed on our present day struggles with this question? Cite from the reading to support your response.