Egypt’s recent parliamentary elections have raised concerns about the imposition of an Islamist agenda by Islamist groups and parties, but Middle East expert Kate Seelye says “the hope is that once in office they will move more to the center and that won’t be the case.”

Watch more of our conversation about Libya, humanitarian intervention, the use of force, and some of the ethical questions being raised by NATO’s current military campaign and tactics.

“In that courtroom in Jerusalem 50 years ago, people heard the voices of those victims in a way that they hadn’t heard them before,” says Deborah Lipstadt, professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University and the author of “The Eichmann Trial.”

"If Libya is not clearly distinguished by extraordinary violence, then the president’s claim that protecting civilians is the primary purpose of intervening in Libya is very weak indeed."

"Something is changing," says an Israeli sociologist, "and I don't know, but I think it will come here. It's very difficult to believe the whole Arab world will be in riots and Jerusalem and West Bank are going to be quiet."

Along with a responsibility to protect, international coalition military forces intervening in Libya also have a responsibility to respect.

To mark Human Rights Day on December 10 and the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize in absentia to jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, read an essay about a new book on human rights in history and religion's role in the human rights movement.

Some ethicists and philosophers say economic sanctions should be subject to the same moral scrutiny given to the use of military force and should require the same level of ethical justification as acts of war.

In addition to confronting political issues in the Middle East, US agencies and departments across the government are targeting violent extremism, human rights, and civil rights at home and abroad, says the Obama administration's special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

"When mass violence hits a country and tears it apart, it takes a long time for it to repair itself," says human rights activist Eric Stover.