European Union (EU) High Representative Catherine Ashton should pursue with Bahrain the immediate release of 13 high-profile activists and others detained or imprisoned for peacefully exercising their rights. Ashton will attend an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting in Bahrain on June 30, 2013.

President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan is visiting Brussels this week for negotiations on the Southern Gas Corridor, which someday might transport gas from the Caspian Sea region to European markets. This oil-rich country in the south Caucasus plays a significant role in the European Union's energy security. That should in no way impede José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission's president, from being very clear that the need to meet human-rights standards will be a part of any relationship with the EU.

Although Burma is shrugging off the burden of five decades of military dictatorship, its transition to democracy is still far from complete. Reform remains precarious, and ethnic violence is rife. But in its eagerness to claim a foreign policy success, the EU is turning a blind eye.