Soft on Sein. Since Thein Sein became president of Myanmar (also called Burma) two years ago, he has won international praise for his attempts at democratic reforms.
He has received historic visits from Western leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has praised Sein for “his vision, leadership, and courage to put Myanmar on the path to change.” And last year,Foreign Policymagazine named him Thinker of the Year. Now, the International Crisis Group (ICG) plans to present him with its In Pursuit of Peace award at a gala dinner in New York City in April, for having “transformed the lives of millions and brought us closer to a world free of conflict.”
A world away, in the remote mountainous region of Kachin in northern Myanmar, news of the peace award was greeted with horror. To continue reading, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Register now to get three articles each month. As a subscriber, you get unrestricted access to ForeignAffairs.com. Congo Plan Offered by African Nations and U.N. What Marriage is For. On Thursday, Theodore Olson and David Boies, the Odd Couple of lawyers who have brought the constitutionality of same-sex-marriage bans before the Supreme Court, filed a brief that previews the arguments they will present to the Justices on March 26th.
The most powerful rhetorical move they make in it—and it’s about time—is to flip the main argument against same-sex marriage on its head. Opponents, including the lawyers for California’s 2008 ban on gay marriage, Proposition 8, contend that allowing gays and lesbians to marry redefines marriage. There has always been a big stumbling block to the argument that because marriage is mainly for procreation, gays and lesbians don’t need or deserve access to it.
That obstacle emerged as far back as a pre-trial hearing in 2009, when Judge Vaughn Walker, the federal district-court judge, questioned Charles Cooper, one of the lawyers defending Proposition 8: Walker: The last marriage that I performed, Mr. Photograph by Michael Buckner/Getty.
Putin and the monk. ©Igor Starkov/Salt Images Father Tikhon Shevkunov Father Tikhon Shevkunov looks a little too polished to fit the image of the Orthodox Christian monk branded into the western imagination by Dostoevsky.
The beard is just unkempt enough, but his chin is a bit too sculpted, his mane of shoulder-length hair too full and flowing, and his TV delivery too flawless to belong to any crazed, self-flagellating anchorite from The Brothers Karamazov. Father Tikhon is a picture of movie-star self-assurance – with a passing resemblance to Russell Crowe. While Dostoevsky’s monks stuck to their unheated monastic cells, Tikhon is no recluse. Call the monastery, for example, and you will get a switchboard operator.
Father Tikhon wields influence in the church far above his modest rank of Archimandrite, or abbot, due primarily to his contacts in the Kremlin. Whatever the truth of the dukhovnik question, it is something that the Kremlin finds it useful not to deny. Today, much has changed. Talking Democracy In India. When the controversial Indian politician Narendra Modi sailed to reelected victory last month in regional elections in Gujarat, it was difficult to find anyone who didn't have the urge to cry.
Some shed tears of joy and others of despair, but any reaction in between was rare. Modi, a member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is at once celebrated for his dedication to good governance and economic growth and reviled for his autocratic style of governing and alleged role in the brutal violence waged against his state's minority Muslim community in 2002. Given the passionate feelings that surround him, Modi's emergence on the national political scene as India's attention turns to countrywide elections in 2014 could open up a rare substantive debate about the role of government in the world's largest democracy. After the results of Gujarat's election were announced, Modi delivered a fiery acceptance speech in Hindi (as opposed to Gujarati, his native tongue).
Register. A Timbuktu Test For Europe. Soap Opera’s Disappearance Adds to TV Drama in Iran. For months, they had happily immersed themselves in the luxe world of the square-jawed Cinar and the long-legged Yesim, whose complicated love triangles and out-of-wedlock pregnancies offer a daily distraction from real-world problems, like sanctions and a currency collapse, for millions of Iranians.
But this Sunday, the characters of the Turkish series were nowhere to be found. One of ’s most popular satellite channels, GEM TV, operating from , United Arab Emirates, and broadcasting illegally into the country, was taken offline without explanation. Its Web site was also down, adding to the mystery. “These soaps open my heart. Who is taking them from me?” On Monday, with the Iranian news media silent, wild rumors flew about the causes of the blackout, with some describing a technically complicated government crackdown and others a shrewd plot to get people to subscribe online for a monthly fee.