Finally, a Window for Peace in Burma
The international community should do whatever it can to sustain Burma’s peace process, which has made unprecedented progress.
Returning to your native country after many years in exile is bound to be a bittersweet experience.
Obama’s appreciation of freedom and democracy is exactly right. People living in the free world often take for granted the rights that they enjoy.
Burma’s much-maligned Constitution has allowed President Thein Sein to pursue a reform agenda without interference from the USDP.
Tuesday marks the sixth anniversary of the death in Mandalay Prison of Thet Win Aung, a student activist who sacrificed so much.
In failing to mention ongoing human rights abuses against ethnic minorities, Aung San Suu Kyi risks abandoning the core values of Burma’s pro-democracy movement.
It would be easy to dismiss Aung San Suu Kyi’s contribution to the reform process as something purely symbolic. But this is wrong.
Like many exiles in other countries, these Burmese groups aren’t united. The returnees appear to be doing little to coordinate their efforts with one another.
The Arakan violence shows that the mainstream opposition, along with a considerable segment of the population, have failed to appreciate the universality of human rights and dignity.
As Burma marks the first anniversary of the conflict in Kachin State, there are both fears of worse to come and signs of hope.
