Word: asia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Uighurs have deep roots in the region, descending from the ancient Sogdian traders once observed by Marco Polo. Unlike many of the nomadic tribes of Central Asia, the Uighurs are an urban people whose identity crystallized in the oasis towns of the Silk Road. A walk through the bazaars of old Uighur centers such as Kashgar, Khotan or Yarkhand reveals the physical legacy of a people rooted along the first trans-contintental trade route: an astonishing array of hazel and even blue eyes, with blonde or brown or black hair - typically tucked beneath headscarves or the customary Uighur felt...
...ballot box has silenced skeptics who doubted whether Indonesia - with its diversity of islands, religions and ethnicities - could mature into a democratic state. Indeed, compared to countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, where democratic institutions are stagnating if not backsliding, Indonesia has cemented its status as Southeast Asia's political role model...
...publication of the 1995 memoir revived the debate over his role in the war. McNamara admitted in his book that the U.S. government had never answered key questions that drove its war policy, such as whether the fall of Vietnam would lead to a communist Southeast Asia and if such an occurrence would really have posed a grave threat to the West. "It seems beyond understanding, incredible, that we did not force ourselves to confront such issues head-on," he wrote. He said he wanted to help prevent the country from making similar mistakes in the future and that...
...Democracy activists remain unconvinced. "The regime thumbed its nose at the entire U.N. system," says Debbie Stothard of ALTSEAN, a Southeast Asia-based network of activist groups campaigning for democracy and human rights in Burma. "It's time for the international community and the U.N. to take off the kid gloves. It's time the international community stopped regarding crimes against humanity, repression and human-rights violations as normal for Burma. The regime didn't fail to take this opportunity, it refused...
...fondness for a decent Fourth of July fireworks show. Pyongyang shot at least seven short-range SCUD missiles in the direction of the Sea of Japan on Saturday morning, in what some analysts termed an act of "defiance" against the United States and its allies in east Asia. But the SCUDS, fired from the eastern coast of North Korea, have limited range, and fell harmlessly into the sea less than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from where they were launched. The exercise drew perfunctory condemnations from the U.S. and some of the North's neighbors. Indeed, "acts of defiance" have become...