Word: authoritarians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...into whose soul George W. Bush famously peered is going to run Russia until he drops. The only question in the intervening years was, What kind of Russia will that be? And though that's been, in the eyes of many, increasingly obvious, we now have the definitive answer: authoritarian at home, brooking no consequential political opposition, and increasingly aggressive abroad. The Russian war against the small, Caucasus state of Georgia had been frozen in time for the past 16 years (Russian troops last fought in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, in 1992) until Putin began it in earnest again this...
...illegal religious activity," complained that the city's Han residents were given all the economic opportunities. "Do you think people are happy here? Do you see them smiling, dancing, singing? No, because they have no work," he said. He argued that the influx of Han settlers, and the authoritarian control of the Communist Party were the sources of Uighur anger. "Why are people unhappy? Because power is in control of the Communist Party...
...Hollywood is reflecting our other institutions, which haven't quite figured out China either. Is it a rival? A partner? A repressive authoritarian state? An engine of prosperity? A sinister force that tortured Jack Bauer? Or a delightful panda that likes to gobble dumplings? We know that China matters and will matter more. But we don't exactly know how. So it floats undefined, a Middle Kingdom poised between fascination and fear. Kids collect Master Shifu Happy Meal toys at McDonald's while parents worry that they may end up flipping burgers there if their jobs go to China. Meanwhile...
...monastery has been taking a referendum on Shugden. When the "anti" faction inevitably wins, the monks pledge to renounce Shugden and deny spiritual or material aid to those who hold out. In transcripts that Shugdenpas allege record the Dalai Lama's comments, he sounds atypically (to the Western ear) authoritarian. "Shugden devotees are growing in your monastery," he is quoted as snapping at one abbot. "If you are this inept, you had better resign...
There is, of course, one area where little has changed: politics. Despite allowing Beijingers (and indeed all Chinese) vastly more freedom in their personal lives, the Communist Party still suppresses any public discussion of the legitimacy of its rule or talk of alternatives to the current authoritarian system of government. And there's no doubt that the same party cadres that allowed Beijing's cultural flowering to happen still have the ability to smother the creative explosion if it gets out of hand...