Word: burma
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Over soy lattes and buttery-soft muffins, I sat down in a coffee shop a few weeks ago with one of Washington's savviest Asia activists. Through endless networking and tireless advocacy, she has helped keep Burma's human-rights abuses on Washington's radar, even though the country has little strategic significance to the U.S. During the George W. Bush Administration, she exuded confidence. Now she's anxious. Barack Obama's government has taken a close interest in Burma, but not the sort she wants. On a trip to Asia in February, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told...
...Burma is not the only country in Southeast Asia to draw the attention of the new U.S. Administration. While other recent American Presidents pretty much ignored the region, Obama has made it a priority because his government sees Southeast Asia as a place where Washington can pick up some quick goodwill. Clinton made her first overseas trip to Asia and since then she has built a team of Southeast Asia experts who include nominated Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell, a longtime Washington power player who lobbies in particular for stronger ties with Singapore...
...Naypyidaw. Condoleezza Rice would skip ASEAN's Regional Forum, and the Bush Administration refused to sign ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. The treaty is pretty innocuous - it merely pledges signatories to uphold a zone of peace in Southeast Asia. But the Bush Administration objected to Burma's membership in ASEAN and was averse to signing anything (remember the Kyoto Protocol). In contrast, as with Kyoto, the Obama Administration says it will consider signing the ASEAN treaty...
...Obama Administration is fielding fire, too, ironically from groups on the left. Burma is one particularly sore point; another is Clinton's comment that pressing Beijing on human rights "can't interfere" with policy on a number of global crises, like climate change, where cooperation with China is vital. This appears to be part of the Administration's strategy to emphasize rights where it can make real progress, and not just for rhetoric. But in the past, activists say, they expected new Presidents to talk tough on rights first and then, if necessary, throttle back. Obama, they complain, has sold...
Read about Burma's ethnic minorities...