Word: diplomat
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Each side understood that the months leading up to the Games would be "extremely sensitive," as one diplomat put it. The government knew "from day one," another diplomat told TIME, that "a successful bid for the games would bring an unprecedented - and in some cases very harsh - spotlight" on China and how it is governed. On the other side, everyone from human rights activists to independence seeking dissidents in Tibet and Xinjiang - "splittists" in the Chinese vernacular - knew they would have an opportunity to push their agendas while the world was watching. "Thought the specific trigger for this in Tibet...
Thus, the dilemma for the Chinese leadership is clear. "They need to get this under control, but to do so without a lot of brutality," the diplomat says. The reason for that is clear enough: the memory of Tiananmen Square, undeniably, now hangs in the background as the crisis in Tibet unfolds in this, the year of China's grand coming-out party. The scale of the unrest in the Tibet Autonomous Region - as well as the threat they pose to the Communist Party leadership - doesn't compare to the massive political demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, which were...
...State Department: Iran. Burns was introduced by Ashton B. Carter, chair of the international relations department at the Kennedy School and co-author of “Plan B for Iran: What If Nuclear Diplomacy Fails?” Burns, though, highlighted the absolute necessity of fully pursuing a diplomatic solution to conflicts between Iran, Israel, and the rest of the world. “The Iranians must learn that when they say things, people listen,” Burns said, referring to numerous comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel’s demise. Despite his support...
Mark Bent had a bright idea. The former U.S. diplomat and oilman had spent years in Africa, and as his working career wound down, he wanted to give back. The continent has no shortage of persistent problems, but Bent tackled one that was both simple and pervasive: the lack of artificial light. Many Africans lack access to regular electricity, leaving them at the mercy of expensive battery-powered flashlights, polluting kerosene lamps - or simply in the dark. No electric light may mean that a child can't study after the sun sets, or that young girls need to spend more...
...Diplomats also believe that China has recently been pressuring North Korea to stem the flow of refugees. "Beijing wanted to nip in the bud, before the Olympics, any chance that the number of refugees would turn into a flood this year," says one diplomat who has followed the issue. "They've really tried to crack down on the border." Beijing isn't motivated purely by image concerns prior to Beijing 2008. The manufacturing economy in China's northeast, home to many state-owned companies, has slowed. "The Chinese already have plenty of surplus labor in that part of the country...