Word: grips
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...refugee crisis comes as the Burmese military regime is tightening its grip on the country ahead of the nationwide election it has announced for next year. Since taking power in 1962, the exclusively ethnic Burman, or Burmese, junta has largely tamed an unruly patchwork of 100-plus ethnic groups, in part by signing cease-fire accords and granting certain minorities a modicum of regional autonomy. But with the upcoming election, ethnic groups with standing armies - such as the Kokang, the Kachin, the Karen and the Wa - have been given until October by the junta to refashion themselves as a centrally...
...fair. Burma's last electoral exercise, in 1990, ended with the non-ethnic National League for Democracy winning the most seats in parliament, with ethnic-based political parties coming in second and third and the junta-backed party finishing fourth. However, the junta ignored the results and kept its grip on power. "Some analyses say that even a rigged election is O.K., if it leads to democracy," says Gun Maw, a high-ranking officer in the Kachin Independence Army, one of the armed ethnic groups operating on the border with China that has decided not to give up its guns...
...worried enough to let Suu Kyi go free. Another 18 months of house arrest is enough time to prevent her from meddling in a 2010 election that the military hopes will legitimize its grip on power; it's also enough time to dream up more excuses to detain her, as the junta has done for nearly 14 of the past 20 years. A British diplomat who attended the trial described her demeanor in court as "calm, dignified [and] upright, exuding quiet authority but no hint of bitterness towards the prosecution." She retreats into isolation once again, leaving one question unanswered...
...government with specific charges and has advanced a clear political platform, making himself a lightning rod for criticism from within the regime. And it's far from clear that Karroubi's more confrontational approach will yield results against a government willing to deploy overwhelming force to maintain its grip on power. Over the weekend, in fact, opposition activists were dismayed to hear reports that former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had called for unity and for all Iranians to follow Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei's orders to end the turmoil. Coming a little over a month after the influential...
...Webb's visit occurred at a moment when the Obama administration has been making noise about a possible shift in the U.S. position on Burma. During President George W. Bush's tenure, Washington strengthened economic sanctions against the Burmese regime, which has maintained an iron grip over the country since 1962, and ruled out any talk of engagement. But earlier this year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that such trade barriers weren't having an effect on the junta's behavior. (Shortly after the Suu Kyi verdict, the European Union announced the tightening of its own sanctions against...