Word: states
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That English football is one of Than Shwe's surprise passions might seem trivial, but it raises a serious question. With U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying on Sept. 24 that Washington would begin "engaging directly" with Burma's military leaders after 20 years of American censure and sanctions, how well do we really know the junta? "We don't understand it very well at all, although it's not very easy to understand," says Donald M. Seekins, a Burma scholar at Meio University in Okinawa, Japan. Trying to fathom the regime's worldview doesn't mean we condone...
...handful of Burmese business tycoons, many of whom - like the generals themselves - are the subject of U.S. and E.U. sanctions that severely restrict overseas travel and investments. Lobbying of Than Shwe by these business cronies could explain the warm welcome accorded in August to pro-engagement Senator Jim Webb. State-run television showed a smiling Than Shwe pumping the former combat Marine's hand, while the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a junta mouthpiece, reminded its readers that "even an influential U.S. senator opposes the economic sanctions against our country." (Read "Burma: Virginia Senator Jim Webb Visits Junta Leader...
...over the place. Last month its Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, became the highest-ranking Burmese official in 14 years to address the U.N. General Assembly. He told delegates that sanctions were "unjust." While in New York City, Thein Sein conferred with both Webb and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. Back in Burma, Suu Kyi met a senior junta official and is thought to have discussed the lifting of sanctions...
...caveat, of course - talk about tiresome - is the internal state of British politics. Britain must have an election by next May; it is highly likely that it will be won by a Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, in which Euroskepticism seems as firmly rooted as it was when Margaret Thatcher gave her famous speech in Bruges 21 years ago. Cameron, who has taken his party out of the center-right European parliamentary grouping, annoying German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has promised a referendum on Lisbon if the treaty is not ratified by all E.U. members...
...office. She arranges for a female colleague to interrupt the initial interview, and watches to see if the man loses concentration or stares too much. Sometimes even that isn't necessary. Many men are undone by the very idea of being interviewed by a woman. "They are in a state of shock to see a woman in a position of authority and to have to ask her for a job," al-Rowaili says. (See pictures of Saudi women...