Word: states
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...seen these on-again, off-again discussions many times before with the United Nations and the European Union, among others." Real change, he said, could come only from Than Shwe, the supreme leader since 1992 of the military committee that rules the country and calls itself the State Peace and Development Council. Describing Burma as an oligarchy, Aung Zaw says that if Than Shwe had the political will, "he could solve 40 years of Burma's problems in four hours...
...bloody suppression of a democracy uprising in 1988, the U.S. has incrementally reduced contacts with the regime and increased sanctions against it for its record of violating human rights and quashing democracy. Larry Dinger, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, was quoted in the state-run Myanmar Times this week saying Washington wanted to make progress on "important issues" but would maintain sanctions "until concrete progress is made." The State Department has referred to the trip as a "fact-finding mission...
...most Iranians, state-sponsored gatherings and anniversaries were distractions or annoyances under normal circumstances. Now, however, they have been given a surprising new impetus: no longer just opportunities to join state-sponsored protest but now to protest against the state...
Denied the right to march in the streets, the opposition movement has taken advantage of days when the state allows, even encourages, large gatherings. The phenomenon of "protest by piggybacking" began just after the disputed June 12 elections, with an opposition rally timed to coincide with the yearly commemoration of the assassination of an important revolutionary leader in June 1981. Several weeks later in September, an even larger crowd dressed in green and numbering in the tens of thousands effectively hijacked the annual Jerusalem Day rallies held across the country. Shouts of "Death to Israel" were replaced by a chorus...
...current form cannot be the Islamic Republic without its current slate of anti-Western commemorations. Yet, by continuing to hold these ritualized rallies and marches, the regime is exposing itself to counter-protests that are steadily undermining the government's authority. On Wednesday there were reports that the state's keynote speaker at the embassy rally was drowned out by the chants of nearby protesters. Worse still from the prospective of Iran's leaders, these chants were picked up by the live radio feed of the event and broadcast throughout the country. In this environment, the number of protestes that...