Update: The Césars are over in Paris, and the winners are:
The Artist, to the tune of six awards, including Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, Best Lead Actress for Bérénice Bejo, and Best Film.
Omar Sy, for Best …
Minorities
Poets, Peaceniks and Protesters: Meet China’s Leading Dissidents
As Xi Jinping, the man widely touted to be China’s next President, embarks on a trip to the U.S., Beijing’s desire for political stability remains paramount. The past year has seen numerous crackdowns on dissent and arrests of …
Must-Reads from Around the World
As Another Tibetan Monk Self-Immolates, China Declares “War” on Tibetan Protesters
The flames of discontent show no sign of fading. On Feb. 8, another Tibetan monk lit himself on fire to protest Chinese rule, this time in the heavily ethnic Tibetan province of Qinghai, or the northern swathe of a region …
Must Reads from Around the World: Feb. 1, 2012
Found Wanting – Foreign Policy has exclusive details from a leaked report on the failed Arab League monitoring mission in Syria – and it’s grim reading for the organization. “Regrettably, some observers thought that their visit …
Egyptians Mark First Anniversary of Their Revolution
One year after protesters massed in Tahrir Square, tens of thousands mark their revolution’s anniversary
“If there is going to be a big new lift to global democratic prospects in this decade, the region from which it will emanate is most likely to be East Asia.”
Human Rights Under Threat: Five Not-So-Usual Suspects
Human Rights Watch this week released its 2012 World Report. The 676-page write-up covers some of the biggest stories of the year, including China’s crackdown on dissent, ongoing attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic …
Dominique de Villepin Enters Stage Right and Adds to Sarkozy’s Woes
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has yet to officially declare his imminent re-election campaign, but that hasn’t kept a teeming field of rivals from launching their own bids for the Elysée. That pack of presidential hopefuls …
Chasing the Dragon: In Burma, All Conversations Seem to Lead to China
I went to Burma to see whether the reforms I’d heard about were truly transforming one of the most isolated nations on earth. Yet what many of my Burmese friends wanted to talk instead about was my place of residence: …
Clinton in Burma: As Ties with U.S. Strengthen, Will the Country’s Ethnic Minorities Be Forgotten?
Nestled next to a placid lake in Burma’s largest city, Rangoon, the villa of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is a pleasant spot—although no place can be so comfortable as to merit spending much of two decades under house arrest there. In 2009, before the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was released from villa detention by the ruling …
The Barefoot Diplomat: Hillary Clinton Begins Landmark Visit to Burma
One of the most surreal experiences in Burma is to leaf through the New Light of Myanmar. The English-language newspaper, which refers to the country by its official name, is among the most retrograde publications in the world. With tidbits like “True patriotism: It is very important for every one of the nation regardless of the …
Should Foreign Residents Be Allowed to Vote in France? Sarkozy Flip-Flops
Even when opinions in the U.S. and France do manage to generally agree on certain subjects, meshing trans-Atlantic views often end up differing in some rather remarkable ways. Take immigration. The issue remains an equally high-temperature political flash point in both countries. So, too, does the conjoined challenge of integrating
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