After the September uprising, the Burmese junta regained control over opposition groups and activists, but whether it achieved a stronger strategic position remains doubtful.

A series of bomb blasts in the past two weeks demonstrates one of two things: the security issue is still potentially troublesome for the military or, if opposition charges are true, the junta itself was the source of the bomb blasts, which can be used to blame powerful, disruptive organizations.

Min Zin (VS ‘01), a frequent commentator on Burmese politics, provides commentary in The Irrawaddy.

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Photo: AFP

In Mongolia, in order to keep young lamas in the Buddhist temples without the distractions of women, deeply negative proverbs about women were passed down through the generations. As a Human Rights Center fellow at UC Berkeley, Oyundary (Daria) Tsagaan (’08) produced a multimedia report on Mongolia’s efforts to fight violence against women and children.

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Burma’s ruling generals in the isolated capital of Naypyidaw are probably smiling over the election of Thailand’s 25th prime minister on Monday.

The junta no doubt views the new prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, as a proxy for deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra, as does most of the Thai public.

Kyaw Zwa Moe (VS ‘06), comments in the Thailand-based English language news magazine The Irrawaddy.

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“Do you think that Iranian speedboats will threaten US warships in the Persian Gulf again?” asked my friend Jacob. Like most people, he followed the infamous January 6th incident for just a few days before moving on. But he was left with the potent image in his mind that Iran’s aggressive behavior towards American vessels could have ended in bloody confrontation. Omid Memarian (’09) blogs for The Huffington Post.

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A few weeks after the September protests last year in Burma, a Chinese diplomat approached an influential Burmese advocate in New York and asked why the Burmese dubbed their protest the “Saffron Revolution.”

“The diplomat was quite uncomfortable with this particular saffron name while he whispered to me,” said the Burmese advocate, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Chinese are very sensitive to the ‘color revolutions’,” she said.

Min Zin (VS ‘01), a frequent commentator on Burmese politics, provides commentary in The Irrawaddy.

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Nothing gives principal Suraya Sarwary more pleasure than the sound of her second-grade girls reciting a new lesson out loud. Six years ago, that sound could have gotten her executed. The Taliban had outlawed education for girls, but a few brave teachers taught them in secret. Sarwary, now the principal of Karokh District Girls High School in Afghanistan’s Herat province, recalls gathering students furtively in her home and imparting lessons in whispers for fear that her neighbors might report her to the Taliban. Aryn Baker (’01) reports for TIME.

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Photograph by Tomas Munita for TIME.

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Nanjing will soon be home to the world’s biggest Bible factory, reports The China Post. “The aircraft hangar-sized plant on an industrial park outside the eastern city of Nanjing will be capable of producing more than one Bible every second and is expected to supply one quarter of all the world’s Bibles by 2009.”

Andrew Leonard (’91), in his column for Salon.com

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It was only a matter of time. A suicide bomber struck in the Pakistani city of Lahore today, ending a two-week lull since the spate of spontaneous violence that followed the December 27 assassination of former prime minister and parliamentary candidate Benazir Bhutto. At least 23 riot police were killed and another 58 police and passers-by were injured when a man detonated his vest packed with ball bearings outside Lahore’s High Court, according to Police Superintendent Aftab Cheema. Police have recovered the suicide bomber’s head, which was thrown some 100 meters across a busy commercial square by the force of the blast. Aryn Baker (’01) reports for TIME.

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Three years after the Indian Ocean tsunami left over 32, 000 Sri Lankans dead and 500,000 survivors homeless, this island country stands on the brink of another disaster — this time manmade and in the shape of an all-out war between Tamil separatist rebels and the country’s armed forces.

Since December 2005 skirmishes and battles have been escalating between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ignoring a ceasefire brokered by Norway five years ago. With international efforts to get the belligerents across a table repeatedly failing, over 4,500 people, mostly civilians, have died and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes in what, many already be war. Amantha Perera (VS ‘04) warns that Sri Lanka stands on the brink of another disaster at Inter Press Service (IPS).

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