|
CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Myanmar's
Award-Winning Journalists Go Free
When
Wa Lone
and Kyaw Soe
Oo were
awarded the 2018 Osborn
Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism in Asia, they
achieved an unhappy distinction: They were the first winners of “Asia’s
Pulitzer” to be imprisoned for their work.
As of Tuesday, the two men are now free.
The Reuters journalists, who won international acclaim for their
searing reporting on Myanmar’s murderous campaign against its Rohingya
minority, were
granted a presidential pardon after spending 511 days in
prison. In September, they had been convicted of breaking the Official
Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years.
You can read examples of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s award-winning work here
and here.
Be sure to watch last
year’s Oz Elliott Award ceremony at Asia Society in which
the two were honored in absentia. The winner of the 2019 Oz Prize will
be recognized at our home in New York on May 21
at 12:30 p.m. — be sure to tune into our free
live webcast.
|
|
|
POLICY
What To
Expect From a Nuclear North Korea
More
than a quarter century of diplomacy has failed to persuade North Korea
to abandon its nuclear weapons program; if anything, the North Korean
nuclear threat remains as potent as ever. Given this reality, what can
we expect to happen next?
Here’s a hint: nothing good. Asia Society Policy Institute Vice
President Daniel
Russel explains that a nuclear North Korea would seek
to extract further concessions from the international community by
raising the specter of an attack and could profit from selling their
nuclear technology to countries like Syria. In addition, North Korea’s
cyber capabilities provide its leader Kim Jong Un with
a low risk, low cost, and high impact mode of offense.
Watch Russel explain
the threat of a nuclear North Korea threat in our latest
video. Want to go deeper? Read Russel’s recent
issue paper on the subject.
|
|
|
HISTORY
The
Indomitable Richard Holbrooke
Richard
Holbrooke wasn’t just a
diplomat. He was a true force of nature, a charging bull who played a
role in virtually every significant American conflict from Vietnam to
Afghanistan. When he collapsed in Hillary Clinton’s office in
2010 and died hours later, the United States didn’t just lose one of
its most effective advocates on the global stage. The moment of
American global supremacy seemed to die with him.
Holbrooke is the subject of a frank, intimate new biography from
journalist and author George
Packer. On Tuesday, Packer will discuss his book with Suzanne Nossel
and Tom
Nagorski at Asia Society, where Holbrooke served as
chairman from 2002 to 2009.
In addition to providing a short excerpt from Packer’s book, we’ve collected
remembrances of Holbrooke from Asia Society's Orville Schell
and Rachel
Cooper, who remember our former chair not only as a
diplomat but also a colleague.
|
|
|
ETC.
Modi's
'Inept' Foreign Policy, Indonesia's Elections, An End to Affirmative
Action? And More
Here’s
what else is going on:
- The
Indian national security expert Bharat Karnad has
published a new book in which he argues that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
foreign policy is “inept” and “short-sighted.” He explains why in an
interview with Asia Society’s Anubhav Gupta.
- After the
world’s third-largest democracy conducts national elections,
what’s at stake for Indonesia? Cameron Hume, Robert Hefner,
Anne
Marie Murphy, and Mari Elka Pangestu explain
— watch
the complete program here.
- A
federal judge is nearing a decision on a 2014 lawsuit alleging
discrimination against Asian Americans at Harvard, a case seen as
a major landmark in the nationwide discussion of affirmative
action. Nicole
Gon Ochi, Jack
Ouyang, and Van
C. Tran discussed this issue last week at Asia
Society. Watch
the complete program here.
- Last
Wednesday, visual artist Anne
Samat dropped by Asia Society to discuss the role
of gender in traditional art-making processes with Hudson Valley
MOCA Director Livia
Straus and Asia Society Museum Director Boon Hui Tan.
Watch
the complete program here.
- 2019
marks 30 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. But
that isn’t the only significant anniversary in China. This month
is 100 years since 1919's May 4th movement, a domestic
uprising that prefaced not only the rise of the Chinese Communists
but also the ideals of the Tiananmen protesters themselves. Read Klaus Muhlhahn
in ChinaFile
on why
May 4th still matters.
|
|
|
|
