海角大神

The French president has built a personal relationship with the US president based on displays of strength and respect. A key question: Can that relationship produce tangible gains for the people of each nation?

Could the US president pardon himself 鈥� or a close friend and business partner? Perhaps, say some scholars. It may be constitutionally legal, but does that make it ethically or politically advisable?

A historically high number of Americans rely on federal food assistance. Supporters say food stamps offer compassion to the most needy. Critics say that with the US unemployment rate at its lowest level in 18 years, a higher form of compassion is a job.

Russia and Israel have long had a close, pragmatic relationship, built partly on a shared effort of fighting Islamic terrorists. But here we look at how Russia鈥檚 role in Syria may now be testing the durability of that relationship.

What鈥檚 a biodiversity hero? In Thailand, it鈥檚 someone who鈥檚 created a new eco-ethic among tens of thousands of Thais, teaching them to use a wide-angle lens in appreciating the country鈥檚 native species.

In many countries of the former Soviet empire, people still live in fear of their regimes. In Armenia, a landlocked nation of nearly 3 million deemed 鈥減artly free鈥� by Freedom House, that was certainly the case until this week.

Protesters could easily be killed, as they were in 2008. Two-thirds of people would not report a corrupt act if they witnessed one, according to a poll. Moscow keeps 3,000 troops in Armenia, whose oligarchs resemble those in Russia. And a quarter of the population has emigrated in the past quarter century under the dominant rule of the Republican Party of Armenia and its business cronies.

But on April 23, after 11 days of nonviolent protests in major cities, Armenians threw off their fears and began to 鈥渓ive in the truth,鈥� as Vaclav Havel, the late Czech dissident, advised those living under the sham appearances of authoritarianism. They withdrew their consent to the effective one-party system and forced longtime ruler Serzh Sargsyan to step down after a blatant attempt to stay in power.

The size of the protests, which were largely leaderless and spontaneous, was so overwhelming that Mr. Sargsyan did not merely resign. He seemed contrite over his deceitful attempts to extend his tenure. 鈥淚 was wrong,鈥� he said in a statement, even admitting that the main opposition figure, Nikol Pashinyan, was right about the need for him to leave.

In recent decades, nonviolent civil resistance movements have reshaped much of the former Soviet empire, from Poland to Ukraine, as well as countries from Tunisia to the Philippines. Long-submissive people suddenly decided to no longer live a lie and instead chose to deny the legitimacy of repressive rulers. Armenia鈥檚 鈥渧elvet revolution鈥� is particularly timely. In recent years, democracy in the former communist states of Europe has been in decline, according to Freedom House.

Armenians are a highly educated people. Yet nearly one-third live in poverty. In a global index on corruption, the country ranks among the worst. They have seen how Russian President Vladimir Putin has clung to power since 1999 by a mix of political tricks and repression. The protesters in Armenia said they did not want Sargsyan to 鈥減ull a Putin.鈥�

Sargsyan is gone, but for now his party remains in power. The force of the mental shift away from fear by Armenians, however, has removed the pillars from under the regime. After rising up to live in truth, they may not be denied freedom.