海角大神

Can the Biden administration exercise restraint in pursuit of democracy abroad? That is a question raised anew by the coup in Sudan, where the U.S. has invested time, money, and effort.

A climate summit opens Sunday, rooted in a system of voluntary national commitments that is far from perfect. But one former climate official says,聽鈥淭here are moments where we can ... head towards the common good.鈥�

Many companies have put short-term profit over long-term values. The Facebook whistleblower says no one at her former company was 鈥渕alevolent,鈥� but the misalignment of incentives, she and others say, has led to social discord.

The search for treasure is often a child鈥檚 fancy, but in Rome it鈥檚 a humdrum affair. Thousands of artifacts of Roman emperors, found when a car park was being constructed, are now part of a new museum.

Second time鈥檚 a charm?

That鈥檚 the hope of pro-democracy activists in Sudan who are planning a 鈥渕illion-person march鈥� Oct. 30, five days after the military ousted a civilian government. Their reason is that mass protests worked in 2019 when enough soldiers, facing off against crowds of peaceful demonstrators, refused to shoot their fellow citizens. The top brass, fearing widespread defections, abandoned a long-term dictator, Omar al-Bashir, and set up a transitional regime.

Now the military has again taken full power, touching off a new contest for the hearts and minds of the rank and file. As in many countries during a civil conflict, often the winners are those who make the best appeal to the conscience of frontline soldiers, rather than to their fears, then bullets lose out to basic principles.

A similar contest is now playing out in Myanmar. A military coup in February against the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has led to protests as well as rebellion among the majority Burmese population. Two previous uprisings, in 1988 and 2007, had forced the military to create a partial democracy, in part because many soldiers were reluctant to kill civilians.

This time, pro-democracy activists claim their tactics of converting soldiers to their civic cause 鈥� or at least convincing the soldiers not to shoot 鈥� might force the large Myanmar army to collapse from within. That seems a stretch as the military has long bought the loyalty of soldiers with a narrative of superiority over civilian society or, if that fails, with money or a fear of retribution for defection.

Still, a group of defectors called the People鈥檚 Embrace聽claims about聽1,500 military personnel聽and more than 1,000 police officers have defected since the coup. The group works quietly with the families of soldiers to persuade them of a safe exit from the army. With the country鈥檚 economy in a free fall, the military, known as Tatmadaw, may not be able to continue buying the loyalty of soldiers.

鈥漈he Tatmadaw is unlikely to disintegrate anytime soon, but threats to its strength and unity are growing and look likely to continue to intensify,鈥� writes Nyi Nyi Kyaw, a scholar at Germany鈥檚 Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, in the East Asian Forum.

Democratic revolutions often succeed when civilian activists imbue soldiers with the moral norms of democracy 鈥� such as civilian rule over armed forces 鈥� as well as the international norm of protecting innocent life in a conflict. To a large degree, the conflicts in Sudan and Myanmar are battles for the hearts of those with guns. Either by mass protest or quiet appeals, the battle can be won peacefully.