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Sources

Independent Newspapers Return To Burma For First Time In 50 Years

REUTERS, AP

Worldcrunch

RANGOON – On Monday, Burmese readers had a choice of daily newspapers for the first time in 50 years, as a state monopoly on newspapers ended.

Sixteen publishing licenses were granted by Burmese authorities, but only four privately owned newspapers managed to hit the stands today, reports Reuters. The other newspapers failed to appear due to financing problems, outdated printing equipment and a dearth of journalists.

“All four newspapers sold out quickly today,” Kyi Kyi, a roadside vendor told Reuters. The new Burmese dailies are called Union Daily, Voice Daily, Golden Fresh Land and The Standard Time Daily.

For many in Burma, the Asian nation whose military leaders renamed Myanmar, daily newspapers are a novelty, reports the AP: entire generations weren’t born when the late dictator Ne Win imposed a state monopoly on the press in the 1960s.

The chief editor of Golden Fresh Land, Khin Maung Lay, 81, told the AP he had been “waiting half a century for this day.” His paper’s initial print run of 80,000 copies was sold out before lunch.

“I foresee several hurdles along the way,” said Khin. “However, I am ready to run the paper in the spirit of freedom and professionalism taught by my peers during the good old days.”

Among the hurdles, the 1962 Printing and Registration act, that allows the government to revoke publishing licenses at any time.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Too Soon, Too Late: What’s Really Blocking Ukraine’s Entry To NATO?

Volodymyr Zelensky has made his demand clear: full NATO membership for Ukraine, perhaps as soon as this year. Yet member countries, from the U.S. to top European allies, are still stuck in the mindset of not “provoking” Russia. But if not now, when?

Image of Volodymyr Zelensky standing at the arrival ceremony for the Summit of the European Political Community in Bulboaca, Moldova

Volodymyr Zelensky standing at the arrival ceremony for the Summit of the European Political Community in Bulboaca, Moldova

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — Volodymyr Zelensky knows what he wants, and he’s not afraid to say it loud and say it clear. Yesterday in Chisinau, Moldova, before the leaders of 47 European states, the Ukrainian President demanded that NATO open its doors to Ukraine — and to do it as early as 2023.

"This is the year of decision", he added before an impressive array of heads of state and government gathered in Moldova, just across the border from his war-torn country.

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But it’s not that simple. Several of the Alliance's heavyweights, starting with its leader, the United States, are more than reluctant to let a country at war join an organization whose charter includes Article 5. This is the article that defines automatic solidarity with a member state under attack.

And beyond the United States, also Germany, and until recently France, which has begun to take action, fear being drawn unwittingly into a direct confrontation with Russia. For the past 15 months, they have been careful to calibrate their involvement so as not to become "co-belligerent," though that has not prevented them from arming Ukraine.

Between now and next month’s NATO summit in Vilnius, the U.S and its allies must find an answer to the pressing demands of Ukraine and its friends in Eastern Europe.

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