President Obama made a landmark visit to Myanmar in November, and the White House, in its announcement, said Mr. Thein Sein's visit was in recognition of the democratic reforms undertaken by his government.
It is a perilous mission that Warner and other Democratic hopefuls undertake as they try to cast doubts about her electability without appearing to attack one of the party's iconic figures.
"We are supporters of the democratic reforms undertaken by President Ramiz Alia, and we are for their acceleration," point number one began, revealing the cautious approach.
In 2011, most of the Gulf states signed up to the Deauville Initiative, a G8 project to give aid to Arab countries deemed to be undertaking democratic transitions.
President Bush refused to lift a 40-year-old trade embargo against Cuba unless Fidel Castro undertakes democratic and economic reforms.
So administration officials are clinging to the hope that, perhaps against the odds, Bahrain's leaders — or at least the crown prince — may be willing to undertake democratic changes.
He held out a hand to North Korea again, calling for it to denuclearise; and to Burma, if it undertakes democratic reform and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
For to read "Don Quixote," in an increasingly Manichaean world of simplistic Good versus Evil and inquisitorial dogmas, becomes one of the healthiest experiences a modern, democratic citizen can undertake.
As Chomsky puts it near the beginning of Necessary Illusions, "citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control".
In both its scope and design, these reforms represent the most ambitious effort to build local institutions of participatory democratic governance ever undertaken in the subcontinent.
