Democracy Lab Weekly Brief, April 22, 2013

Anna Nemtsova explains why it took a bombing in Boston to wake Russians up to the war in their own backyard.

Hui Mei Liew Kaiser tells why she and thousands of other Malaysians around the world are flying home to take part in the impending election there.

Eric Randolph reports from Burma on efforts to train the country’s fledgling democrats in the basics of democracy.

Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez looks at the showdown between president-elect Maduro and opposition leader Capriles following Venezuela’s close-run elections last Sunday. He also analyzes the repercussions of the National Electoral Council’s subsequent decision to allow a recount.

In Libya, Mohamed Eljarh looks into the current trial of Eastern Europeans accused of assisting the Qaddafi regime. He also ponders the fateful confrontation between constitutional reformers and the Supreme Court.

Mohamed El Dahshan bids farewell to the late leader of Egypt’s Jewish community.

And now for this week’s recommended reads:

In a scathing new report released today, Human Rights Watch directly accuses the Burmese government of fomenting ethnic cleansing against the Muslim Rohingya minority by failing to intervene in violence against them.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) presses for U.S. leadership in the wake of increasing sectarian violence in Syria.

The Council on Foreign Relations introduces its Global Governance report card, grading international performance on global challenges.

International Crisis Group assesses the shaky state of the justice system in post-Qaddafi Libya. 

Carnegie’s Thomas de Waal writes in CNN about the North Caucasus culture of war that shaped the generation to which the Tsarnaev brothers belonged.

Rebecca Murray reports in Al Jazeera on South Yemeni women who favor secession from the North, based on the rights they enjoyed prior to the country’s unification in 1990. ing has occurred in Sittwe in Arakan state.