MOSCOW — The Sochi Winter Olympics are making Russians beam with pride. But while the opening ceremony left out World War II at the behest of international Olympic organizers, Russia’s role in defeating Nazi Germany is still one of the nation’s proudest moments, as some have found out the hard way.

Perceived slights to Russian pride caused an independent television station to be forced off the air and the Moscow correspondent of a U.S. network to be summoned to the Foreign Ministry for an official reprimand. In the latest display of Russian displeasure, a prominent anchor on state television insinuated that U.S. Marines depicted in the war memorial near Washington looked as if they were engaged in gay sex...

...U.S. television network CNN caused a firestorm when it included a war monument in Brest, a city in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, in an article on the “world’s ugliest monuments” published last month. The piece said the Soviet soldier “emerging from a mountainous block of concrete looks as if he’s about to thump the West into submission before hurling North America at the sun.” It also noted that others think the soldier “simply looks constipated.”

On Feb. 6, CNN edited the story on its website and added a note apologizing for the offense it caused in Belarus and Russia.

The following day, the Russian Foreign Ministry took the unusual step of summoning CNN’s Moscow correspondent for an official reprimand. The journalist was told that “mocking the memory of Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for the victory over fascism cannot be justified or forgiven,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

SINGAPORE — Comments by the leaders of Japan and the Philippines drawing parallels between China's growing assertiveness in the region and events in pre-war Europe are "not helpful," said the commander of U.S. air forces in the Pacific.

"The rise of Germany and what occurred between the U.K. in particular and Germany, and what happened in Europe, I don't draw that comparison at all to what's going on today" in the Asia-Pacific, Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, 58, said here in an interview Sunday. "Some of the things, in particular that have been done by Japan, they need to think hard about what is provocative to other nations."

The recent comments by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Philippine President Benigno Aquino, two U.S. allies, have escalated tensions at a time when China is pushing its territorial claims in both the East and South China Seas, and as President Xi Jinping expands the reach of his country's navy. Both sought to cast China's actions against the historical perspective of Germany's ascension in the first half of the 20th century.

"The de-escalation of tensions has got to be a multilateral approach and it's not just one country that needs to de-escalate," said Carlisle, a former fighter squadron commander who is responsible for air force operations for more than half the globe, with oversight of 45,000 aircrew. "All of them do. The risk from miscalculation is high. It's greater than it should be."

Abe said in Switzerland late last month that Germany and Britain went to war despite strong economic ties, and warned Japan and China must avoid a similar fate. In an interview with the New York Times published Feb. 5, Aquino called on nations to support the Philippines in defending its territory in the South China Sea, drawing a parallel with the West's failure to back Czechoslovakia against Adolf Hitler's demands for the Sudetenland in 1938.

KABUL — The U.S. Embassy is urging the Afghan government to amend a proposed article in a new criminal procedure code that Human Rights Watch says would in effect prevent victims of domestic violence, child marriage and child abuse from calling out their abusers.

A final draft of the code was completed last week, and rights groups say it could become official in just two weeks if President Hamid Karzai doesn’t veto it.

In a statement on its web site, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul wrote: “Like others, we are extremely concerned about Article 26 of the draft Criminal Procedure Code. We are following the issue closely and have raised our concerns with the Parliament and the Government. We hope to see the language amended.

“We will continue to urge the Government of Afghanistan, as we do countries around the world, to uphold its human rights commitments and protect the rights of women and girls,” the statement read.

The European Union, the Canadian Embassy and Human Rights Watch all also have expressed concern about the law, which would bar judicial authorities from questioning relatives of the accused, according to Human Rights Watch.

“Should this law go into effect, Afghan women and girls will be deprived of legal protection from relatives who assault, forcibly marry, or even sell them,” said Brad Adams, head of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, in a statement on the organization’s website.

Christine Roehrs, an analyst with the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said the law is very similar to one already on the books saying relatives cannot be forced to testify against a family member, and has precedent in international law.

The crucial difference between the proposed law and existing Afghan code, however, is that, currently, the law has three exceptions: if the victim is a relative, if a relative initially reported the crime, and if there is no other proof available.

The proposed Article 26 amendment would block investigators from even requesting that a family member testify, regardless of whether they’re the victim or the one who reported the crime. The family member would have to volunteer on their own to testify in court.

Roehrs said that, in many cases, that is unlikely.

“People want to protect the family’s honor — and their own — rather than appearing in court, and the victim is just a girl,” she said, referring to many Afghan men’s disregard for women.

The law has passed both houses of parliament, and will automatically become law, if Karzai does not act to veto it.