Myanmar Days

Thanks
I just wanted to thank you, as a Burmese person. Well done on finding the Synagogue in Yangon! :) Love the pictures; love your comments!

On a different note...
I'm reading Thom Friedman's "The World is Flat", and he has a theory very similar to yours. He calls it "the Dell Method for Global Conflict Solving", in which no two countries who participate in a global supply chain of a large multinational corporation can wage war on each other. This is a development of the "Mc'Donalds system", that claims no two countries with a strong middle class (that can afford Mc'Donalds) will fight each other. Problem is, this only works on state-backed all-out war. It doesn't affect civil unrests (like the Thailand revolution) or small border skirmishes (like Cashmere, between India and Pakistan), or global terrorism (like Al-Qaeda). The first is a true battle of the have-not's against those who deprive them (which can be a good thing). The second doesn't have a large enough effect on political stability to prevent international investment (which can be a bad thing). The last simply has no deterrent- Al-Qaeda doesn't want to be a part of any global supply chain. They don't want them to exist (except its own). So in many cases (like Myanmar), you and Friedman have the same solution- enhance economic ties, build up a strong middle-class (and encourage transparency and contract-enforcement, which are essential to economic stability), and the rest will happen in and of itself. Question is, what do you do with the de-stablizing global factors. (sorry for the long rant)

Great pictures!
Such great pictures, reminding me so much of my time in Burma, almpst ten years ago. And the text is great, too! How did you catch such great pictures of people? I don't usualy like to get too close, and am mostly too shy to ask them for a picture.