Web prowl

Thant Myint-U argues in What to do about Burma? that the economic sanctions against Burma, given the support of China for the Burmese military junta and the intransigence of the generals, have no chance of working to liberalize the country. He argues instead that institutions that can challenge the military as an effective national institution be developed, pointing out a little woefully that the top leaders of the National League for Democracy (save Aung San Suu Kyi herself) are all retired military officers. From the New York Review of Books, an essay on the women of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Japan is also negotiating with Thailand a free trade agreement similar to our own JPEPA (which was denounced by local environmentalists) and an article in the Bangkok Post asks if Thailand is going to be An international dumping ground?