What is the difference between the policies of the Burmese and Syrian opposition? In Syria, Assad must go, his institutions dismantled and he and his officials punished.  In Burma, the opposition believes that gradual, difficult change  and working with the dictatorship (arguably among the brutal in the world) is possible. Why?

 The Third World War — A Future History

My piece on the global supply chain and child labor in Yale Global:- -

Acts of intervention – with military action, aid and promotion of trade – have characterized international politics since the Cold War. Corporate intervention can now be added to the list of tools for alleviating poverty and encouraging development and education in impoverished nations. Social media and attention to global supply chains are exposing unfair labor practices, particularly child labor in agriculture and mining industries. Many consumers do not want to purchase chocolate bars, t-shirt or smart phones linked to human suffering. Industry groups and multinationals like Apple and Nestlé are increasingly monitoring their long chain of operations for unconscionable practices to avoid investigations and social-media campaigns that cause profits to plummet. History is repeating itself and revealing a global conscience – just as literary investigations and company boycotts more than a century ago contributed to ending slavery and abuses on factory floors in the West. Corporations that try to turn a blind eye toward environmental and labor abuses are risking reputation and profits. – YaleGlobal

Humphrey HawksleyYaleGlobal, 10 February 2012

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd (speaking at the Munich Security Conference) warns that Europe runs the risk of taking itself into an early economic — therefore globally political — grave because it is so preoccupied with its own financial problems.

The Third World War — A Future History