It is time the west made some efforts to demonstrate at least something like the domestic bipartnership they are demanding of the Burmese Burma and Bipartisanism TM wonders how this recent victory will play out in the long term... time will tell Amid both the gloom of the season and the recent uprisings in the Arab world, it is bracing to look back at the last thirty years or so and see how much has actually gone more or less well. The end of the cold war, the demise of communism, and the emergence of new democratic states of varying quality all represent important historical change. Revolution Without Violence?
Stealing Burma’s Future Reformers, like saints, can be awfully awkward people
Writing and design have laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.
-TRUMAN CAPOTE
• Again, the statistician in me speaks up: how big is my sample? And the answer is: not very; In the early twentieth century, Burma enjoyed a higher standard of living than India and was far less densely populated [Jane Austen - Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure – In US this is what comes to their mind about Burma ; Her National League for Democracy party wants a word changed in the swearing-in oath for new Burmese MPs Aung San Suu Kyi's victory does not bring Burma freedom ]Reformers, like saints, can be awfully awkward people. Their singlemindedness is no small part of what makes them effective, as well as uncomfortable to be with. I've known a few, but I've never tried to get close to them. No matter how friendly they may seem, I always get the feeling that they'd be perfectly happy to have me guillotined if they thought it necessary....
• · Fang Lizhi’s path through life observed a pattern that is common to China’s dissidents: a person begins with socialist ideals, feels bitter when the rulers betray the ideals, resorts to outspoken criticism, and ends in prison or exile. Liu Binyan, Wang Ruowang, Su Xiaokang, Hu Ping, Zheng Yi, Liu Xiaobo, and many others have followed this pattern. Most have been literary figures—writers, editors, or professors of Chinese—who base their dissent in the study of Chinese society and culture. Fang was a natural scientist, and this made him different in important ways. On Fang Lizhi (1936–2012); IDENTITY, loneliness and survival haunt “Drifting House”, Krys Lee’s debut collection of short stories. The tales are set in America, South Korea and North Korea, unified by the theme of immigration and its demoralising struggles. As someone who has led a peripatetic life herself, Ms Lee draws on first-hand knowledge. Born in Seoul, she moved to America at the age of four, then attended Oxford University, and has spent the years since back in South Korea All the lonely people ; To understand Vladimir Putin, you need to understand his idol, Yuri Andropov. To both men, opponents are not mere rivals but enemies of the state.. Vladimir’s Tale ; The death in China of Neil Heywood, the British businessman, took on a series of dramatic twists yesterday as it was disclosed that President Barack Obama was taking personal interest in the alleged murder. A dissident website that has revealed key details in the story was hacked, suggesting that the Chinese authorities want to clamp down on the flow of information. Gu Kailai and Bo Guagua
• · · Let’s tackle one of the literary set’s favorite orthodoxies head on: that the world “needs stories.” “There is an enormous need,” Jonathan Franzen declares in an interview with Corriere della Sera (there’s no escape these days), “for long, elaborate, complex stories, such as can only be written by an author concentrating alone, free from the deafening chatter of Twitter.” But what is the nature of this need? What would happen if it wasn’t met? We NEED stories to develop a sense of overt and underlying meanings--and of ourselves. A society devoid of stories is one of meager subsistence. Do We Need Stories? ; Barry O'Farrell's office is beginning to look like the type of rainbow family favoured by Angelina Jolie. No sooner had the Premier appointed former Joe Tripodi aide and Sun-Herald journalist, Lisa Mullins, as his chief spin doctor than he has poached the president of the press gallery, Mark Tobin. Former Liberal leader Peter Collins and the Community Services Minister, Pru Goward, began their careers at Auntie Tobin is in good company; Mr Slipper was well known as an eccentric. It’s a tough reputation to live up to even in the corridors of power … Julia Gillard has refused to push the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper, to stand aside while he is investigated over allegations he sexually harassed a male staffer and misused his travel entitlements Mr Slipper
• · · · Anti-car literature written by militant lesbians in the bookcases. Moore greets me dressed in her trademark suit, with silver dog collar necklace At Home with ... Clover Moore ; IT WAS just one word - a throaty and emphatic ''No'' - but it could haunt the leadership of Barry O'Farrell. Another monarchist tradition has been restored to the NSW Parliament under Barry O’Farrell, with the crown returned to the top of the parliamentary crest. People can now be held accountable for their actions on social media. Heath Aston is the state political editor for the ? • · · · · MINDERS FOR THE MINISTRY - FORMER press secretary to Labor ministers Joe Tripodi, David Campbell and Craig Emerson is set to replace Peter Grimshaw as the Premier's communications director in one of the most astonishing crosses across politics ever seen in NSW. Lisa Mullins, who has been working for Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian since the election is married to a close mate of Mr Grimshaw’s, veteran former Channel 10 reporter Paul Mullins, but is understood to have not always seen eye to eye with Mr Grimshaw while working with Ms Berejiklian. Ms Mullins is a former Sun Herald and Illawarra Mercury journalist and also previously worked for the Fahey Liberal Government. Lisa has more than 30 years' experience as a newspaper journalist and government media advisor and I am delighted she is joining my staff
• · · · · · The new NSW ministerial media contact list has been published. We know, it's hardly the Australia Day honours list, but it is another little window into the soul of this new government. Brad Burden remains as Barry O'Farrell's flack but his offsider, Sam Fairlie-Cuninghame, has been passed on to the office of the new Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian. It seems the government is taking transport very seriously, as Fairlie-Cuninghame will work alongside Lisa Mullins. Mullins is married to Paul Mullins, who until his retirement in 2008 was the longest-serving journo in the press gallery, but she has more than enough of her own connections, having worked for Fairfax and News Ltd papers and even for the controversial Labor ministers David Campbell and Joe Tripodi. One of the Herald's former health reporters, Kate Benson, has jumped ship to work for the Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, while a former John Brogden staffer, Lance Northey, returns to Macquarie Street, this time with Duncan Gay in Roads and Ports. The veteran crime reporter Norm Lipson has popped up in George Souris's office, where presumably he will dispel the notion that state political media minding is a job for ambitious youngsters eager to be humiliated by talk-show hosts in the pre-dawn murk for the chance to get ahead.
IN A long career around State Parliament, the journalist Lisa Mullins (nee Carty) has shown a knack of working for all sides without fear or favour. She was a press secretary to the police minister, Ted Pickering, in Nick Greiner's government and also worked for the Labor ministers Joe Tripodi and David Campbell. With change in the wind, Mullins is one of the few with a rosy future: she is favoured to join the staff of the opposition transport spokeswoman, Gladys Berejiklian. The choppy seas of Pittwater