· December, 2008

Stories about Myanmar (Burma) from December, 2008

Southeast Asia: Newsmakers of 2008

  26 December 2008

For Southeast Asia, 2008 was a year of terrible disasters, both natural and man-made. Rice consumption was reduced, milk products were contaminated with melamine, jobs were lost, bloggers were arrested, and homes were destroyed. But the situation is not hopeless.

Myanmar: Shoes, politics and colonialism

  24 December 2008

Shoes had been a symbol of politics in Myanmar. Aung Zaw of The Irrawaddy writes about a “shoe incident” involving British colonizers who didn't remove their shoes when they met the Burmese king a century ago. This became a national issue.