Than Zaw’s Yangon teashop may lack the laminated wooden tables of the restaurant across the narrow lane, but where elegance is absent a rough charm replaces it. There is a countryside simplicity that endears his shop. Its knee-high tables, stapled-together plastic chairs and alfresco setup seem more apt for a dusty farmer’s lot than a …
Continue reading Myanmar’s transition from the seat of a teashop
Many people fly past Greensburg. And to tell you the truth, plenty even drive past it. The town is small, quaint, rural and remote -- just another unsung slice of Midwest America. Yet Greensburg does have a home right here in Kansas, where the tallest buildings are eight-story grain silos that stand like stoic sentinels across the …
Continue reading The Great American road trip in 25 states and 7,000 miles (Photo essay)
Presidents' Day -- that third Monday of February when Americans celebrate the federalist grandeur of Washington, Lincoln, and the other two men carved on the side of Mount Rushmore (Google them yourselves), all while trying to catch a last-minute furniture sale. It seems an apt holiday to reflect on the democratic institutions these men represented and …
Continue reading Clinton, Bush and the 2016 American plutocracy
President Barack Obama on November 12 will make his second visit to Myanmar to join the East Asia Summit in the nation's capital, Nay Pyi Daw. Following the APEC meetings in Beijing, the ASEAN-led summit will allow Obama and China's President Xi Jinping the chance to flex policy muscles in Southeast Asia, the core battleground for influence in the region. Obama's "pivot east" …
Continue reading Southeast Asia’s “Swing Nations”: Obama makes 2nd Myanmar visit
On a street stacked block by block with colonial British buildings, the Government Telegraph Office doesn’t instinctively stick out. Like so many of its neighbors, the façade is grimy and crumbling. There always seems to be a soft trickle of water flowing from exposed blue plumbing pipes, which water lively patches of ferns and moss …
Continue reading Myanmar’s telegram system buzzes on (The Diplomat)
Justin Calderón 