Lee Kuan Yew caned me - such an honor

Ouch ! Please, sir, may I have another - whack ! Attended the US-ASEAN 25th anniversary dinner with special guest of honor Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. I got a chance to meet him and shake his hand - I asked "What about Burma?"... the Minister Mentor paused, looked at me, and growled loudly - "I've given up on Burma!!!" to which my only reply was "c'mon...." ( maybe I shouldn't have bothered him during dessert... my bad )

It was a nice evening at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in DC. George Schultz, U.S. Secretary of State for President Reagan and Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State for President Nixon were there too and said some nice things about Lee. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell was there and told a story about how Lee almost caned him when he was a youngster. And Senator Jim Webb gave the toast. Fun. President of the US-ASEAN business council, Alexander Feldman, awarded Lee with a life time achievement award. More fun. Lee gave a nice long speech and even took on some Q&A which was nice.

The Lady strikes a pose but silent - weird

The Johns Hopkins SAIS hosted a Burma forum last week ( Oct. 30, 2009 ) in Washington, DC. Big players and experts - Dr. Ibrahim Gambari, Ambassador Scot Marciel, Dr. Andrew Selth were all talking heads. The event also flew in Dr. Khin Zaw Win and many other activists... even heard Dr. Zarni was in town. Event sponsors were the Konrad Adenauer Foundation USA, Henry Luce Foundation, CNA, Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, Brookings Institution. Dr. David Steinberg was there too, and if you know Dr. Steinberg, then you know this event was all about how to engage Myanmar.

And in today's news, Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs was in Yangon meeting with Suu Kyi in a public place and with photo ops too. Weird she didnt say anything. Did she even open her mouth to smile ?

Is everyone really buying into this ruse from the junta ? Is everyone really going to just watch on for the 2010 election ? Do you really think Suu Kyi will ever be free ? I guess history will decide. Where's Rep. Dana Rohrabacher when you need him ?

( Taylor Swift has nothing to do with this story but she's so purdee...)

President Obama visited MIT on Oct. 23 and Speedy was there too. Senator John Kerrey was there too ( check out his testimony for the Climate Change and Energy Bill at http://kerry.senate.gov/cfm/record.cfm?id=319353 ). MIT is making all kinds of new stuff so we can have more options for energy sources. Speedy in particular likes solar panel windows. Just make the whole outside of the building out of solar panels. Cool, right ? or is it hot ? MIT is an interesting place... walk around the campus and listen to the students' conversations - "where's the party, dude?" - NOT... instead "what do you mean ferroelectronics and the pyrochlore phase are unrelated ?!!!" Speedy is impressed... geeks do rule the world.