Shwedagon Temple, Rangoon “It is of a wonderful bignesse, and all gilded from the foot to the toppe,” – Ralph Fitch, 1586, First Englishman to glimpse the Shwedagon Temple. On this June afternoon, the marble floors felt warm on the soles of my feet. The Congressman had sent us away so he could consult in […]

The Strand Hotel, Yangon “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”   – Aung San Suu Kyi Roxy Music and Brian Ferry did a song a thousand years ago called “Do the […]

The Three Sisters Radio Towers, Arlington, Virginia, with Fort Myer Cavalry They lopped off the BBC last week, dragged it to Baltimore and placed it near the Bromo Seltzer Tower, trapped in the Local National Public Radio outlet. The station there has the wattage to cover the inner harbor, and maybe bounce a signal off […]

Antique Toshiba Laptop, circa 2005 I had to fire up the old Toshiba computer the other day. Pain in the butt. My scanner does not work with the Mac Operating System, and it was the only way to get pictures uploaded to the hard drive and send them off my folks. It made me a […]

It was easier to think in the shower this morning, as it has been for the last few days. Normally the water pressure blasts through the old pre-green-era gooseneck, hard enough to push you down the length of the tub, and splash up over the curtain and pool on the checked tile floor. I have […]

Lionel “Buster” Crabb was a complex man. By turns he was a naval officer, hero, pioneer scuba diver and intelligence operative. He was so complex that the Cabinet files on him are sealed for another fifty years. They will not be available for us to examine until 2057, a century downstream from the end of […]

The Commander’s death, if that is what it was, is in the news again. It has taken a while, since the report about the intelligence collection operation was put under a fifty-year seal. It is a case of embarrassment to a Ministry long dead, you see, about secrets on a ship long scrapped that belonged […]

President Bush would not talk about the raid, and I don’t blame him. He was asked three times in the press conference last Thursday, and each time he declined to comment. Others are eager to talk, though not officially. The Times of London has a fine article about Operation Orchid this morning, and highlights the […]

It was late Friday afternoon. I was driving with the top down on the Mercedes, since it was warm and the sun was bright. It is still summer, and it felt like it, even if the autumnal equinox is going to roll over cocktail hour on Sunday. I was leaving the office early, intending to […]

I’ve been kicking myself this week. Maybe you have, too, but I remember the morning that they launched the new currency of Europe back in 1999. It was pegged to the US dollar, the pre-eminent currency. Think how different the world was then. There was a modest surplus in the US budget. Osama bin Laden […]