ETHNIC NATIONALITIES COUNCIL

Last October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech to the New York Economic Club. She spoke on the need for the United States to improve its statecraft by using economic policy to enhance its diplomatic leverage abroad. The speech was delivered in the context of widespread concern inside the State Department that Beijing's economic and aid policies have proven more effective than the muddle-through approaches of Western democracies.

DAWEI, Myanmar, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Dusty roads and makeshift offices are the only hints of the ambitious $50 billion project slated for the thick jungles near Myanmar’s southern city of Dawei, billed by its developers as the "new global gateway of Indo-China". Big questions surround the far-reaching plans by Thailand’s largest construction firm, Italian-Thai Development Pcl ITD.BK, to transform 250 sq kms (97 sq miles) of scrubland in southern Myanmar into Southeast Asia's largest industrial complex.

• GROUP OF US SENATORS LED BY McCAIN VISITS BURMA
• PAKISTAN PRESIDENT VISITS BURMA
• NORWAY’S FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVED BY BURMESE LEADERS
• IMF AND BURMESE GOVERNMENT HOLD CONSULTATIONS

Read full: POLITICAL MONITOR No. 4/2012: Click

Business is booming at the Golden Sea employment agency in downtown Yangon, but that doesn't mean Myanmar's long-stagnant economy is improving. Quite the opposite. "Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand," said manager Kyaw Thura, listing the countries where he helps the young men crowding his one-room office find jobs as laborers and cooks. "If there were opportunities in Myanmar, they would stay here."