Iranian rial in free fall - said by CNN to be due partly to sanctions -

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/05/news/economy/iran-currency/index.html?source=cnn_bin Burma should try and prevent something similar to this happening, if it becomes evident, as it is, that the junta is not "sincere" about political and economic reforms. In the case of Burma, sanctions can be put on again "any minute" and people have abundantly written that continued human rights abuses in Kachin State and in Arakan mean there is no change. On Sept 14th at the "Rohingya Conference" in NY at Columbia University, in the same auditorium where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was interviewed by Ann Curry a week later, I argued that what we are seeing is just the semblance of change. It is not real because 1. Army Incorporated and its holding company UMEH are still firmly in charge. 2. Farmers do not own their land - what they had was a usufruct or right to cultivate. In China in 1978 -- more than 30 years ago, Deng Xiao Ping's reforms guaranteed 99 year leases for farmers, and that fueled the phenomenal growth of the PRC. 3. On the contrary, in Burma, farmers are suffering major land losses daily. 4. Workers have no rights, just see the daily spate of strikes everywhere. 5. The environment is already badly wounded. 6. What we are seeing is a general run around, smiling at each other, a slightly freer press and a lot of photo opps. Political theater, as one analyst said, does not constitute real change. It's all due to the coincidence of needs and wants between the USA, European countries, the m. country, Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. More later, Kyi May Kaung.