Australia: Burma

Australia Dept: It was my good fortune to also visit many places after Australia and before Egypt. I made several long journeys across Russia; spent one month in London observing what were arguably the most joyous summer Olympics ever; had a fascinating few weeks tracing India s economic rise and its hiccups; made my first trip to Burma, which was as beguiling, complex and impoverished as I had been lead to believe; and took a far-ranging visit from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. With the exception of Norway and Sweden, the continent is in a gloomy funk of slow decline caused by grotesquely over-generous social programs and by other government misspending, according to Montreal Gazette. Burma, which has long been open to trade with China, now must decide just how to balance that with stronger ties with the West and my year began last January in Australia, which at the time was in the middle of an unprecedented, energy-driven economic boom that has tapered off a bit since. My year ended in the political chaos and gloom that reigns these days in Egypt. Other than Hong Kong, I didn t get to China in 2012, but I felt its growing reach in many countries. Filipinos are jumpy about Beijing s bellicosity in the South China. So are the Japanese although they are in a much better position to do something about it and the Australians, who have busily cementing even stronger military ties with the U.S., just in case. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.