政經觀點

英國經濟學人週刊七月25日的亞洲Banyan專欄(訂戶可聯結)表示,緬甸的翁山蘇姬與世界民主國家與團體領袖,如美國的希拉蕊外表與聯合國潘基文祕書長等人應體會該國政治困境的歷史因素,並認清經濟發展可以大幅改善該國的福祉,而修改堅持民主改革第一優先的態度.

"...depicting Myanmar as a kind of velvet revolution gone wrong, as Thant Myint-U, a historian of Burma, points out, is to ignore a big part of the picture. The paranoid regime’s inward-looking cast is conditioned by centuries of invasions...
Sanctions have helped bring about no democratic transition in Asia—on the contrary....Development, in other words, could be the fastest path to democracy. Will the courageous Lady admit as much?"

身為經濟學人雜誌十年以上的訂戶,我只能說該專欄必定會引起很大的爭議.畢竟該雜誌長期的立場就是捍衛政治與經濟的民主,自由與開放.該專欄是今年七月新闢的專欄,主筆者不知是何方神聖.

附帶值得一提的是,這篇文章以“The Lady should be for turning”為題,想當年英國柴契爾首相在捍衛她的政策時，曾直言“The Lady is not for turning”．