Η Βόρεια Κορέα δεν είναι η μόνη αποκομμένη απ’ τον κόσμο χούντα στον πλανήτη. Σε ένα εντυπωσιακό κείμενο ο Τζορτζ Πάκερ περιγράφει ένα καθεστώς που δεν θα έπρεπε να υπάρχει στον 21ο αιώνα. Από τον New Yorker:
In 1987, I backpacked through Burma on a one-week visa, the maximum time allowed. I had never seen a place so untouched by the West; even Pepsi was illegal. The country was ruled by General Ne Win, who had led the 1962 coup and subsequently imposed on Burma an isolation nearly as extreme and self-destructive as North Korea’s. He governed through force, paranoia, and superstition: a few weeks before my visit, Ne Win, advised by his astrologer that the number nine was auspicious, abolished all Burmese banknotes of twenty-five, thirty-five, and seventy-five kyats, replacing them with two new denominations—forty-five and ninety—that are divisible by nine and whose numerals add up to nine. Countless Burmese lost their life savings. Yet there were no major protests.
UPDATE: Ο αναγνώστης Γιώργος Ράδος έγραψε μια έρευνα για τη Μπούρμα στα πλαίσια μιας ομαδικής εργασίας για την κλεπτοκρατία. Μπες εντός του post για να τη διαβάσεις.