[Thrust]

Trev, rasonline, you cannot use the same line used with East Timor: "because there's no oil there".

...at the risk of repetition, there is quite a bit of oil and gas in Myanmar. Just run a Google on "Myanmar, Oil" (remember Burmah Oil?) and discover what has been going on behind the scenes. You won't like some of it. Take your time and be prepared for a rethink.

Actually I think it is in our interest to go in and help sort out the mess, whatever we do or don't feel in our hearts. Some of the world's most dreaded diseases start out of a breakdown in social cohesion brought about by extreme deprivation or war. (We depend on Indonesia and Vietnam and China to be able to deal domestically with outbreaks of avian influenza, for example.)