Burmese Daze

North Korea is trying to make a new friend by reaching out to a fellow member of the UN's pariah caucus. Apparently the North Koreans are in the process of cementing some sort of supersecret deal with the Burmese (umm, Myanmar) government that 1) could modernize it's military and 2) possibly give it a nuclear capacity. What the North Koreans might get out of this is access to Burma's natural resources. While the two have been engaged in something called operation 'Tortoise Shells,' it's quite unlikely that the tunnels they've been digging are for turtle nesting. The issue is likely to come up at this week's Asean meeting and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called such an alliance as "destabilizing for the region. It would pose a direct threat to Burma's neighbors." To whit, two of America's most important Asian partners: India and China. When your repressive government has friends like the North Koreans, disappear your hope for friends will.