Burma’s Generals’ Lair

Want a good look at the bolt-hole Burma’s junta has dug for itself into the mountains at Naypyidaw, the new capital city 200 miles north of Rangoon? This is what it looks like from Google Earth, in real time, in case anybody wants tell fly over and describe to the junta the contempt in which the world holds them.

Apparently concerned about what Burma’s common citizens might do if they ever broke loose and got after them, the junta established the capital in 2005. According to Wikipedia, the government began moving on Nov 6, at the astrologically auspicious time of 6:37 a.m. The number 11 appears to have been very big. On Nov. 11 at 11 am, a second convoy of 1,100 military trucks carrying 11 military battalions and 11 government ministries left Rangoon for the complex. Unfortunately they provided no housing for anybody but themselves. Civil servants had to leave their families behind, a major contributor to unrest in the civil service.