I'm surprised he took this long

Considering the lively political discussions he constantly engages in, I'm surprised it took this long for my friend, Don, to write his own blog. He's currently discussing the relationship of Burma and the Philippines.

I always thought Don was one of those born-again Filipino souls, even though he grew up Mennonite in the central valley of California. His internal mission as it were for human rights brought him to the Philippines in the midst of martial law. He's the one who got me interested in issues in the Philippines in the first place, but he also introduced me to people who gave me a deeper understanding of the complexity of issues involved and to learn to see who the real players were. He's currently based in the Philippines where he's lived for oh a good ten years now.

As some of his initial posts show, Don's the kind of guy that will follow up in verifying information that is going around. He mentioned text messages going around saying "10,000 monks were killed in Burma" after which he asked someone who has followed Burma extensively, what they thought of that. To find out his reply, you'll have to read his blog.