The focus on rural poor is an Asia-wide development

"Asia Shifts Focus to Rural Development," by Andrew Browne, Wall Street Journal, 20 July, p. A9.

I've blogged plenty recently about how the return of the Congress Party in India and the rise of the fourth-generation of leadership in China reflect a growing sense in both countries' elite political circles that, even as the cities boom as the countries open themselves up to the global economy, the rural poor are largely being left behind and their needs must be far more addressed in coming years if political stability is to be maintained.

What this article does is simply expand that observation to developing Asia as a whole, citing developments in Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere, describing rural development as a "pan-Asian development and investment theme."

If you don't want a resurgence of Maoismóor worse, Pol Pot's scary stuffóthen you have to bring the rural poor along for the globalization ride. As I've said before, the train can't go any faster than the caboose, no matter how hard the engine is pulling things along.