Amid all the celebrations marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (on November 9, 1989), the Washington Post came up with something interesting. “But there are also lessons to be learned from German unification. Here are four – proposed by Germans from both sides of the now-destroyed Berlin Wall.”

1. A divided country needs a joint mission – in Germany, it’s the environment.
2. It only takes one generation to change attitudes and prejudices – a remarkably positive conclusion.
3. Integrating foreigners is important (and eastern Germany would be better off if it had) – I think this is an important point about being as open to difference as possible.
4. Unification can lead to prosperity – it certainly make things easier if a win-win economic scenario unfolds.

Myanmar is also a divided society – broken not simply into west and east, but rather into a multitude of social fragments. Do these lessons apply there too?