By August 23 - 29, 2010 "THE acrid smell of betel nut permeates the atmosphere in the small office, which is crowded with about 150 people. Many of those gathered ? mostly male and in their 30s and 40s ? are dripping with water, and the monsoon rain hammers down on the gleaming corrugated iron roof. There?s an expectant silence as a sprightly but diminutive older man takes the microphone. U Thu Wai, the 77-year-old chairman of the Democratic Party (Myanmar) begins..."