The awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Hussein Obama has been the subject of confusion and derision, but events in Myanmar may offer some insight to the committee’s thinking. President Obama is changing the international game and €35 million in relief seed money may be one sign of the shift.

From The Financial Times:

The European Union has announced an expansion of its aid programme to Burma, reinforcing a western trend towards engagement with the country.

The EU has pledged €35m towards a fund called LIFT – the Livelihoods and Food Security Trust fund – a sum they hope that other donors, including Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark will eventually increase the total to some €100m.

For years, the west tried to isolate the Burmese regime in an attempt to force it to improve its dismal human rights record and move towards democracy, but the sanctions and the calls for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi created little change inside the country.

A hint earlier this year that the United States was rethinking its hard-line isolationism has provoked a cascade of new policies. The move gathered momentum last month when Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said that although they were leaving their sanctions regime in place, it would be accompanied by talks with the generals who run Burma.

Could the West finally abandon the failed policies of isolation for engagement? Will the dictators of the world respond before their people can respond for them?