The US Embassy Is Live-Tweeting Eric Schmidt's Trip to Burma

Until recently, Burma's government was almost as oppressive as North Korea's. So naturally, Eric Schmidt decided to drop by and talk tech there, too. It seems like the Google chairman had only just returned from his controversial tour of the latter when he announced he'd be visiting the former. Maybe he wanted to prove he could one-up Dennis Rodman.

Whatever the reason, Eric Schmidt is in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, at this very moment. Burma's authoritarian regime has for decades kept its people poor, repressed, and famished. Yet recent, very tentative reforms appear to have the nation inching towards democracy—unlike North Korea, where it seems that every day things are spiraling further out of control.

There's another major difference between the two dictator-led nations: as of last year, Burma has an American embassy. And that is how I know that Eric Schmidt is indeed walking around Burma right now—the US ambassador's office is live-tweeting some of his visit. Since most of the details of the trip were kept secret, the feed provides a fascinating glimpse into another bizarre venture.

For instance, we know that at approximately 10 am in Burma today, according to the official Twitter feed, ambassador Derek Mitchell introduced Schmidt to a "cheering crowd of local tech entrepreneurs in Rangoon."

Schmidt was apparently giving those locals a talk about the promise of technology. He informed them that they lived in "a formerly inaccesible country," but that "the Internet will make it impossible to go back."

LIVE! #Google's Eric Schmidt in Rangoon: "Myanmar was a formerly inaccessible country, but the Internet will make it impossible to go back."

— U.S. Embassy Burma (@USEmbassyBurma) March 22, 2013

"Young people plus technology equals prosperity," he said, according to the embassy's Twitter feed, and also, "Rule number one: don't let the government control the internet."

Some of the above comments are bound to strike observers as tone-deaf. Students, monks, and pro-democracy activists have been putting their lives on the line for decades in an attempt to wrest control of anything at all from the brutal, iron-fisted ruling junta. Until mere months ago, the Myanmar government exerted more control over the internet than anywhere else in the world—and would-be tech entrepreneurs had little say in the matter.

Yet Burma is poised to see a genuine telecom boom now. After the trade sanctions were lifted following 2011's elections, there's been a rush of investment to the largely undeveloped nation. And young entrepreneurs are indeed turning to the internet to start new businesses—there's already a fledgling startup scene in Rangoon, as well as fear of competition from multinationals. What Eric Schmidt has to do with all of the above—besides scoping out an emerging market—remains to be seen. For now, all we've got are the tweets:

#Google's Eric Schmidt:Myanmar is right on the cusp and will be able to leapfrog many other developing countries. This is your big moment.

— U.S. Embassy Burma (@USEmbassyBurma) March 22, 2013

Schmidt: Techonology empowers individuals. One mobile phone in one village can record injustices.

— U.S. Embassy Burma (@USEmbassyBurma) March 22, 2013

#Google's Eric Schmidt: Education is the key to almost anything. It is important for teachers to use technology.

— U.S. Embassy Burma (@USEmbassyBurma) March 22, 2013