Myanmar's People Rise to The Occasion

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monster & Critics

If anyone deserves a Nobel peace prize this year, it's Myanmar's people and the Buddhist monkhood for daring to take to the streets against a brutish regime that has mired their country in poverty and backwardness for the past four and a half decades.


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Anuk Chopra: Junta Bunkers Down in Jungle Hideaway

Source: Scotsman

At first impression, Naypyidaw hardly feels like a city, but rather a series of eerie zones, carefully dispersed to isolate the different parts of the city from one another. Unlike the crumbling, colonial-era streets of Rangoon, Naypyidaw is quiet and desolate. Due to be completed by 2012, it is reminiscent of Russia's Potemkin villages, fake settlements built in the late 1700s to impress visiting dignitaries during the reign of Catherine II.

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Manish Bhardwaj: The Failed Saffrom Revolution

Source: The Harvard Crimson

History repeats itself not just because of short memories, but because of our instinctual self-centeredness. And since nations are but our own amplified selves, diplomacy, from America to India, triangulates for advantage first and asks questions later.

For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521052

Entertainment Industry Pressured to Condemn DASSK's Statement

Source: Dr Lun Swe

People in the Burmese Entertainment Industry were forced to attend a meeting on Sunday, during which they were made to sign a petition condemning the statement issued by Daw Aung San Su Kyi through UN Special Envoy Professor Gambari. The meeting was led by a few junta supporters with influence in the industry, including a prominent director and a producer. The petition also included content which expressed support for the public rallies advocating the junta’s roadmap to democracy. It is reported that the signed petition will be made public and a copy will be displayed at the (industry) Association’s premises.

For the original article in Burmese, please follow this link: http://drlunswe.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_02.html

Gordon Brown & Nicholas Sarkozy: Time for Serious Dialogue

Source: The International Herald Tribune

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French Preseident Nicholas Sarkozy called for genuine dialogue between the military in Myanmar and opposition parties, in an opinion piece published on Saturday.

It's time the regime engages in a genuine dialogue. In this respect, the regime must remove restraints on Aung San Suu Kyi, give unfettered access to Ibrahim Gambari, the UN secretary general's special envoy, and heed the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Paul Sergio Pinheiro. And they must enter wholeheartedly into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi as well as with other opposition groups and ethnic leaders.

For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8545376

Chin KW: Charter Has to Be More Than a Means to an End

Source: Today Online

We should look at the charter firstly as a facilitating instrument to integration and community building, which are works in progress. It will need to be adjusted as new requirements, expectations and possibilities arise. This is possible due to the provision for review after five years.

Secondly, the charter is the work of 10 nation states. Asean remains no more than the sum of its parts; supra-nationalism is eschewed. If the idealism of the Eminent Persons Group's recommendations is not fully reflected in the final document, it is because drafters were mindful of its acceptability to their respective governments.

Thirdly, if the charter raises expectations within member countries — with respect to democratic values, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, good neighbourly conduct, regional identity and community building — it would have served as a mirror to their respective domestic selves.

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Parallel Editing in Burma

Source: Spero News

Recent and ongoing developments in Burma call for parallel editing - the filmmaking technique of running two scenes concurrently to suggest that they are happening at the same time while ratcheting up suspense.

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Shibly Nabhan: Soft Touch With Myanmar

Source: The Japan Times

Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint recently sent a three-sentence letter to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), addressed to the family of Kenji Nagai, the journalist whose murder in Yangon had been telecast around the world. The scene of him on the ground with a mortal wound, still trying to film while a military goon faced him with a rifle, is not easy to forget.

Myint may have made this vicious tragedy even worse with evasive euphemisms like "I humbly share your grievances as you lost your son unexpectedly." When a military regime sends troops to open fire on demonstrators and visiting reporters, it should hardly be "unexpected" that people will die.

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Matthew Smith: The Politics of Doing Business With A Brutal Regime

Source: Bangkok Post via Burmanet

First, Burma has resources everyone wants. Financial incentives created by the rising cost of oil and regional energy demands have so far trumped ethical challenges to the corporations, even amidst nationwide manhunts, the killing of pro-democracy protesters, and direct human rights and environmental impact from previous natural gas projects. There’s money to be made and economies to expand, notably those of India, China and Thailand, Burma’s largest trading partners.

Second, most corporations prioritise one legal duty above all others, and that is to maximise profit for their shareholders. If backing a murderous junta is profitable, then corporations like Daewoo and Chevron will do this in service to their bottom line.

For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.burmanet.org/news/2007/11/15/bangkok-post-the-politics-of-doing-business-with-a-brutal-regime-matthew-smith/

Kyi May Kaung: Burma Post- Clampdown: What Should Be Done?

Source: The American Prospect

There are many reasons why Gambari, or Suu Kyi, for that matter, has not been seen smiling in recent news photographs.

For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=burma_post_clampdown_what_should_be_done

 

Baladas Ghoshal: Myanmar unrest and prospects for change

Source: The Jakarta Post

The destruction of the universities and lack of job opportunities have led to an exodus of talents from the country. All worthy young people in Myanmar want to leave the country. Those who can not, some make good by joining the Tatmadaw and others join the Monastery.

For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20071114.F04&irec=3

Kyaw Zwa Moe : Junta, You Will Win If You Use Suu Kyi Seriously [Commentary]

Source: Irrawaddy News

Something as simple as Suu Kyi's recent public statement has raised hopes for a genuine dialogue, while also prolonging the lifespan of the generals. Perhaps her statement alone can give the junta another five years to manipulate events to its advantage.

For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9309

 

Star Bulletin: Assure Cedical care and Human Rights in Burma

Source: Star Bulletin

A Hawaii medical mission recently spent a week in Burma to provide medical care.

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Bertil Lintner: India Stands by Burma Status Quo

Source: Asia Times

Burma's principal foreign ally China has shown in the wake of the military junta's recent armed crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators that Beijing is more interested in maintaining stability than pushing for democratic regime change. So then could India, Burma's other key regional ally, be persuaded to use its influence to facilitate political change?

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Kavi Chongkittavorn: Asean and Suu Kyi Develop a New Rapport

Source: The Nation

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's reaction last week to the situation in Burma was constructive as he implicitly indicated that Asean has finally accepted National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a carefully worded statement issued after meeting with UN special envoy for Burma Ibrahim Gambari on Friday, Lee noted Suu Kyi has expressed readiness to cooperate with the Burmese government to open dialogue on national reconciliation and said he believed the UN's help is needed to facilitate this effort. It was the first time Asean has acknowledged Suu Kyi and her political role. The grouping has called for her release since 2003 following international pressure, but it has never been this enthusiastic.

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Strategy Page: Burma Gets a Big Bang For the Buck

Source: Strategy Page

A recent attempt to overthrow the dictatorship in Myanmar (Burma) failed. Quick police action against civilians, and Buddhist monks who organized and led the demonstrations, resulted in about 200 dead, over a thousand injured and at least 3,000 arrested. It all began two months ago, Buddhist monks, mobilized popular unrest over an increase in the price of fuel. The unrest was suppressed with by arrests, raids on monasteries and shutting down cell phone and Internet service.

For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20071111.aspx

Aung Zaw: Decoding Aung San Suu Kyi's Statement

Source: Irrawaddy news

The Lady finally broke her silence with her first public message since she began her current term of house arrest in 2003.

Gambari was vindicated, for until yesterday the latest UN mission to Burma teetered on the edge of failure. But Suu Kyi saved the day—and Gambari’s job—by releasing a statement through the UN envoy.

What is important now is to carefully analyze Suu Kyi’s statement and understand how she currently stands politically.

For the full article, please click here.

Awzar Thi: The Generals' Mythical Compromise

Source: UPI Asia Online

While hundreds of persons remain detained or are missing in the aftermath of the uprising that gripped Burma in September, and new sporadic protests emerge, its national newspapers have consisted of the usual phalanx of army officers forcing their largesse onto Buddhist monks and attending an all-important performing arts festival.

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Yeni: How to save Burma’s future generations?

Source: Irrawaddy News via Burmanet

Traditionally, the Burmese people have believed that society rests on three highly regarded institutions: “Students,” “Monks” and “Soldiers.” All three groups fought for Burma’s independence from the British colonial power and the Japanese occupation. All three had a dream to build a new nation.

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Connie Levett: Burma's junta plays the game, but always to win

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

When the new British ambassador went to Naypyidaw, the remote Burmese capital, to present his diplomatic credentials in mid-2006, he reportedly thought the meeting with Senior General Than Shwe went well. He found out otherwise, when he returned to Rangoon to read a very personal attack in the government-backed press, naming him and accusing him of violating diplomatic procedure by making contact with the main opposition group.

This stage-managed game of diplomatic cat and mouse is one the Burmese generals know well and will happily play all day: appear to be conciliatory, lull the visitor and then snap back.

For the full article, please click here.