Myanmar allows Suu Kyi to meet ailing party elders
AP - 2 hours 38 minutes ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's military authorities have agreed to allow detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to visit old and ailing party leaders at an undisclosed location, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party said Tuesday.
The meeting will take place Wednesday at a location chosen by the government, said Suu Kyi's lawyer and spokesman Nyan Win, who with three other lawyers visited the Nobel peace laureate for two hours Tuesday at her lakeside house in Yangon where she is detained.
In a Nov. 11 letter to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the head of the country's junta, Suu Kyi sought permission to meet several elderly colleagues, and separately with other members of her party's central executive committee. She also requested a meeting with the junta chief to discuss how they can cooperate for the national interest.
The government's liaison with Suu Kyi, Relations Minister Aung Kyi, informed her that she will be allowed to meet the elderly party leaders, though not where she requested, at their homes, Nyan Win said. Police chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi visited Suu Kyi and party Chairman Aung Shwe to make arrangements for the meeting, the spokesman added.
Suu Kyi will be allowed to meet party chairman Aung Shwe, 91, Secretary U Lwin, 86, who has a spinal problem, and Lun Tin, 88.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is optimistic that the government will fulfill all her three requests," said Nyan Win who described her as "jovial, spirited and in good health." Daw is a term of respect used for older women.
Suu Kyi's legal team will present their arguments at the Supreme Court next Monday appealing against the extension of her house arrest. She has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years.
Her party won the last elections held in Myanmar in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.
AP - 2 hours 38 minutes ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's military authorities have agreed to allow detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to visit old and ailing party leaders at an undisclosed location, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party said Tuesday.
The meeting will take place Wednesday at a location chosen by the government, said Suu Kyi's lawyer and spokesman Nyan Win, who with three other lawyers visited the Nobel peace laureate for two hours Tuesday at her lakeside house in Yangon where she is detained.
In a Nov. 11 letter to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the head of the country's junta, Suu Kyi sought permission to meet several elderly colleagues, and separately with other members of her party's central executive committee. She also requested a meeting with the junta chief to discuss how they can cooperate for the national interest.
The government's liaison with Suu Kyi, Relations Minister Aung Kyi, informed her that she will be allowed to meet the elderly party leaders, though not where she requested, at their homes, Nyan Win said. Police chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi visited Suu Kyi and party Chairman Aung Shwe to make arrangements for the meeting, the spokesman added.
Suu Kyi will be allowed to meet party chairman Aung Shwe, 91, Secretary U Lwin, 86, who has a spinal problem, and Lun Tin, 88.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is optimistic that the government will fulfill all her three requests," said Nyan Win who described her as "jovial, spirited and in good health." Daw is a term of respect used for older women.
Suu Kyi's legal team will present their arguments at the Supreme Court next Monday appealing against the extension of her house arrest. She has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years.
Her party won the last elections held in Myanmar in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.
*************************************************************
Thais probe destination for seized NKorean weapons
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 15, 1:01 am ET
BANGKOK – Thai authorities focused Tuesday on the mammoth task of inspecting 35 tons of weapons seized from a cargo plane loaded in North Korea, as details of the aircraft's alleged shady past emerged but its ultimate destination remained a mystery.
More than 100 police and military experts planned an in-depth analysis of the 145 boxes and crates unloaded from the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane, which was impounded Saturday during what authorities called a scheduled refueling stop in Bangkok.
Police Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the police inspection team, said results were not expected to be made public for several days. An initial review found explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments, all of which were moved under high security to an Air Force base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.
"Our objective is to identify in detail the arms and weapons we found, to determine their type, their source of production, their destructive potential, how dangerous they are to people and the laws that apply" to transporting them, Supisarn said.
The five-man crew — four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — were denied bail Monday and ordered held for an extendable period of 12 days. Charged with illegal arms possession, they face up to 10 years in prison but the charge and penalty could change depending on what inspectors find, he said.
The men were being held at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem Central Prison, the current home to suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying arms to dictators and warlords around the world. The U.S. is trying to extradite Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting operation and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New York.
Another link to Bout surfaced among details pointing to the plane's long history of making deliveries for arms dealers, said Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank that is a world leader in tracking the arms trade and analyzing military spending.
According to the crew's Thai lawyer, the plane was registered to Air West, a cargo transport company in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Prior to that it was registered under a company named Beibars linked to Serbian arms trafficker Tonislav Damnjanovic, and before that registered with three companies identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as firms controlled by Bout, said Griffiths, who is leading a project monitoring air cargo companies involved in arms trafficking.
"They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change from one company to another because the previous company has either been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a U.N. trafficking report," he said.
In this case, he said the arms dealers changed the plane's country of registration to Georgia because the European Union had banned all cargo carriers registered in Kazakhstan, where Beibars is registered and where four of the crew members come from.
Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft have been documented by the United Nations as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the plane also was used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in October.
The plane has since continued to change hands. Officials in Kazakhstan and Georgia said Monday that the Air West plane was leased recently to SP Trading Ltd. for transporting cargo. The company operates out of New Zealand, said Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov.
Military analysts said Monday that the arms were likely destined for African rebel groups or a rogue regime like Myanmar.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said authorities were also investigating the Middle East as a possible destination, even though the flight plan indicated the aircraft was headed for the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
Investigations into weapons trafficking shows that documentation such as a flight plan "doesn't mean anything," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow for the Arms Transfers Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The United States, which is particularly concerned about North Korea selling weapons and nuclear technology in the Middle East, reportedly tipped off Thai authorities to the illicit cargo, according to Thai media reports that the government and U.S. Embassy declined to comment on.
Army Gen. Walter "Skip" Sharp, the top U.S. military commander in Korea, said in Washington that he was "not going to give away any of the intelligence as far as how we're watching to see what North Korea is doing up there."
Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the seizure, saying it "shows that sanctions can prevent the proliferation of weapons and it shows that the international community when it stands together can make a very strong statement."
The plane's manifest had described the cargo as oil-drilling equipment, and the crew said the plane was supposed to deliver its cargo to Sri Lanka.
The U.N. sanctions — which ban North Korea from exporting any arms — were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban North Korea's selling any conventional arms.
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 15, 1:01 am ET
BANGKOK – Thai authorities focused Tuesday on the mammoth task of inspecting 35 tons of weapons seized from a cargo plane loaded in North Korea, as details of the aircraft's alleged shady past emerged but its ultimate destination remained a mystery.
More than 100 police and military experts planned an in-depth analysis of the 145 boxes and crates unloaded from the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane, which was impounded Saturday during what authorities called a scheduled refueling stop in Bangkok.
Police Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the police inspection team, said results were not expected to be made public for several days. An initial review found explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments, all of which were moved under high security to an Air Force base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.
"Our objective is to identify in detail the arms and weapons we found, to determine their type, their source of production, their destructive potential, how dangerous they are to people and the laws that apply" to transporting them, Supisarn said.
The five-man crew — four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — were denied bail Monday and ordered held for an extendable period of 12 days. Charged with illegal arms possession, they face up to 10 years in prison but the charge and penalty could change depending on what inspectors find, he said.
The men were being held at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem Central Prison, the current home to suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying arms to dictators and warlords around the world. The U.S. is trying to extradite Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting operation and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New York.
Another link to Bout surfaced among details pointing to the plane's long history of making deliveries for arms dealers, said Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a think tank that is a world leader in tracking the arms trade and analyzing military spending.
According to the crew's Thai lawyer, the plane was registered to Air West, a cargo transport company in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
Prior to that it was registered under a company named Beibars linked to Serbian arms trafficker Tonislav Damnjanovic, and before that registered with three companies identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as firms controlled by Bout, said Griffiths, who is leading a project monitoring air cargo companies involved in arms trafficking.
"They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change from one company to another because the previous company has either been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a U.N. trafficking report," he said.
In this case, he said the arms dealers changed the plane's country of registration to Georgia because the European Union had banned all cargo carriers registered in Kazakhstan, where Beibars is registered and where four of the crew members come from.
Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft have been documented by the United Nations as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the plane also was used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in October.
The plane has since continued to change hands. Officials in Kazakhstan and Georgia said Monday that the Air West plane was leased recently to SP Trading Ltd. for transporting cargo. The company operates out of New Zealand, said Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov.
Military analysts said Monday that the arms were likely destined for African rebel groups or a rogue regime like Myanmar.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said authorities were also investigating the Middle East as a possible destination, even though the flight plan indicated the aircraft was headed for the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
Investigations into weapons trafficking shows that documentation such as a flight plan "doesn't mean anything," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow for the Arms Transfers Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The United States, which is particularly concerned about North Korea selling weapons and nuclear technology in the Middle East, reportedly tipped off Thai authorities to the illicit cargo, according to Thai media reports that the government and U.S. Embassy declined to comment on.
Army Gen. Walter "Skip" Sharp, the top U.S. military commander in Korea, said in Washington that he was "not going to give away any of the intelligence as far as how we're watching to see what North Korea is doing up there."
Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the seizure, saying it "shows that sanctions can prevent the proliferation of weapons and it shows that the international community when it stands together can make a very strong statement."
The plane's manifest had described the cargo as oil-drilling equipment, and the crew said the plane was supposed to deliver its cargo to Sri Lanka.
The U.N. sanctions — which ban North Korea from exporting any arms — were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban North Korea's selling any conventional arms.
*************************************************************
Plane seized by Thais linked to alleged smugglers
By GRANT PECK, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 37 mins ago
BANGKOK (AP) – A weapons-laden cargo plane impounded in Bangkok has links to at least two men accused of global arms trafficking, including one fighting extradition to the U.S. from Thailand, an analyst said Tuesday.
The five-man crew of the aircraft that arrived from North Korea — four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — have been charged with illegal arms possession and face up to 10 years in prison.
The men were being held at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem Central Prison, the current home to suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to dictators and warlords around the world.
Thai officials impounded the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane when it landed in Bangkok on Saturday to refuel, and discovered what they said was 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments — exported in defiance of a U.N. embargo against North Korea.
Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told The Associated Press the aircraft was previously registered under a company named Beibars, which has been linked to Serbian arms trafficker Tomislav Damnjanovic.
In the past, it has also been registered with three companies identified by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control as firms controlled by Bout. The U.S. is trying to extradite Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting operation and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New York.
Researchers said the arms were likely destined for African rebel groups or a rogue regime such as Myanmar. The aircraft's documentation had falsely described its cargo as oil-drilling equipment, and declared it was bound for Sri Lanka. Thai officials are skeptical that that was the true destination.
Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the Thai police inspection team, estimated the value of the weapons at about 500-600 million baht ($15 million-18 million).
Supisarn said more serious charges, possibly carrying the death penalty, would be added because the haul included explosives.
Prison director Sopon Thititam-pruek said the crew members were being held in separate cells, and guards were keeping a close eye on them to prevent them from meeting Bout.
Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft have been documented by the United Nations as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the plane also was used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in October.
"They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change from one company to another because the previous company has either been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a U.N. trafficking report," Griffiths said.
Siemon Wezeman, a Senior Fellow at SIPRI, said the types of arms found in the aircraft — used to add firepower against planes and tanks in the arsenal of government forces — were typical of those used by insurgent movements, and raised suspicion they could be headed for an African rebel group.
Possible buyers included Sudan, which might pass the weapons to rebel groups in Chad, and Eritrea, which might keep them for its own arsenal or pass them on to warring factions in Somalia, said Christian LeMiere, editor of the London-based Jane's Intelligence Weekly.
The United States, which is particularly concerned about North Korea selling weapons and nuclear technology in the Middle East, reportedly tipped off Thai authorities to the illicit cargo. The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment.
Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
U.N. sanctions were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban North Korea's selling of any conventional arms.
By GRANT PECK, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 37 mins ago
BANGKOK (AP) – A weapons-laden cargo plane impounded in Bangkok has links to at least two men accused of global arms trafficking, including one fighting extradition to the U.S. from Thailand, an analyst said Tuesday.
The five-man crew of the aircraft that arrived from North Korea — four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus — have been charged with illegal arms possession and face up to 10 years in prison.
The men were being held at Bangkok's high-security Klong Prem Central Prison, the current home to suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, once dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to dictators and warlords around the world.
Thai officials impounded the Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane when it landed in Bangkok on Saturday to refuel, and discovered what they said was 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, components for surface-to-air missiles and other armaments — exported in defiance of a U.N. embargo against North Korea.
Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told The Associated Press the aircraft was previously registered under a company named Beibars, which has been linked to Serbian arms trafficker Tomislav Damnjanovic.
In the past, it has also been registered with three companies identified by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control as firms controlled by Bout. The U.S. is trying to extradite Bout, who was arrested in March 2008 during a U.S.-led sting operation and subsequently indicted on four terrorism charges in New York.
Researchers said the arms were likely destined for African rebel groups or a rogue regime such as Myanmar. The aircraft's documentation had falsely described its cargo as oil-drilling equipment, and declared it was bound for Sri Lanka. Thai officials are skeptical that that was the true destination.
Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath, head of the Thai police inspection team, estimated the value of the weapons at about 500-600 million baht ($15 million-18 million).
Supisarn said more serious charges, possibly carrying the death penalty, would be added because the haul included explosives.
Prison director Sopon Thititam-pruek said the crew members were being held in separate cells, and guards were keeping a close eye on them to prevent them from meeting Bout.
Griffiths said the past owners of the aircraft have been documented by the United Nations as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad. He said the plane also was used to ship arms from the Balkans to Burundi in October.
"They are like flocks of migrating birds, these aircraft. They change from one company to another because the previous company has either been closed down for safety reasons or been identified in a U.N. trafficking report," Griffiths said.
Siemon Wezeman, a Senior Fellow at SIPRI, said the types of arms found in the aircraft — used to add firepower against planes and tanks in the arsenal of government forces — were typical of those used by insurgent movements, and raised suspicion they could be headed for an African rebel group.
Possible buyers included Sudan, which might pass the weapons to rebel groups in Chad, and Eritrea, which might keep them for its own arsenal or pass them on to warring factions in Somalia, said Christian LeMiere, editor of the London-based Jane's Intelligence Weekly.
The United States, which is particularly concerned about North Korea selling weapons and nuclear technology in the Middle East, reportedly tipped off Thai authorities to the illicit cargo. The U.S. Embassy has declined to comment.
Impoverished North Korea is believed to earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling missiles, missile parts and other weapons to countries such as Iran, Syria and Myanmar.
U.N. sanctions were imposed in June after the reclusive communist regime conducted a nuclear test and test-fired missiles. They are aimed at derailing North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also ban North Korea's selling of any conventional arms.
*************************************************************
Clinton outlines human rights policy
By David Alexander – Mon Dec 14, 5:29 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a U.S. human rights agenda on Monday calling for universal standards that apply to all nations, prompting rights groups to urge the administration to live up to its rhetoric.
Just days after President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize while defending the concept of a just war, Clinton outlined a human rights policy calling for people to be free from tyranny but also free to "seize the opportunities of a full life."
Human rights experts said the speech was important, coming at a time when the Obama administration's message on human rights had become increasingly muddied but they said the proof would be in the administration's actions.
Clinton angered rights groups in February when she said U.S. concerns about human rights in China would not disrupt financial or other diplomatic relations with Beijing.
An op-ed piece in The Washington Post sharply criticized the administration on Sunday, saying that "from China to Sudan, from Burma to Iran, a president lauded for his commitment to peace has dialed down a U.S. commitment to human rights."
Clinton, in her speech at Georgetown University, outlined a pragmatic approach toward human rights that would press for democratic principles and development but be flexible in the methods it used to pursue the policy.
"This administration, like others before us, will promote, support and defend democracy," she said. "Democracy has proven the best political system for making human rights a reality over the long term."
Clinton said a commitment to human rights started with universal principles. She noted that Obama wanted Guantanamo prison closed and had issued an executive order his second day in office prohibiting the use of torture by any U.S. official.
She said the United States would report next year on human trafficking both at home and abroad, and would participate in a U.N. review of "our own human rights record, just as we encourage other nations to do."
Rights experts welcomed the address, but said the administration must follow through.
"It goes a long way to laying out a vision of where human rights sits in the Obama administration," said Sarah Mendelson, head of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
PHILOSOPHICAL SHIFT
She said Clinton's discussion of the United States' own compliance with human rights principles was a philosophical shift from the Bush administration.
"By placing our own human rights record as fundamental ... that is really, I think for a lot of us, very critical, very important," Mendelson said.
Amnesty International said Clinton "rightly identifies accountability as the centerpiece of any successful human rights agenda for the United States."
"But if the administration means what it says, then it needs to follow through and back up rhetoric with action. Discussion of human rights can't be an empty rebranding exercise."
Clinton said the administration's approach to pursuing its rights agenda would be "pragmatic and agile," upholding its principles but "doing what is most likely to make them real."
"When old approaches aren't working, we won't be afraid to attempt new ones," Clinton said, pointing to the recent U.S. efforts at engaging the military-led government in Myanmar after years of trying to isolate it.
She said the United States would approach major powers like China and Russia with "principled pragmatism," recognizing that cooperation is critical to the global economy and for dealing with security issues like North Korea's nuclear program.
In both countries, she said, the United States would engage with the government as well as individuals or groups that are working to advance human rights and democracy.
"We support change driven by citizens and their communities," Clinton said. "The project of making human rights a human reality cannot be just a project for governments. It requires cooperation among individuals and organizations."
By David Alexander – Mon Dec 14, 5:29 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a U.S. human rights agenda on Monday calling for universal standards that apply to all nations, prompting rights groups to urge the administration to live up to its rhetoric.
Just days after President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize while defending the concept of a just war, Clinton outlined a human rights policy calling for people to be free from tyranny but also free to "seize the opportunities of a full life."
Human rights experts said the speech was important, coming at a time when the Obama administration's message on human rights had become increasingly muddied but they said the proof would be in the administration's actions.
Clinton angered rights groups in February when she said U.S. concerns about human rights in China would not disrupt financial or other diplomatic relations with Beijing.
An op-ed piece in The Washington Post sharply criticized the administration on Sunday, saying that "from China to Sudan, from Burma to Iran, a president lauded for his commitment to peace has dialed down a U.S. commitment to human rights."
Clinton, in her speech at Georgetown University, outlined a pragmatic approach toward human rights that would press for democratic principles and development but be flexible in the methods it used to pursue the policy.
"This administration, like others before us, will promote, support and defend democracy," she said. "Democracy has proven the best political system for making human rights a reality over the long term."
Clinton said a commitment to human rights started with universal principles. She noted that Obama wanted Guantanamo prison closed and had issued an executive order his second day in office prohibiting the use of torture by any U.S. official.
She said the United States would report next year on human trafficking both at home and abroad, and would participate in a U.N. review of "our own human rights record, just as we encourage other nations to do."
Rights experts welcomed the address, but said the administration must follow through.
"It goes a long way to laying out a vision of where human rights sits in the Obama administration," said Sarah Mendelson, head of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
PHILOSOPHICAL SHIFT
She said Clinton's discussion of the United States' own compliance with human rights principles was a philosophical shift from the Bush administration.
"By placing our own human rights record as fundamental ... that is really, I think for a lot of us, very critical, very important," Mendelson said.
Amnesty International said Clinton "rightly identifies accountability as the centerpiece of any successful human rights agenda for the United States."
"But if the administration means what it says, then it needs to follow through and back up rhetoric with action. Discussion of human rights can't be an empty rebranding exercise."
Clinton said the administration's approach to pursuing its rights agenda would be "pragmatic and agile," upholding its principles but "doing what is most likely to make them real."
"When old approaches aren't working, we won't be afraid to attempt new ones," Clinton said, pointing to the recent U.S. efforts at engaging the military-led government in Myanmar after years of trying to isolate it.
She said the United States would approach major powers like China and Russia with "principled pragmatism," recognizing that cooperation is critical to the global economy and for dealing with security issues like North Korea's nuclear program.
In both countries, she said, the United States would engage with the government as well as individuals or groups that are working to advance human rights and democracy.
"We support change driven by citizens and their communities," Clinton said. "The project of making human rights a human reality cannot be just a project for governments. It requires cooperation among individuals and organizations."
*************************************************************
The Christian Science Monitor - North Korea weapons: How much slips through?
The recent seizure of an illegal weapons shipment from North Korea in Thailand was praised. But analysts wonder how many weapons shipments sneak through.
By Donald Kirk Correspondent / December 14, 2009
Washington, DC
The seizure at Bangkok’s airport of 35 tons of North Korean arms being shipped by plane raises a disturbing question: How many weapons is North Korea managing to ship undetected to Iran and other clients worldwide?
The commander of US troops in Korea, General Walter Sharp, cited Monday the UN resolution imposing stringent sanctions on North Korean weapons sales as the key to halting the shipments. He refrained, however, from talking about the intelligence that tipped off authorities in Thailand to the cargo they found aboard the plane during a refueling stop at Don Muang military airport.
He acknowledged frustration in determining how important the cargo was in the overall scheme of North Korean arms exports. “I’d like to know the answer,” he said at a seminar in Washington, at which he largely focused on strengthening the US military alliance with South Korea.
Analysts say it is hard to judge how successful the UN sanctions resolution, adopted in June shortly after North Korea’s second nuclear test, has really been.
“I don’t think they have accurate figures,” says Victor Cha, former director of Asia affairs at the National Cecurity Council during the presidency of George W. Bush. “The big thing is we need [is] better cooperation from China and Russia.”
Although both China and Russia joined in supporting the UN resolution, some analysts suspect that North Korea is still able to ship arms through both countries by plane or overland. “I don’t think we know about them,” says Mr. Cha, who chairs the Korea program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “That’s the hardest thing.”
Cha cites the recent visit of China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to North Korea, followed by that of China’s defense minister, as fueling fears that North Korea may on occasion be able to send arms surreptitiously through China.
He remains confident, however, of cooperation among Southeast Asian nations, from Singapore to Thailand. Even Burma (Myanmar), he notes, is refusing arms shipments from North Korea after a North Korean freighter believed to be seeking to break an arms embargo on Burma turned back as US ships tracked it.
Thai authorities continue to hold five men, four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus, found aboard the plane, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76 registered in Georgia. They said they were carrying oil drilling equipment when they asked to land and refuel, but instead the plane was discovered to have missile components along with rocket-propelled grenades and other weaponry.
South Korean analysts see the seizure of the cargo as evidence of a “two-track" strategy pursued by the US in dealing with North Korea.
Kim Yeon-soo, a professor at the Korea National Defense University, was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying the US “has employed a two-track strategy of sanctions and negotiations.” He called the incident “a chance to show that, apart from dialogue, sanctions will continue for North Korea’s behavior.”
One question is the extent to which South Korea is willing to act aggressively to stop North Korean arms shipments by sea – or to support US aims outside Korea.
The recent seizure of an illegal weapons shipment from North Korea in Thailand was praised. But analysts wonder how many weapons shipments sneak through.
By Donald Kirk Correspondent / December 14, 2009
Washington, DC
The seizure at Bangkok’s airport of 35 tons of North Korean arms being shipped by plane raises a disturbing question: How many weapons is North Korea managing to ship undetected to Iran and other clients worldwide?
The commander of US troops in Korea, General Walter Sharp, cited Monday the UN resolution imposing stringent sanctions on North Korean weapons sales as the key to halting the shipments. He refrained, however, from talking about the intelligence that tipped off authorities in Thailand to the cargo they found aboard the plane during a refueling stop at Don Muang military airport.
He acknowledged frustration in determining how important the cargo was in the overall scheme of North Korean arms exports. “I’d like to know the answer,” he said at a seminar in Washington, at which he largely focused on strengthening the US military alliance with South Korea.
Analysts say it is hard to judge how successful the UN sanctions resolution, adopted in June shortly after North Korea’s second nuclear test, has really been.
“I don’t think they have accurate figures,” says Victor Cha, former director of Asia affairs at the National Cecurity Council during the presidency of George W. Bush. “The big thing is we need [is] better cooperation from China and Russia.”
Although both China and Russia joined in supporting the UN resolution, some analysts suspect that North Korea is still able to ship arms through both countries by plane or overland. “I don’t think we know about them,” says Mr. Cha, who chairs the Korea program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “That’s the hardest thing.”
Cha cites the recent visit of China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to North Korea, followed by that of China’s defense minister, as fueling fears that North Korea may on occasion be able to send arms surreptitiously through China.
He remains confident, however, of cooperation among Southeast Asian nations, from Singapore to Thailand. Even Burma (Myanmar), he notes, is refusing arms shipments from North Korea after a North Korean freighter believed to be seeking to break an arms embargo on Burma turned back as US ships tracked it.
Thai authorities continue to hold five men, four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus, found aboard the plane, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76 registered in Georgia. They said they were carrying oil drilling equipment when they asked to land and refuel, but instead the plane was discovered to have missile components along with rocket-propelled grenades and other weaponry.
South Korean analysts see the seizure of the cargo as evidence of a “two-track" strategy pursued by the US in dealing with North Korea.
Kim Yeon-soo, a professor at the Korea National Defense University, was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying the US “has employed a two-track strategy of sanctions and negotiations.” He called the incident “a chance to show that, apart from dialogue, sanctions will continue for North Korea’s behavior.”
One question is the extent to which South Korea is willing to act aggressively to stop North Korean arms shipments by sea – or to support US aims outside Korea.
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EarthTimes - Myanmar opposition leader meets with lawyers to discuss appeal
Posted : Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:39:57 GMT
Yangon - Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed a rare meeting with her lawyers Tuesday to discuss her appeal, government sources said. The country's ruling military junta allowed her legal team of Kyi Win, Nyan Win, Hla Myo Myint and Khin Htay Kywe to visit her house-cum-prison in Yangon, where Suu Kyi has been kept under detention for 14 of the past 20 years.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate last met with her legal team on November 26 when they disclosed that the Supreme Court had decided to hear Suu Kyi's request for an appeal against her recent sentence of 18 months of detention for allowing an uninvited US national to visit her home in May.
The Supreme Court was due to decide on December 21 whether to hear Suu Kyi's appeal.
She was originally sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour for allowing American John Yettaw to swim to her house on Inya Lake in May, an act that was ruled a breach of her terms of imprisonment. The sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest.
Many analysts said Yettaw's bizarre swim to Suu Kyi's home in early May to warn her of an assassination attempt he dreamed about was an unexpected gift to the ruling generals because her previous period of detention was about to expire.
Her latest sentence should keep her out of circulation next year when the military plans to hold the first general election since 1990.
Yettaw, 53, was sentenced to seven years in jail but was soon allowed to leave the country.
The United States and many Western countries have warned the junta that if the upcoming election is to be seen as credible, Suu Kyi and the country's other political prisoners should be released beforehand.
Posted : Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:39:57 GMT
Yangon - Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed a rare meeting with her lawyers Tuesday to discuss her appeal, government sources said. The country's ruling military junta allowed her legal team of Kyi Win, Nyan Win, Hla Myo Myint and Khin Htay Kywe to visit her house-cum-prison in Yangon, where Suu Kyi has been kept under detention for 14 of the past 20 years.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate last met with her legal team on November 26 when they disclosed that the Supreme Court had decided to hear Suu Kyi's request for an appeal against her recent sentence of 18 months of detention for allowing an uninvited US national to visit her home in May.
The Supreme Court was due to decide on December 21 whether to hear Suu Kyi's appeal.
She was originally sentenced to three years in jail with hard labour for allowing American John Yettaw to swim to her house on Inya Lake in May, an act that was ruled a breach of her terms of imprisonment. The sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest.
Many analysts said Yettaw's bizarre swim to Suu Kyi's home in early May to warn her of an assassination attempt he dreamed about was an unexpected gift to the ruling generals because her previous period of detention was about to expire.
Her latest sentence should keep her out of circulation next year when the military plans to hold the first general election since 1990.
Yettaw, 53, was sentenced to seven years in jail but was soon allowed to leave the country.
The United States and many Western countries have warned the junta that if the upcoming election is to be seen as credible, Suu Kyi and the country's other political prisoners should be released beforehand.
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BusinessGhana - Singapore to provide full scholarships to Myanmar students in technology
News Date: 15th December 2009
Three universities of Singapore will provide full scholarships to Myanmar students for them to pursue in technological field as part of Singapore's aid to help the country develop human resources in the sector, sources with the education circle said on Thursday.
Offered by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU), the scholarship winning students are to attend full-time undergraduate degree course on nine technological major subjects in the 2010-11 academic year.
There have been some Singapore institutes extending such scholarships to Myanmar students. These institutes include MDIS , ERC, Nanyang Institute of Management (NIM), PSB Academy and TMC Private College of International and TMC Academy.
The scholarships cover those for pursuing master degree or diplomas in tourism and hospitality management, finance, economy and computer game creation, journalism, mass communications, public relations, accounting and
finance, international business management and marketing, logistics management, e-business and e- commerce, construction management and property.
News Date: 15th December 2009
Three universities of Singapore will provide full scholarships to Myanmar students for them to pursue in technological field as part of Singapore's aid to help the country develop human resources in the sector, sources with the education circle said on Thursday.
Offered by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU), the scholarship winning students are to attend full-time undergraduate degree course on nine technological major subjects in the 2010-11 academic year.
There have been some Singapore institutes extending such scholarships to Myanmar students. These institutes include MDIS , ERC, Nanyang Institute of Management (NIM), PSB Academy and TMC Private College of International and TMC Academy.
The scholarships cover those for pursuing master degree or diplomas in tourism and hospitality management, finance, economy and computer game creation, journalism, mass communications, public relations, accounting and
finance, international business management and marketing, logistics management, e-business and e- commerce, construction management and property.
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12/15/2009 16:30
MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Child soldiers and opium cultivation, two faces of Burma’s dark pit
The authorities are recruiting children with money and food to fight rebels and use as security forces in next year’s elections. Surface used for opium cultivation increased by 50 per cent since 2006. With drug proceeds, rebels buy weapons.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The number of child soldiers and the surface devolved to opium cultivation have increased in Myanmar. Ostensibly different, the two issues are closely related because rebel groups among the country’s ethnic minorities rely on drug trafficking to buy weapons. In response, the Myanmar military is recruiting young soldiers to field against the rebels and maintain security ahead of next year’s elections.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently noted a worrying rise in the extent of opium cultivation in Myanmar; the amount of land used for growing the drug has increased by almost 50 per cent since 2006 (+ 11 per cent over last year).
Over 31,000 hectares of land are now devoted to opium. This is still a far cry from the 1990s, when Burma was the world's largest opium producer, part of the infamous Golden Triangle. However, “the trend is going in the wrong direction,” said Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN drugs agency, and will become a major problem in the future.
More than a million people are now involved in opium cultivation in Myanmar, most of them in Shan State. About 95 percent of Myanmar’s poppies are grown in this region located on the border with China, Laos and Thailand.
“Ceasefire groups—autonomous ethnic militias—are selling drugs to buy weapons, and moving stocks to avoid detection,” Costa said.
Despite the increase in cultivation, the potential value of opium production in Myanmar fell by 15 per cent from US$ 123 million in 2008 to $104 million in 2009.
In addition to the drug problem, the country is also confronted by the curse of child soldiers conscripted by the military.
Money and food are offered to the families of underage recruits, this according to Guiding Star, a legal advocacy group, which was quoted in the Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident online Burmese magazine.
Despite the difficulty in getting official information, boys aged 12 to 17 are known to have been inducted into the army, and this despite a law that requires soldiers to be at least 18 years of age.
Aye Myint, a Guiding Star member in Bago, said that his group could attest to 115 cases of child soldiers since last May, mostly in Mandalay, Bago and Irrawaddy.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has also raised the issue. Maung Maung Lay, from Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network, said his organisation is aware of 41 cases of child soldiers since April of this year.
Aye Myint said that trafficking in child soldiers is becoming a real business with the army paying 50 dollars and bag of rice for anyone supplying a new recruit (whatever the age) for the army.
Myanmar currently has the highest military to civilian ratio but is still eager to recruit more.
This might be due to next year’s elections, which are expected to lead to high tensions, following protests in 2007 when the people were loud and clear in their demand for democracy and human rights.
MYANMAR
AsiaNews.it - Child soldiers and opium cultivation, two faces of Burma’s dark pit
The authorities are recruiting children with money and food to fight rebels and use as security forces in next year’s elections. Surface used for opium cultivation increased by 50 per cent since 2006. With drug proceeds, rebels buy weapons.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The number of child soldiers and the surface devolved to opium cultivation have increased in Myanmar. Ostensibly different, the two issues are closely related because rebel groups among the country’s ethnic minorities rely on drug trafficking to buy weapons. In response, the Myanmar military is recruiting young soldiers to field against the rebels and maintain security ahead of next year’s elections.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently noted a worrying rise in the extent of opium cultivation in Myanmar; the amount of land used for growing the drug has increased by almost 50 per cent since 2006 (+ 11 per cent over last year).
Over 31,000 hectares of land are now devoted to opium. This is still a far cry from the 1990s, when Burma was the world's largest opium producer, part of the infamous Golden Triangle. However, “the trend is going in the wrong direction,” said Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN drugs agency, and will become a major problem in the future.
More than a million people are now involved in opium cultivation in Myanmar, most of them in Shan State. About 95 percent of Myanmar’s poppies are grown in this region located on the border with China, Laos and Thailand.
“Ceasefire groups—autonomous ethnic militias—are selling drugs to buy weapons, and moving stocks to avoid detection,” Costa said.
Despite the increase in cultivation, the potential value of opium production in Myanmar fell by 15 per cent from US$ 123 million in 2008 to $104 million in 2009.
In addition to the drug problem, the country is also confronted by the curse of child soldiers conscripted by the military.
Money and food are offered to the families of underage recruits, this according to Guiding Star, a legal advocacy group, which was quoted in the Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident online Burmese magazine.
Despite the difficulty in getting official information, boys aged 12 to 17 are known to have been inducted into the army, and this despite a law that requires soldiers to be at least 18 years of age.
Aye Myint, a Guiding Star member in Bago, said that his group could attest to 115 cases of child soldiers since last May, mostly in Mandalay, Bago and Irrawaddy.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has also raised the issue. Maung Maung Lay, from Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network, said his organisation is aware of 41 cases of child soldiers since April of this year.
Aye Myint said that trafficking in child soldiers is becoming a real business with the army paying 50 dollars and bag of rice for anyone supplying a new recruit (whatever the age) for the army.
Myanmar currently has the highest military to civilian ratio but is still eager to recruit more.
This might be due to next year’s elections, which are expected to lead to high tensions, following protests in 2007 when the people were loud and clear in their demand for democracy and human rights.
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ESCAP-involved seminar on development co-op to open in Myanmar
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 11:17:58
YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A seminar on development cooperation, jointly organized by Myanmar and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP),is due to open in Nay Pyi Taw later on Tuesday.
The second seminar of its kind, sponsored by Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development as well as the ESCAP, is to be attended by visiting UN Under Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Noeleen Heyzer and respective Myanmar ministers Major-General Htay Oo and U Soe Tha as well as officials of the ministries, official media report said Tuesday.
Heyzer, who arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, was received by Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein in the new capital Monday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
According to other reports, invited by the ESCAP, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who is also a former chief economist at the World Bank, will also attend the forum on the country's rural development policy highlighting strategy on development and poverty alleviation.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 11:17:58
YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A seminar on development cooperation, jointly organized by Myanmar and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP),is due to open in Nay Pyi Taw later on Tuesday.
The second seminar of its kind, sponsored by Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development as well as the ESCAP, is to be attended by visiting UN Under Secretary-General and ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Noeleen Heyzer and respective Myanmar ministers Major-General Htay Oo and U Soe Tha as well as officials of the ministries, official media report said Tuesday.
Heyzer, who arrived in Myanmar on Sunday, was received by Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein in the new capital Monday, said the New Light of Myanmar.
According to other reports, invited by the ESCAP, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who is also a former chief economist at the World Bank, will also attend the forum on the country's rural development policy highlighting strategy on development and poverty alleviation.
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Myanmar, Vietnam seek direct air link to boost economic, trade co-op
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 12:01:29
by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Vietnam have been seeking direct air link as part of their efforts to boost the two countries' economic and trade cooperation and the current visit to Nay Pyi Taw of Vice-President of Vietnam Airlines Duong Tri Thanh is seen as paving way for the establishment.
According to Tuesday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar, Myanmar Deputy Minister of Transport Colonel Nyan Tun met with Thanh in the new capital Monday and had discussions on matters relating to aviation between the two countries.
Myanmar tourism circle expects that the probable Yangon-Hanoi direct air link would bring in more tourists and boost Myanmar's tourism industry.
World travelers especially those from Japan can travel to Myanmar via Hanoi, from America via Japan and Hanoi, and from South Korea via Hanoi if the air link is established, said the Myanmar Travel and Tourism Association.
So far, Myanmar has direct air links mainly with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and China, and most of the world tourists especially from Asia and Europe come to Myanmar via Bangkok.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese businessmen are reported to plan investment in Myanmar hotel industry for the first time as part of its engagement in the country, according to the Myanmar Hoteliers Association.
The planned hotel is to be built near Myanmar's current top-level one, the Sedona, located on the Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the biggest city of Yangon.
There are some other foreign-invested hotels operating in the city, which are three from Thailand, one from Singapore and one other from China.
In November, a Vietnamese ministerial delegation and officials of Myanmar's biggest business organization met in Yangon.
The discussions between the Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien, and the Myanmar delegation, led by President of the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) U Win Myint, covered matters relating to economic and trade opportunities and cooperation between the two countries, exchanging of delegations, study of agricultural technology, trade and investment.
Some Vietnamese entrepreneurs, who had visited Myanmar, held that they wanted to put a first hand into the Myanmar market in the light of Myanmar's foreseen political and economic evolution ahead although its current investment in Myanmar reached merely 0.15 percent of the total.
According to the official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988. Vietnam's in Myanmar hit 23.4 million U.S. dollars in nearly 21 years up to the end of August this year
The investment was highlighted by that in the oil and gas sector injected in September 2008 with 20 million dollars along with the Russian Federation's 94 million dollars in the same sector on the same month.
Vietnamese businessmen said they wants to expand investment in the fishery and hotel industry.
Vietnam stands the 16th among Myanmar's exporting countries. Myanmar mainly exported its forestry products to Vietnam, followed by agricultural produces, seafood and electrical spare parts, while it imported from Vietnam steel, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, medicines, industrial products, chemical products, computer and accessories, plastic, cosmetics and engine oil.
Under a memorandum of understanding reached at the 5th meeting of the Myanmar-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee at the Vietnamese port city of Ho Chi Minh in February this year, Vietnam will import over 5 million U.S. dollars' hardwood from Myanmar and the activity will be carried out in 2010, according to the commerce authorities.
Official statistics show that Myanmar-Vietnam bilateral trade in the first nine months of 2009 hit 60 million dollars. Of the total, Myanmar's export to Vietnam took 42 million dollars, while its import from Vietnam stood 18 million dollars, enjoying a trade surplus of 24 million dollars.
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-15 12:01:29
by Feng Yingqiu
YANGON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Vietnam have been seeking direct air link as part of their efforts to boost the two countries' economic and trade cooperation and the current visit to Nay Pyi Taw of Vice-President of Vietnam Airlines Duong Tri Thanh is seen as paving way for the establishment.
According to Tuesday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar, Myanmar Deputy Minister of Transport Colonel Nyan Tun met with Thanh in the new capital Monday and had discussions on matters relating to aviation between the two countries.
Myanmar tourism circle expects that the probable Yangon-Hanoi direct air link would bring in more tourists and boost Myanmar's tourism industry.
World travelers especially those from Japan can travel to Myanmar via Hanoi, from America via Japan and Hanoi, and from South Korea via Hanoi if the air link is established, said the Myanmar Travel and Tourism Association.
So far, Myanmar has direct air links mainly with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and China, and most of the world tourists especially from Asia and Europe come to Myanmar via Bangkok.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese businessmen are reported to plan investment in Myanmar hotel industry for the first time as part of its engagement in the country, according to the Myanmar Hoteliers Association.
The planned hotel is to be built near Myanmar's current top-level one, the Sedona, located on the Kaba Aye Pagoda Road in the biggest city of Yangon.
There are some other foreign-invested hotels operating in the city, which are three from Thailand, one from Singapore and one other from China.
In November, a Vietnamese ministerial delegation and officials of Myanmar's biggest business organization met in Yangon.
The discussions between the Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien, and the Myanmar delegation, led by President of the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) U Win Myint, covered matters relating to economic and trade opportunities and cooperation between the two countries, exchanging of delegations, study of agricultural technology, trade and investment.
Some Vietnamese entrepreneurs, who had visited Myanmar, held that they wanted to put a first hand into the Myanmar market in the light of Myanmar's foreseen political and economic evolution ahead although its current investment in Myanmar reached merely 0.15 percent of the total.
According to the official statistics, since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988. Vietnam's in Myanmar hit 23.4 million U.S. dollars in nearly 21 years up to the end of August this year
The investment was highlighted by that in the oil and gas sector injected in September 2008 with 20 million dollars along with the Russian Federation's 94 million dollars in the same sector on the same month.
Vietnamese businessmen said they wants to expand investment in the fishery and hotel industry.
Vietnam stands the 16th among Myanmar's exporting countries. Myanmar mainly exported its forestry products to Vietnam, followed by agricultural produces, seafood and electrical spare parts, while it imported from Vietnam steel, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, medicines, industrial products, chemical products, computer and accessories, plastic, cosmetics and engine oil.
Under a memorandum of understanding reached at the 5th meeting of the Myanmar-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee at the Vietnamese port city of Ho Chi Minh in February this year, Vietnam will import over 5 million U.S. dollars' hardwood from Myanmar and the activity will be carried out in 2010, according to the commerce authorities.
Official statistics show that Myanmar-Vietnam bilateral trade in the first nine months of 2009 hit 60 million dollars. Of the total, Myanmar's export to Vietnam took 42 million dollars, while its import from Vietnam stood 18 million dollars, enjoying a trade surplus of 24 million dollars.
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Japan Today - 37 Myanmar exiles in Japan apply for long-term residency
Tuesday 15th December, 06:49 AM JST
TOKYO — A group of 37 people from Myanmar who were exceptionally granted leave to remain in Japan without refugee status applied Monday for more stable long-term residency at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, their lawyers said.
According to the lawyers, the 37 people from 22 families living in Tokyo and Gunma, Saitama and Chiba prefectures have applied for long-term residency because they may not be able to renew their current residence status if the situation in Myanmar changes. Also, their current status does not allow them to bring over family members from Myanmar or receive welfare benefits.
Less than 20% of applicants for long-term residency have been granted the status this year, according to research by the legal team, and a man who had made such an application committed suicide in April because he was unable to bring over family members.
Tuesday 15th December, 06:49 AM JST
TOKYO — A group of 37 people from Myanmar who were exceptionally granted leave to remain in Japan without refugee status applied Monday for more stable long-term residency at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, their lawyers said.
According to the lawyers, the 37 people from 22 families living in Tokyo and Gunma, Saitama and Chiba prefectures have applied for long-term residency because they may not be able to renew their current residence status if the situation in Myanmar changes. Also, their current status does not allow them to bring over family members from Myanmar or receive welfare benefits.
Less than 20% of applicants for long-term residency have been granted the status this year, according to research by the legal team, and a man who had made such an application committed suicide in April because he was unable to bring over family members.
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Asian Tribune - Burma: Is Something Better Than Nothing?
Wed, 2009-12-16 00:59 — editor
By Dr. Kanbawza Win
We're just days away from 2010 - a defining year for Burma, as we witness the opposition composed of ethnics and pro democracy movement. have to admit that they have been soundly beaten. First, they lost is in the battle fields and very lately in the diplomatic arena, where the Junta scored a major victory of recognition without yielding an inch from the Western countries who claims to be the defender of Democracy and Human Rights. Now, the Junta is going to be legitimized by its phony elections.
The Burmese regime has claimed to hold a new election in 2010 to facilitate a formation of a civil-military government in accordance with the military-orchestrated constitution with a rigged referendum. The prospect of the new election is a moral and strategic dilemma to the democratic movement, especially the NLD and its supporters who are entrenched in upholding their eighteen-year-old election. Will the moderates group participate or not seems to be the key factor in deciding the authenticity of the elections.
That is why the Euro Burma Office, Director said, “For the people inside, they cannot avoid casting votes and if they don’t have their own candidates, then they will have to choose the Junta’s candidates. Or better if they could set up their own parties, hoping some of their candidates will win some seats. It’s up to each locality to decide for itself, and is not a question of opportunity or survival but depends on planning. It’s not the resistance armies that will suffer if fighting resumes, but it is the people who suffer, because when there is war, the Burma Army always pick on the people, not the resistance.”
This is but one way of encouraging the moderates. View internationally, the Burmese pro-democracy movement was merely a moral case and moral concern which is usually inferior to strategic needs in international relations and one could be compared to the Free Tibet Campaign that seems to share the same fate. Both movements have been remarkably successful in awareness campaigns and then come to a full stop.
They managed to mobilize international support in transnational causes but failed to realise that it has to be followed up by pursuing the international authorities. The actual policy making depends on the willingness and capability of the international powers and the international system. Sadly, both the Diaspora democracy movement and the ethnics leaders could not comprehend the situation and have little or no knowledge about economic incentives and the country`s resources to play with, that are so crucial in the international scene. Lamentably the opposition groups are unable to learn the lessons from Iraq where US allotted $100 if compared to Burma not even $10 including the care of refugees and IDPs.
Analysing Contemporary History
Gen. Ne Win's military coup in 1962 has the ability to consolidate its power by institutionalizing a one-party state, a decade after the military takeover. The current Junta unlike Ne Win is not capable of institutionalizing its rule into a formal political system. Hence the transition plan is based on the regime's orchestrated constitution which the Junta forced through a forced rigged referendum and the coming unfair elections.
But the interpretation of the constitution in practice will depend on the degree of participation by civilian politicians in the election and the authority of the elected representatives in the government. The constitution itself does allow elected members to hold substantial power in the new government. Hence the legitimacy of the 2010 election depends on the participation of pro-democracy civilians and their roles in the new government.
The regime's strategy appears to minimize the influence of hard liners, including the NLD. The major arrests and severe jail-terms imposed on the activists are a part of the plan to steer clear hard-line elements before the election comes. On the other hand, an alternative third-force in the opposition movement is not in an organized form. Because of the nature of polarization in Burma's conflict, many moderate individuals are reluctant to engineer a third-force platform which is a politically derogative term for the Burmese oppositions.
Regarding the participation of the civilians it depends on their roles and stance towards the coming election, there seems to be four categories of civilian politicians, in addition to the pro-military elements to contest the election.
The first type is the majority of the oppositions strongly condemned the regime's road map. They will continue to reject the 2010 election and refuse to participate. These hardliners among the opposition movement are mostly in exile. Most hardcore activists inside the country are under lock and key. These hardliners voice will make little or no impact on the holding of the election.
The second type of oppositions sees the election as a step towards a confrontation with the military. Despite its call to recognize the result of the 1990 general election, the splinter group of the NLD and the likes e.g. veteran politician U Shwe Ohn of Shan State, the daughters of U Nu and U Kyaw Nyein, choose to participate in the 2010 election because it is the only option to reclaim its legitimacy and remobilize its supporters after 2010. For many hardliners, including some of the ethnic nationalities and the defunct Burmese Communist Party, the coming election is a tactical battleground for further escalation of the conflict.
The third type is political groups who view the coming election as an enticing opportunity to pursue their self interests. Many smaller ceasefire groups like the DKBA, KNPLF, KDA and the likes fall into this account. They will seek to strengthen their legitimacy through the existing electoral process regardless of the degree of fairness and freedom of the election. Some ceasefire groups may also incline to transform into the third force.
The fourth type is the individuals regard themselves moderates and share a view that the current NLD-led opposition movement is a failure. Many individuals include former political prisoners, elected representatives from the NLD, current leaders in NGOs, and environmental activists and some exiles even though may have not emerged as an institutionalized political force, are likely to establish their political platform to contest the 2010 election.
The Junta’s Perspective
It seems that the regime is also facing a dilemma based on three major concerns.
First, the military is reluctant to open up political space for the civilian politicians to mobilize to contest in the election because the regime learned a hard lesson after it had released former student leaders and allowed them to organize their supporters. Their mobilization paved a way to the monk-led protest in 2007. The regime is very careful this time not to repeat the previous mistake.
Second, the regime is concerned with the repetition of the NLD's another victory in the 2010 election. The dominance of anti-military oppositions in the civilian portion of elected representatives will encourage the oppositions to challenge the military after the election. In other words, the military wants more 'moderate' opposition to contest in the election than the hard-liners. The release of student leaders in 2004 partially aimed at creating a so-called 'third force' between the NLD and the regime. However, the student leaders chose to take hard-line stance.
Third, the regime is worried that the emerging civilian-led government would undermine the military's institutional interests. The military wants to avoid creating itself a
“Frankenstein or Dracula” image by its own Road Map. The military therefore embedded protective clauses in the constitution to guarantee its own interests because of its distrust on civilian politicians. Overall, the Junta does not have viable civilian partnership in the new government after 2010. Lack of confidence on civilian politicians and amicable partnership has fostered siege mentality among the military leaders who will desperately cling on to the constitution and use suppression to safeguard their interests.
Hence there is a faint possibility that Burma may become a liberal democracy and the most potent ingredient for instability, when poor economic performance and factional mobilization characterize a new transition. Any new government, regardless of the forms of transition, will not be able to revive the country from current economic pauperization in a short term. Poverty will continue and quality of life remains poor after 2010. Economic destitutions are usually channel towards political discontent. Under poverty, Burmese people will remain dissatisfied with the government as long as the military is a part of the ruling institution.
It will eventually expand political space for formerly suppressed oppositions who were deprived of political mobilization under the previous system. Economically dissatisfied public is vulnerable to political instigation stirring up unrests. The hard line oppositions will utilize newly emerging political space to mobilize poverty-stricken angry publics to pressure the new government. Their objective will aim to scrap the existing constitution and boot the military out of politics.
On the other hand, the military is likely to be politically defensive after the 2010 election while taking shelter under its brainchild constitution. The military's 25 percent of representatives in the parliament and its supporters will continue to preserve the military's institutional interests threatened by the oppositions' mobilization. Alternatively, the military may disenfranchise potential hardliners in the 2010 election and continue to deny their political freedom even after 2010. In both scenarios, the confrontation between the military and hardcore oppositions is likely to escalate after the election. But it will be the first time in more than two decades that the civilian politicians and the military representatives will be sitting under the same roof in the Parliament. It will also be the venue for both the military and civilians to interact in policy making and mutually envisioning the future. Against all odds, the transition in 2010 offers an opportunity to jumpstart confidence building to seek much need reconciliation for the country.
O! Burma betrayed by Obama
President Obama and his strategic advisors acknowledge that the extension of US power has reached a critical threshold. The US has become a declining power in the face of a rising China, Russia and India. The US economy is largely interdependent with the Asian economy. The combination of Japanese and Chinese ownership of US debt has reached 45%t of US Treasury securities. In addition, the military gap is narrowing. A study conducted by the RAND Corporation, an influential think-tank, concludes the Chinese military could defeat US forces in the Taiwan Strait, if the US attempted to deter a Chinese offensive to reclaim Taiwan. Russia has fielded its latest S-400 air-defence system far superior than the US’s second-generation Patriot missile system. Hence Obama realizes that the most effective approach to totalitarian countries is the utilization of ‘soft power,’ which calls for friendliness rather than coercion and the end result was that the Junta’s representative Thein Sein sat smiling besides Obama in S`pore. The other Western countries like the EU are bound to follow the American lead.
For one thing, Obama clearly wants to distinguish himself from George W. Bush, who badly tainted the human rights agenda by linking it to the war in Iraq and by adopting an overly moralistic, evangelical tone about democracy. Will P resident Obama be forcefully advocating democracy abroad if he believes that negotiating about human rights behind the scenes works better than bullying in public, since it permits nasty regimes to save face while, at least theoretically, allowing them to quietly make concessions? It seems that the president seems to believe that, no matter how brutal a government he is dealing with, he can find common cause.
Though the Bush administration established a deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy, Obama's National Security Council structure has explicitly downgraded the role of democracy specialists. And some parts of the government seem to be backing away from even the word “Democracy.” What more proof is wanted when Obama's administration became the first since 1991 not to meet with the Dalai Lama, even privately, when the Tibetan leader was in Washington last October?
On matters of democracy and human rights, past presidents have wielded the bully pulpit to impressive effect, sometimes winning the release of high-profile dissidents e.g. after Bush highlighted the case of Ayman Nour, the most prominent Egyptian dissident, in early 2005, Hosni Mubarak's government released him from jail even though he is locked up again. After much rhetoric of Obama and Clinton about the new Burma policy, the American delegate lead by Assistant Secretary of East Asia and Pacific Kurt Campbell who went to Burma never uttered a word for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Sadly the American Nobel Laureate has failed his duty to the Burmese Nobel Laureate.
The Chinese Card
The Burma-China relationship will enter a new chapter after China completes an oil pipeline connecting the Andaman Sea with China’s Yunnan province. The move is alarmingly strategic. Past Chinese interest in Burma was less critical than many observers have speculated, with trade accounting for a fraction of one percent of overall Chinese exports, while China has failed to transfer any strategic weaponry to Naypyidaw. But the 2.9-billion dollar Chinese oil pipeline will drastically transform the role of Burma in China’s strategic calculus. China has been geographically vulnerable to a naval blockade, being confined by Japan to the east, Taiwan to the south and South Korea to the north of China – all US allies. In addition, China lacks a naval force capable of protecting its sea lines. The projected oil pipeline from Burma will reinforce China’s long-term strategic energy initiative.
The pipeline will be much more significant than any existing China-Burma engagements. China may even consider protecting its interest in Burma under a nuclear umbrella. One of the main reasons for China to send its advanced submarines to the Andaman Sea is to protect its strategic interest, simultaneously restricting the regional power projection of the US Navy’s 7th fleet. As I had said earlier if Burma used to be a moral issue for the United States now it is for the current leaders of how to play it into the hands of US security and its national interests. Perhaps one should recollect that Obama in the Nobel Academy said that “evil does exist in the world and that there will be times when nations...will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified,” if this is a clear statement of American foreign policy principles in international realm we would like to see how it applies to Burma or rather a hypocritical aspect of quid pro quo engagement, ranging from counter-narcotics to political prisoners. But I am afraid that among all initiatives, however, the focus of US policy will be on the 2010 elections.
Likely Scenario
Obviously the military will not drop its Road Map and seek an alternative political settlement with the opposition. Any political outcomes have to go through the military-led transitional process. In the past, the military is asked to sit down at a table set up by the opposition, now it will be vice versa. The process will be likely initiated in phases, starting with the military and moderate political forces in the parliament and the government. If we look at the world we see that democratic transition history we see that in 108 democratic transitions, only 12 countries have consolidated democracy since 1955. In many cases, instability follows transitions and often than not fell back to autocracy.
Burma conflict is vastly factionalized, and the polarity between the military and the oppositions is deeply entrenched. The traditional opposition forces will likely take the path of confrontation with the military after 2010. Confidence building won't be materialized as long as both the civilian politicians and the military fail to cooperate in shared common interests, such as economic development, health care, security and public welfare.
As long as the junta sees no viable civilian partnership after 2010, the military will restrict the participation of civilian politicians in the coming election and their capacity to mobilize. The only civilian force willing to categorically cooperate with the military is moderate non-NLD pro-democracy activists who feel discontented with the status quo in the opposition movement. Although the military may not trust this so-called third force, it is the only viable civilian partnership the military needs to implement its Road Map.
The moderate force has not been able to organize its political platform and leadership structure to function as a feasible political institution. The election in 2010 will likely be a breeding ground to shape the structure of moderate force in Burmese politics. Regardless of whether the NLD fields’ candidates through proxy parties or contests the elections, the generals will make sure her party is in no position to field any sizable number of candidates, much less win a landslide again.
What other benchmarks, then, could be treated as signals that the regime is serious about democratic transition? It could, relax media and Internet censorship; show increased tolerance towards valid public criticism of its policy and leadership failures; enable existing parties to reorganize themselves with full organizational rights and responsibilities; adopt conciliatory gestures towards multi-ethnic dissidents and armed resistance organizations; allocate public resources fairly and equitably among the parties for election purposes; and grant them equal access to the State-owned media outlets; and last but not least, encourage and educate the Burmese electorate in general about their voting rights, as well as fundamental rights as citizens of a soon-to-be democracy. But without institutionalizing legal regimes of human rights to protect citizens' and communities’ socio-cultural rights, as well as economic and political freedoms, no polity can be label democratic.
We don’t expect culturally conservative and semi-feudal society such as Burma be expected to evolve into something that can sustain a formal democracy and its further advancement because those who are at the helm of wearing uniform have grown accustomed to power, privileges, wealth and State protection, as well as adept at control, manipulation and domination over the public, economy and the State. As such, these men in uniforms are not going to be agents of change, rather it is the people themselves—multi-ethnic communities, religious leaders and associations, individual professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, artists and intellectuals, and pockets of enlightened military officers, as well as the webs of informal networks—that need to be viewed as potential change agents. If ever change come to Burma, for sure it will not be achieved through the generals’ elections.
Wed, 2009-12-16 00:59 — editor
By Dr. Kanbawza Win
We're just days away from 2010 - a defining year for Burma, as we witness the opposition composed of ethnics and pro democracy movement. have to admit that they have been soundly beaten. First, they lost is in the battle fields and very lately in the diplomatic arena, where the Junta scored a major victory of recognition without yielding an inch from the Western countries who claims to be the defender of Democracy and Human Rights. Now, the Junta is going to be legitimized by its phony elections.
The Burmese regime has claimed to hold a new election in 2010 to facilitate a formation of a civil-military government in accordance with the military-orchestrated constitution with a rigged referendum. The prospect of the new election is a moral and strategic dilemma to the democratic movement, especially the NLD and its supporters who are entrenched in upholding their eighteen-year-old election. Will the moderates group participate or not seems to be the key factor in deciding the authenticity of the elections.
That is why the Euro Burma Office, Director said, “For the people inside, they cannot avoid casting votes and if they don’t have their own candidates, then they will have to choose the Junta’s candidates. Or better if they could set up their own parties, hoping some of their candidates will win some seats. It’s up to each locality to decide for itself, and is not a question of opportunity or survival but depends on planning. It’s not the resistance armies that will suffer if fighting resumes, but it is the people who suffer, because when there is war, the Burma Army always pick on the people, not the resistance.”
This is but one way of encouraging the moderates. View internationally, the Burmese pro-democracy movement was merely a moral case and moral concern which is usually inferior to strategic needs in international relations and one could be compared to the Free Tibet Campaign that seems to share the same fate. Both movements have been remarkably successful in awareness campaigns and then come to a full stop.
They managed to mobilize international support in transnational causes but failed to realise that it has to be followed up by pursuing the international authorities. The actual policy making depends on the willingness and capability of the international powers and the international system. Sadly, both the Diaspora democracy movement and the ethnics leaders could not comprehend the situation and have little or no knowledge about economic incentives and the country`s resources to play with, that are so crucial in the international scene. Lamentably the opposition groups are unable to learn the lessons from Iraq where US allotted $100 if compared to Burma not even $10 including the care of refugees and IDPs.
Analysing Contemporary History
Gen. Ne Win's military coup in 1962 has the ability to consolidate its power by institutionalizing a one-party state, a decade after the military takeover. The current Junta unlike Ne Win is not capable of institutionalizing its rule into a formal political system. Hence the transition plan is based on the regime's orchestrated constitution which the Junta forced through a forced rigged referendum and the coming unfair elections.
But the interpretation of the constitution in practice will depend on the degree of participation by civilian politicians in the election and the authority of the elected representatives in the government. The constitution itself does allow elected members to hold substantial power in the new government. Hence the legitimacy of the 2010 election depends on the participation of pro-democracy civilians and their roles in the new government.
The regime's strategy appears to minimize the influence of hard liners, including the NLD. The major arrests and severe jail-terms imposed on the activists are a part of the plan to steer clear hard-line elements before the election comes. On the other hand, an alternative third-force in the opposition movement is not in an organized form. Because of the nature of polarization in Burma's conflict, many moderate individuals are reluctant to engineer a third-force platform which is a politically derogative term for the Burmese oppositions.
Regarding the participation of the civilians it depends on their roles and stance towards the coming election, there seems to be four categories of civilian politicians, in addition to the pro-military elements to contest the election.
The first type is the majority of the oppositions strongly condemned the regime's road map. They will continue to reject the 2010 election and refuse to participate. These hardliners among the opposition movement are mostly in exile. Most hardcore activists inside the country are under lock and key. These hardliners voice will make little or no impact on the holding of the election.
The second type of oppositions sees the election as a step towards a confrontation with the military. Despite its call to recognize the result of the 1990 general election, the splinter group of the NLD and the likes e.g. veteran politician U Shwe Ohn of Shan State, the daughters of U Nu and U Kyaw Nyein, choose to participate in the 2010 election because it is the only option to reclaim its legitimacy and remobilize its supporters after 2010. For many hardliners, including some of the ethnic nationalities and the defunct Burmese Communist Party, the coming election is a tactical battleground for further escalation of the conflict.
The third type is political groups who view the coming election as an enticing opportunity to pursue their self interests. Many smaller ceasefire groups like the DKBA, KNPLF, KDA and the likes fall into this account. They will seek to strengthen their legitimacy through the existing electoral process regardless of the degree of fairness and freedom of the election. Some ceasefire groups may also incline to transform into the third force.
The fourth type is the individuals regard themselves moderates and share a view that the current NLD-led opposition movement is a failure. Many individuals include former political prisoners, elected representatives from the NLD, current leaders in NGOs, and environmental activists and some exiles even though may have not emerged as an institutionalized political force, are likely to establish their political platform to contest the 2010 election.
The Junta’s Perspective
It seems that the regime is also facing a dilemma based on three major concerns.
First, the military is reluctant to open up political space for the civilian politicians to mobilize to contest in the election because the regime learned a hard lesson after it had released former student leaders and allowed them to organize their supporters. Their mobilization paved a way to the monk-led protest in 2007. The regime is very careful this time not to repeat the previous mistake.
Second, the regime is concerned with the repetition of the NLD's another victory in the 2010 election. The dominance of anti-military oppositions in the civilian portion of elected representatives will encourage the oppositions to challenge the military after the election. In other words, the military wants more 'moderate' opposition to contest in the election than the hard-liners. The release of student leaders in 2004 partially aimed at creating a so-called 'third force' between the NLD and the regime. However, the student leaders chose to take hard-line stance.
Third, the regime is worried that the emerging civilian-led government would undermine the military's institutional interests. The military wants to avoid creating itself a
“Frankenstein or Dracula” image by its own Road Map. The military therefore embedded protective clauses in the constitution to guarantee its own interests because of its distrust on civilian politicians. Overall, the Junta does not have viable civilian partnership in the new government after 2010. Lack of confidence on civilian politicians and amicable partnership has fostered siege mentality among the military leaders who will desperately cling on to the constitution and use suppression to safeguard their interests.
Hence there is a faint possibility that Burma may become a liberal democracy and the most potent ingredient for instability, when poor economic performance and factional mobilization characterize a new transition. Any new government, regardless of the forms of transition, will not be able to revive the country from current economic pauperization in a short term. Poverty will continue and quality of life remains poor after 2010. Economic destitutions are usually channel towards political discontent. Under poverty, Burmese people will remain dissatisfied with the government as long as the military is a part of the ruling institution.
It will eventually expand political space for formerly suppressed oppositions who were deprived of political mobilization under the previous system. Economically dissatisfied public is vulnerable to political instigation stirring up unrests. The hard line oppositions will utilize newly emerging political space to mobilize poverty-stricken angry publics to pressure the new government. Their objective will aim to scrap the existing constitution and boot the military out of politics.
On the other hand, the military is likely to be politically defensive after the 2010 election while taking shelter under its brainchild constitution. The military's 25 percent of representatives in the parliament and its supporters will continue to preserve the military's institutional interests threatened by the oppositions' mobilization. Alternatively, the military may disenfranchise potential hardliners in the 2010 election and continue to deny their political freedom even after 2010. In both scenarios, the confrontation between the military and hardcore oppositions is likely to escalate after the election. But it will be the first time in more than two decades that the civilian politicians and the military representatives will be sitting under the same roof in the Parliament. It will also be the venue for both the military and civilians to interact in policy making and mutually envisioning the future. Against all odds, the transition in 2010 offers an opportunity to jumpstart confidence building to seek much need reconciliation for the country.
O! Burma betrayed by Obama
President Obama and his strategic advisors acknowledge that the extension of US power has reached a critical threshold. The US has become a declining power in the face of a rising China, Russia and India. The US economy is largely interdependent with the Asian economy. The combination of Japanese and Chinese ownership of US debt has reached 45%t of US Treasury securities. In addition, the military gap is narrowing. A study conducted by the RAND Corporation, an influential think-tank, concludes the Chinese military could defeat US forces in the Taiwan Strait, if the US attempted to deter a Chinese offensive to reclaim Taiwan. Russia has fielded its latest S-400 air-defence system far superior than the US’s second-generation Patriot missile system. Hence Obama realizes that the most effective approach to totalitarian countries is the utilization of ‘soft power,’ which calls for friendliness rather than coercion and the end result was that the Junta’s representative Thein Sein sat smiling besides Obama in S`pore. The other Western countries like the EU are bound to follow the American lead.
For one thing, Obama clearly wants to distinguish himself from George W. Bush, who badly tainted the human rights agenda by linking it to the war in Iraq and by adopting an overly moralistic, evangelical tone about democracy. Will P resident Obama be forcefully advocating democracy abroad if he believes that negotiating about human rights behind the scenes works better than bullying in public, since it permits nasty regimes to save face while, at least theoretically, allowing them to quietly make concessions? It seems that the president seems to believe that, no matter how brutal a government he is dealing with, he can find common cause.
Though the Bush administration established a deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy, Obama's National Security Council structure has explicitly downgraded the role of democracy specialists. And some parts of the government seem to be backing away from even the word “Democracy.” What more proof is wanted when Obama's administration became the first since 1991 not to meet with the Dalai Lama, even privately, when the Tibetan leader was in Washington last October?
On matters of democracy and human rights, past presidents have wielded the bully pulpit to impressive effect, sometimes winning the release of high-profile dissidents e.g. after Bush highlighted the case of Ayman Nour, the most prominent Egyptian dissident, in early 2005, Hosni Mubarak's government released him from jail even though he is locked up again. After much rhetoric of Obama and Clinton about the new Burma policy, the American delegate lead by Assistant Secretary of East Asia and Pacific Kurt Campbell who went to Burma never uttered a word for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Sadly the American Nobel Laureate has failed his duty to the Burmese Nobel Laureate.
The Chinese Card
The Burma-China relationship will enter a new chapter after China completes an oil pipeline connecting the Andaman Sea with China’s Yunnan province. The move is alarmingly strategic. Past Chinese interest in Burma was less critical than many observers have speculated, with trade accounting for a fraction of one percent of overall Chinese exports, while China has failed to transfer any strategic weaponry to Naypyidaw. But the 2.9-billion dollar Chinese oil pipeline will drastically transform the role of Burma in China’s strategic calculus. China has been geographically vulnerable to a naval blockade, being confined by Japan to the east, Taiwan to the south and South Korea to the north of China – all US allies. In addition, China lacks a naval force capable of protecting its sea lines. The projected oil pipeline from Burma will reinforce China’s long-term strategic energy initiative.
The pipeline will be much more significant than any existing China-Burma engagements. China may even consider protecting its interest in Burma under a nuclear umbrella. One of the main reasons for China to send its advanced submarines to the Andaman Sea is to protect its strategic interest, simultaneously restricting the regional power projection of the US Navy’s 7th fleet. As I had said earlier if Burma used to be a moral issue for the United States now it is for the current leaders of how to play it into the hands of US security and its national interests. Perhaps one should recollect that Obama in the Nobel Academy said that “evil does exist in the world and that there will be times when nations...will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified,” if this is a clear statement of American foreign policy principles in international realm we would like to see how it applies to Burma or rather a hypocritical aspect of quid pro quo engagement, ranging from counter-narcotics to political prisoners. But I am afraid that among all initiatives, however, the focus of US policy will be on the 2010 elections.
Likely Scenario
Obviously the military will not drop its Road Map and seek an alternative political settlement with the opposition. Any political outcomes have to go through the military-led transitional process. In the past, the military is asked to sit down at a table set up by the opposition, now it will be vice versa. The process will be likely initiated in phases, starting with the military and moderate political forces in the parliament and the government. If we look at the world we see that democratic transition history we see that in 108 democratic transitions, only 12 countries have consolidated democracy since 1955. In many cases, instability follows transitions and often than not fell back to autocracy.
Burma conflict is vastly factionalized, and the polarity between the military and the oppositions is deeply entrenched. The traditional opposition forces will likely take the path of confrontation with the military after 2010. Confidence building won't be materialized as long as both the civilian politicians and the military fail to cooperate in shared common interests, such as economic development, health care, security and public welfare.
As long as the junta sees no viable civilian partnership after 2010, the military will restrict the participation of civilian politicians in the coming election and their capacity to mobilize. The only civilian force willing to categorically cooperate with the military is moderate non-NLD pro-democracy activists who feel discontented with the status quo in the opposition movement. Although the military may not trust this so-called third force, it is the only viable civilian partnership the military needs to implement its Road Map.
The moderate force has not been able to organize its political platform and leadership structure to function as a feasible political institution. The election in 2010 will likely be a breeding ground to shape the structure of moderate force in Burmese politics. Regardless of whether the NLD fields’ candidates through proxy parties or contests the elections, the generals will make sure her party is in no position to field any sizable number of candidates, much less win a landslide again.
What other benchmarks, then, could be treated as signals that the regime is serious about democratic transition? It could, relax media and Internet censorship; show increased tolerance towards valid public criticism of its policy and leadership failures; enable existing parties to reorganize themselves with full organizational rights and responsibilities; adopt conciliatory gestures towards multi-ethnic dissidents and armed resistance organizations; allocate public resources fairly and equitably among the parties for election purposes; and grant them equal access to the State-owned media outlets; and last but not least, encourage and educate the Burmese electorate in general about their voting rights, as well as fundamental rights as citizens of a soon-to-be democracy. But without institutionalizing legal regimes of human rights to protect citizens' and communities’ socio-cultural rights, as well as economic and political freedoms, no polity can be label democratic.
We don’t expect culturally conservative and semi-feudal society such as Burma be expected to evolve into something that can sustain a formal democracy and its further advancement because those who are at the helm of wearing uniform have grown accustomed to power, privileges, wealth and State protection, as well as adept at control, manipulation and domination over the public, economy and the State. As such, these men in uniforms are not going to be agents of change, rather it is the people themselves—multi-ethnic communities, religious leaders and associations, individual professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, artists and intellectuals, and pockets of enlightened military officers, as well as the webs of informal networks—that need to be viewed as potential change agents. If ever change come to Burma, for sure it will not be achieved through the generals’ elections.
*************************************************************
The Nation - 4 more border checkpoints with Burma
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
Published on December 15, 2009
In a bid to boost cross-border trade with Burma, the government will support the opening of four more border checkpoints next year.
They will be at Huay Ton Nun, Mae Hong Son/Shan State: Ban Nam Khao, Kanchanaburi/Tavoy; Three Pagodas Pass, Kanchanaburi/Taya Thon Zu; and Dan Singkhon, Prachuap Khiri Khan/My Eik.
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot yesterday said the government would open these checkpoints as soon as possible, in order to facilitate trade, investment and tourism between the two countries.
At present, there are only three checkpoints linking Thailand and Burma.
After meeting with ministers in Burma, Alongkorn also said both nations had agreed to support the construction of a friendship bridge connecting Tak's Mae Sot district with Burma.
The two nations will soon set up a subcommittee to identify an exact location and set up a construction schedule, he said.
Niyom Wairatpanij, chairman of the border-trade committee of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC), said traders were greatly anticipating the opening of more checkpoints to facilitate trade and tourism.
"The Asean Free Trade Agreement will be fully implemented early next year, with tariffs on most Asean goods eliminated. More checkpoints will increase trade opportunities for Thai products," said Niyom.
In addition, after meeting with TCC representatives about its "micro action plan" aimed strengthening seven sectors plan, Alongkorn said the government would lend its full support.
The TCC and the Commerce Ministry have agreed to set up a Joint Public-Private Committee on Commerce, for cooperation in facilitating the plan.
The TCC last month came up with the micro action plan, aimed at strengthening the country's best products and most efficient services ahead of tougher competition that is expected once Asean becomes a seamless market by 2015.
The seven sectors are food and agriculture, gems and jewellery, textiles, healthcare and spas, construction, tourism and border trade.
TCC vice chairman Komson Opassathavorn said the chamber would discuss the plan tomorrow with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and that he expected full government support.
By PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
Published on December 15, 2009
In a bid to boost cross-border trade with Burma, the government will support the opening of four more border checkpoints next year.
They will be at Huay Ton Nun, Mae Hong Son/Shan State: Ban Nam Khao, Kanchanaburi/Tavoy; Three Pagodas Pass, Kanchanaburi/Taya Thon Zu; and Dan Singkhon, Prachuap Khiri Khan/My Eik.
Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot yesterday said the government would open these checkpoints as soon as possible, in order to facilitate trade, investment and tourism between the two countries.
At present, there are only three checkpoints linking Thailand and Burma.
After meeting with ministers in Burma, Alongkorn also said both nations had agreed to support the construction of a friendship bridge connecting Tak's Mae Sot district with Burma.
The two nations will soon set up a subcommittee to identify an exact location and set up a construction schedule, he said.
Niyom Wairatpanij, chairman of the border-trade committee of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC), said traders were greatly anticipating the opening of more checkpoints to facilitate trade and tourism.
"The Asean Free Trade Agreement will be fully implemented early next year, with tariffs on most Asean goods eliminated. More checkpoints will increase trade opportunities for Thai products," said Niyom.
In addition, after meeting with TCC representatives about its "micro action plan" aimed strengthening seven sectors plan, Alongkorn said the government would lend its full support.
The TCC and the Commerce Ministry have agreed to set up a Joint Public-Private Committee on Commerce, for cooperation in facilitating the plan.
The TCC last month came up with the micro action plan, aimed at strengthening the country's best products and most efficient services ahead of tougher competition that is expected once Asean becomes a seamless market by 2015.
The seven sectors are food and agriculture, gems and jewellery, textiles, healthcare and spas, construction, tourism and border trade.
TCC vice chairman Komson Opassathavorn said the chamber would discuss the plan tomorrow with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and that he expected full government support.
*************************************************************
Stiglitz in Naypyitaw
by Kyaw Thein Kha
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 20:00
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz arrived in Burma’s new capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday, where he will speak at a seminar on economic development.
The Nobel Laureate is visiting the Southeast Asian nation at the invitation of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (UNESCAP) to advise the ruling military junta on development policies and poverty eradication, particularly in the rural areas.
“In our Media Advisory, he’s going to participate in reforms in Burma. They left for Burma yesterday. I believe he’s there in the city at the moment,” an official at the Bangkok office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), told Mizzima on Tuesday.
Prof. Sin Theingi, a retired teacher of Rangoon Institute of Economics, said discussions should focus more on the social and economic aspect rather than the rural economy.
“When we discuss, instead of focusing only on the rural aspect, we should be able to discuss the economic and social aspects. Besides, we should also talk of health and education,” she added.
Prof. Sin Theingi said in order to develop the rural economy it is necessary to develop the way of thinking of farmers and forming community-based organisations to protect the environment. There is also need for children’s health and education.
Besides, she said the market economy should be well-implemented, “They need to really open up the market, so that it will attract the people. For example, they also need to listen to the farmers, as often they know better than us in several ways. If we open it up like this, it would develop the rural area,” she added.
But a Burmese economist, who did not wish to reveal his identity, said economic development of a country is closely linked with political stability.
He added that the government should allow farmers to freely work in the rural areas and provide them raw materials and capital.
Stiglitz, in one of his popular book titled “Globalization and Its Discontents” argues, “when families and firms seek to buy too little compared to what the economy can produce, governments can fight recessions and depressions by using expansionary monetary and fiscal policies to spur the demand for goods and services.”
On Tuesday, Burmese military junta’s mouthpiece newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported the meeting between Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein and Dr. Noeleen Hezyer, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, led delegation. But the newspaper did not mention Joseph Stiglitz’s visit to the country.
by Kyaw Thein Kha
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 20:00
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz arrived in Burma’s new capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday, where he will speak at a seminar on economic development.
The Nobel Laureate is visiting the Southeast Asian nation at the invitation of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (UNESCAP) to advise the ruling military junta on development policies and poverty eradication, particularly in the rural areas.
“In our Media Advisory, he’s going to participate in reforms in Burma. They left for Burma yesterday. I believe he’s there in the city at the moment,” an official at the Bangkok office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), told Mizzima on Tuesday.
Prof. Sin Theingi, a retired teacher of Rangoon Institute of Economics, said discussions should focus more on the social and economic aspect rather than the rural economy.
“When we discuss, instead of focusing only on the rural aspect, we should be able to discuss the economic and social aspects. Besides, we should also talk of health and education,” she added.
Prof. Sin Theingi said in order to develop the rural economy it is necessary to develop the way of thinking of farmers and forming community-based organisations to protect the environment. There is also need for children’s health and education.
Besides, she said the market economy should be well-implemented, “They need to really open up the market, so that it will attract the people. For example, they also need to listen to the farmers, as often they know better than us in several ways. If we open it up like this, it would develop the rural area,” she added.
But a Burmese economist, who did not wish to reveal his identity, said economic development of a country is closely linked with political stability.
He added that the government should allow farmers to freely work in the rural areas and provide them raw materials and capital.
Stiglitz, in one of his popular book titled “Globalization and Its Discontents” argues, “when families and firms seek to buy too little compared to what the economy can produce, governments can fight recessions and depressions by using expansionary monetary and fiscal policies to spur the demand for goods and services.”
On Tuesday, Burmese military junta’s mouthpiece newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported the meeting between Burmese Prime Minister General Thein Sein and Dr. Noeleen Hezyer, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, led delegation. But the newspaper did not mention Joseph Stiglitz’s visit to the country.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - NLD Must Nurture Young Leaders
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Will Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi resolve the opposition’s “generation crisis” when she meets with the aging leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in the coming days?
In late November, NLD sources told The Irrawaddy that in response to Suu Kyi’s requests, the ruling authorities had agreed to grant her a meeting with members of the NLD's Central Executive Committee (CEC), though it is uncertain whether another detained leader, ex-Gen Tin Oo, would be allowed to participate.
The meeting is likely to be on Wednesday, which is a national holiday in Burma, celebrating Karen New Year.
Originally, the generals in Naypyidaw said they would only allow her a meeting with three CEC members—Aung Shwe, U Lwin and Lun Tin— two of whom are octogenarians while Aung Shwe is 92.
Along with other political issues, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is expected to talk with her colleagues about party reform, particularly the replacement of aging and ill CEC members with younger leaders, NLD sources said.
“Currently there are 11 CEC members within the party. Six out of the 11 are now over 80 and not very well,” said Khin Maung Swe, 67, a CEC member and an NLD spokesman.
In fact, with the exception of Suu Kyi, who is 64, and Khin Maung Swe, all the other CEC members are over 80 years of age.
The NLD's most prominent other figurehead, Vice Chairman Tin Oo, who was arrested in May 2003 following an ambush on Suu Kyi’s convey and sentenced to house arrest, is now 83.
“Even if a total overhaul of the party cannot take place, the replacement of those who are ill within the NLD leadership should be possible,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakanese leader based in Rangoon, who is a close ally of the NLD.
Due to Chairman Aung Shwe’s health, two CEC members, Win Tin, 80, and Than Tun, 87, are reportedly acting chairmen of the party, according to NLD sources.
Relative youngsters, such as Than Nyein, who is in his 70s, and Nyan Win, who is in his 60s, are informally listed as additional members of the CEC.
Political observers inside Burma have said the NLD needs to strengthen its presence in the country to maintain its popularity ahead of the 2010 general election.
The pertinent question is how the leading opposition party can hope to bridge the spectrum of society when even its second row of leaders are all over 60 years of age.
The NLD has not held nationwide party meetings for at least a decade because of harassment by the authorities and other setbacks. Although young members of the party
recently called for party meetings across the country, the CEC have stalled.
“The NLD has to call national party meetings at least once every four years to resolve the generation gap in its leadership,” Aye Thar Aung said. “Then younger members could come through the ranks.”
While the NLD finds itself in a generation dilemma, the military junta, headed by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, organizes its hierarchy from the top down using military rank. Although Than Shwe is 76 and his No 2, Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, is 72, the other top generals are in their early 60s and some are still in their 50s.
The junta-backed civic organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), has been recruiting young, respected persons to run as candidates in next year's election, representing pro-junta parties.
“Since early 2009, the USDA has nominated potential candidates who are young and well-respected with good names to avoid a repeat of the 1990 election,” said a USDA source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the 1990 election, the NLD and its allies won a landslide victory over the junta-backed National Unity Party.
Twenty years later, the NLD lacks young candidates, but has a surplus of members who were active in the 1988 democratic uprising against military rule.
Imprisoned 88 Generation Students group leaders, such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Kyi, Pyone Cho and Htay Kywe, are now in their 40s and are reported to be ready to cooperate or join Suu Kyi’s party in the greater interest of supporting the cause of democratic reform in Burma.
“We have many young emerging prospects across the country,” said Khin Maung Swe.
“One day they will be the party's leaders.”
By WAI MOE - Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Will Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi resolve the opposition’s “generation crisis” when she meets with the aging leaders of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in the coming days?
In late November, NLD sources told The Irrawaddy that in response to Suu Kyi’s requests, the ruling authorities had agreed to grant her a meeting with members of the NLD's Central Executive Committee (CEC), though it is uncertain whether another detained leader, ex-Gen Tin Oo, would be allowed to participate.
The meeting is likely to be on Wednesday, which is a national holiday in Burma, celebrating Karen New Year.
Originally, the generals in Naypyidaw said they would only allow her a meeting with three CEC members—Aung Shwe, U Lwin and Lun Tin— two of whom are octogenarians while Aung Shwe is 92.
Along with other political issues, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is expected to talk with her colleagues about party reform, particularly the replacement of aging and ill CEC members with younger leaders, NLD sources said.
“Currently there are 11 CEC members within the party. Six out of the 11 are now over 80 and not very well,” said Khin Maung Swe, 67, a CEC member and an NLD spokesman.
In fact, with the exception of Suu Kyi, who is 64, and Khin Maung Swe, all the other CEC members are over 80 years of age.
The NLD's most prominent other figurehead, Vice Chairman Tin Oo, who was arrested in May 2003 following an ambush on Suu Kyi’s convey and sentenced to house arrest, is now 83.
“Even if a total overhaul of the party cannot take place, the replacement of those who are ill within the NLD leadership should be possible,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakanese leader based in Rangoon, who is a close ally of the NLD.
Due to Chairman Aung Shwe’s health, two CEC members, Win Tin, 80, and Than Tun, 87, are reportedly acting chairmen of the party, according to NLD sources.
Relative youngsters, such as Than Nyein, who is in his 70s, and Nyan Win, who is in his 60s, are informally listed as additional members of the CEC.
Political observers inside Burma have said the NLD needs to strengthen its presence in the country to maintain its popularity ahead of the 2010 general election.
The pertinent question is how the leading opposition party can hope to bridge the spectrum of society when even its second row of leaders are all over 60 years of age.
The NLD has not held nationwide party meetings for at least a decade because of harassment by the authorities and other setbacks. Although young members of the party
recently called for party meetings across the country, the CEC have stalled.
“The NLD has to call national party meetings at least once every four years to resolve the generation gap in its leadership,” Aye Thar Aung said. “Then younger members could come through the ranks.”
While the NLD finds itself in a generation dilemma, the military junta, headed by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, organizes its hierarchy from the top down using military rank. Although Than Shwe is 76 and his No 2, Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, is 72, the other top generals are in their early 60s and some are still in their 50s.
The junta-backed civic organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), has been recruiting young, respected persons to run as candidates in next year's election, representing pro-junta parties.
“Since early 2009, the USDA has nominated potential candidates who are young and well-respected with good names to avoid a repeat of the 1990 election,” said a USDA source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the 1990 election, the NLD and its allies won a landslide victory over the junta-backed National Unity Party.
Twenty years later, the NLD lacks young candidates, but has a surplus of members who were active in the 1988 democratic uprising against military rule.
Imprisoned 88 Generation Students group leaders, such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Kyi, Pyone Cho and Htay Kywe, are now in their 40s and are reported to be ready to cooperate or join Suu Kyi’s party in the greater interest of supporting the cause of democratic reform in Burma.
“We have many young emerging prospects across the country,” said Khin Maung Swe.
“One day they will be the party's leaders.”
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - All Heart, No Action
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A new international movie set in a Karen refugee camp is to be released in 2010. Its working title is “How About Love?” and its director, Stefan Haupt, spoke recently to The Irrawaddy about making the film and his impressions of refugee life at the Thai-Burmese border.
Haupt was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961. He currently serves as the president of the Swiss Filmmakers' Association and is best known for his 2001 film “Utopia Blues.”
QUESTION: What is the topic of this movie?
ANSWER: We often say in terms of globalization that our world has now become only one small world. But at the same time, life on this one earth can be so incredibly different.
So I took my main character, Dr. Fritz Reinhart, an award-winning heart surgeon from Switzerland, and exposed him to two totally different worlds. I sent him and his wife on vacation to Thailand where they pay a visit to an old friend who works in a medical clinic at a refugee camp. When they arrive there, they are confronted with a totally different life than the life they are used to in Zurich. For me, it was very interesting to expose my character to this different lifestyle and see how he reacts to it.
Q: What is the moral of the story?
A: When I make a film, I don’t start with the question, “What will the moral of this film be?” I don’t want to work this way, by defining what the moral of a story should be and then making the film according to it. I'd much rather tell stories that interest me. Maybe when people watch the film, they will find a moral behind it, but I think that different people will see different morals in it, which is fine with me.
What is interesting and important for me is that I have an honest approach to the story myself, that I’m really interested in the story.
So I did a lot of research on my subject – some three and half years. For me, it is important thing that I, as a director, know the reality behind the fictional scenes that we are shooting. So, this is not a documentary – it is fiction,but based on reality.
Q: How did you learn about the culture of Burma and the ethnic groups?
A: There is literature and the Internet, which is incredibly important nowadays. I saw quite a few documentary films, some by other Swiss directors. And, of course, by far the most helpful thing is to talk with the people like U Tin Win, with refugees, with Thai people here in Chiang Mai and with people at the border.
We also made a research trip to a real refugee camp in Mae Hong Son and we talked to the representatives of different supporting institutions. We also went to Mae Tao Clinic.
However, one of the medics in the refugee camp was a Burmese refugee – a Karen refugee in the film – that writes down all the stories of other refugees. She had some experiences with Dr. Fritz, so I always wanted to find a young refugee women, to talk to her and ask her some specific questions. But, it was all but impossible. It was like the girls were locked up. It was very difficult for me, but it was very interesting as a researcher to find out how well-protected the young women are here.
Q: There are several movies which are based on the Thai-Burmese border, like Rambo and other action films about Burma. What are the differences between your film and former movies?
A: We have a smaller budget, that is one difference. We are not a Hollywood production.
I think most of these films tend to be action movies. I had so-called “script doctors” who read my script and told me: “Put more action in it!” For example, let Dr. Fritz go with that Burmese refugee girl over the border, then they get attacked, or she gets caught and thrown in jail … Make an action film!
Well, I can imagine that many in the audience would like an action movie, but that is not the kind of story I’m interested in.
I’m much more interested in the internal lives of the characters – the inner feeling of being thrown apart, of not knowing: should I do this or should I do that?
I hope another difference is that we really tried to make our film in a “true” way. For example, we made sure that the extras in the Karen refugee camp were speaking Karen. We had some Thai actors who didn't know how to speak Karen, so they had to learn their lines with a language coach in Karen language. I’m very happy about that.
Q: How do you expect the movie to do at the box office?
A: We'll see. Of course, I hope it will have a long, wide journey throughout the whole world.
Q: When will we get a chance to see “How About Love?”
A: We plan to finish it next June, so it can go to the festivals in August and September 2010. I think it will open in Swiss cinemas in September / October 2010. One thing I really want to do with the film is to show it in Bangkok at one of the festivals there and in Chiang Mai, where we were shooting.
Q: This movie focused on the issue of refugees. Did you have any obstacles to overcome with the Thai authorities?
A: No, we didn’t have any problems at all. The Thai film board read our script, and we didn’t have to change anything at all.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
A: For me, it is difficult to believe that life can be so different for refugees. I know that a lot of people in the Western world are absorbed with their own problems and don’t really hear about that.
I am trying to offer film-goers a chance to take a close look at this situation, to open their eyes and give them a chance to talk about it.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A new international movie set in a Karen refugee camp is to be released in 2010. Its working title is “How About Love?” and its director, Stefan Haupt, spoke recently to The Irrawaddy about making the film and his impressions of refugee life at the Thai-Burmese border.
Haupt was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961. He currently serves as the president of the Swiss Filmmakers' Association and is best known for his 2001 film “Utopia Blues.”
QUESTION: What is the topic of this movie?
ANSWER: We often say in terms of globalization that our world has now become only one small world. But at the same time, life on this one earth can be so incredibly different.
So I took my main character, Dr. Fritz Reinhart, an award-winning heart surgeon from Switzerland, and exposed him to two totally different worlds. I sent him and his wife on vacation to Thailand where they pay a visit to an old friend who works in a medical clinic at a refugee camp. When they arrive there, they are confronted with a totally different life than the life they are used to in Zurich. For me, it was very interesting to expose my character to this different lifestyle and see how he reacts to it.
Q: What is the moral of the story?
A: When I make a film, I don’t start with the question, “What will the moral of this film be?” I don’t want to work this way, by defining what the moral of a story should be and then making the film according to it. I'd much rather tell stories that interest me. Maybe when people watch the film, they will find a moral behind it, but I think that different people will see different morals in it, which is fine with me.
What is interesting and important for me is that I have an honest approach to the story myself, that I’m really interested in the story.
So I did a lot of research on my subject – some three and half years. For me, it is important thing that I, as a director, know the reality behind the fictional scenes that we are shooting. So, this is not a documentary – it is fiction,but based on reality.
Q: How did you learn about the culture of Burma and the ethnic groups?
A: There is literature and the Internet, which is incredibly important nowadays. I saw quite a few documentary films, some by other Swiss directors. And, of course, by far the most helpful thing is to talk with the people like U Tin Win, with refugees, with Thai people here in Chiang Mai and with people at the border.
We also made a research trip to a real refugee camp in Mae Hong Son and we talked to the representatives of different supporting institutions. We also went to Mae Tao Clinic.
However, one of the medics in the refugee camp was a Burmese refugee – a Karen refugee in the film – that writes down all the stories of other refugees. She had some experiences with Dr. Fritz, so I always wanted to find a young refugee women, to talk to her and ask her some specific questions. But, it was all but impossible. It was like the girls were locked up. It was very difficult for me, but it was very interesting as a researcher to find out how well-protected the young women are here.
Q: There are several movies which are based on the Thai-Burmese border, like Rambo and other action films about Burma. What are the differences between your film and former movies?
A: We have a smaller budget, that is one difference. We are not a Hollywood production.
I think most of these films tend to be action movies. I had so-called “script doctors” who read my script and told me: “Put more action in it!” For example, let Dr. Fritz go with that Burmese refugee girl over the border, then they get attacked, or she gets caught and thrown in jail … Make an action film!
Well, I can imagine that many in the audience would like an action movie, but that is not the kind of story I’m interested in.
I’m much more interested in the internal lives of the characters – the inner feeling of being thrown apart, of not knowing: should I do this or should I do that?
I hope another difference is that we really tried to make our film in a “true” way. For example, we made sure that the extras in the Karen refugee camp were speaking Karen. We had some Thai actors who didn't know how to speak Karen, so they had to learn their lines with a language coach in Karen language. I’m very happy about that.
Q: How do you expect the movie to do at the box office?
A: We'll see. Of course, I hope it will have a long, wide journey throughout the whole world.
Q: When will we get a chance to see “How About Love?”
A: We plan to finish it next June, so it can go to the festivals in August and September 2010. I think it will open in Swiss cinemas in September / October 2010. One thing I really want to do with the film is to show it in Bangkok at one of the festivals there and in Chiang Mai, where we were shooting.
Q: This movie focused on the issue of refugees. Did you have any obstacles to overcome with the Thai authorities?
A: No, we didn’t have any problems at all. The Thai film board read our script, and we didn’t have to change anything at all.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
A: For me, it is difficult to believe that life can be so different for refugees. I know that a lot of people in the Western world are absorbed with their own problems and don’t really hear about that.
I am trying to offer film-goers a chance to take a close look at this situation, to open their eyes and give them a chance to talk about it.
*************************************************************
Sixteen political prisoners denied lawyers
Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–Restrictions have been placed on the permits of lawyers representing 16 political prisoners at a trial in central Burma, while family members have been barred from entering the courtroom.
It is not know what the accused, who are active campaigners for the release of political prisoners in Burma, are being charged with. The sister of one of the accused, Venerable Nanda Wuntha, said that her brother is facing seven charges.
Another relative of one of the defendants said that court officials had instructed the 16 to hire lawyers from the proxy government organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), at a cost of 200,000 kyat ($US200), although none had complied.
“They are speeding up the process to sentence them but they have not been sentenced yet because we are having a problem with lawyers,” said the sister of Myo Han.
She added that only two of the four lawyers put forward by families of the defendants have been allowed to represent them.
“Only [lawyers] U Myint Thwin and Kyaw Soe Lin were accepted,” she said. “We have to wait until they come out [of the courtroom]. Only then will we know for certain whether they get the permission or not,” she said.
Restrictions on lawyers representing opposition members and witnesses testifying for the defence are common in Burma. During the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this year, courts barred all but one of her witnesses from testifying, while the prosecution was allowed 14.
Lawyers themselves are also at risk of harassment by the government. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), 12 lawyers are currently imprisoned in Burma.
The United Nations special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, in October slammed the culture of impunity in Burma and said that the establishment of an independent judiciary would be a signal that the junta is moving towards democratic reform.
Reporting by Aye Nai
Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–Restrictions have been placed on the permits of lawyers representing 16 political prisoners at a trial in central Burma, while family members have been barred from entering the courtroom.
It is not know what the accused, who are active campaigners for the release of political prisoners in Burma, are being charged with. The sister of one of the accused, Venerable Nanda Wuntha, said that her brother is facing seven charges.
Another relative of one of the defendants said that court officials had instructed the 16 to hire lawyers from the proxy government organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), at a cost of 200,000 kyat ($US200), although none had complied.
“They are speeding up the process to sentence them but they have not been sentenced yet because we are having a problem with lawyers,” said the sister of Myo Han.
She added that only two of the four lawyers put forward by families of the defendants have been allowed to represent them.
“Only [lawyers] U Myint Thwin and Kyaw Soe Lin were accepted,” she said. “We have to wait until they come out [of the courtroom]. Only then will we know for certain whether they get the permission or not,” she said.
Restrictions on lawyers representing opposition members and witnesses testifying for the defence are common in Burma. During the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this year, courts barred all but one of her witnesses from testifying, while the prosecution was allowed 14.
Lawyers themselves are also at risk of harassment by the government. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), 12 lawyers are currently imprisoned in Burma.
The United Nations special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, in October slammed the culture of impunity in Burma and said that the establishment of an independent judiciary would be a signal that the junta is moving towards democratic reform.
Reporting by Aye Nai
*************************************************************
UN ‘should investigate’ junta role in drugs trade
Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–The Burmese junta is covering up its role in the country’s drugs trade by labeling adversarial armed groups as Burma’s sole drugs producers, an ethnic coalition group has said.
The comments, issued by the National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents nine ethnic parties, follow in the wake of a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report that claims opium cultivation in Burma had doubled since 2006.
It said that armed ethnic groups are using the proceeds from the drugs trade to secure weapons. Gary Lewis, the UNODC’s Southeast Asia representative, told DVB yesterday that information in the report was collected “in partnership” with the Burmese government.
The report however fails to pay adequate attention to the role the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) plays in the country’s drugs trade, the NDF said.
“The UNODC should investigate the involvement of the SPDC military leaders in drug trafficking, on a large scale, in collusion with the SPDC proxy armies in some ethnic areas,” an NDF statement said.
It said that accusations were being targeted at groups that had refused to transform into border guard forces (BGF) and thus subordinate themselves to the Burmese army.
It “is a move by [the government] to cover up its own involvement in drug business and to get international assistance to militarily suppress the armed ethnic organizations that do not accept its BGF plan,” the NDF said.
Members of the coalition include Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Karen National Union (KNU), Burma’s most prominent armed opposition group.
According to the UNODC, around one million people in Burma are thought to be involved in the production of opium, which despite a surge in cultivation, has reportedly decreased since 2006.
Burma is the world’s second largest heroin producer, and now a leading source of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia.
The key source region for opium, Shan state, is also one of the country’s most volatile states. The 30,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), which holds a tenuous ceasefire agreement with the government, controls much of the region, and is also believed to play a principal role in the drugs trade.
The NDF statement said however that “it is impossible” to produce drugs in Burma’s border regions without complicity from the SPDC.
Fighting erupted in Shan state in August this year after the Burmese army launched an offensive against a Kokang rebel group that had resisted pressure to transform into a border guard force.
Shortly after fighting ceased, state media in Burma announced the discovery of a horde of methamphetamine pills in a Kokang village, which were subsequently destroyed in a high-profiel ceremony reported in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Then in November, the newspaper claimed that the Kokang offensive did not result from the group’s resistance to border guard transformation but from “manufacturing illegal arms and ammunition and trafficking narcotic drugs on a large scale”.
Reporting by Francis Wade
Dec 15, 2009 (DVB)–The Burmese junta is covering up its role in the country’s drugs trade by labeling adversarial armed groups as Burma’s sole drugs producers, an ethnic coalition group has said.
The comments, issued by the National Democratic Front (NDF), which represents nine ethnic parties, follow in the wake of a UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report that claims opium cultivation in Burma had doubled since 2006.
It said that armed ethnic groups are using the proceeds from the drugs trade to secure weapons. Gary Lewis, the UNODC’s Southeast Asia representative, told DVB yesterday that information in the report was collected “in partnership” with the Burmese government.
The report however fails to pay adequate attention to the role the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) plays in the country’s drugs trade, the NDF said.
“The UNODC should investigate the involvement of the SPDC military leaders in drug trafficking, on a large scale, in collusion with the SPDC proxy armies in some ethnic areas,” an NDF statement said.
It said that accusations were being targeted at groups that had refused to transform into border guard forces (BGF) and thus subordinate themselves to the Burmese army.
It “is a move by [the government] to cover up its own involvement in drug business and to get international assistance to militarily suppress the armed ethnic organizations that do not accept its BGF plan,” the NDF said.
Members of the coalition include Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Karen National Union (KNU), Burma’s most prominent armed opposition group.
According to the UNODC, around one million people in Burma are thought to be involved in the production of opium, which despite a surge in cultivation, has reportedly decreased since 2006.
Burma is the world’s second largest heroin producer, and now a leading source of methamphetamine in Southeast Asia.
The key source region for opium, Shan state, is also one of the country’s most volatile states. The 30,000-strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), which holds a tenuous ceasefire agreement with the government, controls much of the region, and is also believed to play a principal role in the drugs trade.
The NDF statement said however that “it is impossible” to produce drugs in Burma’s border regions without complicity from the SPDC.
Fighting erupted in Shan state in August this year after the Burmese army launched an offensive against a Kokang rebel group that had resisted pressure to transform into a border guard force.
Shortly after fighting ceased, state media in Burma announced the discovery of a horde of methamphetamine pills in a Kokang village, which were subsequently destroyed in a high-profiel ceremony reported in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Then in November, the newspaper claimed that the Kokang offensive did not result from the group’s resistance to border guard transformation but from “manufacturing illegal arms and ammunition and trafficking narcotic drugs on a large scale”.
Reporting by Francis Wade
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