Blogging the democratic revolution
Thandar Shwe marries Zaw Phyo Win in “Myanmar” Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News Now here’s a story that was given the proper treatment by Reuters! Burmese tinpot general and military junta leader Than Shwe put on a big lavish wedding for his daughter Thandar Shwe, with tiaras of diamonds, cascades of champagne, and a five-tier wedding cake. A video of it accidentally got out and it was more money on parade than anyone had seen in a long time in Burma. Classy Burmese, however impoverished, noted to Reuters that it was pretty darn vulgar, what with the yellow diamonds and…
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Imprisoned Democratic Revolutionary Of Burma Source: OA Net The Burmese military junta’s 61st birthday present to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was a beefed-up contingency of military troops at her door this morning. Burma’s democracy leader has now spent all of ten years under house arrest, with very few visitors allowed. The Burmese junta fears her popularity, and knows its days are numbered. To read the backstory of this leader, see this site here. In the past, Burma’s democratic revolutionaries have released doves into the air on Suu Kyi’s birthday, so that even if she…
Ibrahim Gambari is the man behind the scenes in Burma lately. He’s the undersecretary for political affairs over at the UN, and on a recent trip, he was actually allowed to meet with the leaders of the military junta. Even more, he was the first foreign diplomat in a very long time to meet with detained democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Her jail time is supposed to be over on May 27th, at which point she would be thrust back onto the political scene. Will she be let out? Gambari offers us some clues as to what is…
I co-hosted two interviews on Belarus and Burma at Global Crisis Wacth/Clandestine Radio. The first, Belarus-related, starts from the minute ‘1 and had our dear friend Robert Mayer as guest. The second, Burma-related, starts from the 22’40 minute. Listen to them here I’d like to thank GCW/CR’s Nick Grace and Rich Lafayette for granting me and Robert the opportunity to speak on radio!
Leaders of the ASEAN regional grouping, growing tired of the Burmese military junta’s unwillingness to fulfill its obligations, has called on the country to democratize and release dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 9 (AP): Southeast Asian nations on Friday demanded that military-ruled Myanmar expedite democratic reforms and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in the strongest display yet of their growing frustration with the junta. Myanmar has pledged to allow democracy under strong pressure from its neighbors as well as the U.S. and other Western powers, but has so far failed to deliver. Foreign Ministers…
Burmese officials loyal to the regime are all meeting (read: getting drunk) at a convention that is supposed to put the country on the path to democracy. At least, that’s what the government spokesman are saying. Mad about not being invited to the party are every concerned democratic country on earth, the overwhelmingly popular opposition, and anyone else who might have an inkling of desire to reform the country. I know I didn’t get my invitation! Myanmar’s ruling generals on Monday opened a round of talks on drafting a new Constitution and steering the isolated country toward what the junta…
Stefania in Sardinia reminds us to think of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is marking her tenth year of house arrest under the thugs who run Burma. Suu Kyi is the rightful leader of Burma. She also is a brave woman who has stood up to the gross tinpot military thugs in her struggle to bring democracy to her beautiful country. She is a revolutionary democrat who ranks with Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel in the annals of revolution. But her struggle is long and hard and she is still under house arrest by these unsavory, illegitimate rulers who…
The United States government could be readying up a drive to deal with Burma, one of the six main “outposts of tyranny” with one of the most repressive regimes in the world. To do this, it will be pushing for a referral to the United Nations Security Council, where at best we will be able to find out where all of the world’s major players stand on the issue. Sep 22, 2005 (DVB) – US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric G. John told a congressional committee that Washington intended to push for United Nations Security Council discussion of Burma,…
Rumors are flying around Rangoon like mad, as word is going around that Than Shwe, the senior general of the military junta that rules Burma, has been possibly deposed by his number two. Everything is unconfirmed, but Burmese state media has not yet discounted any of the rumors, and Than Shwe isn’t to be seen. Nobody really knows what’s going on at this point, but intelligence officials are working overtime to figure it all out. BANGKOK (Reuters) – Rumours swirled in army-ruled Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Wednesday that junta strongman Senior General Than Shwe has been removed by the…
It looks like hackers are taking shot at Burmese military junta websites. An interesting story, I think, of how pro-democracy forces can protest without being there. Aug 19, 2005 (DVB) – Burmese computer experts and hackers are increasingly targeting their attacks on websites owned by and related to Burma??????s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), according to sources close to Burmese hackers. A Burmese computer student told DVB that recent breakdowns of the New Light of Myanmar and Myanmar Times websites could be the handiworks of either independent hackers or computer experts of ousted military intelligence service (MIS).…
On Tuesday I discussed how pressure from the ASEAN countries forced Burma to forgo the chairmanship, a notable break from a general policy of nonintervention with regards to any particular country’s internal affairs. The move was cheered by the United States, the EU, and pro-democracy activists everywhere. Representatives from both bodies had threatened to boycott the meeting if Burma was to take the 2006 chair, which would have dealt a severe diplomatic blow as such a thing had never been done before. Speaking of other boycotts, though, President Bush just signed into law another year of sanctions against the Burmese…
Foreign ministers from an arc of ten Asian countries of various degrees of political openness are meeting in Laos to drink wine, joke, and maybe sign a few important cooperative agreements at the annual ASEAN summit. Underscoring the whole event, however, is that Burma is next in line to take over the leadership position in 2006. And western governments aren’t happy about it, so after a a lot of discussion, the ASEAN countries asked Burma to step down next year. Under pressure from both its neighbors and its critics in the West, the military regime in Myanmar agreed with obvious…
This is very interesting. Edith Mirante, author of Burmese Looking Glass and founder of Project Maje once worked for Tiffany’s before her initial visit to Burma. I wonder if she had any influence here.
I missed yesterday but today I am back on track. Daily Burma is up. It’s short and sweet but there are some interesting developments to watch out for.
Today’s Daily Burma is up and ready. Complete with link to the State Departments 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Burma and keeping you informed on the latest arrest of U Thu Wai. Thanks to Robert for letting me join the Publius team. No my site doesn’t have comments. That was originally by choice but over the weekend my server shut down comments on all MT accounts due to spam overload, so now it is no longer by choice. Feel free to leave comments here.
Zed just let me know of his latest Daily Burma post. There is a new publication in Canada that is the first in North America to print in Burmese! Check it out, he has the PDF file of one of its issues.
Zed is back from his break, and is keeping us up to date with a new Daily Burma. Check it out!
Zed has a rather large post on the politics and news coming out of Burma, you know, the military dictatorship nobody ever talks about.
Want to know what’s going on in Burma? Zed has got today’s update.
Zed has posted a large roundup of the news coming out of and surrounding Burma. Check it out!
I always forget to check INBB International Bulletin because I always go to the main website. But you need to make sure to visit it because Zed posts a Daily Burma roundup with news about the situation there.
Zed over at INBB has posted several recently published reports about companies that do business with Burma’s military dictatorship. There are a lot of travel agencies on there. I can just see the slogan: “Come one, come all! Tour the abject poverty and learn how they keep it that way!”