What's going on in Burma?

[UstadKhanAli]

In case you are interested in what is going on in Burma, these articles summarize it well:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_re_as/myanmar

http://www.irrawaddy.org/multimedia.php?art_id=8718

 

Maybe these recent events, although horrible, may create awareness of how bad it truly is in Burma, easily one of the most brutal, repressive regimes in the world.

 

Lisa and I met Nobel Peace Prize Winner and National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during our 2000 trip to Burma, after which we were followed by the Burmese military, which was terrifying.

 

http://www.elevenshadows.com/travels/burma-india2000/

 

[audioicon]

I'm guessing you are some how related to this part of the world, maybe by culture, not sure but these are the things I write about constantly.

 

Look at Dafur, people are slaughtered like animals everyday. Hopefully as you stated, this will bring international attention to the people's cause.

 

Being from Liberia, those images I have experienced all too well.

 

AI

[UstadKhanAli]

Being from Liberia, you would absolutely know about this stuff firsthand. As you know, Patrick, I also visited neighboring Ghana, which is of course not the same thing at all.

 

I'm actually NOT Burmese or associated with the Burmese people. My interest is largely because I am fascinated by someone who stands up for their principles such as Aung San Suu Kyi has (and have had the good fortune to meet), and visited Burma seven years ago. What a beautiful country, with a very unique culture. And what a {censored}ing ugly government.

 

I'm also horrified by the slaughter in Darfur, and of China's monkeying around with the arms trade in that region.

 

Although I've posted about Darfur several times, I have more knowledge of what's going on in Asia, South America, and Muslim culture, largely because of my travels through those regions.

[audioicon]

 

Being from Liberia, you would absolutely know about this stuff firsthand. As you know, Patrick, I also visited neighboring Ghana, which is of course not the same thing at all. I'm actually NOT Burmese or associated with the Burmese people. My interest is largely because I am fascinated by someone who stands up for their principles such as Aung San Suu Kyi has (and have had the good fortune to meet), and visited Burma seven years ago. What a beautiful country, with a very unique culture. And what a {censored}ing ugly government. I'm also horrified by the slaughter in Darfur, and of China's monkeying around with the arms trade in that region. Although I've posted about Darfur several times, I have more knowledge of what's going on in Asia, South America, and Muslim culture, largely because of my travels through those regions.

 

 

I have the greatest respect for you and people who traveled the world in general. It teaches you things you'll never understand by watching television or reading a book. I was listening to NPR on my way home from work and this story was the first on NPR's All Things Considered.

 

They were talking about why the sanctions haven't worked to the fullest.

There are too many governments in the area doing business with the Country's government. From my experience, situations like this only gets better when the people take matters into their own hands.

 

Remember East Timor? The people had to riot and sacrifice their lives for independence from Indonesia.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1996673.stm

 

 

 

AI

[UstadKhanAli]

 

They were talking about why the sanctions haven't worked to the fullest. There are too many governments in the area doing business with the Country's government. From my experience, situations like this only gets better when the people take matters into their own hands.

 

 

They're exactly right. Left with sanctions, Burma turned to China, Pakistan, Iran, and others to keep their regime alive. Literally EVERYONE we spoke to in Burma said that the sanctions primarily hurt the people and not the government. And also, literally EVERYONE said that they disagreed with Aung San Suu Kyi's requests for tourists to Burma to stay away. They said that it was these people who were bringing in news from the outside world, and then going and telling the rest of the world what really is going on in Burma.

[Tedster]

When I was an undergrad at FSU, a friend of mine was a grad student from Burma. This was back in the late 80s. He went to Burma to try to get his family out.

 

I hope he was successful.

[Tedster]

JEEZ!!! I just went looking for his name, he's the deputy director of the meteorology services of Myanmar now... Tun Lwin!

 

http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes13-255/n011.htm

[rasputin1963]

Patrick, are you descended from the American-Africans who were "repatriated", as it were, back to Africa? I understand that's how Liberia was initially created.

[audioicon]

 

Patrick, are you descended from the American-Africans who were "repatriated", as it were, back to Africa? I understand that's how Liberia was initially created.

 

 

Yes, I was born and raised in Liberia but constantly fled the country due to the war. Yes Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed American Slaves.

 

Thanks for asking and if you are interested in the history of Liberia and our relationship with America you can read this link.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/liberia/essays/history/

 

AI

[UstadKhanAli]

 

JEEZ!!! I just went looking for his name, he's the deputy director of the meteorology services of Myanmar now... Tun Lwin! http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes13-255/n011.htm

 

 

I remember you saying something about this person when we were discussing Burma before.

 

So he moved back to Burma to be with his family and be the deputy director general of the Meteorology and Hydrology Department??? Couldn't get his family out of there?

[Tedster]

It would seem so. I really haven't seen him since FSU. I know another good friend of mine who represents the Seychelles, and now Mauritius, at a lot of worldwide weather gatherings has mentioned that he has run into him occasionally, but he never mentioned in what capacity. I think many of the "science" types believe that in some small way they're doing some good.

 

I have no idea.

[Kendrix]

Whats going on?

Human beings doing what they seem to always do.

We like to pretend that this is out of place in the modern world.

If only that were true.

Human/cultural evolution is a very long term process.

[sventvkg]

What's going on in the United States? Why are they trying to shred our Constitution and Bill of Rights? What's up with our dollar and why has it gone through the floor.....Although I feel very very bad for people stuck in oppressive regimes, I'm more interested in our problems then what's going on in other countries. I wish people would wake the {censored} up all over. It's Sad.

[Wide]

What's going on in the United States? Why are they trying to shred our Constitution and Bill of Rights?

 

Good questions. Maybe you should start a thread about them in the Political Forum

[dicky sofa]

Many people want to come to the US from Burma but our immigration policy has such strict limits that it takes at least 10 years to get a visa for Burmese citizens to come here. All of which needs to be done on the QT because if the Burmese government finds out you want to leave they very often take away anything that you own in the way of land or business.

 

My wife is from Burma and I've been there several times. It's such a beautiful country but the government is beyond imagining for us. A small example is each time I'm there a military official come to my BIL's house within 24 hours of us getting there to check on our papers. No one calls them they just show up...

 

If you really want to help Burma help to boycott the Olympics in China next year...

 

 

I remember you saying something about this person when we were discussing Burma before. So he moved back to Burma to be with his family and be the deputy director general of the Meteorology and Hydrology Department??? Couldn't get his family out of there?

 

[franknputer]

Good questions. Maybe you should start a thread about them in the Political Forum

 

That's an excellent idea, if you want absolutely nothing substantial to happen.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

Many people want to come to the US from Burma but our immigration policy has such strict limits that it takes at least 10 years to get a visa for Burmese citizens to come here. All of which needs to be done on the QT because if the Burmese government finds out you want to leave they very often take away anything that you own in the way of land or business. My wife is from Burma and I've been there several times. It's such a beautiful country but the government is beyond imagining for us. A small example is each time I'm there a military official come to my BIL's house within 24 hours of us getting there to check on our papers. No one calls them they just show up... If you really want to help Burma help to boycott the Olympics in China next year...

 

 

They keep close track of people, don't they? When we were there in 2000 (see link to above for photos and narrative), we had to stay in specific hotels, and couldn't go to specific regions. And as you can tell from us being photographed incessantly after meeting Aung San Suu Kyi and my friend having much of her stuff confiscated, they're pretty good at figuring out who you are and where you are staying.

 

It's such a beautiful country, and the people are super friendly. Such a shame that they are under the thumb of one of the most repressive governments.

 

Now that the Burmese military has over 20,000 troops in Yangon, most of the demonstrations have evaporated.

[John Sayers]

Here's a very interesting letter to the editor in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

 

 

No matter how dedicated and committed Aung San Suu Kyi is in the fight for democracy in Burma, she is actually as much a part of the problem as the solution. Having been in Manila when Ferdinand Marcos was ousted and being one of the few foreigners who knew of the plans in advance, in 1987 I was visited in Australia by a close friend who was the head of Ms Suu Kyi's political party, a former general who had been let out of Burma for medical treatment. At his request I briefed him for four hours on every aspect of the Marcos demise and the people's revolution which saw only one casualty, a sniper in a TV tower. Unfortunately his party tried to emulate the Philippine experience in Burma's pro-democracy protests in 1988, believing that the army would not fire on Buddhists, as its counterpart had been loathe to do on Catholics in the Philippines. Perhaps in Burma there was no equivalent to the Philippines' Cardinal Jaime Sin to rally the monks. I hope I was not too responsible for giving the demonstrators encouragement. Throughout the succeeding years Ms Suu Kyi has built up her reputation as a martyr in her father's image and has become intransigent. Other than calling for democracy, whatever version that involves, she is recognised by even those near her as having few policies and would have difficulty running a country. Her main stumbling block, however, is that she keeps insisting that as soon as she gets into power she will go after the generals. This may help to enhance her immortality but does little to help the Burmese people. Give the generals no way out and they have no option but to dig in. Someone needs to get her to climb down off her high horse (or fence) and offer some form of amnesty or way out for the generals, as was done in South Africa. Otherwise Ms Suu Kyi can go after Nelson Mandela's record for incarceration while her people continue to suffer. Peter Nelson Pyrmont

 

 

As for China's role in this - Last night I watched an eye openning doco on China's demand for oil. Currently all it's oil is shipped through sea lanes dominated by the US Navy. It is therefore building extensive pipelines from the Mid east Khan states, Russia AND BURMA to secure it's supplies.

 

China's international policy is to NOT involve itself with the internal politics of the countries it sources it's oil from thus Chad, Sudan, various Sth American countries and Iran are supplying China with oil in preference to US oil companies that demand freedom and democracy as part of the deal.

 

So don't expect China to interfere with Burma's internal politics and as we all know, China has no problem with the killing of Buddhist monks.