Thursday July 16, 2009, 2:12 am
“We have to send a strong message. The military is playing a game,” Sein Win of the Washington-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma told The Irrawaddy.
He said the junta is trying to mislead the international community by giving assurances that they are going to reform and hold a free and fair election. In reality, “they are doing nothing,” Sein Win said. “The UN and other major countries must send a strong signal about this.”

Deeply disappointed with the recent turn of events, especially with the visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month, Sein Win said nothing has changed for the people of Burma.

“They are going to sentence Aung San Suu Kyi. If things do not change, there is no reason for opposing sanctions,” he said.

Sein Win said the assurance given by Snr-Gen Than Shwe that the 2010 elections would be free and fair should be taken with a pinch of salt. “It is like a bad joke. The international community has to understand this,” he said.

“It is quite frustrating. After so many years, people should know what is what,” he said.
“The only thing that we are seeing is that there is no result, no progress.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/index.php

Thursday July 16, 2009, 3:52 am
It is so sad to see such demigods! playing with innocent lives, and to see that the super and mighty can't do any thing about it, while we see the super and mighty, playing with other peoples lives, its sad affair in our World! i wonder when we will start to see the light as a human community! one for all and all for one!
Namaste! peace be with you!

Thursday July 16, 2009, 6:51 am
Noted with thanks Ben.

Thursday July 16, 2009, 7:14 am
a good article for information on whats going on there and most importantly what is not going on and should be. Thanx much Ben

Thursday July 16, 2009, 7:53 am
Thank You, Ladies.
The headline "The Junta is playing a game" is missing, (sorry) but the article is there.
Most important; the conclusion:
"IT IS QUITE FRUSTRATING. AFTER SO MANY YEARS PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW WHAT IS WHAT.
THE ONLY THING THAT WE ARE SEEING IS: THERE IS NO RESULT, NO PROGRESS!"

Thursday July 16, 2009, 8:04 am
"Thank you for sending an email to help free Aung San Suu Kyi"
http://www.actionburma.com/

Thursday July 16, 2009, 8:11 am
US Campaign for Burma:
http://uscampaignforburma.org/

Burma Campaign UK:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

Thursday July 16, 2009, 8:23 am
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York, New York 10017

Dear Secretary-General,
I am writing to respectfully urge you to put the situation in Burma on the formal agenda of the United Nations Security Council and to use your good offices to support the passage of a binding resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma.

The first ever United Nations Security Council briefing on Burma conducted by your office in December of 2005 was a significant development. However, I consider the briefing the initial step to bringing resolution to the current crisis in Burma. I believe the increasingly unstable situation in Burma represents a threat, not only to the people of Burma, but to international peace and security. As a result, the United Nations Security Council has an obligation to intervene.

There is great urgency in this request because the situation in Burma continues to deteriorate. As numerous reports make clear, Burma is ruled by one of the world's most brutal military juntas. Abuses being committed by the military regime include:

1. The continuing detention of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi.

2. Imprisoning and torturing opponents, including more than 1,100 political prisoners, thirteen of whom are fellow members of Parliament.

3. Using rape as a weapon of war.

4. Forcibly recruiting up to 70,000 child soldiers, far more than any other army in the world.

5. Causing at least 700,000 refugees, with more to come, to flee across Burma's borders into neighboring countries.

6. The SPDC Army has forced over 500,000 villagers from their land. These people remain in Burma as internal refugees. They live and barely survive in the jungles and mountains of eastern Burma. Their only desire is to return home and live in peace.

7. Burning or otherwise destroying 2,700 villages.

8. Forcing humanitarian aid organizations such as Doctors without Borders (France) and the UN's Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis, to leave Burma because the junta refuses to permit them to carry out their work.

9. Maintaining Burma’s status as the largest producer of illegal methamphetamines in Southeast Asia, causing devastation of individuals and families throughout the region.

10. Conducting a new military and brutal offensive against Burma’s ethnic Karen minority. The acts of aggression against the Karen include the shooting of unarmed civilians and children, burning villages, rape, torture, and mutilation.

In recent years the United Nations has employed many diplomatic initiatives in relation to Burma. Two consecutive envoys from the your office and four other Special Rapporteurs from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have failed to elicit reform from the regime. You have called for democratic transition in Burma by 2006, but so far the regime has failed to respond.

The United Nations is not the only body to have failed in its attempts at diplomacy with the military junta. The European Union has sent missions representing the EU requesting change in Burma, again to no avail. Burma’s neighboring countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore have failed in bilateral diplomacy, and recent requests for reform from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been rebuffed.

The regime in Burma is clearly unwilling to respond to reasonable diplomatic requests. The responsibility for failure in these efforts rests solely with Burma's military junta. The international community cannot allow the current impasse to continue. It is now time for the United Nations Security Council to intervene. It has the power to pass a binding resolution requiring the regime to engage in genuine negotiations and begin a transition to democracy in Burma.

There is ample precedent for a Security Council resolution on Burma. The Council has passed resolutions on many countries, including Haiti, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Liberia where conditions less severe than those in Burma existed. Failure by the Security Council to act on Burma will cause the death of more innocent civilians.

The recent report, A Threat To The Peace, commissioned by former Czech President Vaclav Havel and South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu provides detailed reasons on why the Security Council should act, and the legal basis on which it can do so. The Havel-Tutu report recommends UN Security Council action that would require Burma's military regime to work with the United Nations on a plan for transition. Since the report was produced, the Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1674, providing further justification for Security Council intervention.

At the December 16, 2005, United Nations Security Council briefing on Burma, you suggested a course of action on Burma. I support your recommendation and I urge the Council to adopt a resolution following the recommendations by Mr. Havel and Mr. Tutu. This resolution should:

1) Require the government of Burma to work with the UN Secretary General in implementing a plan for national reconciliation.

2) Request the UN Secretary General remain involved in the reconciliation process and require him to report back to the Council on a regular basis.

3) Urge the Government of Burma to ensure the immediate, safe, and unhindered access to all parts of the country for the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable groups of the population, including internally displaced people.

4) Call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma.

Thank you for your attention to this most serious matter.
Sincerely,
Bengt A.I. Andersson (aka Ben Oscarsito)
Sweden

cc: Representatives of the United Nations Security Council

If not NOW - WHEN???

Thursday July 16, 2009, 12:55 pm
Ben, there should be a PS to your letter - "and if all else fails, kindly send in a hit-aquad to take the bulldog and his cronies out. That would settle the issue once and for all".

Thursday July 16, 2009, 4:42 pm
Noted,interesting article.

Thursday July 16, 2009, 5:28 pm
The atrocities that have taken place..still taking place..just wrong..terrible wrong..It both sickens and saddens me to think how so many are being mistreated..in the worst ways..
Thank you Ben for this news story..
Noted..

Thursday July 16, 2009, 9:13 pm
Thank you Ben for your activism!

Noted, Free Aung San Suu Kyi! No More Child Soldiers on this Planet, that is a High Crime Against the Human Family.

Noted.

Friday July 17, 2009, 4:38 am
Thanks everyone

Friday July 17, 2009, 9:44 am
Noted thanks Ben.

Friday July 17, 2009, 12:51 pm
"Ban Ki-Moon Should Now Tackle Burma’s Constitution, Says Opposition" (Irrawaddy)
Opposition parties in Burma say UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon didn’t go far enough in urging the military regime to ensure that the 2010 general election is “credible, inclusive and legitimate.”

The UN chief should also have addressed demands to rewrite the constitution drawn up by the regime and enacted in 2008, they say.
Nyan Win, spokesman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that even if the 2010 election were to be “free and fair”—as the regime had promised—“the 2008 constitution is undemocratic.”
The NLD disagreed with Ban on this point, Nyan Win said.

The regime claimed the 2008 constitution had been approved by more than 90 percent of voters in a national referendum held shortly after the Cyclone Nargis in May that year. Critics say the constitution had been drafted by handpicked official representatives and that the referendum was anything but free and fair.
The constitution reserves 25 percent of seats in both houses of a new parliament for military representatives, appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

It also bars any person married to a foreigner from serving as president of the country. Furthermore, presidents must have military experience.
Both restrictions rule out the possibility of Aung San Suu Kyi ever taking office. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is definitely banned from becoming president under the 2008 constitution,” Nyan Win said.

Burma’s largest ceasefire groups—the Wa, Kachin, Kokang and Mon—also take issue with the constitution, which reserves 25 percent of the seats in state or regional assemblies for non-elected military representatives. The commander-in-chief of the armed forces will have power to abolish the parliaments of ethnic states and autonomous regions.
In a joint letter to the Chinese government, Wa and Kachin leaders said they wanted the 2008 constitution amended because it failed to respect the truth of political history and perpetuated the Burman centric long-term political distrust towards ethnic minorities.

“Mr Ban Ki-moon’s election proposals are totally out of touch with stakeholders in Burmese politics,” said Aye Thar Aung, an Arakan leader and secretary of the Arakan League for Democracy. “The greatest difficulty for Burma’s democracy process is now the constitutional crisis.”
Aye Thar Aung said the UN’s Burma efforts should now be directed at making sure the constitution enshrined democratic principles and ethnic minority rights.

Friday July 17, 2009, 1:00 pm
"ASEAN summit to tackle Burma stalemate" (Democratic Voice of Burma, July 17)
–The intransigence of the Burmese government and the ongoing political crisis in the country will likely feature high on the agenda of the 42nd ASEAN summit beginning today in Thailand.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will next week arrive on the island of Phuket, which will play host to the week-long annual summit.

The US ambassador to ASEAN, Scot Marciel, told reporters on Wednesday that he “expects” Burma to feature in talks this week.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc has found itself in a predicament in recent months as two of its member nations, North Korea and Burma, have each drawn international condemnation over their respective internal problems.

The two countries featured side by side in news headlines last month as cooperation over weapons technology appeared to heighten, despite North Korea being subject to tough UN arms embargo.
Such behaviour could galvanise an ASEAN community normally reluctant to interfere in domestic problems of member countries.

According to Debbie Stothard, coordinator of advocacy network ALTSEAN-Burma, the development of advanced weaponry, including long-range missiles, makes Burma “more of a traditional threat to the region”.
Similarly, the thousands of refugees fleeing fighting in Burma into neighbouring countries have given Burma’s long-running internal conflict international ramifications.

Joining Clinton at the summit will be senior officials from China, Burma’s northern neighbour and strongest ally which has largely resisted any condemnation of the military government.
There is concern that China’s presence at the summit could outweigh any influence that the US can bring to discussions over tangible action to take on Burma.
But there have been suggestions lately that China’s confidence in its neighbour is waning following increasing unrest in the country which, if not tackled, says Stothard, could “hurt China very seriously”.

“Beijing is starting to understand that it is not in China’s national interests to allow the situation to deteriorate further in Burma,” she said.
“China needs stability in Burma and we can see that the Burmese government is creating more and more instability”.
Reporting by Francis Wade

Saturday July 18, 2009, 7:30 am
"Now or never - the UN must act on Burma" (Mizzima)
- As members of the United Nations Security Council debate UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest visit to Burma, the country’s opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi awaits her fate in a secluded corner of the notorious Insein prison in Burma.
In the wake of Ban’s briefing the Security Council on his visit to Burma, on Monday, members including veto wielding nations United Kingdom, United States and France deplored the Burmese junta’s stance in refusing to allow the UN chief to meet the opposition leader.

But, another veto wielding country, China, came to the defence of the Burmese Generals, stating it was an understandable situation for the regime to refuse Ban a meeting with the opposition leader and urged the West not to ‘pick’ on Burma and to treat matters as “internal affairs” of the country.
On July 24, the final arguments from lawyers of both sides will be presented in the special court in Insein prison, following which, a verdict is expected. Aung San Suu Kyi could face up to five years in prison, if found guilty.

While some are speculating about the possibility of her being declared innocent, the popular understanding is that the junta is holding the trial as a pretext to continue detaining her, and it would come as no surprise if the court sentences her to a prison term.

What will happen if she is sentenced and sent to prison?
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been the fountain head of the Burmese struggle for democracy and who has fired the aspirations of the Burmese people through her personal sacrifices and integrity, has been under detention for most of the past 19 years.

But Win Tin, a senior member of her party – the National League for Democracy – and a veteran journalist predicts that if she is sentenced it may provoke the people and could lead to yet another mass uprising, as she is the sole hope for the millions of Burmese people that want changes to come to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in the hearts of the people, and people will be very angry if she is sentenced to a prison term,” the veteran journalist told Mizzima earlier in an interview.

But given the instances of the Burmese Army brutally cracking down on any anti-government activities, including the 2007 monk-led protests and the popular 1988 student-protests, some doubt whether the people would have the courage to come out on the streets in protest.

Thakhin Chan Tun, a veteran politician in Rangoon said, he does not believe there would be any kind of anti-government protests even if the Nobel Peace Laureate is imprisoned because the regime has revealed its brutality in cracking down on any kind of dissidence.

“The government has already arrested all activists and those who escaped the dragnet have gone into exile and are campaigning outside the country. So, it is quite impossible for any kind of mass activities happening,” he said.
He said it is clear that the junta has cooked up this plan in order to charge, put on trial and imprison Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He is afraid that no amount of pressure will stop the junta from doing what it has planned.
To be continued:
http://www.mizzima.com/edop/anslysis/2472-now-or-never-the-un-must-act-on-burma-.html

Saturday July 18, 2009, 4:16 pm
I'm in complete agreement, something must be done about the junta, and the idiots who've been financing them.

Monday July 20, 2009, 2:03 am
Junta Arrests 50 People on Martyrs Day (Irrawaddy)
Fifty Burmese pro-democracy activists were arrested on Sunday while marching in Rangoon to pay respect to Burma’s independence heroes on Martyr’s Day...:
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16361

Monday July 20, 2009, 2:06 am
Human Rights Questions Arise at Asean Meeting (Irrawaddy)
PHUKET, Thailand — Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are expected to approve the Asean Human Rights Body (AHRB) ’s Terms of Reference (ToR) during their meeting, which began on Sunday and ends Tuesday, prior to a meeting of the full Asean grouping.
However, the process has already illustrated the difficulty the regional body will face while trying to foster human rights protection in Asia...:
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16360

Monday July 20, 2009, 2:09 am
"An enduring byproduct of war" (Democratic Voice of Burma)
–For half a century, Burma’s jungles and mountains have hosted a conflict where conventional weaponry has been traded for tactics designed to forever scar the ethnic population of the country.

The byproducts of the world’s longest running internal conflict, grossly underreported, have been so severe that international lawyers and rights groups believe that the ruling junta in Burma could warrant investigation for war crimes. Perhaps most chillingly, young girls have been subject to appalling sexual violence at the hands of a military bent on creating a means of intimidation that will far outlast the brandishing of a gun...
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2727

Wednesday July 22, 2009, 2:18 pm
Hillary Clinton:
"Free Suu Kyi and the US May Invest in Burma" (Irrawaddy)
“We are calling for release of Aung San Suu Kyi, which we believe is very important. It is so critical that she be released from prosecution she has been under,” she told reporters at press conference.
“And if she is released, there is an open up opportunity, at least for my country, to expand relations with Burma, including investment in Burma. But it is up to the Burmese leadership,”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=16384

Thursday July 30, 2009, 5:42 am
Burma’s military regime: Digging the tunnels. (Democratic Voice of Burma)
New images have emerged that show North Korean and other foreign advisers in Burma consulting with officials on what now appears to be an extensive network of some 800 underground tunnels across much of the country.
While rife government corruption and uneven development in Burma yesterday awarded Burma a spot at the bottom of Foreign Policy magazine’s Failed States Index, billions of US dollars are now known to have been channeled by the Burmese government into building the tunnels.
DVB has been tracking the development of the tunnels and underground installations in Burma for a number of years. This is the first in a series of DVB stories revealing the secretive tunnel project....
http://www.dvb.no/english/nkorea-news.php