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Keyword: burma

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  • Burma's bizarre capital: a super-sized slice of post-apocalypse suburbia

    03/19/2015 7:56:10 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 4 replies
    The Guardian ^ | March 19, 2015 | Matt Kennard and Claire Provost
    Driving through Naypyidaw, the purpose-built capital of Burma, it could be easy to forget that you’re in the middle of one of south-east Asia’s poorest countries. On either side of the street, a seemingly endless series of giant detached buildings, villa-style hotels and shopping malls look like they have fallen from the sky, all painted in soft pastel colours: light pink, baby blue, beige. The roads are newly paved and lined with flowers and carefully pruned shrubbery. Meticulously landscaped roundabouts boast large sculptures of flowers. The scale of this surreal city is difficult to describe: it extends an estimated 4,800...
  • Myanmar extremist Buddhist monk Wirathu calls UN envoy 'a whore'

    01/20/2015 5:43:49 PM PST · by Viennacon · 15 replies
    International Business Times ^ | 1/19/2015 | Gianluca Mezzofiore
    Myanmar's ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk Wirathu has called the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in Burma a "whore" during a public address in Yangon. The leader of the controversial 969 nationalist movement hit back at Yanghee Lee for an earlier comment in defence of the stateless Rohingya Muslims, who are persecuted in the country's western Rakhine state. "We have already made public our Race Protection Law, but without even studying it, this bitch [kaungma in Burmese] keeps on complaining about how it is against human rights!" Wirathu shouted. "Can this whore really be from a respectable family background?" he asked...
  • A Russophobic Rant From Congress

    12/09/2014 8:25:01 AM PST · by Kaslin · 43 replies
    Townhall.com ^ | December 9, 2014 | Pat Buchanan
    Hopefully, Russians realize that our House of Representatives often passes thunderous resolutions to pander to special interests, which have no bearing on the thinking or actions of the U.S. government. Last week, the House passed such a resolution 411-10. As ex-Rep. Ron Paul writes, House Resolution 758 is so "full of war propaganda that it rivals the rhetoric from the chilliest era of the Cold War." H. R. 758 is a Russophobic rant full of falsehoods and steeped in superpower hypocrisy. Among the 43 particulars in the House indictment is this gem: "The Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Georgia...
  • Confrontations Await Obama After Productive Trip

    11/16/2014 8:21:44 AM PST · by Oldeconomybuyer · 27 replies
    ABC News ^ | November 16, 2014 | By JULIE PACE AP White House Correspondent
    After a productive trip abroad, President Barack Obama headed home Sunday on a collision course with Republicans on immigration and an oil pipeline project, showdowns that threaten prospects for cooperation over his remaining two years in office. Given his faltering political support in the U.S. and his party's recent election losses, his trip to China, Myanmar and Australia appeared to offer respite. The president, who was due to arrive in Washington late Sunday, basked in policy breakthroughs with China and warm welcomes in Myanmar and Australia. "I intend to build on that momentum when I return home," Obama said at...
  • Obama says ‘Rohingya,’ displeasing Myanmar hosts (name of Burmese Muslims)

    11/14/2014 8:37:11 AM PST · by Olog-hai · 20 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Nov 14, 2014 9:05 AM EST | Todd Pitman and Julie Pace
    Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslims are among the most persecuted people on earth, and advocates of their cause were hoping President Barack Obama would not only press the issue during his visit this week—they were hoping he would simply say their name. On Friday, the last day of his trip, he finally did—uttering the word publicly for the first time on his three-day visit at a news conference with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “Discrimination against the Rohingya or any other religious minority does not express the kind of country that Burma over the long term wants to be,” Obama...
  • A Magic–O Mystery Tour

    11/13/2014 6:20:12 AM PST · by NOBO2012 · 2 replies
    Michelle Obama's Mirror ^ | 11-13-2014 | MOTUS
    Now that he has moved on to Burma shall we discuss Big Guy’s triumphant Chinese trip? How can I call it “triumphant” you ask? Bo in Burma: give that boy a cup of hot cocoa and we’ve got our next pajama boyWell, wouldn’t you consider it a triumph when you’ve finally accomplished your prime objective of fundamentally transforming America? You may recall that Barry has always ascribed to the theory that America is too powerful, too assertive and too advantaged by it’s military capabilities and economic might. So when the handiwork of his past 6 years - overseeing the decline in...
  • Myanmar Policy’s Message to Muslims: Get Out

    11/08/2014 11:59:54 AM PST · by Rusty0604 · 32 replies
    New York Times ^ | 11/06/2014 | JANE PERLEZ
    SITTWE, Myanmar — The Myanmar government has given the estimated one million Rohingya people in this coastal region of the country a dispiriting choice: Prove your family has lived here for more than 60 years and qualify for second-class citizenship, or be placed in camps and face deportation. The policy, accompanied by a wave of decrees and legislation, has made life for the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim minority, ever more desperate, spurring the biggest flow of Rohingya refugees since a major exodus two years ago. The crisis has become an embarrassment to the White House ahead of a scheduled visit...
  • Mayor Lee raises China’s flag despite Hong Kong protests

    10/02/2014 5:38:12 PM PDT · by artichokegrower · 8 replies
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | October 2, 2014
    San Francisco politicians, eager to showcase their democratic credentials in their liberty-loving city, traditionally have not shied from taking stances on human rights, checking in on everything from apartheid in South Africa to Burma’s military junta. But on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of peaceful democracy demonstrators who had already been tear-gassed marched in Hong Kong, Mayor Ed Lee was on his City Hall balcony hoisting the flag of the target of those protests — the autocratic government of China.
  • Rohingya children in Myanmar camps going hungry (Muslims)

    08/08/2014 7:37:11 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 7 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Aug. 8, 2014 5:56 AM EDT | Esther Htusan
    Born just over a year ago, Dosmeda Bibi has spent her entire short life confined to a camp for one of the world’s most persecuted religious minorities. And like a growing number of other Muslim Rohingya children who are going hungry, she’s showing the first signs of severe malnutrition. […] Myanmar’s child malnutrition rate was already among the region’s highest, but it’s an increasingly familiar sight in the country’s westernmost state of Rakhine, which is home to almost all of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims. More than 140,000 have been trapped in crowded, dirty camps since extremist Buddhist mobs...
  • When Buddhist Monks Wield Kalashnikovs

    07/10/2014 3:51:25 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 4 replies
    Foreign Policy ^ | July 2, 2014 | BY David Brenner
    In Burma, an ultranationalist Buddhist militia is training to "defend the fatherland" against Rohingya Muslims.I Was a monk. Most of us used to be," says a heavily armed soldier in the rugged mountains of northern Burma's Kachin state. "When I heard about this army, I really wanted to join. You know, in Rakhine state, we need to defend Buddhism." The soldier fights for the little-known militia of Buddhist nationalists referred to as the Arakan Army. In his khaki uniform, a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, he is far from the peaceful Buddhist monk of the Western imagination. Yet some officials...
  • China 'won't seek hegemony' says President Xi

    07/08/2014 10:27:10 AM PDT · by robowombat · 5 replies
    Spacewar ^ | June 28, 2014
    China 'won't seek hegemony' says President Xi by Staff Writers Beijing June 28, 2014 Beijing June 27, 2014 - Chinese President Xi Jinping and Myanmar's leader Thein Sein held talks Friday as the relationship between the Asian giant and the longtime international pariah adapts to dramatic political changes. The two shook hands outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People and inspected an honour guard as Thein Sein -- a former general -- was given full military honours, before the pair went inside to begin their talks. Xi noted the four-day trip is Thein Sein's fifth visit to China and third...
  • Modi targets counterterrorism as a key policy

    06/21/2014 7:07:04 PM PDT · by entropy12 · 7 replies
    The National ^ | June 21, 2014 | Harsh V Pant
    While his government’s focus remains squarely on domestic issues, Mr Modi is also charting a rather ambitious foreign policy course. He has already visited Bhutan and his future destinations over the next few months are likely to include Japan, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Australia and Nepal. Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign minister has saluted the new Modi government for injecting “new vitality into an ancient civilisation”.
  • Myanmar land grab victims turn to black magic

    05/24/2014 1:26:46 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 5 replies
    Associated Press ^ | May 24, 2014 1:36 AM EDT | Aye Aye Win
    Victims of land grabs in Myanmar have eagerly tested new-found freedoms by protesting and sending petitions to the president and parliament, to no avail. Now some are turning to old ways: Curses and black magic. Coffins marked with the names of those who seized property have been set ablaze. In rugged central regions of the country, aggrieved villagers have prayed for mountain gods to unleash their wrath. […] Land seizures by the military, the government and private companies linked to junta cronies have long been commonplace in this Southeast Asian country, whether for development or the extraction of natural resources....
  • Large number of Chinese troops seen heading for China-Vietnam border

    05/19/2014 1:30:16 PM PDT · by traumer · 40 replies
    A large number of People’s Liberation Army troops have reportedly been spotted heading towards the China-Vietnam border as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate, reports Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily. Sing Tao Daily is generally considered to be aligned to Chinese state media. Thousands of Chinese nationals living or on business in Vietnam have already fled the country amid anti-China riots, which were sparked by a tense standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese naval ships near a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 4. The Chinese foreign ministry...
  • Obama: Myanmar won’t succeed if Muslims are oppressed

    05/03/2014 7:51:37 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 55 replies
    Reuters ^ | Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:05am EDT | Matt Spetalnick
    U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the rights of Myanmar’s minority Muslim population were not being fully protected and warned that the Southeast Asian country would not succeed if Muslims there were oppressed. On a visit to Malaysia, Obama praised political reforms under way in once-isolated Myanmar, but said the danger of democratization was that it could unleash religious and ethnic conflicts and that such developments could move Myanmar in a bad direction. …
  • Fossil Hints At Primate Origins (Out-Of-Asia?)

    10/29/2003 7:44:16 AM PST · by blam · 44 replies · 486+ views
    BBC ^ | 10-29-2003 | PNAS
    Fossil hints at primate origins The bone is just over a centimetre long An ankle bone discovered in central Burma could be evidence of an ancient ancestor common to many of today's primates, including humans. The 45-million-year-old fossil has features that link it to all of the anthropoids, the grouping of human-like species such as apes and monkeys. If correct, this would tie their line of evolutionary descent to Asia and not Africa as some have suggested. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The PNAS journal presents a paper on the discovery by Laurent...
  • 50-tonne jade boulder found in Myanmar

    02/22/2014 9:59:44 AM PST · by Pan_Yan · 17 replies
    Gulf News ^ | 18:36 February 22, 2014
    London: A giant jade boulder that could be worth billions of pounds has been discovered in Burma. The 50-tonne block was found half buried in soil and rock in the gem-rich north of the country. Villagers discovered the 5.5 metre-wide boulder in the mountainous state of Kachin, where rebels have been fighting the government for more than 50 years. It is now under armed guard as officials negotiate with rebels about what to do with it. Burma, also known as Myanmar, is one of the world’s biggest producers of precious stones. Jade expert Jason Holt, of Holts Jewellers in Hatton...
  • UN: Myanmar Buddhists killed more than 40 Muslims

    01/24/2014 8:48:58 AM PST · by Olog-hai · 36 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan 24, 2014 10:24 AM EST | Robin McDowell
    The United Nations has confirmed that at least 48 Muslims appear to have been killed when Buddhist mobs attacked a village in an isolated corner of western Myanmar, violence that has been vehemently denied by the government since it was first reported by The Associated Press just over a week ago. Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said he “strongly objects” to the U.N. claims and called its information and figures “totally wrong.” A statement issued Friday by Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said accounts of the events issued by news organizations and international agencies were “based on unjustified conclusions drawing from...
  • Myanmar denies Buddhist mob kills Muslim villagers

    01/17/2014 7:27:01 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 9 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan. 17, 2014 8:32 PM EST | Robin McDowell
    Myanmar’s government denied that security forces and a Buddhist mob attacked a village in an isolated corner of the country this past week and killed Muslim women and children. A rights group said more than a dozen people may have died and that hundreds of people have fled their homes. The United States and Britain called on the government to investigate and to hold those responsible accountable. “We have had no information about killings,” Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Myanmar’s ancient city of Bagan. …
  • Oldest evidence of sex in flowering plants

    01/10/2014 5:23:06 AM PST · by Natufian · 27 replies
    BBC ^ | 01/10/14 | Siva Parameswaran
    The oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant - dating back 100 million years - has been found in Burma. The team discovered a cluster of 18 tiny flowers in a piece of amber; one of them was in the process of making new seeds for the next generation. Flowering plants caused an enormous change in biodiversity on Earth.