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In my last post on Burma, I reported the second meeting in as many months between Senator Jim Webb and Nyan Win, the foreign minister for the Burmese junta. This time the meeting was in Washington, which required that Win be granted a visa waiver (he, like the rest of the junta's senior figures, is on a prohibited list). [snip] Foreign Minister Nyan Win is actually Major General Nyan Win in the Burmese Army. Before heading up the Foreign Ministry where he became the point man for explaining away the butchery his regime visits on the Burmese people, he was...

Barack Obama got to play peacemaker during his staged meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In a throwback to Bill Clinton's famous photo op on the White House Lawn with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Obama stood between the men, holding their arms as the two shook hands.

Thousands of Guineans on Wednesday cheered a young army captain chosen as de facto head of state by the military junta that took over the West African country in a coup after the death of President Lansana Conte. The installation of Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara as leader of the world's top bauxite exporter went ahead despite international condemnation and statements opposing the coup from civilian leaders and the top military commander. The coup leaders, calling themselves the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), appeared unopposed in their control of the Guinean capital Conakry two days after Conte's death from...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/11/20081117-3.html For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary November 17, 2008 White House News Statement by the Press Secretary on Burma Burma: Continued Arbitrary Sentencing In the last few days in Burma, Than Shwe's brutal regime arbitrarily sentenced additional pro-democracy activists to harsh prison terms. This brings the total number of persons convicted since November 7 to at least 86. Brave Burmese patriots such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay Kywe, were among those who have been sentenced to 65 years' imprisonment for their peaceful participation in the August...

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor in exchange for food and stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens from aid shelters, an international human rights group said Thursday. London-based Amnesty International also said authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to crack down on the problem weeks ago. "Unless human rights safeguards are observed, tens of thousands of people remain at risk," Amnesty said in a report released Thursday. "Respect for human rights must be at the center of the relief effort." More than a...

U.S. Navy ships positioned off the coast of Myanmar will soon leave the area after the country's junta refused to give them permission to deliver aid to cyclone victims, a top U.S. commander said Wednesday. Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Essex and other ships will resume their previous operations Thursday.

Myanmar cyclone: Burma junta may be prosecuted over aid block By Philip Sherwell in New York Last Updated: 6:17PM BST 17/05/2008 Burma's ruling generals could be threatened with prosecution for crimes against humanity as a last resort to pressure them to allow an international relief operation to reach desperate cyclone survivors. A boy looks out onto his devastated village near Yangon, Burma "The strategy is to raise the bar for the consequences of not allowing humanitarian intervention by introducing the threat of prosecution for crimes against humanity," said a senior US health expert involved in the discussions. "The goal is...

Foreign Aid: Burma's regime signals that allowing aid to its cyclone-stricken people isn't an obligation. As thousands die, why does the U.N. coddle this junta when the only humane response is to throw it out?

Fight to aid cyclone victims frustrated by junta By Graeme Jenkins in Rangoon Last Updated: 2:31AM BST 06/05/2008 Burma said last night that it feared that more than 10,000 people had been killed when a cyclone struck the country at the weekend. Desperate Burmese queue for water in Rangoon At least a further 3,000 villagers in the Irrawaddy Delta are reported to be missing, while hundreds of thousands have been left homeless and without drinking water since Cyclone Nargis crashed into the coast on Saturday at 120mph, destroying entire villages and battering Rangoon. As United Nations agencies warned of an...

Singapore - In Singapore, United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has read a declaration by the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after meeting the Nobel prize winner in Myanmar. In it Ms Suu Kyi says she wants a dialogue with the junta as quickly as possible for the sake of the nation. On Friday, she will meet an official appointed by the junta for contact with the opposition. Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, will also be allowed to meet members of her party the NLD.

Rangoon (dpa) - In their ongoing crackdown on dissent in Rangoon, where tens-of-thousands took to the streets in protests last week, military authorities have arrested people who merely clapped for the demonstrators or took pictures of the events, sources said Thursday. On Wednesday night security personnel raided homes situated along Kyartawya Street, east of the Shwedagon Pagoda, and arrested scores of people who had allegedly given moral support to the monk-led peaceful demonstrations that rocked Rangoon between September 18 to 26, informed sources said. "Their crime was for clapping and encouraging the monks," said one observer. The Shwedagon, Rangoon's most...

The shouting and hand-wringing by politicians over Burma is almost over. Soon, attention will turn to the inglorious task of finding a scapegoat for political embarrassment. In Brussels there are calls for more sanctions against the Rangoon junta and, in response to big talk from the French President, his Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is waving a little stick and a European company, perhaps Total, will be held up to example. Burma is a tiny sore, a snag in the woodwork that occasionally trips us up and begs the question: why did we not mend this problem years ago? Tellingly, when...

The new charter stipulated that the CNS, along with the interim government, would leave office when a new elected government was sworn in. Gen Sonthi said yesterday he stepped down as CNS chief because the position no longer had meaning for him after he retired as army chief at the end of last month. ''It is such a relief to be freed of responsibilities as leader of the CNS,'' he said. It was better to hand the CNS top job over to a member who was still in control of the armed forces, he said. Air force chief ACM Chalit...

Blogger Niknayman has a list of names and affiliations of over 300 monks and civilians who have been arrested by the Myanmar Military Regime. Many are from the National League of Democracy, the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Newspapers across Asia are putting the number of detained people at 1500. Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norwegian organization reports that the number of arrested is much higher at over 2000. Death toll is rumoured to be in the hundreds, though the Myanmar Junta refuses to confirm the official number. Democratic Voice of Burma is quoting this announcement from Ko...

The monks have vowed to continue their action Lorries with loudspeakers have been driving through Burma's main city of Rangoon warning residents to stop anti-government protests.The broadcasts threatened that "action will be taken against those who violate this order". But hundreds of monks and civilians defied the threats and began fresh protests at the Shwedagon pagoda. On Monday, there were protests in at least 25 towns, with tens of thousands of people marching in Rangoon. Several military trucks are now parked near Shwedagon pagoda, which has been the focus of the protests. Eyewitnesses said several hundred monks gathered at...

Hundreds of Buddhist monks have marched around Burma's most revered temple, in a third consecutive day of protests against the military government. The monks were allowed into the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon for the first time since their protests began. They walked through the city surrounded by a human chain of civilians holding hands to protect them. They want a government apology for the violent break-up of a recent rally, triggered by protests over price rises.

Uh-oh. Don’t look now, but somebody who wants to be President forgot to take their medicine. It remains uncertain as to whether the failure to follow the prescription will be politically costly. But the Senator formerly known as Hillary Rodham Clinton seems to be caught in another little conflict, and this one could be a problem with, shall we say, “the faithful.” By “the faithful,” I mean the left-wing contingency within the Democratic Party that long ago abandoned any historic, western understanding of the relationship between the human person and the earth (an understanding that is so commonplace for most...

Journalists caught a rare glimpse of Burma's military leader Than Shwe Burma's military rulers have been showing off their new capital for the first time to the outside world. The new city, called Naypyidaw, or Abode of Kings, is being built about 460km (300 miles) north of the old capital, Rangoon. Until now few outsiders were allowed to go there, but the foreign media has been invited to the capital to watch the huge Armed Forces Day parade. However, it is still not clear why the generals have moved here. The rutted and overcrowded roads of Burma suddenly give...

IRAQ’S fragile democracy, weakened by mounting chaos and a rapidly rising death toll, is being challenged by calls for the formation of a hardline “government of national salvation”.The proposal, which is being widely discussed in political and intelligence circles in Baghdad, is to replace the Shi’ite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, with a regime capable of imposing order and confronting the sectarian militias leading the country to the brink of civil war. Dr Saleh al-Mutlak, a prominent Sunni politician, travelled to Arab capitals last week seeking support for the replacement of the present government with a group of...

The Myanmarese news website 'Mizzima News' reported that Indian troops have moved into the Indo-Burmese border region of Moreh. India and Myanmar have had a very good military relationship with Myanmar helping India with tackling border insurgencies. About 50 Indian military trucks believed to be carrying weapons crossed the border into Burma last Thursday, according to eyewitnesses. "Five trucks full of soldiers followed the 50 trucks," a resident in Moreh said. The backs of the trucks were reportedly covered with plastic sheets. The Burmese embassy in India refused to comment on what the trucks were carrying. Security was tightened in...

Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been tightening security measures, not because it wants to capture the real culprits who planted recent deadly bombs in Rangoon, but conmen who cheated money from the children of top generals, according to sources close to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The conmen are said to be the brother in law of former minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry Maj Gen Nyunt Tin, U Myo Hein, and the son in law of Naval officer Maj Gen Paw Tun, U Thant Sin. Myo Hein is the managing director of a Singapore-based...

The clashes between the two sides have been going on since the beginning of March. But during the traditional Burmese New Year Thingyan festival, there have been reports of losses on both sides. Up to now, UWSA lost more than 100 soldiers and 200 wounded. Moreover, artillery shells landed on Thai territories and the Thai army have beefed up security along the border. Nang Kher Seng also told DVB that some Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) soldiers donned UWSA uniforms and fought alongside Wa troops, and that many child soldiers have been used by the attacking...

Almost everyone associated with former prime minister Khin Nyunt is now on trial on graft-related charges Hundreds of senior Burmese military officers are expected to be sentenced to decades in prison this week. More than 300 former military intelligence officers and several civilians are currently being tried inside Rangoon's notorious Insein prison. The trials have increased uncertainty and tension within Burma over the country's political and economic future. The verdicts and sentences for the top two dozen generals, former prime minister Khin Nyunt's closest confidants, were originally scheduled to be handed down more than three weeks ago but have been...

Burma PM 'behind Suu Kyi attack' From correspondents in Washington 21oct04 THE new prime minister of military-ruled Burma was directly behind an attack on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy last year, the US charged today. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington had a credible report that Lieutenant General Soe Win, an ally of hardline junta chief Than Shwe, was "directly involved in the decision to carry out the brutal attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy on May 30, 2003". "We did look into the matter extensively," Mr Boucher said when asked...

Burma's prime minister is ousted - Leadership shift viewed as blow to democratic efforts By Grant Peck, Associated Press October 20, 2004 BANGKOK, Thailand -- Burma's tough but pragmatic prime minister was removed from power yesterday by his hard-line army colleagues, clouding prospects for the freedom of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and for democracy in the military-led Southeast Asian nation. The ouster of General Khin Nyunt, 65, who was also military intelligence chief, appeared to spell an end to a power struggle between moderates in the junta and a faction uninterested in negotiating reconciliation with democracy activists or...