Burma / Myanmar

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/4148/75280938ms7.jpg
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'nine'

monks kickin @ss and takin names!

About to point out that thread.

Just talked to someone who was in Burma recently, she said it was an amazing trip. She tried to minimize her support for the government by utilizing as few government-provided services as possible. I'm considering it but ... dunno. In a country like Burma it seems to me the most successful private companies are likely have strong links to the government. (ok maybe scratch that "in a country like Burma")

This was before the recent elections, not sure how that changes things.

"Myanmar expects cyclone deaths to top 10,000"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24459578/

US charge-d'affaires says potentially millions affected by sanitation/water/etc. problems

One dude in the UK goes bonkers with a gun and it's all over our papers. Takes 20,000 deaths in Myanmar to get similar attention.

On a pedantic note, do you tend to use Burma or Myanmar?

i prefer "burma" cause it lines up with the adjective and, plus, i never know whether its my-anmar or mee-anmar

and plus thats the "more democratic" term though the whole situation is certainly a little muddy??

Now they're saying up to or over 100,000 deaths!!

Idiot.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/14/suu-kyi-lake-swim-yettaw

Or was he an idiot paid by the regime to stir up trouble?

i think they would have found an excuse either way.

a bunch of my old Pakistani friends from grad school are posting things on facebook about a massacre of buddhists in burma, and i can't find anything about it. all i can find are articles from Pakistan which are of very poor journalistic quality, zero links to anything credible, criticizing the western media for not covering it and including sentences like this: "In a blatant act of censorship, the Western mainstream media have also stayed away from the massacre of Rohingya Muslims, showing their strong anti-Muslim bias and their duplicitous attitude toward the concept of human rights."

and yet:

According to The Platform, a UK-based human rights organisation, 6,000 homes belonging to Rohingya Muslims were burned during the unrest. A group of UK-based NGOs have indicated that 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed from June 10 to 28 of this year and 1,200 went missing, while more than 80,000 others became displaced as a result of rioting, arson and rape.

does anyone know anything about this?

As far as i know, it's practically impossible for journalists to get anywhere near the area so most of the reports have come via refugees who have fled to Bangladesh. The attacks on the Rohingya communities are real. The scale is difficult to establish, though.

thanks, sharivari. it does seem true that the western media is either completely ignoring the story or isn't yet comfortable publishing anything when hard facts are difficult to come by. do you know of any reliable sources that are covering it? i'd like to do at least a very small thing by sharing it with my "friends", offline and online.

There's some stuff on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18933908

Channel 4 News in the UK did some reporting on it as well. The major angle at the moment is the refugee crisis in Bangladesh as it's something tangible that can be reported on by journalists at the scene. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Rohingyas have fled via a hugely dangerous boat crossing but there's a strong chance that they'll be sent back as Bangladesh either isn't willing or isn't able to look after them.

Getting any solid sense of the scale of the killing in Myanmar is next to impossible at the moment, though.

Channel 4 News has a reporter at the site at the moment. Foreign journalists have been banned but they appear to have snuck in. Worth watching if anyone's interested in this.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/04/969-the-strange-numerological-basis-for-burmas-religious-violence/274816/

hm are those guys with the DKBA? i'm not familiar with 969

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/09/they-have-come-for-the-rohingya

Latest estimates number the people fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state over the past two weeks at 290,000. These refugees represent over a quarter of the 1.1 million Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority. This recent round of persecution was sparked by Rohingya militant attacks on government forces in late-August. The official response has been devastating

... This persistent stream of anti-Rohingya actions would be unimaginable if only we didn’t have so many ready examples of how exactly violence and purges and obsessions with illusory purity can combine to “shock the conscience of humankind.” “Never again” usually means “not until the next time we can’t be bothered.” ...I can’t offer any policy solutions and will leave it to others to try. But, as an historian I have a deep conviction in the power of witnessing.

This is really heartbreaking and bewildering:. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/10/aung-san-suu-kyi-myanmar-rohingya-human-rights

I don't know much about this source but it provides a somewhat different perspective and context, arguing for an emphasis on how the general and military are really the agents here and that Suu Kyi is paying the political price:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Myths-and-realities-behind-the-Rakhine-crisis?page=1

She won't stand up to the military(led by General Min Aung Hlaing ) and the military has Chinese support and China will block anything substantive at the UN.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2111433/heres-one-man-myanmar-who-can-end-rohingya-misery

Most observers were pessimistic about the chances of Min Aung Hlaing backing down before he is satisfied the ARSA has been fully neutralised.

While Min Aung Hlaing has faced questions about the military’s human rights record, governments including India, Austria, Japan and Germany have rolled out the red carpet for him in recent times. Foreign governments view engagement with the Tatmadaw as vital to influence reform within

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41300247

kind of fascinating read about their prefab capital in the middle of nowhere

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/mar/19/burmas-capital-naypyidaw-post-apocalypse-suburbia-highways-wifi

Weird. This town looks like its always been a ghost town....

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/opinion/rohingya-myanmar-military-sanctions.html?mcubz=0

There is nothing, however, to stop the United States from acting on its own. Senator John McCain’s announcement on Tuesday that he would seek to halt plans to expand military ties with Myanmar is a step in the right direction. The Senate could go further and move to restore sanctions against Myanmar’s military unless the carnage stops, humanitarian aid groups are allowed back into Rakhine State, United Nations investigators are permitted to do their job there and the Rohingya are restored safely to their homes as full citizens of Myanmar.

Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders arrested, mobile services and internet down across the country. I haven’t been able to reach friends and colleagues there - this is utterly sad and frightening.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-idUSKBN2A00VC

The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”

apt pupils

indeed. Also labelling any reporting they don’t like as “fake news”.

Hope your friends and colleagues are doing okay Roz.

Very distressing.

Terrifying.

xpost thanks, they're all fine - internet and cell services in Yangon came back a few hours after my last post. most just staying indoors.

That said, this is a huge, huge setback for the country. The timing is perfect for the military - no entry for international media because of the pandemic + many diplomats and CSO/NGO workers went back to their home countries after the election and over Christmas, and they either haven't returned or aren't able to.

unclear what impact this will have in the volatile northern and western regions too where there are dozens of armed groups (some military-backed) just begging for a fight

anyway, in rolling 2021 images

A viral video of a woman doing aerobics class to the tune of Indonesian hit song “Ampun Bang Jago” in Myanmar, apparently without realizing a military convoy arriving at parliament behind her and a military coup happening.
ht @Vinncent pic.twitter.com/mK4UYUp0Gv

— Yenni Kwok (@yennikwok) February 2, 2021