Burma & Shan State Watch List

Monks absent from protest fueling the speculation that the monks were arrested.

I have not been bale to find a source yet, but CNN International was just doing a breaking news piece reporting that police have cleared the Main Ave of protesters after threatening "extreme action". 100 protesters have been arrested and "loaded up onto military trucks". If I can find an article on it, I will post it,

Hey Section8, yes, there're reports of nightly raids in some monestaries in Rangoon. But they can't arrest half a million monks. I think it is more likely they have decided to stay out for now, not to excalate the violence further. The tiger is set free and the people will have to do the rest of the work. Anyway I'm glad CNN finally got a headline on Burma on top. I check constantly, and where BBC have had Burma on top for the last days it doesn't seem so with American news media.

Chorlton, you're right about the poor state and pity discipline of the Burmese army. I'm sure any soldier would run or turn their guns - if they dared to. But nobody is sure yet how this will end.

Like I said in an earlier post, at this years Day of Military parade in Naypyidaw thousands of soldier deserted, just because they had the chance. But UN is talking and expected to take some action, though due to first of all China it won't be the kind of actions that alone will tople the regime.

Yes, guns can do it, and there're plenty in the country, they just don't have the coordination and they have very different motives to bring down the junta.

What's more, I'm afraid there are powers behind the scenes working to prevent it should happen. After all it is not South Africa or East Germany. The big players China, India, France and the ASEAN countries are quite happy with status quo. A new order in Burma would likely be part socialist, part national. Multinationals least of all would like that.

Hey Chorlton, here's a bit on Total, I can see they ARE really a big player.

Total Replies Defensively to Sarkozy’s Appeal


-----------------------------

Now they use chemical warfare, comparable to WMD, Washington better intervene.

From Mizzima


New shootings are confirmed by BBC. At least one confirmed dead.





[edit on 27-9-2007 by khunmoon]

I think, if you dig deep enough that youll find that Total Oil have a near monopoly on Burmese Oil and Gas.

I remember reading in The Nation whilst in Bangkok several years ago how other Oil companies had pulled out due to problems with the Generals.
Maybe they didnt offer them sufficient kickbacks

The Cyber War has begun: 'Lies in The Sky'



Oh yes, we're sooo jealous and wish we had half the peace and development you have. We only have wars against everybody who disagrees with us. Now it's your turn.



If it wasn't for the grave violations of basics, this would be funny.

Disinfo 50's style.

Data and documentation on The Shwe Gas Project. Shwe means 'gold' as in Than 'Shwe', the name of the superstitious ruler.

At present, Burma has 34 gas pipelines covering a total length of nearly 1,800 kilometres, according to official data. Burma, with 19 onshore oil fields, has a total of 87 TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet), or 2.46 TCM (Trillion Cubic Meter) of gas in reserves and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves.

Official figures show that in the fiscal year 2004-05, which ended in March, Burma produced 7.48 million barrels of crude oil and 10.69 billion cubic meters of gas. Gas exports during the year went up to 9.5 BCM, earning over 1 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the oil and natural gas sector dominated the country's foreign investment with 2.494 billion dollars, 32.69 percent of the total foreign investments.

Thailand's PTTEP and Malaysia's Petronas stood out as the two largest investors in Burma's oil and gas sector. Other investors are from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Indonesia, India, and South Korea.

..my emphasis..

There are more to explore on www.shwe.org...

Have a thread in Breaking on the issue The Companies They Keep in Burma

Check out this blog on mainly Burma dusteye.wordpress.com...

Unrest continues...
Austrlian ambassador says, casualties a tenfold higher than the official figures are more realistic...
The blogosphere been raided, the good conscions choked by criminals...
CBs still running, those there are, hot with evidence of the brutality, amidst rumours of internal fight in the Tamadaw -the army troops- and higher up diverging groups on the stance of the situation...
Than Shwe runaway - an Air Bagan plane has been spotted in Vientane...

We don't know for sure what's going on inside, it might be worse than imagined, upstructed communications, disinfo from whom we have no idea, mixed with third hand reports, rumours of the kind fed for speculations, staged in the horror of some of the images that tells us it's all too real. From inside Burma.

Not sure whether they're closed for tourists, but I mean who goes there and risks a fate like the jap videographer? Especially when you can sit in full safety behind your screen and follow accounts of the events no matter how horrific.

"As long it doesn't affect MY gas price, why bother?" is an attitude to keep things status quo, I bet the corporates are quite happy with the system. Because...

Inside Burma is out of another world, mentally and scenary spoken but also concerning oportunities for the adventureous.
It is something most folks hardly can imagine and those who can haven't seen the like off for half a century.

Rail transport in Burma is still steam driven. Makes the country a hotspot among train-spotters, especially the hardcore steam-fan.

Both pictures have been taken recently. The one with the horse charts, is tagged Pyinmana, the railroad junction where the junta made its jungle hideout nearby, in the newbuilt Naypyidaw.

Look at the picture. The train's taking water, no rush, no stress, no pollution (except from the engine), it's total peace and tranquilety of a lost world, the kind people spend billions to visit and experience.

Burma has a huge tourist potential. But like in Thailand 30-40 years back, development will eventually kill that potential.




Sorry I just can't take all the blod spilled and cruelty all the time, I needed to slip away a little. Just love these 2 images.


[edit on 28-9-2007 by khunmoon]

Myanmar Govt. cuts internet access but satellite is still available.
they are trying to stop us from knowing what's going on there.

How the military is acting is exactly how they would act here if we had such an uproar.

What exactly caused the protest?

Originally posted by TheoOne
What exactly caused the protest?

A massive hike in fuel prices, though I would think that this have been swelling up for a while.




To add to the reports of soldiers refusing orders and protecting the protestors this is from www.buddhistchannel.tv

Yangon, Myanmar -- Kindly forgive the brevity and the lack of formatting of the following email. I am now sending this information out as we are now receiving it. As many of you are now aware phone lines have been cut, mobile networks have been disabled, and Internet access has also been disabled.

Information, therefore, is now very difficult to obtain and confirm. I therefore am unable to confirm any of that which follows, but my sources are adamant that this is the truth:

Soldiers from LID #66 have turned their weapons against other SPDC soldiers and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters. At present unsure how many soldiers involved. Some reports cite "heavy shooting" in the area.

Other unconfirmed reports have stated that soldiers from LID #33 in Mandalay have refused orders to act against protesters. Some reports claim that many soldiers remained in their barracks. More recent reports now maintain that soldiers from LID #99 now being sent there to confront them.

Reports of approx. 10,000+ protesters gathering around the Traders Hotel in Rangoon. Other reports of 10,000+ protesters gathering at San Pya Market in Rangoon. Further reports of approx. 50,000 protestors gathering at the Thein Gyi Market in Rangoon.

According to Mizzima, an unknown number of soldiers from Central Command and South East Command are presently on their way to Rangoon to reinforce SPDC army troops.

Also according to Mizzima, an unknown number of aircraft have been scrambled from "Matehtilar" airbase - probably a reference to Meiktila in Mandalay Division.

According to one journalist, SPDC have turned water cannons against crowds at Sule Pagoda. The report maintains that the water contained some type of chemical. awaiting further information. Please circulate this information as widely as quickly as possible.

I have quoted it all since it is a short report of events.



Also from www.buddhistchannel.tv and hour by hour report for the 28th from 11am to 5:20pm

[...]

5:20 p.m
Shooting in Pazuntaung: Troops opened fire on more than 10,000 protesters in Pazuntaung at about 4 p.m (local time). At least three people received injuries. Soon after. the crowd dispersed.

5:00 p.m
Protesters reportedly beaten to death by soldiers, goons and convicts in Pansadan and China town. Several protesters were reportedly beaten to death during a crackdown in Pansodan and China town in the heart of Rangoon at about 3:00 p.m. (local time), protesters said. The baton charges and brutal beatings carried out by soldiers led by officials, including members of the Swan Arrshin, USDA and former convicts, who were believed to have been freed to be used in the crack down.

[...]

The BBC is reporting that the UN envoy should arrive in Burma on Saturday

[...]



A UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, will arrive in Burma on Saturday.

[...]

The first opportunity to communicate that outrage will be when Mr Gambari arrives in the country to persuade the generals to put a stop to the crackdown, he adds.

Edn, much thanks for your post. I didn't have time to read it all just to find out what happened, boy the news sure goes too fast.

Well then, it sounds like they need to abolish the military dicatorship or nation's dictatorship or so. How come not one foreign army has joined in to help? Would that event happen same for North America if fuel price goes up in wrong way? Are UN discussing about it? If they have, odd that I don't see any actions...

Oh well, hope everything will work out for them.

p.s. better to send in the U/N Army than just some envoy.

[edit on 29-9-2007 by TheoOne]

A site about the political prisoners of Burma.

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

Have lists and info on detainees.

And a petition for signing.

I recommend to sign.

1st of October. Monday.

Since Saturday special UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has been in Burma. The latest reported, he havn't even met Than Shwe or Maung Aye yet.

Is it because they're not there, or they just don't wanna talk?

After 48 hours some news on Mr Gambari's mission oughta be available. We only know he talked one hour with Aung San Suu Kyi, but not about what. Today he should ?return? to Naypyidaw. It must be hard to have talks with someone who not even allow the name of opponents to be mentioned.

Speculations run rampant, massacres, atrocities of the worst kind are reported. There're threads taking care of the more bloody reporting. Here I would like to speculate in the rumours of Than Shwe and his family. That I would wish them a fate like the worst we've seen for the protesters is not the matter here.

The matter is, who is ruling Burma right now. Who is Mr Gambari talking to and about what?

The latest rumours concerning the family -minus the general himself- they should be in Dubai together with a good friend, the business tycoon Tay Za, owner of Bagan Air of which one of its flight was spotted in Vientane last weekend, spurring speculations they had fled there. This info about Dubai seems to originate from Al Jezeeras, here rendered on the Irrawaddy site.
www.irrawaddy.org...

A top story I couldn't help to notice when I checked Al Jazeeras was a bomb in Bangkok last night close to the army headquarter. Being alerted I found it in the Thai media only as an uncommented note. Downplayed in the present situation of tension which have grapped the whole region, Thailand included.

In Thailand I have knowledge of at least one European Embassy actively contacting its citizens in case emergency evacuations should be necessary. Thailand have had atroceties in the past fully comparable with what goes on in Rangoon. No one has ever faced trial for any of those. Suchinda, the butcher from May 1992 is a respected member of society today. Besides from a little spanking from the king and the temporary disgrace it might have caused, he never paid for killing students and monks.

The problem is, they are such, in any moral sense, sick societies the countries of SE Asia, with ruling clases depraved and corrupt beyond imagination. Not sure who to blame it on.

New news from ko ktike's blog, and it is quite sad news to me.
ko-htike.blogspot.com

Please Help Monks!!!!!!!!!!

Reports emerging from Rangoon indicate that the temporary detention
centres based in Yangon Institute of Technology and General Institute
of Technology (GTI) is currently detaining 500 hundred monks.

The monks are refusing to accept Sune (Alms food.....food offering given to monk
by layperson just before 12 noon as main meal of the day) from the
military junta. The local population approached these detention
centres to offer food and they have been turned away by the
authorities. Technically, the monks are unintentionally on huger
strike.

We contacted the International Red Cross's (ICRC) office and UNHCR in
Rangoon. The UN's office refused to help and ICRC bucked the
responsibility on their head office in Geneva.

Please write or Phone to ICRC, e-mail Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister
Gordon Brown. Every governments contribute funds in the running of
the UN bodies and therefore you persuade the PM and the Foreign
Secretary to pressure the UN organisations to take action on or least
ask them if they provide value for money service to the world
humanity.

Please be professional when writing to PM Gordon Brown and Secreatarty
. You can thank the British Government for their efforts so on Burma
and persuade them succinctly with sound arguments. Contact details
are:

[...]

A lot of them really believed if we knew what was happening we would go there and help them, unfortunately I think its unlikely to happen, the UN will never do anything because Russia and China will never agree to it, the EU appears to be eerily quiet over the situation and the only two counties I know may do something don't have enough troops to actually do anything more except put sanctions on them, which we all know doesn't really work anyway.

This is about the junta's sturmtroopers.

Every decent despocy in recent history have had its support in popular massmovements often characterised by the colour of their shirt. Brown, black and green are easyly associated with fascism, and at least for one of them, with death.

Don't know if it's significant, but in Eastern cultures, Chinese Buddhism and Taoism, the colour White is connected with death and funerals.

BURMA'S WHITESHIRTS

One event that earned this paramilitary group international notoriety was the May 2003 attack on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). The brutality unleashed by an estimated 2,000 pro-government thugs while Suu Kyi and her party leaders were campaigning in Depayin, upper Burma, led to some 70 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

But, after the ‘’Depayin massacre,’’ as pro-democracy groups describe the violence, it was Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and her colleagues who got arrested while the whiteshirts got away. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since then, recording a total of 11 years in incarceration over the past 19 years.

Officially, however, the USDA is presented with a lily-white image ever since it was created in 1993 by Burma strongman senior Gen. Than Shwe. The Burmese public has been told that the USDA is a ‘’social welfare organisation’’ with a development mission for the good of all citizens, according to a study released in May 2006 by the Network for Democracy and Development, a group of Burmese political activists living in exile.

‘’The USDA has managed to insert itself into the distribution of aid and assistance by NGOs (non-governmental organisations),’’ adds the study....

It has an estimated membership of some 23 million across the country has public servants, teachers, local officials and even high school students.

Add to that what we have heard about thugs being paid, criminals set free, down to rumours of Christian units assigned to the massacres.

A few articles highlighting the last week.
Groups Struggle to Tally Myanmar's Dead
Burma: UN Getting Nowhere With the Generals
Monks Defended by Power of the People
Envoy Meets Myanmar Junta Leader

Protesters Stay Put to Battle Junta as World Waits on Burmese Border

At the Moei river in Thailand there is sticky sunshine, jungle and the world's media in waiting. Yet there is no flood of refugees from across the border in Burma.
From Rangoon there are disturbing reports of monks fleeing the city; of thousands more locked up in windowless improvised prisons with little to eat or drink. Nine died during the disturbances, says the military junta that calls itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - an appropriately Orwellian name for the gang of butchers that rules the country where Orwell once served as a policeman. The real figure could be as high as 200 but as yet no one knows where the bodies are.

The Rangoon bloodbath last week was not a surprise to veteran observers of the country. What was expected to follow was what occurred following the far bloodier crackdown in 1988: a flood of political refugees to the border.

Yet it hasn't happened. One week ago three monks were smuggled across the Moei river which divides the two countries, and vanished into safe houses before any journalists could get at them. On Tuesday a major in the Burmese army, sick of carrying out despicable orders, followed them over. So far that's it.

About that major in the Burmese army, now in Bangkok seeking asylium in Norway, a drama according to Norwegen media is developing. Conflicting reports about the major, who has disappeared from his hotel. Some say taken away by armed Thai intelligence agents.

Developing, but only in Norwegen and Danish so far; (Hellmutt, where are you?)




[edit on 5-10-2007 by khunmoon]

news.bbc.co.uk...

Malaysia has urged the Burmese military to drop preconditions for talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the move was necessary if Burma was to avoid stronger international pressure.

Burmese state media reported military leader Gen Than Shwe had agreed to meet Ms Suu Kyi, but only if she ended calls for international sanctions on Burma.

Malaysia and regional grouping Asean also oppose sanctions, which are being called for by the US, UK and France.

Malaysia and Thailand will do anything to keep status quo. I'll go so as to say they're willing to support the junta -undercover- to keep the gas floating.

So said when the only thing that can change anything is to plug the gas pipelines. But there's too much at stake for such a move. Especially for Thailand getting 20% of its energy from Burma. Not to mention what Thai business has invested there. No, the Thais sure are the last to want change. They don't mind generals and juntas too much, just take a look at their own history.

The most peculiar thing about the Burma situation seen from Thailand is there are no stream of refugees. Are they held back -physical imposible on a 1500 miles long border through mountains and jungle- or are they just not reported.

One who did manage to get into Thailand was a Burmese major accompanied by his son. He now seeks asylum in Norway as mentioned in post above. A drama was played out as they were reported missing from their hotel. For securety reasons they had been removed and fear of taken in Thai custody, they stand the risk of being handed over to Burma, is very real. Assurances that it won't happen are to be trusted, but...

Here's the story from Bkk Post, nothing about the backstage drama, only Norwegen press has that.

Burmese major and son flee into Thailand

A senior Burmese military officer has fled to Thailand saying he refused orders to attack Buddhist monks in last week's anti-junta protests and denouncing the military regime. Major Htay Win, 42, and his 17-year-old son say they rowed over a river separating Burma and Thailand. They were aided by Karen who live in the area and have been persecuted by the military junta.

They hope to get asylum in Norway or Sweden. Their story was reported by Norwegian radio and newspapers yesterday.

''As a Buddhist myself, when I heard that monks had been shot dead on the streets and that other people had been shot dead, I felt very upset,'' the major said in a video interview.

Previous to the war on terror and the change of power in Iraq and Afghanistan, Burma was known as the worlds main producer of opium.
Afghanistan in 2001 under the Taliban regime had close to eradicated all opium growing. As we know it all changes with the US lead invasion.

As the Afghan production rose to a heigth never seen before, the production in Burma corresponding declined. A new product took the economic lead there. It had been manufactured in the Shan State since the early 90s. A pure synthetic, methamphetamine had taken over the financing of the insurgency in the hill tracts along the Thai-Burma border.

However a few years into the new millenium the amphetamine production in the border regions exploded - as did the opium production in Afghanistan. There seems to be a connection. In Afghanistan the production was needed for funding the war, whether it be the Taliban insurgency or the CIA secret ops, who needed the funds I cannot say. In Burma they got the profitable yaba (amph) production and was able to fulfil FDA and FAO terms implemented in the global war against drugs. Everybody seemed happy (except maybe the users) about the deal.

For reasons I at the moment cannot see through there seems to be a change coming about again. A chemical warfare aginst the poppies in Afghanistan is to be launched, and from Burma is reported a radical rise in the poppy cultivation. Maybe Afghanistan will get the amphetamine production then, the surge in opium has left laboratories there, fully capable of taking over the production.

Three snippets illustrating the development. First one from 2003, a report from Shan State region2, to the Was known as the Wa State.

The opium capital of the world

The Wa state government has promised to make the region opium-free by 2005. But with only two years left before that deadline, most farmers still make a living by poppy cultivation. Despite the government's huge investment on cassava seeds, sugarcane and pig feed in the hope of fostering alternatives for local farmers, stagnant market demand, low prices and farmers' lack of knowledge about products other than opium have stalled the program.

Next one is about the planned spraying of Afghani poppy fields.

Afghans Pressed by U.S. on Plan to Spray Poppies

Moreover, as Afghanistan’s opium production has soared, the government’s eradication efforts have faltered. Federal and provincial eradication teams — using sticks, sickles and animal-drawn plows — cut down about 47,000 acres of poppy fields this year, 24 percent more than last year but still less than 9 percent of the country’s total poppy crop.

“The eradication process over the past five years has not worked,” Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said in an interview. “This year, it was a farce.”

Last the report on the re-emerging of the Burmese poppy fields.

Burmese opium production soaring

In 2007, the report says, cultivation in Burma rose by 29% and production was up 46% as a result of higher yields, making Burma the world's second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan.

The Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, said corruption, high-level collusion and inadequate border checks were contributing the drugs trade in Burma.

Comments to the misguided original titling of the first snippet: The town they are refering to is the provinsial capital of the Wa administration, Panghsang. It is also the town where the Chinese build pipeline from the Arakan coast is to terminate and connect to the Chinese network.

Drug trafficking is known to go along pipelines. It'll be the expressway to The Golden Triangle.

Finally the UN acts, Securety Council issues statement.

What a statement!!!

UN 'Deplores' Myanmar Violence


They act like a jelly prick.

The junta don't give a damn how much UN deplore them.
China trying to save its arse for the Olympics is what this is about.

From link below.

This Monday October 15, the 27 foreign ministers of the European Union will meet--and decide whether to keep their word on Burma.

More than three weeks ago, the day before the junta's brutal crackdown began, the EU warned that it would "not hesitate to reinforce and strengthen the existing sanctions regime" if the government resorted to violence. As atrocities in Burma worsen, the EU must act.

By threatening the generals' economic interests, targeted sanctions can squeeze the military and push them into negotiations without hurting the Burmese people. That's why the democracy movement and Aung San Suu Kyi are asking us to act, saying "Please use your liberty to promote ours."

This Monday October 15, the 27 foreign ministers of the European Union will meet--and decide whether to keep their word on Burma.

More than three weeks ago, the day before the junta's brutal crackdown began, the EU warned that it would "not hesitate to reinforce and strengthen the existing sanctions regime" if the government resorted to violence. As atrocities in Burma worsen, the EU must act. By threatening the generals' economic interests, targeted sanctions can squeeze the military and push them into negotiations without hurting the Burmese people. That's why the democracy movement and Aung San Suu Kyi are asking us to act, saying "Please use your liberty to promote ours."

www.avaaz.org...
This is a petition for next weeks meeting of EU foreign ministers, prewritten. Fill in your name and send.