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By John Stauffer
$19.80
By Avi Shlaim
$18
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Taylor Jones, El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico —
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bbc.co.uk
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She’s attracted international attention to her cause, and now she’s bringing change to her native Burma, as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi led her political party, the National League for Democracy, to claim 40 of 45 parliamentary seats up for the vote in last weekend’s by-elections.
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totaloutnow (CC-BY)
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Washington is pleased with Burma. The military-backed government instituted a series of human rights reforms, including a cease-fire with ethnic rebels and the release of allegedly hundreds of political prisoners, that allows the U.S. to do business with the strategically situated Asian country with reduced criticism.
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Taylor Jones, Cagle Cartoons, Politicalcartoons.com —
Posted on Dec 6, 2011
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Wikimedia Commons/Georges Biard (CC-BY-SA)
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Malaysian-born Michelle Yeoh is one of very few actors to have found onscreen success in her home base of Hong Kong as well as in Hollywood. But since she played the part of Burmese political crusader Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Besson’s ... (more)
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Reports are streaming in that suggest Burmese military authorities have authorized the release of pro-democracy superstar Aung San Suu Kyi after a national election in the junta-led country. Suu Kyi has lived the past seven years under house arrest and 15 of the past 21 years in state-sponsored detention.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The polls may have closed in Burma after the military junta-ruled country hosted its first elections in 20 years, but those waiting for significant change may have to wait a bit longer: The country’s main opposition party has boycotted the “democratic” contest.
Posted on Nov 7, 2010
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news.bbc.co.uk
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As Burma approaches its first election in 20 years, a “distributed denial of service” attack has paralyzed Internet use within the country, knocking Burmese citizens from online communication in what analysts believe is an attempt by the ruling military dictatorship to restrict the flow of information.
Posted on Nov 5, 2010
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Flickr / lewishamdreamer
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A split within the Burmese opposition has led to some members leaving the defunct National League for Democracy to create a new party, the National Democratic Force, after authorities abolished the NLD for failing to register according to the military regime’s strict election laws.
Posted on May 7, 2010
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AP / David Longstreath
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As the military in Burma prepares to replace itself with a civilian government, as per new regulations in the country’s 2008 constitution, the generals of the ruling junta are shedding their military ranks and—voilà!—transforming themselves into respectable civilian politicians.
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The Motion Picture Academy has assembled an impressive slate of feature-length documentaries this year, from the inside story of the Pentagon Papers to an on-the-ground look at Burma’s Saffron Uprising. Here are the trailers for all five extraordinary films.
Posted on Feb 2, 2010
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AP
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While the U.S. is by far the world’s largest arms supplier, Russia has reportedly signed a deal with Myanmar—against which many in the West have imposed sanctions—to provide the country formerly known as Burma with 20 MiG-29 fighter planes. For, you know, uh, defense.
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Flickr / Dunechaser
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After a Kafkaesque series of house arrests, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will have her day in court. The Supreme Court in Myanmar has finally agreed to hear an appeal against her most recent detention.
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webb.senate.gov
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Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia negotiated his way into a meeting Saturday with Senior Gen. Than Shwe in Myanmar in which he secured a promise that detained American John Yettaw would be released and allowed to join him on a Bangkok-bound plane Sunday. Update
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salon.com
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Sen. Jim Webb is the first senior U.S. official in more than 10 years to visit Burma, triggering speculation that the White House may be trying to nudge the authoritarian regime there into a “new era of engagement.” The trip follows the recent ludicrous sentencing of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 more months of house arrest.
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Flickr / 200MoreMontrealStencils
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Burma’s military junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for the majority of the last 20 years and it looks as if she isn’t going anywhere. The sentence of the opposition leader was extended for the crime of being home—under house arrest—when an uninvited American came calling.
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independent.com
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Critics and challengers of Naomi Klein’s work had better take a close look at her latest book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” before launching their attacks. This is one writer whose research and documentation are so exhaustive that would-be detractors will not only find her analysis to be dauntingly watertight, even if they don’t share her views about the unnatural disasters enabled by free-market capitalism, but they might also discover that some of her source material seems strangely familiar.
Transcript available here.
Posted on Jun 30, 2008
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independent.com
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By Kasia Anderson — Critics and challengers of Naomi Klein’s work had better take a close look at her latest book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,” before launching their attacks.
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AP photo / Wang Jiaowen, ColorChinaPhoto
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Americans apparently have a track record of opening their wallets to assist those in need after natural disasters at home and abroad. That was the case, at least, after the 2004 tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005. But the picture looks different in the wake of the recent cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China, leaving international trend-watchers asking: What gives?
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AP photo / Stan Honda, pool
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After putting pressure on Burma’s ruling military junta, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to Burma, where he is taking stock of the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis on May 2. Ban also met with Prime Minister Thein Sein, who told him that the storm-ravaged country is out of the relief phase and into reconstruction.
Posted on May 22, 2008
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AP photo
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More than two weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, killing 78,000 people and leaving tens of thousands more unaccounted for. Now the U.N. is pushing Burma’s ruling junta to cooperate with international aid efforts, sending an envoy with a message from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in hopes that a more personal approach will produce lifesaving results.
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telegraph.co.uk
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As the official death toll climbs in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese government remains recalcitrant while survivors and aid workers continue to be frustrated by the slow movement of supplies to the country’s worst-hit areas.
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Earlier this week, Truthdig editors Robert and Peter Scheer stopped by the Michael Jackson radio show for a free-ranging discussion on politics, disaster in Burma and more.
Posted on May 15, 2008
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AP photo / Ng Han Guan
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Chinese state media are reporting that more than 50,000 people could be found dead as a result of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Monday. That’s substantially higher than earlier estimates. The government has already confirmed close to 20,000 deaths.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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BBC reporter Paul Danahar had to go to great lengths in order to report from Burma. A secret identity was just one method for avoiding the military intelligence agents who scoured the country looking for the journalist who dared to report on the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, which struck May 3.
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Tab, The Calgary Sun —
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May has already been a particularly brutal month for natural disasters, with the Burma cyclone, tornadoes in the U.S. and, most recently, the devastating earthquake in China, which seismologists say registered at magnitude 7.9. Rescue efforts near the epicenter have been hindered by rain and aftershocks, but with thousands still trapped in the wreckage every minute counts.
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Agence France-Presse
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The U.N. has announced it will resume aid to Burma after conflicts over how food and equipment were to be distributed grounded relief flights. Cyclone Nargis has killed at least 22,000 Burmese, and the ruling junta has been categorically criticized for its ineptitude in dealing with the disaster.
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AP photo
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As more details of the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis in Burma emerge, it’s becoming clear that the storm is one of the worst disasters in years. The Burmese government is being criticized for responding inadequately and too slowly to the crisis, and President Bush, himself no stranger to this kind of criticism, is calling on Burma’s “military junta ... [to] allow our disaster assessment teams into the country” in order to help.
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The Burmese government prepared for an influx of international aid Monday as the death toll from Saturday’s cyclone passed 10,000, according to Foreign Minister Nyan Win. That number suggested a far greater disaster than the 351 deaths reported earlier that same day.
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AP photo / Mizzima News
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By Sarah Stillman — Remember when the world turned its attention to Burma and promised to no longer ignore the suffering of the people there? Truthdig contributor Sarah Stillman sat down with Burmese democracy organizer Maung Maung to check in on the Saffron Revolution and the brave men and women who continue to resist oppression, whether anyone is watching or not.
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current.com
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If the combined power of thousands of Buddhist monks staging a nonviolent protest isn’t enough to oust Burma’s oppressive junta, one American hero (cue movie trailer voice-over) is coming to fight for democracy in a faraway land—or at least stick his nose in another nation’s business.
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Taking a page from Mahatma Gandhi, many Buddhist monks took to the streets in Burma in September in a showing of civil disobedience against the country’s ruling regime. Now, their ranks are diminished as a result of the ensuing military crackdown, but, as one monk from Mandalay tells the BBC, their movement isn’t over yet.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Despite a military crackdown that led to the death and capture of countless civilians, Buddhist monks are once again protesting in Burma, though in much smaller numbers than before. Still, human rights and democracy advocates consider it a promising development.
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bernama.com
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Burma’s top military general has agreed to meet with imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, provided she drops her “attitude” and meets other conditions. Meanwhile, the government says it has arrested 2,093 protesters and bystanders (Burmese law prohibits gatherings of five or more), while the BBC puts the figure closer to 10,000.
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news.yahoo.com
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Burma’s military government has intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, abducting people from their homes in the middle of the night. U.S. Embassy personnel have found some Buddhist monasteries completely deserted while others have been closed off by soldiers.
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By Amy Goodman — The barbarous military regime depends on revenue from the nation’s gas reserves and partners such as Chevron to buy bullets for the guns it points at monks, a detail conveniently ignored by the Bush administration.
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Tab, The Calgary Sun —
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AP photo
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For decades Burma’s ruling military junta has governed through terror, determined to meet dissent with intimidation, detention and murder. It is because of the military’s particular cruelty that the story of the Buddhist monks of Burma is so compelling.
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The British prime minister has warned that the number of dead in Burma is probably “far greater than is being reported so far.” The world community has widely condemned the Burmese government’s violent response to the thousands of protesters who’ve been flooding the streets of Yangon.
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Riber Hansson, Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden —
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AP photo
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After a long and tense buildup over recent weeks, the standoff between Buddhist monks and security forces in Burma became violent on Wednesday, with differing reports bringing news of gunfire, deaths and mass arrests in the city of Yangon.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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President Bush has weighed in on the massive protests in Burma (Myanmar), saying he will boost sanctions against the country’s abusive military government. Meanwhile, thousands of Buddhist monks have defied government warnings and continue to demonstrate.
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AP Photo
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An estimated 100,000 people marched through the streets of Yangon on Monday in an ongoing protest that has rapidly swelled from just dozens of people. Burma’s notoriously inhumane military government has traditionally been quick to stanch dissent but has yet to seriously confront the demonstrators, who were led by roughly 20,000 Buddhist monks.
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AP Photo
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Thousands of Buddhist monks and supporters have taken to the streets of Yangon (Rangoon) and elsewhere, as the biggest demonstration against Burma’s brutal military government in nearly 20 years continues to gain momentum. (Updated)
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Too Soon to Tell: The Case for Hope, Continued
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