User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 27

Thread: Burma / Myanmar

  1. #1
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Angry Burma / Myanmar

    56 Killed, 2000 Homes Torched In Myanmar...

    Myanmar official says 56 dead, almost 2,000 houses torched in latest ethnic violence
    October 25, 2012 – At least 56 people were killed and nearly 2,000 homes destroyed in the latest outbreak of ethnic violence in western Myanmar, a government official said Thursday.
    The 25 men and 31 women were reported dead in four Rakhine state townships in violence between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities that re-erupted Sunday, local government spokesman Win Myaing said. He said some 1,900 homes had been burned down in fresh conflict, while 60 men and four women were injured. It was unclear how many of the victims were Rohingya people and how many were Rakhine.

    In June, ethnic violence in the state left at least 90 people dead and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Tens of thousands of people remain in refugee camps. The United States called for Myanmar authorities to take immediate action to halt the violence. The United Nations appealed for calm.

    An Associated Press photographer who traveled to Kyauktaw, one of the affected townships 45 kilometers (75 miles) north of the Rakhine capital of Sittwe, said he saw 11 wounded people brought by ambulance to the local 25-bed hospital, most with gunshot wounds. One was declared dead after arrival. All the victims being treated were Rakhine, but that could reflect an inability or unwillingness of Rohingya victims to be treated there.

    A male volunteer at the hospital, Min Oo, said by telephone that five bodies, including one of a woman, had also been brought there. He said the injured persons were brought by boat from Kyauktaw town 16 kilometers (10 miles) away, and taken from the jetty by the ambulances. An account by a Rakhine villager in the area suggested great confusion and tension. The villager said that when groups of Rakhine and the Rohingya had a confrontation, government soldiers shot into a crowd of Rakhine, even though, according to his claim, it had been dispersing. The villager would not give his name for fear of violent reprisals.

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...#ixzz2ANFRx79r
    See also:

    UN Concerned About Outbreak of Violence in Western Burma
    October 25, 2012 - The United Nations has expressed concern about the most recent outbreak of communal violence in five townships in Burma's Northern Rakhine region.
    The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement Thursday, saying the widening mistrust between the communities is being exploited by militant and criminal elements, to cause large-scale loss of human lives, material destruction, displaced families as well as fear, humiliation and hatred. The U.N. statement calls on Burmese authorities to bring under control lawlessness and vigilante attacks and to put a stop to threats and extremist rhetoric.

    New violence

    Fighting and chaos appear to be taking hold in western Burma, where a deep-seeded conflict between Buddhists and Muslims has flared with deadly consequences. Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing Thursday said at least 56 people have died since new fighting erupted Sunday, including 31 women. Dozens of others have been injured. Parts of the area also have been burned to the ground. Burmese officials said almost 2,000 homes have now been razed by fires, along with eight religious buildings, since these latest clashes erupted.

    Survivors are telling harrowing tales of the violence, including one man who said his father, Sein Thar Aung, was seriously injured during Monday's fighting in the town of Mrauk Oo. "They (the Rohingya) were on the village road and we were on the outside one before a clash. He (SEIN THAR AUNG) was leading ahead of our group and then withdrawing back when a Kalar (Rohingya) jumped out from a house through a window and stabbed him with a spear,'' the man said.

    Zaw Htay, in the office of the president, tells VOA Burmese that the government is taking action. "In dealing with this situation, first the state government has imposed curfew. Next, the president recently ordered to send more security forces over there," Zaw Htay said. Curfews also are being imposed on four towns at the center of the violence -- Mrauk Oo, Myebon, Minbya and Kyauk Phyu. But some witnesses say the army has so far been unable to bring any calm, with others claiming that soldiers were firing randomly into crowds to break up the fighting.

    International Reaction

  2. #2
    Points: 69,181, Level: 64
    Level completed: 20%, Points required for next Level: 1,769
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    Social50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Mainecoons's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    19769
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    16,741
    Points
    69,181
    Level
    64
    Thanks Given
    10,256
    Thanked 6,437x in 4,426 Posts
    Mentioned
    260 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Diversity doesn't work anywhere.

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Mainecoons For This Useful Post:

    Mister D (10-26-2012),waltky (10-27-2012)

  4. #3
    Original Ranter
    Points: 297,679, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 42.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassOverdrive50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Mister D's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    416525
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    117,861
    Points
    297,679
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    25,296
    Thanked 53,470x in 36,445 Posts
    Mentioned
    1102 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    And only our prosperity keeps a lid on ethnic tensions here...
    Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.


    ~Alain de Benoist


  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Mister D For This Useful Post:

    waltky (10-27-2012)

  6. #4
    Points: 84,367, Level: 70
    Level completed: 80%, Points required for next Level: 483
    Overall activity: 3.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialVeteranTagger First Class50000 Experience Points
    roadmaster's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    10157
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    18,760
    Points
    84,367
    Level
    70
    Thanks Given
    3,287
    Thanked 6,300x in 4,607 Posts
    Mentioned
    143 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya
    Go figure.

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to roadmaster For This Useful Post:

    waltky (10-27-2012)

  8. #5
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Uncle Ferd says, "Well hey, considerin' all the people the Muslims have killed - ain't turnabout fair play?

    Burma's junta admits deadly attacks on Muslims Saturday 27 October 2012 - Satellite images show huge swath of coastal town destroyed in a wave of violence that has left dozens dead


    Thousands of Rohingya Muslims are believed to have fled Kyaukpyu, on Burma’s west coast, after their homes were destroyed in the latest clashes with Buddhists. Photograph: Human Rights Watch Burma's president, Thein Sein, has admitted his country's Rohingya Muslim population has been subjected to an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence. Whole villages and large sections of towns have been destroyed.


    Thein Sein's admission follows release of shocking satellite images showing the scale of the destruction in one coastal town, where most – if not all – of the Muslim population appears to have been displaced and their homes wrecked. The pictures, acquired by Human Rights Watch, show destruction to the town of Kyaukpyu on the country's west coast. They reveal 14.4 hectares (35 acres) of destruction, in which some 811 buildings and houseboats have been destroyed.


    The images confirm reports of massive violence in the town over 24 hours around 24 October, three days after the first wave of attacks. The incidents in Arakan province – also known as Rakhine – have displaced thousands of people in what appears to have been a wave of ethnic cleansing pitting Arakan Buddhists against Muslims. "There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down," Thein Sein's spokesman said. A government official initially put the death toll at 112 but later revised it to 67.


    Thein Sein's comments follow a warning from the office of UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma. The latest violence in Burma comes as the government is struggling to contain ethnic and religious tensions suppressed during nearly a half century of military rule that ended last year. Inter-ethnic violence broke out earlier this year, triggered by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men.


    MORE

  9. #6
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Question

    Suu Kyi not takin' sides in Rakhine disturbance...

    Cannot back Myanmar's Rohingya:Suu Kyi
    November 04, 2012 : Aung San Suu Kyi has declined to speak out on behalf of Rohingya Muslims and insisted she will not use "moral leadership" to back either side in deadly communal unrest in west Myanmar, reports said.

    The Nobel laureate, who has caused disappointment among international supporters for her muted response to violence that has swept Rakhine state, said both Buddhist and Muslim communities were "displeased" that she had not taken their side.

    More than 100,000 people have been displaced since June in two major outbreaks of violence in the state, where renewed clashes last month uprooted about 30,000 people. Dozens have been killed on both sides and thousands of homes torched. "I am urging tolerance but I do not think one should use one's moral leadership, if you want to call it that, to promote a particular cause without really looking at the sources of the problems," Suu Kyi told the BBC on Saturday.

    Speaking in the capital Naypyidaw after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who has said the EU is "deeply concerned" about the violence and its consequences for Myanmar's reforms, Suu Kyi said she could not speak out in favour of the stateless Rohingya. "I know that people want me to take one side or the other, so both sides are displeased because I will not take a stand with them," she said. The democracy champion, who is now a member of parliament after dramatic changes overseen by a quasi-civilian regime that took power last year, said the rule of law should be established as a first step before looking into other problems. "Because if people are killing one another and setting fire to one another's houses, how are we going to come to any kind of reasonable settlement?" she said.

    Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They face severe discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation. The Rohingya, who make up the vast majority of those displaced in the fighting, are described by the UN as among the world's most persecuted minorities.

    Source
    Last edited by waltky; 11-04-2012 at 04:12 AM.

  10. #7
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Cool

    Mebbe dey'll give him a Burmese python fer a pet...

    Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month
    Nov 8,`12 --- President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.
    The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19 had been prepared, but the schedule was not final. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to give information to the media. The official said Obama would meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as government officials including reformist President Thein Sein. It would be the first-ever visit to Myanmar by an American president. U.S. officials have not yet announced any plans for a visit, which would come less than two weeks after Obama's election to a second term.

    Obama's administration has sought to encourage the recent democratic progress under Thein Sein by easing sanctions applied against Myanmar's previous military regime. Officials in nearby Thailand and Cambodia have already informally announced plans for visits by Obama that same week. Cambodia is hosting a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Thailand is a longtime close U.S. ally. The visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be the culmination of a dramatic turnaround in relations with Washington as the country has shifted from five decades of ruinous military rule and shaken off the pariah status it had earned through its bloody suppression of democracy.

    Obama's ending of the long-standing U.S. isolation of Myanmar's generals has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The U.S. has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and the election of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to parliament. From Myanmar's point of view, the lifting of sanctions is essential for boosting a lagging economy that was hurt not only by sanctions that curbed exports and foreign investment, but also by what had been a protectionist, centralized approach. Thein Sein's government has initiated major economic reforms in addition to political ones.

    MORE
    See also:

    President Barack Obama to visit Burma
    8 November 2012 - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma in 2011
    Fresh from his election win, Barack Obama will this month become the first US president to visit Burma, the White House says. He will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein. It is part of a three-leg tour from 17 to 20 November that will also take in Thailand and Cambodia. The government of Burma has begun implementing economic, political and other reforms, a process the Obama administration sought to encourage.

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was previously the most senior US official to go to Burma when she visited in December 2011. The Burma stop is part of a trip built around the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia. The US has appointed a full ambassador to Burma and suspended sanctions to reward the country for political prisoner releases and the election of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to parliament.

    America is also set to ease its import ban on goods from Burma, a key part of remaining US sanctions. Analysts say the Obama administration sees in the country's political changes an opportunity to help counter the influence of China in the region. Human rights groups are likely to criticise Mr Obama's visit as premature, given that the ruling government has failed to prevent outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20261408

  11. #8
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Question

    Suu Kyi likely to take a background role...

    Suu Kyi unlikely to take formal role
    Tue, Mar 22, 2016 - PRESIDENT’S PLEDGE: In his first public speech since being elected president, Htin Kyaw promised job security, despite the number of ministries being cut by one-third
    Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is unlikely to take a formal position in the incoming government of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and is to control the administration through her position as party leader, a senior official said. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate led the NLD to a landslide win in a historic election in November last year, but a constitution drafted by the former junta bars her from the presidency because her two sons are British citizens, as was her late husband. “Taking positions is not that important any more... In the United States there are many famous lawmakers in the parliament who are very influential, but they do not take any position in the Cabinet,” NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung said on Sunday. “It is the same here. She will lead the party, so she will lead the government formed by that party,” Zaw Myint Maung said in the most detailed remarks from the NLD so far on how Aung San Suu Kyi plans to wield power.


    Members of parliament attend a union parliament session in Naypyidaw yesterday.

    Other top-level NLD politicians, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s confidant, Win Htein, have likened her role to that of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. As leader of India’s Congress party, she dominated the government of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before it fell from power in 2014, but held no ministerial position. NLD leaders have derided the constitution as “ridiculous,” and Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to run the nation through a proxy president. The NLD-dominated parliament last week elected Htin Kyaw — a close friend and confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi — for that role, making him the first head of state since the 1960s who is not a serving or recently retired senior military officer. In the run-up to the November poll last year, Aung San Suu Kyi had made clear she intended to lead the government regardless of whether she was president, but said the Sonia Gandhi comparison was “not quite” accurate. She has not elaborated since.

    Htin Kyaw yesterday made his first public speech since being elected, pledging job security for public servants even as the parliament cut the number of ministries by about one-third to 21. He said the reforms would save Myanmar more than US$4.1 million and those savings would be spent on healthcare, education and rural development. “There is no reason for causing unemployment if the government employees take jobs in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations,” he said, without elaborating. Most military members of parliament, who hold one-quarter of the seats in the parliament, also voted in favor of the changes, results showed. “I think the military also understands that they [some ministries] are not necessary. Their collaboration is an improvement in the parliament,” lower house NLD lawmaker Aung Hlaing Win said.

    MORE

  12. #9
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Suu Kyi to be in foreign ministers office...

    Myanmar's Suu Kyi to run foreign ministry
    Tue, 22 Mar 2016 - Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept to victory in Myanmar's election, is given a place in the new cabinet.
    Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won historic elections in Myanmar, is to take a place in the new cabinet. Ms Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency herself and had been widely expected not to take a ministry. But her name was on a list of 18 submitted to parliament by President-elect Htin Kyaw. The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Yangon says she will head up foreign affairs, energy, education and be minister in the president's office. There are no other women appointed to the cabinet, he adds. Myanmar's constitution, drafted by the outgoing military rulers, prevents Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president because her two sons have British passports. Despite weeks of negotiation, the NLD was unable to persuade the military to remove or suspend the clause.

    Analysis: Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Yangon

    Aung San Suu Kyi had already made it clear that whatever her title she was going to run the new government. She could have done that just by becoming minister in the president's office, sitting next to her friend and proxy Htin Kyaw and telling him what to do. But that clearly wasn't enough. Ms Suu Kyi has had four and a half months to reflect on who should steer one of her biggest priorities, education reform.


    She's also had time to consider who should oversee the vital energy portfolio, and who should represent a resurgent Myanmar, also known as Burma, at summits abroad. And after all that time the answer was staring back from the mirror. Aung San Suu Kyi decided that there could be no-one else, and that she would have to directly run three of the most time-consuming ministries. Only time will tell how that works in practice. But given there are only five working days in a week these ministries could well be guided by someone who shows up for just one day in five.

    Even with the most efficient support team around you, it's hardly a platform to deliver much-needed ambitious change. Fifteen of the names on the ministerial list were chosen by Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and former political prisoner, and three by the commander-in-chief of the army. Parliament is expected to vote later in the week to confirm the posts. The NLD has a huge majority in both houses of parliament, although the military automatically occupies 25% of seats. If she does become foreign minister, under the complex political structure Ms Suu Kyi will have to stand down as an MP and refrain from all NLD activities.

    Who is Htin Kyaw?

  13. #10
    Points: 39,654, Level: 48
    Level completed: 69%, Points required for next Level: 496
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    VeteranTagger First Class25000 Experience PointsSocial
    waltky's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    5662
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    8,859
    Points
    39,654
    Level
    48
    Thanks Given
    2,515
    Thanked 2,140x in 1,616 Posts
    Mentioned
    46 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Question

    Fate of political prisoners in Myanmar...

    Amnesty urges Suu Kyi to free political prisoners
    Fri, Mar 25, 2016 - HISTORIC CHANGE: The rights group urged Myanmar’s incoming government to end the cycle of repression by releasing hundreds of people in prison or detention
    Amnesty International yesterday urged Aung San Suu Kyi and her party’s new government to release all political prisoners when they take office next week, saying it is a historic opportunity for Myanmar to break away from the repression of the former junta rule. “Myanmar’s legal framework reads like a textbook of repression, and authorities have in recent years increasingly used it to silence dissent,” Amnesty International Southeast Asia director Champa Patel told reporters. Serious questions remain unanswered about the new government’s power to improve human rights given that the constitution keeps several key institutions under the military’s control, including the ministries of home affairs — which oversees the police — defense and border affairs.

    Amnesty’s report, based on interviews with human rights defenders, activists, lawyers, and prisoners of conscience and their families, documents the widespread crackdown on political opponents in the past two years. It said the government has relied on draconian laws and other intimidating tactics to silence dissent. Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy party to a historic win in the Nov. 8 elections, and is to replace a nominally civilian, military-backed government that has been in power since 2011. Before that, Myanmar was ruled by the military since 1962. During that time, the junta kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for several years, and jailed hundreds of her supporters and other critics. While the government has released more than 1,100 detainees over the years, some remain in jails.


    National League for Democracy Legislator Khin San Hlaing, center, arrives ahead of a regular session of the Union Parliament in Naypyitaw yesterday.

    Amnesty says it knows of almost 100 political prisoners still behind bars, while hundreds of other activists are in detention or waiting for their trials to end. There was no immediate comment, either from the outgoing government or Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. Amnesty called on the new government to immediately release all prisoners of conscience, set up a panel to review all cases and ensure no peaceful activists are imprisoned, and to amend or repeal all laws used to crack down on human rights. The NLD’s willingness to free prisoners of conscience is not in doubt, but it might not be able to do so: The Corrections Department is under the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs.

    Even after “we have the new government and parliament, they will not have the full authority to manage the country,” Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said. “The constitution says the commander-in-chief is the most powerful person in the country.” The laws themselves have also been applied in ways that add to their severity against dissenters and activists. In one such case, Htin Kyaw is serving 13 years and 10 months for distributing leaflets criticizing the government. He was charged with the same offense separately in all 11 townships where he handed out the leaflets. “It would have been really graceful if [outgoing Burmese] President Thein Sein had released all the political prisoners before the end of his term,” said Robert San Aung, an advocate for political activists on trial.

    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../25/2003642417

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts