Suu Kyi may be released soon in Myanmar

Now that the sham elections are over, this may finally become a reality. Great news, if it happens.

Seven years after the jailed democracy leader was last made a prisoner in her own home, Ms Suu Kyi's supporters were cautiously optimistic that tomorrow she may be finally released from house arrest. Some believe she could even be freed later this evening and that one of her sons may be there to greet her.

The military authorities who oversaw last weekend's controversial election have given no formal indication the 65-year-old will be released when her current term of detention formally expires tomorrow. Yet members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been cleaning their offices in anticipation and foreign diplomats are readying themselves for the opportunity to meet her. In Rangoon, said one Western diplomat, there was a "mood of hope, and yet expectation."

"I believe she will released on the evening of 13 November," said her lawyer, Nyan Win. "We have no plans for a celebration, but it will be a very happy occasion for our beloved Lady."

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Voters in Myanmar avoid polls

It's hard to be enthusiastic about voting when you're life is being threatened and results are ignored. The Independent:

Burma's first election in 20 years was marked by low-turn out and reluctant voters yesterday as many people appeared to have decided there was little point participating in a poll considered skewed from the start.

In cities such as Rangoon, the former capital, turn-out may have been as little as 30 per cent, some sources said, despite threats from the military authorities that people could be jailed if they failed to vote. Armed police and troops were patrolling the streets.

As of last night, there was no word on the official turn-out or the result of the poll, simply that it would come "in time". In reality there was little to wait for; most observers have believed all along the polls would deliver a victory for two pro-establishment parties that have the backing of the military.

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Myanmar military junta leaders stepping down

Unfortunately it has nothing to preparing for democracy. Instead, it appears as though they are stepping down so they can run for top office in the upcoming sham elections. BBC:

Leaders of Burma's junta are reported to have resigned from their military posts, days before the deadline to register candidates in the country's first general election in two decades.

Some reports said junta leader Gen Than Shwe was among those to have stepped down, but other reports denied this.

Observers believe he may want to become civilian president after the election on 7 November.

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Myanmar opposition to boycott elections

The junta forced the issue by banning the opposition party from running in the elections as long as Aung San Suu Kyi remained in the organization. They refused to expel her and instead, voted to boycott the elections. They already won years ago by a large majority but were not allowed to govern so the elections have been proven to be all about show for the regime.

Loud cheering broke out at a meeting of the leaders of Burma's main opposition party after they voted unanimously to boycott an upcoming election that has been widely condemned as unfair and undemocratic.

The decision will further undermine the credibility of the poll. All 113 delegates at yesterday's gathering of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) agreed not to register the party with the election commission, effectively preventing it from participation in the polls that are expected to be held in October.

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UK supporting move for war crimes tribunal against Myanmar

The leadership is so isolated so it's hard to imagine any of them ever being arrested, but perhaps this will increase the pressure on the horrible government. Of course, Myanmar has plenty of regional support from their neighbor to the north who would probably be there to block any security council moves. The Guardian:

Britain is backing moves to refer Burma's military leaders to the international criminal court for investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity. The move is part of a heightened campaign to force the junta to embrace genuine democratic reforms, diplomatic and government sources told the Guardian today.

In a tough démarche that will increase pressure on the isolated regime ahead of planned elections this autumn, Britain's ambassador to the UN said the UK supported a recommendation by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma that The Hague-based international court opens a war crimes investigation.

Speaking after a security council meeting, Sir Mark Lyall Grant said the council's five permanent members were "not sufficiently unanimous" in their views to allow an ICC referral to happen immediately. But if such a proposal were tabled, he said, Britain would support it. Nearly 200 MPs have backed the referral campaign.

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Myanmar bans Suu Kyi from elections

Doesn't sound like they're trying to bother with "free and fair" this time either. This is a case where a local power such as China could help have a positive influence. But of course, they're too busy rigging their own political system and shutting down respected critics themselves. Why bother having elections?

Myanmar's military rulers have barred pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from running in upcoming elections and may force her own political party to expel her under a new election law unveiled Wednesday.

The Political Parties Registration Law, published in official newspapers, prohibits anyone convicted by a court of law from joining a political party, making them ineligible to become a candidate.

It also instructs parties to expel members who are "not in conformity with the qualification to be members of a party," a clause that could force Suu Kyi's expulsion. Parties that don't register automatically cease to exist, the law says.

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Big Oil fills the coffers of Myanmar junta

Keeping brutal regimes in power, one country at a time. Cash goes a long way in Myanmar though somehow, not beyond a few people.

The Burmese military junta has earned almost $5bn from a controversial gas pipeline operated by the French oil giant Total and deprived the country of vital income by depositing almost all the money in bank accounts in Singapore, a new report claims.

Campaigners say Total has also profited handsomely from the arrangement, with an estimated income of $483m from the project since 2000. Campaigners say that the windfall from the Yadana pipeline, operated by Total and two other partners, has been so huge that it has done much to insulate the country's military rulers from the impact of international sanctions imposed over its human rights abuses. The report from EarthRights International (ERI), published today, argues that this makes Total and their partners a major factor in reinforcing the regime's intransigence. And it claims that while their people suffer some of the worst standards of living in Asia, with miserable state investment in health, education, infrastructure and everything else that affects the lives of ordinary people, the self-perpetuating military elite has grown obscenely wealthy.

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Man involved in Suu Kyi's conviction leaves for US

It's likely that anything or anyone could have triggered the arrest and conviction of Suu Kyi (again) but since this was not his first time attempting such action, he's not going to have much sympathy nor will the people of Myanmar be thrilled with his release.

The U.S. Embassy says an American man imprisoned for sneaking into the home of Myanmar's democracy leader has been flown out of the country.

John Yettaw, 53, was arrested after swimming to Aung San Suu Kyi's home and staying two days.

The embassy says Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri is headed to Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday on a military plane with U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia. The senator secured his release Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling junta.

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Policy changes coming in Myanmar?

That's what it looks like. The existing model obviously was not having any impact though forcing change looks impossible there and moderating sounds extremely difficult. The Guardian:

The first visit to Burma by a senior US official for more than a decade has triggered speculation that the Obama administration will attempt to steer the regime towards a new era of engagement.

Jim Webb, a Democratic senator from Virginia, arrived in Burma this afternoon, days after the country's junta sentenced the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to 18 months' house arrest.

Webb, who served in the Reagan administration but is now considered a close ally of Barack Obama, is expected to meet the country's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, in the country's remote capital Naypyidaw, tomorrow.

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New allegations against Myanmar regime and Big Oil

Forced labor again? It's practically expected from the Myanmar dictatorship but shouldn't Western companies do more to prevent such actions? Then again, this is Big Oil that we're talking about.

The French energy giant Total is at the centre of allegations that Burmese villagers are being used as forced labour to help support a huge gas pipeline that is earning the country's military regime hundreds of millions of dollars.

Testimony from villagers and former soldiers gathered by human rights workers suggests that Burmese soldiers, who provide security for the Yadana pipeline on behalf of Total, are forcing thousands of people to work portering, carrying wood and repairing roads in the pipeline area. They have also been forced to build police stations and barracks.

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi sentenced to house arrest again

Big surprise there. The thugs running Myanmar would have found some way, some reason, to imprison her again. Read the rest of this post...

More than 1 million not receiving basic aid in Myanmar

A staggering number, but it means nothing to the junta. Now if their oil facilities were in trouble, you can be sure the panic button would be pressed.

Humanitarian groups say they continue to face hurdles from Myanmar's military government in sending disaster experts and vital equipment into the country. As a result, only a trickle of aid is reaching the storm's estimated 2.4 million survivors, leaving many without even basic relief.

Aid groups are unable to provide 1.3 million survivors with sufficient food and clean water, while trying to prevent a second wave of deaths from malnutrition and disease, the U.N. said in its latest assessment report.

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Myanmar junta hits a new low

It's hard to find many regimes in the world that are more despicable than the Myanmar junta. The people there are among the nicest on the planet but have the misfortune of being born under that dictatorship. The neighboring countries who could have influence are never interested in change as that might threaten their juicy business contracts. Unfortunately, the US and Europe do the same in other parts of the world. It's difficult to say how much of the aid will be skimmed off the top for the junta but let's hope enough makes it to the victims.

Commentary in the Myanma Ahlin newspaper said that while the country welcomed international aid, “Myanmar people are self-reliant and can stand on their own without foreign assistance.”

The state-run newspaper said that people in the delta could survive on “fresh vegetables that grow wild in the fields and on protein-rich fish from the rivers” if they could not get “bars of chocolate donated by the international community.”

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Myanmar junta blocks food aid shipment

Disgraceful. How hard is it to "negotiation" the delivering of food aid when your people are starving?

A French government statement said navy ship Le Mistral was waiting some 13 miles outside Myanmar’s territorial waters, hoping to go in and unload its cargo of 1,000 tons of food — enough to feed 100,000 people for 15 days. The aid also includes shelters for 15,000 people, the statement said.

“The specifics of the delivery of this aid have not yet been defined,” the statement said, adding such details “will be the subject of negotiations” with Myanmar authorities, who are yet to authorize it to dock either in the delta or in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

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128,000 may have died in Myanmar

And it may get worse.

The Red Cross estimated Wednesday that the cyclone death toll in Myanmar could be as high as 128,000 — a much larger figure than the government tally. The U.N. warned a second wave of deaths will follow unless the military regime lets in more aid quickly.

The grim forecast came as heavy rains drenched the devastated Irrawaddy River delta, disrupting aid operations already struggling to reach up to 2.5 million people in urgent need of food, water and shelter.

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Two of McCain's lobbyists bounced over ties to Myanmar

McCain's campaign staff is rife with lobbyists. But, apparently, McCain finally found lobbyists who crossed the line. That line is pretty far out there -- representing a brutal military regime that is now letting hundreds of thousands of its citizens die. Over the weekend, he lost two key staffers because they represented the Myanmar regime:

Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002.

"Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it," Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, wrote in a e-mail.

He joins former DCI Group CEO Doug Goodyear, who resigned yesterday from the post of convention CEO after Newsweek reported that DCI was paid more than $300,000 to represent Myanmar's ruling junta.

Absent the typhoon, these guys would still be working for McCain. Read the rest of this post...

Despite mounting massive death toll, Burma still refusing aid

This is another catastrophe of epic proportions where citizens are being failed by their government:

Desperate survivors cried out for aid on Thursday nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis killed up to 100,000 people, as pressure piled up on Myanmar to throw its doors open to an international relief operation.

The United States was still awaiting approval from Myanmar's junta to start military aid flights, but the U.N. food agency and Red Cross/Red Crescent said they have started flying in emergency relief after some delays.

And this is why that matters:

Aid has barely trickled into one of the world's most isolated and impoverished countries, although experts feared it would be too little to cope with the aftermath of Nargis, which left up to 100,000 feared dead and one million homeless.

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Myanmar now recruiting 10 year old kids

Bringing a whole new angle to child labor.

Myanmar's military government, already under criticism for abuses, is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces, a U.S. rights group charged in a report released Wednesday.

Government recruiters target children because of "continued army expansion, high desertion rates and a lack of willing volunteers," the 135-page report by New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

"Military recruiters and civilian brokers receive cash payments and other incentives for each new recruit, even if the recruit clearly violates minimum age or health standards," it said.

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Myanmar blames US for protests

Right. Myanmar is really high on the list of priorities for the Bush administration. Most in Washington probably couldn't even find the country on a map so while I agree Bush is a "loudmouth bully", this protest only shows how delusional the junta really is, not that it seems to matter.

Myanmar's military government stepped up its propaganda campaign against the United States on Sunday, accusing Washington of inciting last month's pro-democracy demonstrations in hopes of installing a puppet government.

Demonstrations that began Aug. 19 over high prices for fuel and consumer goods grew into a broad-based movement for democratic reform that attracted tens of thousands of people in Yangon, the country's biggest city.

Yep, sounds like outside forces at work. Read the rest of this post...

You know a government is odd when...

They're afraid of underwear. Women's underwear, to be precise.

Embassies in the UK, Thailand, Australia and Singapore have all been targeted by the "Panties for Peace" campaign, co-ordinated by an activist group based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The manoeuvre is a calculated insult to the junta and its leader, General Than Shwe. Superstitious junta members believe that any contact with female undergarments - clean or dirty - will sap them of their power, said Jackie Pollack, a member of the Lanna Action for Burma Committee.

"Not only are they brutal, but they are also very superstitious. They believe that touching a woman's pants or sarong will make them lose their strength," Ms Pollack told Guardian Unlimited.

So far, hundreds of pairs of pants have been posted, according to another campaigner, Liz Hilton. "One group sent 140 pairs to the Burmese embassy in Geneva," she said.

Even the religious right crazies in America seem relatively normal compared to these people and that's no small task. (h/t - Bruce) Read the rest of this post...