BURMA: Despite Loss at Oscars, Film A Testament to Courage
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Mar 11, 2010 (IPS) – It may have not won an Oscar, but its having been a final contender for the prestigious statue at the U.S. Academy Awards on Mar. 7 has taken ‘Burma VJ’ to heights never achieved by previous films depicting the oppression [...]
BURMA: U.S. Mission’s Meeting with Ethnic Minorities Signals Hope
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Nov 6 (IPS) – The United States government’s diplomatic foray into military-ruled Burma made early inroads into an area sealed off to United Nations envoys in recent years—meeting the country’s oppressed ethnic minorities.
"We met with seven to eight representatives of ethnic minority groups in [...]
POLITICS: U.S. Mission to Burma Heralds Obama’s New Diplomatic Tack
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Oct 31 (IPS) – An upcoming mission by senior United States government officials to military- ruled Burma points to Washington’s commitment that engaging with oppressive regimes—than spurning them—is the way forward for change.
The two-day visit by Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East [...]
RIGHTS: Karen Fear Military Offensive Near Planned Dam in Burma
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Oct 31 (IPS) – With the annual monsoon rains ending, there is a growing fear among the Karen ethnic minority living along military-ruled Burma’s eastern border of a dry season offensive. The most vulnerable are villagers residing in the vicinity of the controversial Hat Gyi dam. [...]
DEVELOPMENT: UNESCAP Steps in to Help Burma’s Debt-ridden Farmers
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Oct 15 (IPS) – A regional United Nations body dubbed by its critics as a ”talk shop” and with limited concrete achievements to its name appears set to change that image by striking a deal with one of Asia’s recalcitrant regimes – the Burmese military government. [...]
A SONIA GANDHI TYPE ROLE FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI?
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
With the administration of President Barrack Obama of the US expanding bilateral official contacts with the Myanmar military junta and embarking on a policy of probing engagement without lifting sanctions for the present, interesting steps are being taken in the US-Myanmar political minuet.
2.The US seems to have realised that [...]
BURMA: Rights Group Tallies Growing Ranks of Political Prisoners
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON, Sep 16 (IPS) – The number of political prisoners held by the ruling military junta in Burma has reached 2,200, according to a report released here by Human Rights Watch Wednesday.
It calls attention to the dramatically increasing number of political prisoners in the South East [...]
POLITICS: With Pipelines, China’s Footprint in Burma Expands
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Sep 8 (IPS) – If military-ruled Burma needed a stark symbol of China’s growing dominance in the country, then it would be poised to get one soon. The Asian giant is about to start building two pipelines – for gas and oil – that will [...]
CHINA: Burma’s Surprise Attack Against Ethnic Rebels Poses Dilemma
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Analysis by Antoaneta Bezlova
Beijing, Sep 4 (IPS) – Preoccupied with ethnic tensions in the vulnerable areas of Tibet and Xinjiang, Beijing was caught off guard by Burmese military regime’s decision in early August to use force against armed rebel ethnic groups in the country’s north, which resulted into [...]
MYANMAR: ANOTHER GESTURE BY JUNTA TO US?
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
The Kokang and Wa regions of the Shan State of Myanmar predominantly consist of non-Han tribals of Yunnanese origin, who are to be found on both sides of the Sino-Myanmar border like the Lishus and the Kachins in the Kachin State of Myanmar. This is also the area into which [...]
BURMA: Junta Targets Ethnic Rebels to Forge Unity Ahead of Polls
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Sep 3 (IPS) – Burma’s military regime is turning to a familiar strategy û sending in troops û to impose its will on the north-eastern corner of the country that shares a border with China’s Yunnan province in the east. The move shatters a 20-year peace [...]
BURMA: ILO Turns Spotlight on Officials to End Forced Labour
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Sep 3 (IPS) – The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is turning its attention to a western corner of military-ruled Burma to end the scourge of forced labour, which remains rampant in most parts of the South-east Asian nation.
On Sunday, the ILO will be hosting a [...]
ASIA: Parliamentarians Turn Heat on Burma for Suu Kyi Trial
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, May 28 (IPS) – In a move reflecting growing anger towards Burma, parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia want the military-ruled country suspended from a 10-member regional bloc for the unjust treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader.
The comments made in Singapore’s legislature during the current [...]
