Globe plays matchmaker:
"Suu Kyi encouraged by changes in Myanmar" November 15, 2011|Associated Press
YANGON, Myanmar - Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday that Myanmar’s government has taken positive steps toward reform in the year since she was released from house arrest but more needs to be done, including freeing hundreds more political prisoners.
The Nobel peace laureate, speaking to more than 100 journalists on the anniversary of her release, cited her meetings with minister Aung Kyi and President Thein Sein as progress.
“Looking back at the past year, I think I can say that it has been eventful, energizing, and to a certain extent encouraging,’’ said Suu Kyi, who was detained most of the past two decades by Myanmar’s former military government.
The international community’s hopes were not high after the country carefully orchestrated the 2010 elections. As expected, the polls brought to power a proxy party for the military, which had run the country since a 1962 coup.
See: Burmese Voting Booth
But that perception has changed in recent months, as the new government eased censorship, legalized labor unions, suspended an unpopular dam project, and began talks with Suu Kyi’s democracy movement.
Suu Kyi said she believed Thein Sein was committed to changes. He was prime minister under the military junta and has been considered a moderate.
“I personally believe that he is very genuine in his desire for the process of democratization,’’ Suu Kyi said.
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Related: WORTH READING
Also see: Burmese Update
Time to pray:
"Buddhist monks protest in Myanmar temple" November 16, 2011|Associated Press
YANGON, Myanmar - Five Buddhist monks launched a rare protest inside a temple in Myanmar’s second-largest city yesterday, calling on the military-aligned government to immediately release political prisoners, residents said....
Protests are rare in Myanmar, once known as Burma, where dissent has been suppressed by a military junta that was in power from 1962 until this year. It transferred control to a nominally civilian government led by a former general, which has promised to liberalize politics, but continues to hold about 2,000 political prisoners.
As part of its pledge to loosen the junta’s hard-line policies, the government has taken some fledgling steps such as easing censorship and legalizing labor unions.
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"Myanmar democracy activist to rejoin political system; With Clinton visit, marks dramatic shift in country" November 19, 2011|By Jackie Calmes and Thomas Fuller, New York Times
BALI, Indonesia - Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s most prominent democracy campaigner, announced yesterday that she would rejoin the political system of the military-backed government that persecuted her for more than two decades.
Her announcement came shortly after President Obama disclosed that he was sending Hillary Rodham Clinton to visit the country next month, the first trip there by a US secretary of state in more than 50 years.
The twin events underscored the remarkable pace of change in Myanmar, which has stunned observers inside and outside the country, analysts said....
The prospect of closer ties between Myanmar and the West suggests a potential rebalancing of alliances in Asia. In the early years after independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar, strategically located between China and India, sought close ties with the United States and the West to balance out relations with China, said Thant Myint-U.
“China until the 1990s was seen as the country’s main strategic threat,’’ Thant Myint-U said.
In recent years, China has been one of Myanmar’s largest trade partners, lured by Myanmar’s bountiful natural resources. Myanmar, in turn, has relied on China for much-needed investment, partly to mitigate the effects of Western sanctions.
In September, Myanmar angered the Chinese government by suspending a Chinese-led project to build a hydroelectric dam in northern Myanmar. The move created a rare rift between the countries, which have been tightly allied over the past two decades.
See: Slow Saturday Special: Dam Democracy in Myanmar
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"Amid change, Clinton visits Myanmar; Secretary hopes to gauge depth of political reform" December 01, 2011|By Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Myanmar yesterday to measure the depth of the political and economic opening that the country’s autocratic, military-dominated government has unexpectedly begun.
After years of abysmal relations, the Obama administration has promised to respond to progress - Clinton’s trip being the most significant reward so far - even as it presses for more significant steps to end the country’s repressive rule and international isolation.
Those steps include freeing hundreds more political prisoners and an end to the often violent repression of democracy advocates and ethnic groups....
Clinton’s reception at the airport in this remote, newly built capital was relatively muted.
A small delegation lead by a deputy foreign minister, U Myo Myint, greeted her without ceremony as she got off her plane.
By contrast, an enormous red billboard had been set up to welcome Prime Minister Mikhail V. Myasnikovich of Belarus, another autocratic nation at odds with the United States, who is scheduled to arrive today.
A spokesman for the Myanmar government, U Yeh Tut, welcomed Clinton’s visit, calling it “a great chance to normalize relations between the two countries.’’
“What we are trying to do is prove we are trying to make improvements in the democratic process,’’ Yeh Tut said in a telephone interview. “We want the United States to understand the situation in our country.’’
Clinton is scheduled to meet the country’s new president, U Thein Sein, this morning, as well as the foreign minister and members of the new Parliament, who were elected last year in voting that was widely regarded as undemocratic....
Before her flight, Clinton said the United States hoped that what President Obama recently called “flickers of progress’’ in Myanmar would “be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country.’’
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Myanmar, known before 1989 as Burma and still called that by the United States as a matter of policy, has been visited by a secretary of state only once before, in 1955, when John Foster Dulles came trying to woo the country into a regional alliance against China.
How little things change.
An improved relationship with Myanmar could reshape US diplomacy in the region when the Obama administration is trying to shift its geopolitical focus toward Asia and the Pacific, in part to once again manage the political and economic dominance of China.
That's the remarks of a reporter and newspaper that has accepted and internalized the right of AmeriKan empire.
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"US limits on Myanmar will be reduced; Clinton makes historic visit with president, Suu Kyi" December 02, 2011|By Steven Lee Myers, New York Times
YANGON, Myanmar - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that the United States would loosen restrictions on international financial assistance and development programs in Myanmar, in response to a nascent political and economic opening in the country.
Does Burma really want to get involved with private central banks?
The United States and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, also agreed to discuss upgrading diplomatic relations - which were suspended for two decades - and exchanging ambassadors, a step that could transform US diplomacy in Southeast Asia.
Clinton met the country’s new president, U Thein Sein, yesterday morning and its main opposition leader, the Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, later in the day, underscoring the Obama administration’s cautious efforts to nurture a relationship with one of the world’s most isolated and repressive nations. In each meeting, Clinton delivered a letter from President Obama expressing support for the democratization of Myanmar....
A senior Obama administration official said late in the day that there was not any specific timetable for actions by either country and that a full restoration of diplomatic relations appeared to be months away, at a minimum.
In her meetings and public statements, Clinton said she raised issues that have divided the United States and Myanmar since 1990, when the ruling military junta refused to acknowledge the results of elections won by Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy. Clinton also called on Myanmar to “sever illicit ties to North Korea’’ that officials say have included work on ballistic missiles and, possibly, nuclear technology.
Related: Burma Has the Bomb
That must be why AmeriKa is warming up to them; if you don't have one, we attack and invade.
And the rapes mean nothing now?
Even so, she sought to welcome and encourage the steps taken since Thein Sein became president in March, including lifting the ban on the National League for Democracy.
“It is also encouraging that Aung San Suu Kyi is now free to take part in the political process,’’ she said, “but that too will be insufficient unless all political parties can open offices throughout the country and compete in free, fair, and credible elections.’’
All AmeriKa cares about is it's well-taken-care-of asset.
In a video conference with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, Suu Kyi acknowledged that her reentry into the political process - like the US engagement - entailed risk.
Filling in the masters on the situation in Myanmar?
She said that she trusted Thein Sein personally. But she added, “I cannot say that everybody in the government feels as he does.’’
Asked if she agreed with that view, Clinton demurred, though she said she understood that there were a variety of views within the government.
In 2 ½ hours of meetings with Clinton, Thein Sein offered important signals of his intentions, senior administration officials said. He discussed legal steps for releasing additional political prisoners, for example, despite his recent remarks asserting that the country did not have any.
She then met privately with Suu Kyi over dinner at the lakeside residence of the senior US diplomat in Myanmar. It was their first meeting, though they had previously spoken by telephone, and the two women greeted each other warmly.
“I am very happy to meet you, finally,’’ Clinton said.
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"Clinton pays visit to home of Suu Kyi; Two discuss road to democracy" December 03, 2011|By William Wan, Washington Post
YANGON, Myanmar - Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the home of Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday for a meeting that was both personal and formal as two of the world’s most famous female political figures discussed the sudden signs of reform in Myanmar.
The meeting between the secretary of state and the leader of Myanmar’s long-persecuted democracy movement - unthinkable just three months ago - was another sign of the stunning change afoot in Myanmar.
“If we go forward together, I’m confident there will be no turning back from the road to democracy,’’ Suu Kyi told reporters afterward at a press conference, a rare occurrence for the Nobel Peace laureate who has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest ordered by Myanmar’s military-controlled government. “We are not on that road yet, but we hope to get there as soon as possible with our friends.’’
Both Clinton and Suu Kyi said more progress needed to be made by President Thein Sein and his government for true reform to take hold. And Suu Kyi emphasized the need for rule of law, calling on the government not only to release all remaining political prisoners but also to change its policies to prevent human rights violations in the future.
Clinton - the first senior US official in half a century to visit Myanmar, also known as Burma - called Suu Kyi an inspiration. The pair had met for a private dinner the night before. Yesterday, they demonstrated an obvious closeness through their statements and body language, greeting each other with a kiss on the cheek, holding hands at one point in the press conference, and hesitating awkwardly at the end before bursting into laughter as they hugged each other goodbye.
They are both acting like (complete with media allusion) they had a lesbian love affair.
The meeting took place at the home that Suu Kyi’s family has long owned - a compound where she spent years under house arrest. Suu Kyi introduced Clinton to the doctor who took care of her during that time, to her chefs, and even to her guard dog, for whom Clinton had brought a chew toy gift.
How brutal. What it shows is the Burmese generals were smart enough not to abuse a CIA asset.
“Chew away, chew away,’’ Clinton told the dog.
“Keep your distance,’’ Suu Kyi warned. “He thinks that people who stand close to me are a threat.’’
How many prisoners get a pet guard dog?
In her comments, Suu Kyi seemed to be preparing herself for her return to politics, having confirmed this week that she planned to run in next year’s parliamentary elections. Her last effort, in 1990, culminated in a decisive win for her party. That victory was annulled by the military junta amid one of many crackdowns on democracy leaders.
At a later press conference, Clinton said she had talked to Suu Kyi “about the ups and downs and slings and arrows of political participation, and the challenges that a new democracy particularly will face because the rules are being written as you engage.’’
“I think she’d be an excellent member of new Parliament,’’ Clinton said.
Clinton also announced $1.2 million in aid, mostly to civil society organizations that provide microlending and health care.
Good thing you aren't running a deficit and have no debt, Americans. I mean, it is not like your services are being cut.
And she spent part of her day meeting with leaders of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, who have suffered violence and killings for years at the hands of the military.
The issue of ethnic rifts, in many ways, is the hardest problem Myanmar will face as it tackles reform.
Fighting continues between soldiers and minority groups along the country’s border regions.
The issue is complicated by the fact that some ethnic groups want autonomy from the government, while other factions are believed to be linked to the drug trade.
Which the AmeriKan CIA is deeply involved in, and why the paper just leaves it there.
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