Burmese Generals Blindsided By Gen-Z Protesters

                 (Bertil Lintner’s article from the ASIA TIMES on 12 February 2021.)

The Police Colonel who shot and killed a girl protester.

CHIANG MAI – It is becoming abundantly clear that Myanmar’s military leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing didn’t anticipate the youthful fury his democracy-suspending coup would spark. But the Generation Z-led street demonstrations now spreading across the nation have exposed just how out of modern touch the again-ruling generals are.

Min Aung Hlaing looked tense and anything but confident when he made his first TV address to the public on February 8 at the same time as huge demonstrations swept the country. These are vastly different from those in 1988, when soldiers managed to suppress a pro-democracy uprising by spraying automatic rifle fire into crowds of unarmed demonstrators. They are also different from 2007 Buddhist monk-led Saffron Revolution, where soldiers again used bloody suppression to put down a similar popular movement.

Generation Z members are often described as “digital natives” known for their social media and internet-savvy. They can not only get around government blocks on news, but can also organize mass movements with the help of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and Thailand, with whom they communicate daily.

Massive Protests Against Coup in Burma (Myanmar)

                  (Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 08 February 2021.)

Protests sweep Myanmar to oppose coup, support Aung San Suu Kyi: Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Myanmar to denounce last week's coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in the biggest protests since the 2007 Saffron Revolution that helped lead to democratic reforms.

In a second day of widespread protests, crowds in the biggest city, Yangon, sported red shirts, red flags and red balloons, the colour of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD). "We don't want military dictatorship! We want democracy!" they chanted.

On Sunday afternoon, the junta ended a day-long blockade of the internet that had further inflamed anger since the coup last Monday that has halted the South East Asian nation's troubled transition to democracy and drawn international outrage. Thousands of riders also took to the streets of south-eastern city of Dawei on their motorcycles to denounce to coup.

Pope Francis expressed "solidarity with the people" on Sunday and asked Myanmar's leaders to seek "democratic" harmony. Massive crowds from all corners of Yangon gathered in townships, filling streets as they headed towards the Sule Pagoda at the heart of the city, also a rallying point during the Buddhist monk-led 2007 protests and others in 1988.

Why Myanmar Military Seized Power In A Coup?

           (Zaheena Rasheed’s article from the ALJAZEERA NEWS on 01 February 2021.)

Wearing masks, gloves and face shields, voters across Myanmar on November 8 braved surging coronavirus infections as they turned out en masse to cast their ballots in the country’s second democratic vote since the end of military rule in 2011.

At polling stations in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, the enthusiasm was palpable. “People are excited to vote, as they would like to escape from the political struggles,” one poll worker said at the time. “They want real democracy.” Trouble, however, was already brewing.

Just days before the polls, Myanmar’s powerful military chief Min Aung Hlaing had raised the possibility the army may not accept the outcome of the election. Accusing Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government of “unacceptable mistakes”, he told a local news outlet that “we are in a situation where we need to be cautious” about the results of the poll.

Coup In Burma: Army Removes 24 Ministers & Deputies

         (REUTER NEWS article from the CHANNEL NEWS ASIA on 01 February 2021.)

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

YANGON: Myanmar's military on Monday (Feb 1) announced a purge of Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government, removing 24 ministers and deputies while naming 11 replacements in its new administration after seizing power in a coup.

The announcement was made on the military-run Myawadday TV and included new appointments in the portfolios for finance, health, information, foreign affairs, defence, borders and interior.

The military seized power on Monday in a coup, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids. The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to "election fraud", handing power to military chief General Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on the military-owned TV station.

Coup In Myanmar (Burma): ASSK Detained By The Army

                  (Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 1 February 2021)

Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and others detained in raids: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained in an early morning raid along with other senior ruling party figures.

The South-East Asian nation's new parliament was due to meet today for the first time since the November election, which was won in a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, but which the military says was marred by fraud.

National League for Democracy spokesman Myo Nyunt said Ms Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning. "I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law," he said, adding he also expected to be detained.

Coup Fears In Myanmar (Burma)

           (AFP News article from the FRONTIER MYANMAR on 29 January 2021.)

Will Burmese generals put ASSK under house arrest again.

UN, foreign missions sound alarm over Myanmar coup fears: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised “great concern” over the recent developments, his spokesperson said. More than a dozen embassies, including the US and EU delegation, Friday urged Myanmar to “adhere to democratic norms”, joining the UN in a chorus of international concern about a possible coup.

Myanmar is just a decade out of nearly 50 years of military rule, with a nascent democracy governed under a junta-authored constitution which dictates power-sharing between the civilian administration and the country’s generals.

For weeks, the powerful military has alleged widespread voter irregularities in November’s election, which Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy won in a landslide.  Their call for voter list verification ramped up this week, with an army spokesman on Tuesday refusing to rule out the possibility of a military takeover to deal with what he called a political crisis.

White Australia (1901-1973) Explained On Australia Day

British strict classification of Races in this world.

Few years ago I used to drive taxis part-time on Sundays in Sydney to supplement my meager day-trading income. One Sunday I picked up a group of young Brits near the Opera House and they wanted to go to Chinatown. So we went. On the way the young woman at the front seat said, “Not many Asians in Australia?”

I was shocked as I thought our Sydney was full of Asians and by then we were already in Chinatown crowded with Asians. So I pointed her at the young fashionable Chinese crowd congregating on the George Street cinema strip and asked, “Don’t you see them? We have so many Asians here and we are now in the middle of Chinatown!”

“They aren’t Asians!” She looked at them young Chinese crowd on the street and told me. I was stunned.

“So what are they, if they aren’t Asians?”

“Orientals, back home we call them Orientals!”

“Wow! So who are Asians back home in England?”

“There, there, he is Asian!” She was pointing excitedly at a turban-head Panjabi on the street.

“You mean you Brits call Indians, Asians?”

“Yeah, sometimes we call them ‘Pakis’, but it’s a derogatory term!”

“So how about me? What do you call people like me?”

“You look Thai and we call you people Thai!”

Wuhan Outbreak (Feb-21): Where Is Patient Zero?

                          (Staff article from the BBC FUTURES on 21 February 2020.)

As the cases of coronavirus increase in China and around the world, the hunt is on to identify "patient zero". But can singling out one person as causing an outbreak do more harm than good? Chinese authorities and experts are at odds about the origin of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. More specifically, who is "patient zero" for the outbreak.

Also known as an index case, patient zero is a term used to describe the first human infected by a viral or bacterial disease in an outbreak. Advances in genetic analysis now make it possible to trace back the lineage of a virus through those it has infected. Combined with epidemiological studies, scientists can pinpoint individuals who may have been the first people to start spreading the disease and so trigger the outbreak.

Identifying who these people are can help address crucial questions about how, when and why it started. These can then help to prevent more people from getting infected now or in future outbreaks. Do we know who patient zero is in the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak that started in China? The short answer is – no.

Chinese authorities originally reported that the first coronavirus case was on 31 December and many of the first cases of the pneumonia-like infection were immediately connected to a seafood and animal market in Wuhan, in the Hubei province.

87 Years Jail Sentence For Insulting Thai Royal Family

                    (Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 19 January 2021)

87 yrs jail for sharing a facebook post on Crown Prince.

A court in Thailand has sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country's strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy. Anchan was initially sentenced to 87 years, but the punishment was reduced by half because she pleaded guilty.

Her sentence comes at a time of unprecedented youth-led demonstrations in which protest leaders have openly criticised the monarchy, risking prosecution under Thailand's strict lese majeste law, which carries a 15-year penalty for each violation.

Anchan Preelert, 65, pled guilty to 29 separate violations of sharing and posting clips on YouTube and Facebook between 2014 and 2015, her lawyer, Pawinee Chumsri, told Reuters. Ms Preelert was initially sentenced to 87 years but, because she acknowledged her violations, the court halved the punishment, the lawyer said.