Border War: Burmese Army Killed First Bangladeshi Officer

(Compilation of news articles from NARINJARA NEWS AGENCY on 29-30 May 2014.)

Burmese police patrol on Bangladesh-Burma border.

On 29 May yesterday Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry angrily summoned Burma’s Ambassador in Bangladesh and demanded Burma's urgent explanation for the violent border clash on May-28 last Wednesday.

Bangladeshi Ambassador in Rangoon also delivered a strongly-worded protest letter to Burmese Foreign Ministry at Naypyidaw.

According to Burmese army reports an army unit ambushed two armed RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) terrorists crossing into Burma on May-28 morning and killed one RSO terrorists and captured his M-22 rifle and ammunitions.

But according to the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh – formerly a mutinous paramilitary force the Bangladesh Rifles) the Burmese army unit had attacked one of their BGB units patrolling the border and captured a BGB officer named Mizanur Rahman who is still missing.

Pope Francis: Very First Socialist Anti-Jewish Latino Pope

(Caroline Glick’s article direct from the JERUSALEM POST on 27 May 2014.)

Pope Francis showed his anti-Israel sentiment by praying
unscheduled at the West-Bank security barrier.

The Golden Age of Catholic-Jewish relations seems to have come to an end during Francis’s visit to the Promised Land this week.  

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman were right when they blamed the noxious anti-Israel incitement rampant in Europe for Saturday’s murderous shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels and the assault and battery of two Jewish brothers outside their synagogue in a Paris suburb later that day.

Anti-Israel incitement is ubiquitous in Europe and is appearing in ever-widening circles of the Western world as a whole. Until this week, the Catholic Church stayed out of the campaign to dehumanize Jews and malign the Jewish state.

Ronald Reagan’s “We Must Fight The Evil” Speech

(From Ronald Reagan’s Speech “A Time for Choosing” delivered on 27 October 1964.)

The 40th President of USA.

Let’s set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace and you can have it in the next second, “surrender.”

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender.

If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, then eventually we have to face the final demand “the ultimatum.” And what then?

Sergeant Rafael Peralta USMC & Corporal Aung Thein

(Sad tale of two hero Sergeants: One from US Marines & one from our Burma Army.)

Sergeant Rafael Parelta and Corporal Aung Thein.

Our Burma one of the poorest nations on earth and the United States of America the only super-power of this world have been in their own wars since time immemorial. And the wars always produce heroes worthy of the bravery medals of highest honor their nations can bestow.

For US the Congressional Medal of Honor and for Burma the Thihathuya Medal. This is the tale of two heroic sergeants, one sergeant from US Marines and other one from Burma Army. They both were killed in very similar circumstances and they both clearly and selflessly sacrificed their own lives for their comrades and their country.

But one was controversially denied his bravery medal and his bereaving family has been suffering since while other one was quickly awarded his bravery medal and his family showered with cash and other rewards. Which one you would think rewarded and which one denied his rightful praise? Don’t rush to answer yet and please continue on reading as this story will blow your logical mind away.

China Wants US Out Of Asian Security Affairs

(The AP article “China Calls for New Asia Security Structure” on 21 May 2014.)

China president  Xi Jinping at 2014 CICA conference.

SHANGHAI — China’s president called Wednesday for the creation of a new Asian structure for security cooperation based on a regional group that includes Russia and Iran and excludes the United States.

President Xi Jinping spoke at a meeting in Shanghai of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building measures in Asia (CICA), a little-known group that has taken on significance as Beijing tries to extend its influence and limit that of the United States, which it sees as a strategic rival.

“We need to innovate our security cooperation (and) establish a new regional security cooperation architecture,” said Xi, speaking to an audience that included Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Central Asian countries.

In Highly Literate Burma Local Storybooks Are Missing

(Wendy Rockett’s article from the NYC-based ASIA FOUNDATION on 4 September 2013.)

A privately-published English text book.

As we contemplate the triumphs and remaining challenges in improving literacy this International Literacy Day, consider the fascinating case of Myanmar.

The country is one of the poorest in Southeast Asia, with decaying infrastructure and an economy that is just now starting to pick up after decades of stagnation. Yet, it boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the region: 92.7 percent, according to government figures.

The reverence for reading is evident when you visit Myanmar. In Yangon, bookstores or book- lending shops are prominent on seemingly every street. Street vendors bide their time between customers reading news magazines. Book clubs are popular.

Libraries such as the American Center and British Council Library have robust book club programs; a young professional and former medical student I spoke with during my last trip there said he and his friends have been involved in book clubs since their university days.

March Of Europe’s Anti-Muslim Right Wing Parties

(Alex Brummer’s article direct from the DAILY MAIL UK on 22 May 2014.)

Greece's Golden Dawn far right party's demonstration.

March of Europe's Far Right: Failing economies, mass immigration and contempt for politicians has fuelled support for nationalist parties. The elections to the European Parliament taking place across the Continent this week are being played out against the most disturbing economic backdrop since the dark days of the post-crash Thirties.

This is the first time since the eurozone crisis erupted in Greece in 2010 that Europe’s people have had the chance to make their views known in an EU-wide election, and the outcome will not be pretty.

There are those in the UK who find the rise of Ukip and some of the views of its leader, Nigel Farage, on immigration unpleasant or offensive. But by the standards of the extremist and horribly racist Continental parties likely to win seats in the new European Parliament, Ukip might be regarded as moderates.

Coup In Thailand: Full Democracy Not Working There?

(The news article direct from the 7News Yahoo on 22 May 2014.)

Military coup declared in troubled-Thailand.

AAP: Thai army chief declares military coup: A TV grab shows Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha (2-R) speaking next to Navy Chief Adm Narong Pipattanasai (L), Air Chief Marshall Prachin Chantong (2-L) and Thai Police Chief Adul Saengsingkaew (R) during a military coup televised nationwide at the Army Club in Bangkok.  

Thailand's army chief seized power in a military coup on Thursday, deposing the elected government and plunging the country into uncertainty after months of deadly political strife.

General Prayut Chan-O-Cha made the announcement in a televised address to the nation, saying the powerful armed forces had to act to restore stability in the deeply divided Southeast Asian nation.

Islam And Oil: US Cutting Oil Imports From Arabs

(The OP_ED article direct from the AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE.)

A production oil well in US.

Islam and Oil -- Militant Islam is spreading throughout the world—financed by Middle East oil wealth:

"The rise of terrorism by militant Islam against the United States and the West coincided with the rise in oil prices of 1979-80 and the subsequent transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars from the West to Muslim countries."  – Max Singer, senior fellow, The Hudson Institute.

Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa are Islamic Republics. An Islamic Republic is a Theocracy, a nation ruled by religious clerics [Although many Muslim countries claim to have various degrees of freedom, they continue to submit to the will of their religious leaders, resulting in a legal system that is equal to a theocracy].

Border War: Army Chased Bengali-Taliban Into Bangladesh

(Based on the articles from various Burmese blog posts published in May 2014.)

Funeral of 4 Burmese policemen killed by RSO's
Bengali Talibans in May-17 cross-border raid. 

Burmese army units from Light Infantry Battalion LIB-352 had entered Bangladeshi territory opposite Burma’s Maungdaw Township in Northern Arakan while chasing a group of fleeing RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) terrorists on May 17 last Saturday.

The violent incursion had occurred immediately after more than sixty RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) terrorists -- supported by Bangladeshi Army and local Islamist authorities -- sneaked into Burma and ambushed an eight-man Burma Police patrol on the borderline on the same day.

RSO terrorists trained by Bangladeshi Army and Pakistani Taliban inside Bangladesh had been testing Burmese patience by regular incursions into Northern Arakan with the help of local Bengali-Muslim illegal settlers (so-called Rohingyas) since a few years back.

Church Of England Against Halal-Islamization Of UK

(Vicar Eric Wood’s article from the WESTERN GAZETTE UK on 18 May 2014.)

Vicar of Sherborne Canon Eric Woods.

Last week the media finally cottoned-on to the fact that much of the meat we eat is halal – that is, meat from animals slaughtered in such a way that their blood drains before consumption.

Halal meat is mandatory for the followers of Islam. The animals’ throats are cut while the Muslim slaughterer proclaims in Arabic ‘In the name of Allah, Allah is great.’ And Muslim slaughterhouses do not stun the animal first, as they believe that only if it is conscious will the blood drain completely.

I wrote about the invasion of halal meat in this column back in February 2013, and my views have not changed. In fact the problem is worse than I thought. For example, I knew that most New Zealand lamb is halal-slaughtered. I had not realised that roughly a quarter of British slaughterhouses are now halal.

So although I would defend to the hilt the right of any community to follow their own rules relating to food and other products, I do not believe that the rest of us should have halal meat foisted on us by stealth.

TELENOR: Mobile Phone Revolution In Myanmar (Burma)

(Michael Peel’s article from the FINANCIAL TIMES Magazine on 28 March 2014.)

It is one of the world’s least connected nations. But all that is about to change. As 2015 general elections approach, providing a mobile phone network would boost the government’s popularity.

Even the white cattle are fading from view in the gathering dusk of this riverside Myanmar village, the tiny lamps hanging from the traditional wooden stilt houses the only defence against a night without light.

Soon the noises of quiet conversation and religious devotion will be the only sounds filling the sensory gap the darkness leaves in Mwe Pon Kan – making this rural idyll ripe, in the newly opening Myanmar, for a communications revolution.

“This is the market we need to serve,” says Petter Furberg, country chief executive for Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, who is visiting this community in the country’s central belt for the second time. “There is no electricity here, no road – and no coverage.”

Indian Elections: BJP’s Modi Demolished Congress Party

(News article direct from the REUTERS on 16 May 2014.)

(Reuters) - Narendra Modi thundered to victory on Friday in India's election, trouncing the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift that gives the Hindu nationalist and his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform.

Modi's landslide, the most resounding election victory India has seen in 30 years, was welcomed with a blistering rally on India's stock markets and raucous celebrations at offices across the country of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where supporters danced, let off fireworks and handed out sweets.

The BJP looked certain of a parliamentary majority, giving the 63-year-old former tea-seller ample room to advance reforms started 23 years ago by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but which stalled in recent years.

Speaking to a sea of people dressed in the party's official orange colors and chanting his name in his home state of Gujarat, Modi thanked the nation, and immediately addressed concerns his pro-Hindu leanings would sideline minorities.

Mohammad The False-Prophet Himself Wrote The Koran?

(Articles direct from the ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS and SHEIK YAMANI on 16 May 2014.)

Dr. Noha hiding her identity under Islamic Headbag.

Egyptian journalist Riham Said kicked out a guest for saying, among other things, that Mohammad was not Allah's messenger and he wrote the Koran.

In Egypt, it’s not advisable to appear on a television show and express doubts about Islam. If you do that, you are likely to be kicked off the show. That’s what happened to an Egyptian woman calling herself Dr. Noha. She is a Salafist-turned-skeptic who was interviewed by journalist Riham Said on Al-Nahar TV.

The interview, which aired on May 13, was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Dr. Noha is seen in the interview wearing a full face veil and explains that she is doing so to conceal her identity.

She proceeds to say that the prophet Mohammed wrote the Koran, but that there was no such thing as divine revelation and that he was not “Allah’s messenger”. This upsets Riham Said, who says she believes “in every single word and letter of the Koran” and adds that “I am a Muslim and, therefore, I must implement Allah's Sharia.”

Indonesian Sharia-Police Gang-Raping & Caning Women

(The OP_ED article directfrom the CLARION PROJECT on 10 May 2014.)

Sharia police caning a woman after she was gang-raped.

A young widow in Aceh, Indonesia will be caned for having an affair with a married man under the province’s sharia law after being gang-raped by her accusers.

Extramarital affairs are strictly forbidden in the province, where sharia law governing behavior was adopted in February for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Sharia vigilante groups, although officially illegal, are “common and even condoned by the local clergy and authorities.”

In this case, the vigilantes – composed of eight men, including a 13-year-old boy – broke into the woman’s home and allegedly caught the couple about to engage in sex. The accused man is 40 years old and married.

Burma Navy’s Very First Torpedo Boat – T201

(Translation of news article from MYANMAR NAVY Face book page on10 May 2014.)

Burma Navy’s first ever torpedo boat T201 was launched and commissioned on May 9 last Saturday at the Navy Dockyards in Rangoon. According to a senior Naval architect the locally-designed-and-built Aluminium boat will become a principal anti-submarine warfare boat for Burma Navy.

“Of course our Navy once had torpedo boats, but they were slow boats leftover from WW2 British and Japanese navies. And they had all been decommissioned and scrapped. The torpedo boats we are building now still need step-by-step testing of their performances as they are our navy’s pilot projects,” said the naval architect.

The torpedo boat T201 with her light and sleek Aluminium body is 70 feet long and her top speed is 35 knots which is the fastest among the patrol boats of Burma Navy. T201 is fitted with at least 8 high-explosive torpedos recently purchased from Russia and China.

Honor Killings Of Young Girls And Women In US

(Ryan Mauro’s article direct from the CLARION PROJECT on 10 May 2014.)

Victim Atiya Majah Perry.

'Honor' Leads to Fatal Outcome: Killing of Muslim Wife in Pennsylvania. This murder must be a rallying call against the abusive concept of “honor” in order to save potential victims in the future.

Roysce “Yusef” Haynes, a Muslim man in Pennsylvania who admitted to killing his pregnant wife, was recently found guilty of two counts of third-degree murder. Haynes says he did not mean to kill her and it happened due to tension over her not wearing proper Islamic dress.

The couple’s relationship issues started when Haynes’ wife, Atiya Majah Perry, rebuffed his requests to wear religious attire. He blamed her family for influencing her. He eventually kicked her out of the home, admonishing her as “disobedient.” A few days later, she came to the house and he killed her in a fight that ensued.

Green Light From China To Destroy CIA-Funded KIA?

(Translation of news article direct from the MYANMAR EXPRESS on 7 May 2014.)

Pretty women officers of Burma Army.

BEIJING, May 6 -- Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, met with Myanmar's air force commander-in-chief General Khin Aung Myint on Tuesday, pledging to boost cooperation between the two militaries.

Hailing the traditional friendship between China and Myanmar, Xu said the two militaries have cooperated on high-level interactions, technology and personnel training in past years.

"Looking ahead, we should continue strategic communication, further practical cooperation, strengthen coordination on multilateral occasions, and work together to safeguard tranquility and stability in border areas to contribute to the development of bilateral relationship," said the Chinese general.

OOREDOO Mobile: OIC’s Trojan Horse From Qatar?

(Translation of offensive pamphlet from SHIN WIRATHU Blog on 29 Apr 2014.)

In January this year 2014 Burma announced that two companies, including the Qatar-owned telecom company OOREDOO, had been granted the rights to build mobile networks in Burma. The news was a disappointment for Asia’s giant telecom bidders Singtel and Axiata, which were also in the running to build Myanmar’s Mobile Phone networks.

But if the Muslim-hating people of Myanmar had any doubts about the choice of OOREDOO from the Islamic Emirate of Qatar they probably shouldn’t anymore: the Qatari company has unveiled a very generous franchise program it hopes will bring 30,000 women into Myanmar’s work force by 2016.

The program, which is being undertaken in cooperation with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women as part of the Clinton Global Initiative, will see OOREDOO develop a franchise model and equip women with the tools, training, and access they need to start selling airtime on OOREDOO’s network to their local communities.

Who Are Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist Insurgents?

(Farouk Chothia’s article direct from the BBC NEWS AFRICA on 7 May 2014.)

Boko Haram threatening to sell the kidnapped girls.

Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram - which has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now abductions - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

Its followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase which says: "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors".

Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.

Somalia Islamists Stoning A Young Girl To Death

(The article direct from the BARE NAKED ISLAM on 10 May 2014.)

Did your Somali Muslim neighbor stone anyone to death before getting an Obama-ticket to the United States?

Barack Hussein Obama is flooding the Bible Belt and other Christian communities with Somali Muslim immigrants. I wonder how many of them have taken part in the Sharia ritual of stoning adulterers to death?

Al-Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabaab, stones a teenage girl for her alleged adultery in southern Somalia. The girl was buried up to  her chest, after which stones were hurled at her head until she was dead.

One of the ten ASEAN countries still-stone-age Brunei is already practising universally-hated Sharia Law and will soon be stoning their teenage girls to death for having boyfriend.

I Am Malala: The Day My World Changed (9 Oct 2012)

(The “Prologue: The Day My World Changed” from “I AmMalala” by Malala.)

I come from a country which was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

One year ago I left my home for school and never returned. I was shot by a Taliban bullet and was flown out of Pakistan unconscious. Some people say I will never return home but I believe firmly in my heart that I will. To be torn from the country that you love is not something to wish on anyone.

Now, every morning  when I open my eyes, I long to see my old room  full of my things, my clothes all over the floor and my school prizes on the shelves. Instead I am in a country which is five hours behind my beloved homeland Pakistan and my home in the Swat Valley. But my country is centuries behind this one.

Here there is any convenience you can imagine. Water running from every tap, hot or cold as you wish; lights at the flick of a switch, day and night, no need for oil lamps; ovens to cook on that don’t need anyone to go and fetch gas cylinders from the bazaar. Here everything is so modern one can even find food ready cooked in packets.

Australian Bureau Of Statistics, Lies, And Insider Trading

(The news report direct from the SEVEN NEWS on 9 May 2014.)

AAP:  Mates -- one man from ABS the Australian Bureau of Statistics and his university mate from NAB the National Australia Bank -- face court over $7m insider trading. Two men have been arrested over an insider trading scheme that netted them $7 million.

A junior public servant and a university mate who worked as a financial analyst have been charged over an alleged $7 million insider trading operation. Australian Federal Police allege 24-year-old Australian Bureau of Statistics staffer Christopher Russell Hill gave market-sensitive information to National Australia Bank associate director Lukas Kamay, who has been sacked.

Kamay, 26, allegedly used the labour force, retail and trade figures - which had yet to be publicly released - to predict fluctuations in the Australian dollar. The activity generated about $7 million in profits between August last year and this month, AFP acting assistant commissioner Ian McCartney said.

SHARIA-ISM: Battle To Control Women & Everyone Else

(The BLURB direct from the website of Joy Brighton’s book "Sharia-Ism Is Here".)

Front cover of Joy Brighton's book.

In April 2014, the Universities of Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and Brandeis refused to screen or acknowledge nine Muslim, Sikh & Christian women rights leaders, who expose the brutal abuse of women and girls justified in the name of religion, culture or Shariah, on screen in the Honor Diaries documentary, released March 8.

Yes you read this correctly. Women students and faculty at American colleges are silencing the heart-breaking abuse of women and actively shutting down Free Speech. Does Freedom of Religion over-rule the abuse of women in its name?

How has violence against women become political? Where does religion end and politics begin? How are European Leaders drawing this line? This colorful, pocket sized, easy to read, Show N Tell Book explains what is going on in America.

Islam Could Disappear From China In Just One Generation

(News article direct from the BARE NAKED ISLAM on 6 Apr 2014.)

Islam could disappear from China in ten years. And is that a BAD thing? One day soon, Islam will have to be restricted or banned outright in countries where Muslims have tried to impose their beliefs and systems on the native population.

After the Beijing Olympics ended and the world’s eyes were no longer upon China – the government deployed soldiers throughout the Xinjiang province, Uighur rights groups say. Security forces made mass arrests of local Muslims and tightened surveillance of religious activities in Xinjiang’s southern and central counties, the rights groups say.

In some towns, prayer in public places outside the main mosque is forbidden and an imam’s sermon is limited to no longer than a half-hour. Since the end of the Olympic Games in late August, the Chinese government’s crackdown on Uighurs with alleged separatist ties in this oil-rich province has escalated.

House Resolution 418: OIC’s Anti-Burma Campaign In US

(The orchestrated campaign against Burma by US offshoots of Muslim Brotherhood.)

Burma-Hater Jim McGovern.

For the serving Congressmen in USA their political actions are mainly tied to collecting large amount of money to finance their coming re-election campaigns and what it means is sucking up to big funders through their lobbyists. If one can invest large enough money into any lobbying campaign in US politics one will get a favourable outcome for their cash.

And the Multinational-Muslim-Mafia (OIC) and the Global-Terrorist Al-Qaeda’s parent organization Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are doing exactly that to punish the Buddhists of our Burma for their refusal to lie down quietly and get swallowed up and rapidly Islamized by Bengali-Muslim Illegals (so-called Rohingyas) from Bangladesh.

House Resolution 418 (H.R. 418) introduced in November 2013 by Representative James McGovern (Massachusetts Democrat Congressman campaigning desperately for the costly re-election in November-2014 elections) and supported by 49 other Democrat Congressmen -- Democrats or self-proclaimed Progressives in US politics basically are Socialist or left-leaning politicians -- is the brainchild of so-called Burma Task Force USA the motley collection of assorted Extremist-Muslim organizations funded by OIC and manned by Muslim Brotherhood’s front organizations and other Islamist Extremists in US.

India’s Modi To Deport Bangladeshi-Muslim Illegals

(News articles direct from the NDTV on 28 Apr 2014.)

Opposition BJP's Narendra Modi.

Serampore, Bengal: Narendra Modi has said that "Bangladeshis" will be deported if he comes to power, in his sharpest comments yet on illegal immigrants. They have been given the red carpet welcome by politicians just for votes, he said at a rally on Sunday.

"You can write it down. After May 16, these Bangladeshis better be prepared with their bags packed," Modi said in Serampore in West Bengal, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh.

Targeting the state's Trinamool Congress government, Mr Modi said, "You are spreading the red carpet for vote bank politics. If people come from Bihar, they are outsiders to you. It people come from Odisha, they are outsiders to you. But if some Bangladeshi comes, your face seems to shine. This country cannot run like this. We won't allow you to destroy the country for the sake of your vote bank politics."  

In February, Mr Modi's comments appearing to draw a distinction between Hindu and Muslim migrants had triggered a row.

Native Bodos In Assam Clash With Bengali Muslim Illegals

(News article direct from the NITI-CENTRAL on 3 May 2014.)

Bangladeshi-Muslim men raped and killed a Bodo girl.

Assam riots toll reaches 32; thousands flee home, Army holds flag march. Vicious riots in Congress-ruled Assam continued on Saturday as the death toll rose to 32. Nine more bodies were recovered from a village in Baksa district.

The riots are a result of conflict between Bodos and the Bangladeshi immigrants in Bodoland Territorial Administration Districts (BTADC) area. Nine bodies, including those of four children and two women, were recovered from Khagrabari village under Salbari sub-division adjacent to the Manas National Park in Baksa district, sources said.

This is the third such incident of violence between Bodos and the Bangladeshi immigrants. The ones before this happened in 2008 and 2012.

Rebel, Rebel: Myanmar’s Simmering Insurgencies

(News article direct from the ECONOMIST MAGAZINE BLOG on 26 Apr 2014.)

Shan insurgents in North-Eastern Burma.

“DO YOU have rebels in your country?” It is the first question the weary tea farmer fires at us. The people in his village, high in the hills in Shan state in northern Myanmar, are from the Palaung ethnic minority.

They know all about rebels and quite a bit about government soldiers too. Both sides have come to the village for decades, to tax the tea, demand food, and to recruit, often by force, young men, women and children to add to their ranks.

Our young interpreter looks twitchy. He has witnessed fighting before between the local rebels—mostly from an armed insurgency known as the Shan State Army North (SSA-N)—and Myanmar’s army. He fears kidnapping. His physique, he explains, makes him vulnerable. He is tall and looks strong.

Shwe Mann: Parliament Speaker and Secret Billionaire?

(Translation of a rice-farmer’s open letter from MmOpenLetters Blog on 25 Oct 2013.)

Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann.

I wrote down this open letter as soon as I finished reading in the news-journals of our Dear Speaker General Shwe Mann’s press conference on October 27 (2013) proudly challenging the reporters attending the press conference that he and his family are willing and open to the public scrutiny of their many business interests in Burma and overseas.

That day the Honourable Parliament Speaker said, “My sons do not exploit me being a general for some time and now the Speaker of Parliament. I always force them to get advance in business on their own merit not on what their father is. I am confident in stating that fact and I dare anyone to point out if I have ever given them opportunity in any army-related business by using my position as an army general.”

I and all the rice-farmers in Irrawaddy Division would really want him to come back to our Irrawaddy Delta and say that again to our faces. In our Delta region there are so many farmers whose lives had been completely ruined by our Dear Speaker Shwe Mann’s son Aung Thet Mann’s own company “Ayeyar-Shwewar”. My family was one of those thousands of ruined farmers.

Three Indian Naval Ships Visiting Rangoon (April 2014)

(Translation of news articles direct from MYANMAR NAVY on 27 Apr 2014.)

Three Indian naval ships at Rangoon (27 April 2014).

Three warships of Indian Navy had visited Rangoon second time this year since India and Burma have thawed their long-frozen relationship during military dictatorship in Burma. Burma was a significant part of British Indian Empire for nearly a century since 1826.

Two Indian naval ships INS Gharial (L23) and INS Sujata (P56) from Indian Navy and ICGS Varuna (36) from Indian Coast Guard arrived at Rangoon’s Thilawar Naval Docks on April-27 and left Rangoon on April-30. Their first official visit to Rangoon was in last January just this year.

5,665 displacement-tons INS Gharial (L23) is a Magar Class Landing Ship and 1,890 displacement-tons INS Sujata (P56) is a Sukanya Class Patrol Vessel and 1,220 displacement-tons ICGS Varuna (36) is a Vikram Class Offshore Patrol Vessel.