Sex Ban in Medieval-Islamic Indonesia!

         (Jonathan Head’s article from the BBC NEWS UK on 08 December 2022.)

Indonesia 'sex ban': Criminal code changes threaten other freedoms: Indonesia's revised criminal code has been approved this week by parliament.

It has been branded the "Bali Bonking Ban". The revised criminal code which has been approved this week by the Indonesian parliament is getting the kind of publicity rarely given to arcane changes in another country's legal system.

Headlines around the world are warning tourists visiting Indonesia that they face up to a year in jail if caught having sex or cohabiting with someone they are not married to. Suddenly a country usually lauded as a pluralistic Muslim democracy finds itself being accused of mediaeval moral meddling.

Millions Infected & 10,000+ A Day Dying In China!

                             (Staff article from the NEWS.COM.AU on 24 December 2022.)

China Covid-19 outbreak is the ‘largest the world has ever seen’: China’s top health authority has confirmed the country’s current outbreak is, by far, the largest the world has ever seen.

Dozens of body bags piled up at a Chongqing funeral parlour, a video released on Thursday (December 22) showed, even as China continued to report no new COVID-19 deaths. Authorities have narrowed the criteria for COVID deaths, prompting criticism from many disease experts.

Near 37 million people in China were estimated to have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week, according to minutes from a meeting of the country’s National Health Commission, Bloomberg reported.

The First Miracle by Jeffrey Archer (1980)

         (Jeffery Archer's famous children story of the very first Christmas Eve in Year Zero.)

Tomorrow it would be A.D. 1, but nobody had told him. If anyone had, he wouldn’t have understood, because he thought it was the forty-third year of the reign of the emperor. And in any case, he had more important things on his mind.

His mother was still angry with him, and he had to admit that he’d been naughty that day, even by the standards of a normal thirteen-year-old. He hadn’t meant to drop the pitcher when she had sent him to the well for water. He had tried to explain to her that it wasn’t his fault he had tripped over a stone—that bit at least was true. What he hadn’t told her was that he had been chasing a stray dog at the time. And then there was that pomegranate: How was he to know that it was the last one, and that his father had taken a liking to them?

The young Roman was now dreading his father’s return and the possibility that he might be given another leathering. He could still recall the last one: He hadn’t been able to sit down for two days without being reminded of the pain, and the thin red scars hadn’t completely disappeared for three weeks.

He sat on the window ledge in a shaded corner of his room, trying to think of some way he could redeem himself in his mother’s eyes. He had spilled cooking oil all over his tunic and she had thrown him out of the kitchen. “Go and play outside,” she had snapped, but playing outside wasn’t much fun if you were only allowed to play by yourself. Pater had forbidden him to mix with the local boys.

Reliving 1973 Kachin Christmas Eve in New York City

 (Re-post of my "Reliving 1973 Kachin Christmas Eve in New York City" from 2011.)

New York City's Skyline.

The Big Apple or the New York City is a wholesomely overwhelming town for a simple jungle boy like me. Especially the enormous Romanesque facades of century old skyscrapers. And it hurts my neck so much that I’ve stopped trying to look up at their distinctive tops.

Like many other wide-eyed tourists from the Australian fringe of the mighty empire of USA I ended up wandering on the wide avenues leading to the Times Square brightly lit and filled to the rims by the excited crowd on the Christmas Eve.

I walked and walked and walked aimlessly on the near-zero freezing but still unbelievably crowded Fifth Avenue and ended up, fortunately of course as I wasn’t really looking for it, right in front of a beautifully grand Gothic-revival church. I walked in and realized this is the historic St.Patrick’s Cathedral   and the traditional Midnight Mass was just a few hours away.

Russian Fighter Jets Slaughtering Burmese People

                  (Staff article from the ALJAZEERA NEWS on 30 July 2022.)

Myanmar used Russian-made aircraft in civilian attacks: Myanmar Witness says open-source investigation shows Yak-130 being equipped with rockets and cannons attacking ground positions. The Myanmar military has been accused of using Russian-made Yak-130 aircraft with ground attack capability against civilians, as it seeks to stamp out opposition to its rule.

Myanmar Witness, a London-based group that collects evidence of rights abuses in Myanmar, says it was able to verify open-source investigations on several occasions in which unguided rockets and 23mm cannons had been used in built-up areas.

“Myanmar Witness has verified the repeated deployment of the Yak-130 – a sophisticated, Russian manufactured, two-seat jet trainer with a documented ground attack capability – in Myanmar,” Myanmar Witness said in its report, which was released on Friday. “During this investigation, credible reports and geolocation have revealed the use of the Yak-130 within populated, civilian areas.”

China Freedom – Blank Paper Protests!

                    (Selina Wang’s article from the CNN on 28 November 2022.)

At the heart of China’s protests against zero-Covid, young people cry for freedom: For the first time in decades, thousands of people have defied Chinese authorities to protest at universities and on the streets of major cities, demanding to be freed not only from incessant Covid tests and lockdowns, but strict censorship and the Communist Party’s tightening grip over all aspects of life.

Across the country, “want freedom” has become a rallying cry for a groundswell of protests mainly led by the younger generation, some too young to have taken part in previous acts of open dissent against the government.

“Give me liberty or give me death!” crowds by the hundreds shouted in several cities, according to videos circulating online, as vigils to mark the deaths of at least 10 people in a fire in Xinjiang spiraled into political rallies.

China’s Brutal Debt Trap - Kenya

                (Brahma Chellaney’s article from the STRATEGIST on 24 November 2022.)

Kenya revelations shine a light on China’s predatory lending practices: Recently released details of Kenya’s 2014 loan agreement with China to finance a controversial railway project have once again highlighted the predatory nature of Chinese lending in developing countries.

The contract not only imposed virtually all risk on the borrower (including requiring binding arbitration in China to settle any dispute), but also raised those risks to unmanageable levels (such as by setting an unusually high interest rate). With terms like that, it’s no wonder that multiple countries around the world have become ensnared in sovereignty-eroding Chinese debt traps.

Over the past decade, China has become the world’s largest single creditor, with loans to low- and middle-income countries tripling in this period, to US$170 billion at the end of 2020. Its outstanding foreign loans now exceed 6% of global GDP, making China competitive with the International Monetary Fund as a global creditor. And through loans extended under its US$838-billion Belt and Road Initiative, China has overtaken the World Bank as the world’s largest funder of infrastructure projects.

Animal Farm By George Orwell – Chapter 2

                  (Chapter-2 from the Project Gutenberg Australia on 8 March 2008.)

Three nights later old Major died peacefully in his sleep. His body was buried at the foot of the orchard. This was early in March. During the next three months there was much secret activity. Major's speech had given to the more intelligent animals on the farm a completely new outlook on life.

They did not know when the Rebellion predicted by Major would take place, they had no reason for thinking that it would be within their own lifetime, but they saw clearly that it was their duty to prepare for it. The work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of the animals.

Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.

RBA’s Independence Inflating Housing Bubbles

                   (Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 05 November 2022.)

Most cash RBA has printed last 30 yrs went to houses.

The Australian Greens say the Reserve Bank needs to be more democratically accountable: Senator Nick McKim, the Greens' treasury spokesman, says the RBA must become more accountable for the consequences of its policies, and it should accept some responsibility for making inequality worse since the 1990s.

He says current monetary policy arrangements also need to be re-imagined to help Australia confront the climate emergency. That would include getting the RBA and government to play a more active role in directing the flow of credit to productive ends, particularly the transition to a low-emission economy, and to discourage the flow of credit to speculative ends, particularly highly leveraged property investment, he says.

"This policy would be given effect through prudential regulation and the RBA's use of its own balance sheet," he said. Senator McKim has used his submission to the RBA review to call for a number of changes to the way in which monetary policy is conducted in Australia. He said under central bank "independence", which has existed in Australia since the 1990s, monetary policy had become disconnected from democratic processes.

Hu Jintao Forcefully Removed from Party Congress

                     (Staff article from the BBC NEWS UK on 22 October 2022.)

Hu Jintao the ex-president escorted out of China party congress: Chinese former leader Hu Jintao has been led out of the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress. The frail-looking 79-year-old was sitting beside President Xi Jinping when he was escorted away by officials.

There has been no official statement by the Chinese government concerning the incident, but state news agency Xinhua said Mr Hu had not been feeling well. After the week-long congress, the party is expected to confirm Mr Xi, 69, for a historic third term.

The event, held in Beijing every five years, cemented his position as China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. Hu Jintao, who held the presidency between 2003 and 2013, was on stage when two officials approached him. He said something to Xi Jinping, who nodded back.

Animal Farm By George Orwell – Chapter 1

                    (Chapter-1 from the Project Gutenberg Australia on 8 March 2008.)

Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.

As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals.

It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, though the name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say.

At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut.

Socialists Bringing ISIS Wives and Children Home

                   (Staff article from the ABC NEWS Australia on 28 October 2022.)

Will they be allowed to bring their AK-47s.

The first group of Australian women and children held in a detention camp in north-east Syria since the fall of the Islamic State (IS) group in 2019 is en route to Sydney. It is likely to be the first step in repatriating the entire cohort of Australian citizens detained in the war-torn country.

France last week removed 40 women and 15 children from the camps, joining more than 25 countries that had repatriated their citizens since the fall of the IS in early 2019.

The Australian government, which was involved in the extraction, confirmed the group's return. Those removed were assessed by Australian officials as being the most vulnerable of the 60 Australian women and children held in Roj.

The Darién Gap: A deadly extension of US border

                (Belen Fernandez’s article from The ALAZEERA on 27 October 2022.)

The Darién Gap: A deadly extension of the US border. As the US maniacally fortifies its borders, that sociopathic policy plays out over migrant bodies a thousand miles away.

This year, a record number of United States-bound migrants and refugees have risked their lives to cross the Darién Gap, the 66-mile mountainous stretch of spectacularly inhospitable jungle between Colombia and Panama.

According to Panama’s National Migration Service, more than 151,000 people, including at least 21,000 minors, made the crossing between January and September.

Sanctioned Tycoon Tay Za Hiding in Singapore

           (Bloomberg article from the BANGKOK POST on 18 October 2022.)

Sanctioned Myanmar tycoons find shelter in Singapore: Frangipani plants and coconut trees front the three-story villa on Sentosa Island where Myanmar tycoon Tay Za stays when he’s in Singapore.

It’s one of two houses his family owns in a development overlooking the South China Sea known as a playground for the wealthy. A short drive away is the Marina Bay Sands casino, where he would often show up carrying a duffel bag stuffed with cash. On a sunny day in June, a yellow Ferrari F8 Spider and a Mercedes were parked outside one of the villas.

Singapore has long been a haven for sanctioned Myanmar businessmen, including Tay Za, who has been accused by the US and others of supplying arms and equipment to the military. He has maintained the right to live and work in Singapore despite sanctions first imposed by the US in 2007 and has incorporated about 10 companies there with operations in palm oil, teak and aviation.

Exiled Dissident Fuelling the Hijab Protests in Iran

                    (Dexter Filkins’s article from the NEW YORKER on 24 September 2022.)

Since 2014, Masih Alinejad has published videos of Iranian women removing their head scarves. When a twenty-two-year-old died last week in the morality police’s custody, the country exploded.

Women from across Iran are pulling off their hijabs and lighting them on fire, flouting the country’s gray-bearded theocrats in dramatic scenes of a population struggling to set itself free. Of all the astonishments pouring forth from the Islamic Republic, perhaps the most remarkable is the fact that Iran was brought to this point, at least in part, by an unpaid forty-six-year-old mother working from an F.B.I. safehouse in New York City.

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist who was driven into exile thirteen years ago, has helped galvanize the country’s women, amassing some ten million followers on her social-media sites and spurring them to trash the most potent symbol of the regime’s legalized gender-apartheid: the hijab, the hair covering mandated for every adult woman.

Elon Musk’s Starlink Fighting for Iranian Women

                      (Staff article from The ALJAZEERA on 24 September 2022.)

Elon Musk greenlit to activate Starlink internet for Iranians: Legal guidance by the American government on expanding internet services to Iranians was changed despite US sanctions on the country.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been given the green light by the United States government to activate the satellite internet service Starlink to help Iranians protesting against the death of a woman in police custody.

Access to social media and some content is tightly restricted in Iran and significant internet outages were reported across the country on Saturday, with one of the biggest mobile phone operators disrupted, leaving millions of Iranians offline.

Myanmar Dog-soldiers Sodomized Frontier Journalist

              (Ye Mons’ article from The FRONTIER MYANMAR on 16 September 2022.)

I reported on the military’s abuses, and then I became a victim: In a rare first-hand account, Frontier journalist Ye Mon recounts being beaten and sexually abused by regime soldiers in December 2021 after being detained at Yangon International Airport.

I couldn’t see the soldiers through my blindfold, but their words were terrifying enough. “If they refused to answer our questions, we raped them – women and men – and then killed them.” Despite the casual delivery, it was clear that the soldiers were threatening me. I had read numerous reports about soldiers sexually assaulting people in detention but I never imagined it would happen to me.

After covering the aftermath of the February 2021 coup along with my Frontier colleagues, I quietly flew out of Yangon to Thailand in October. The State Administration Council, as the junta calls itself, had been increasingly targeting journalists and I no longer felt safe. I had been living in a safe house for months, and soldiers and police visited my former residence at least twice looking for me.

Burma Rebel Surgeon – Dr. Soe Min

         (DR. Than Naing Oo’s post from the EURASIA REVIEW on 06 September 2022.) 

The 21st Century Burma Surgeon – OpEd: Dr. Soe Min stared at the monsoon downpour that varied between drizzling and torrential rain from inside his makeshift field hospital—a squat building with open sides, a corrugated roof, and wooden floor. 

The dirt road leading to the hospital had become a mud field.  He has just operated on a villager who stepped on a landmine. His next case was a routine one, an appendectomy.  Not far from the hospital, at the village of Sezin, a fierce fight had recently taken place between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) joined by the newly minted Peoples Defense Forces (PDF). 

They were squaring off against Burma’s military known at the Tatmadaw who were reinforced by the local Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA).  The fighting had produced a flood of refugees, many badly wounded.  There is a risk the hospital may need to be closed or relocated should the fighting spread.  Dr.  Min has made contingency plans for such a scenario – he has to; after being in this war zone for the past 12 months, he must prepare for everything.

Burmese Gold Smuggled Across Border Into India

                          (Staff article from The FRONTIER MYANMAR on 20 July 2022.)

Captured gold bars at India-Burma border.

After the gold rush: How the Myanmar junta created, and then crushed, a surge in smuggling. Shwe Bon Thar Street in downtown Yangon has been the bustling hub of Myanmar’s gold trade since the colonial period, when it was known as Mogul Street. In recent months, however, its gold shops have gone unusually quiet.

Traders have deserted the market since mid-May due to a series of arrests and other interventions by the military regime aimed at controlling the trade and fighting rampant smuggling, speculation and hoarding.

In Myanmar, gold is a popular hedge against economic downturns. Sales have spiked since the February 2021 coup d’état, which sparked widespread resistance and crushed confidence in the economy.

Zawahiri Shredded into Pieces by Flying Ginsus

                 (Sandra Favier’s article from The LE MONDE on 03 August 2022.)

Ayman al-Zawahiri's death: What is the Hellfire R9X missile that the Americans purportedly used? Washington is reported to have used a 'ninja bomb' equipped with six blades that deploy before impact to shred its target without any blast effect.

After President Joe Biden's August 1 announcement of the death of Al-Qaeda's number one operative, Ayman al-Zawahiri, information about the weapon used remains unclear. Mr. Biden referred to a drone strike in his short speech from the White House. An American official told the press on condition of anonymity that the drone had dropped two Hellfire missiles and that no American military presence on the ground had been necessary.

Kabul, for its part, initially denied a drone strike, referring to a "rocket" that had hit "an empty house," before acknowledging on Tuesday morning that an "air attack" had been carried out by "American drones."

There were no traces of an explosion on the targeted building or collateral victims, although the family of the Al-Qaeda leader was present in the house. All these clues point to the use of a secret missile, which is believed to have been involved in other targeted assassinations of extremist leaders, but whose use the Pentagon has never confirmed.

World Condemns Myanmar For Hanging Demo Activists

                            (Staff article from The REUTERS on 25 July 2022.)

World condemns Myanmar junta for 'cruel' execution of activists: Myanmar's ruling military announced on Monday it had executed four democracy activists accused of aiding "terror acts", sparking widespread condemnation of the country's first executions in decades.

Sentenced to death in secretive trials in January and April, the men were accused of helping a civilian resistance movement that has fought the military since last year's coup and bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Among those executed were democracy campaigner  Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, an ally of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. State media said "the punishment has been conducted", but did not say when, or by what method. Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.

Father of al-Qaeda Terrorist Deported From US

                (ICE Removal Statement from The US ICE on 08 July 2022.)

DENVER — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Denver Field Office removed a noncitizen associated with known terrorists from the United States on June 13 to Afghanistan via commercial air flights.

Mohammed Wali Zazi, 66, was convicted of visa fraud, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to obstruct justice in February 2012. Zazi entered the United States Aug. 8, 1990, and became a naturalized citizen, Oct. 23, 2007.

A U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York convicted Zazi for conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and visa fraud Feb. 10, 2012. He was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison.

Myanmar Army’s Fake Peace Talks In Burma

                 (David Scott Mathieson’s  article from The ASIA TIMES on 07 July 2022.)

Myanmar soldiers: Killed & Wounded

Myanmar’s ‘peace talks’ a dangerous diversion: Myanmar's military regime is talking about peace while waging brutal war.  

Myanmar is in conflict freefall, as the State Administration Council (SAC) junta regime fights a myriad of proliferating resistance groups on fronts across the country, many galvanized to arms by the military’s democracy-toppling February 2021 coup.

Fighting in western regions such as Sagaing, Magwe and Chin State has surged in recent months, as scores of People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) ambush military columns and battle pro-SAC militias.

The military, in turn, has pulverized civilian villages with air strikes, heavy artillery and army columns in expeditionary arson campaigns that have destroyed close to 20,000 houses, by some estimates. Internal displacement in the country, meanwhile, has surpassed one million.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan Refugee Boats Are Coming!

                                 (Staff article from the ABC NEWS on 14 June 2022.) 

Sri Lanka is on the verge of 'humanitarian emergency', with hundreds boarding boats set for Australia: Asylum seekers are trying to escape a worsening economic crisis, with the UN warning Sri Lanka is on the verge of a humanitarian emergency.

More than 300 Sri Lankans have tried to get to Australia in the past few weeks as the country's economic crisis has worsened, with people smugglers claiming those on board will be allowed into the country under the new Labor government.

Most of the boats were intercepted by the Sri Lankan navy, but two managed to make it to Australian waters. The country is facing economic collapse, and as its people struggle with dwindling supplies of medicine, food and fuel, it is expected more will attempt the journey.

Myanmar Army Going Medieval On Burmese People

               (Based on Burmese posts from the FACEBOOK in April-May 2022.) 

That power-hungry and blood-thirsty Min Aung Hlaing is going mad and now letting his dog-soldiers of Myanmar Army commit unimaginable atrocities on their own Burmese people in Sagaing and Magwe divisions.

Burning villages, killing olds and youngs indiscriminately, and brutally gang-raping any women and girls they found the demon-possessed Myanmar soldiers are ruining their own beautiful country.

Just in heavily-populated Sagaing Division alone hundreds and hundreds of Burmese villages are burnt down to ground recently and the occupants killed for their resistance against MAH’s mad power grab from the democratically-elected NLD Government.

R.I.P. Bitcoin: Crypto is Dead!

                (Ross Clark’s article from the SPECTATOR on 09 May 2022.) 

Crypto is dead: When Britain voted for Brexit, Macron boasted that Paris would eat the City of London’s lunch. It didn’t quite work out that way, with most league tables continuing to put London as the number one or two financial centre, with not a single EU city in the top ten.

Emmanuel Macron's government has now announced that it has invited Binance, a crypto exchange site, to set up a European HQ in Paris. You have to ask: has Macron leapt on a bandwagon which has already started to lose its wheels?

The warning sign for cryptocurrencies is not so much that they have crashed – Bitcoin is down 50 per cent from its peak last November – but that they have become boring. Bitcoin has suffered many a crash before, yet bottom-feeders quickly rushed into the market and sent the price rebounding.

Frusoe Ambush Killed 20 Soldiers & Captured 6

          (Staff article from the KHIT THIT NEWS Facebook on 08 May 2022.) 

At least twenty Myanmar Army soldiers were killed and six were captured when a Karenni (Kayah) force successfully ambushed a twentyone Chinese-made Faw trucks convoy on the road near Frusoe Town in Kayah State in civil war-torn Myanmar.

The ambush happened on May-7 and the video and photos of the scene were released by KNDF (Karenni National Defense Force) to Khit Thit Media. After killing more than 20 Myanmar Army soldiers and capturing six the rebels burned down the four Faw trucks they captured.

The video clearly shows the burning trucks and the bodies of dead soldiers and the captured ones. The army convoy was coming out of Mon Daing Village near Frusoe Town to raid and burn the nearby Karenni villages.

Myanmar Army Losing Control of Burma Proper

                     (Based on Burmese posts from The FACEBOOK in March-April 2022.)

MAH calling ceasefire by May-9.

Despite their brutal suppression of people’s resistance Myanmar Army is rapidly losing control of most of Burma Proper the homeland of most ethnic Burmese. PDF (the NLD’s armed resistance forces) and ethnic rebels are now controlling more than half of Myanmar formerly known as Burma.

For example in the Sagaing Division and Chin State formerly controlled absolutely by the 300-odd infantry battalions of North Western Military Division (Na-Ma-Kha) the Myanmar Army has already lost all the Burmese and Chin villages and minor towns. In the State and Divisional capital cities, Monywa and Hakha, the soldiers do not even dare to go outside of their fortified battalion compounds.

The reserves are being depleted rapidly by continuous fighting all over the country and the frontline battalions are having no rest or recuperation for  over a year now. Morale is so low that  thousands and thousands of Myanmar soldiers are deserting and/or joining the enemies.

US Depleting Javelin Missiles by Ukraine War

          (Dipaneeta Das’s article from the REPUBLICWORLD on 14 April 2022.) 

US Facing Shortage Of Javelin Anti-tank Missiles Post Supplies To Ukraine: With about one-third of its Javelin inventory now sent to Ukraine, the US is on the edge of the running of stock of the "iconic weapon", say experts. Here's why!

As the all-out Russian war entered day 50, the US on Wednesday bolstered assistance to war-torn Ukraine with additional military aid in artillery, helicopters, and more. Since the inception of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the US has already supplied Kyiv with thousands of anti-tank Javelin missiles.

With about one-third of its Javelin inventory now sent to Ukraine, Washington is on the edge of running out of the "iconic weapon," thus requiring the US to immediately reduce transfers to ensure sufficient stockpiles for its own purpose.

Blood Teak: From Myanmar to Europe

                       (Staff article from The OXPECKERS on 08 April 2022.)

From Myanmar to the EU, the path of a ‘bloodstained’ resource: European Union member states imported more than €22-million worth of timber from Myanmar in 2021 – and nearly €8-million after sanctions were imposed on the military junta in June.  

Myanmar’s forests are dying. The Southeast Asian nation lost four million hectares of forest cover – an area the size of Switzerland – between 2001 and 2020, according to the Global Forest Watch. These Myanmar forests are full of tree species sought after by loggers, mainly teak, a hardwood resistant to both water and pests that is highly prized in the shipping industry.

“A luxury yacht without Burmese teak is like a party without champagne,” says a player in the logging industry, which every year generates about $100-million in taxes and more than $300-million in revenue in Myanmar, according to the most recent report from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1 2021, the “champagne” has been flowing for the  junta. In addition to lucrative natural resources such as gas and oil, the military has taken control of Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE), the state-owned company that exploits Myanmar’s forests on an exclusive basis. Whether the timber is legal or not, no one really knows: its traceability has always been an issue.

Battalion Commanders Deserting Myanmar Army

             (Based on staff articles from Burmese Facebook Pages in March-April 2022.)

A few commanders and deputy-commanders of light infantry battalions are deserting their field posts and joining either ethnic rebels or NUG-controlled PDFs in coup-ravaged Myanmar. The resent desertions have been causing sleepless nights for the mad man MAH, the Myanmar Army Chief.

Just last March, Major Tin Lin Aung the deputy commander of Boat-pyinn based LIB-585 surrendered to the KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) forces in the Lay-kay-kaw region in Myawaddy Township on Thai-Burma border. His battalion has been fighting KNLA there for weeks now since last February. He brought one MA-3 and one MA-1 assault rifles and a pistol along with him.

He declared in the press interview immediately after his surrender that mad army chief MAH is sacrificing the lives and limbs of Myanmar Army soldiers by treating the people of Burma as enemies because they overwhelmingly reject his power-grab from the legitimately-elected ASSK Government.

He said he is a soldier and previously his fights were only the military affairs but since last February his fights are turning into a political fight to keep the power in the hands of MAH and his generals who have been benefitting handsomely while soldiers like him are losing faith in their brutally oppressive army.

JFK: Surgeon’s Sketch Suggests Two Shooters?

              (Staff article from the NEW YORK POST on 21 June 2017.) 

Surgeon’s sketch suggests 2 gunmen killed JFK: A fascinating drawing by the surgeon who tried to save John F. Kennedy’s life could sensationally prove Kennedy was shot by two different gunmen.

Dr. Robert McClelland held JFK’s head as he went into theater at Parkland Hospital after he was gunned down while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible in 1963. Nothing could be done to save the President and he died, aged just 46, 20 minutes after arrival, sparking an unprecedented outpouring of grief across America.

McClelland later drew a rudimentary sketch of the right side of Kennedy’s head and noted the entrance and exit wounds of the bullets, supposedly fired by lone assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The surgeon noted two different entrance wounds – one low in the neck and one at his hairline – which crucially came from different directions, suggesting there were two separate shooters.

Mad Myanmar Army Outlaws US Dollar?

                      (Staff article from THE DIPLOMAT on 05 April 2022.)

Myanmar’s Military Junta Tightens Control Over Foreign Currency Flows: Under new central bank rules, all local holders of foreign currency will have to convert them to Myanmar kyats.

Myanmar’s military administration is moving to tighten its control over movements of foreign currency, as the country’s economy reels from mounting nationwide conflict and the accumulated effect of Western sanctions. In a notification published in state media on Monday, the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) ordered banks and other holders of foreign currency to convert these deposits into the local kyat currency.

According to the notification, foreign exchange earned by locals in Myanmar must be deposited in accounts at licensed banks and exchanged for kyats within the unrealistic timeline of one working day. The central bank said that absent a special exemption, transfers of foreign currency abroad can only be carried out via licensed Foreign Exchange Trading banks. It added that “failure to comply with this notice will result in legal action under the Foreign Exchange Management Law.”

Myanmar: No Jobs, Mega-Inflation, All-out War

             (Staff article from the FRONTIER MYANMAR on 01 March 2022.)

Everyone rebelling against Myanmar Army.

Legacies of the coup: No jobs, rising prices and all-out war: More than a year since the military pushed peaceful protests toward armed resistance, there is no visible end to Myanmar’s expanded civil war. 

First, they marched in the streets. Then, they walked off their jobs. Now, they’ve picked up arms. On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military – despite already being in control of several key ministries and holding de facto veto power over any amendments to the constitution it wrote and implemented – decided it had tired of quasi-democracy and staged a coup d’etat.

The people of Myanmar, no strangers to military dictatorship, decided virtually unanimously that they could not accept this. In the weeks following the coup, the entire country erupted in street protests attended by millions. Hundreds of thousands of public servants walked off their jobs, refusing to work for a military-controlled government and bringing nearly all administrative functions to a halt.

Anti-tank Missile Presents To Ukraine

        (The staff article from the ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 10 March 2022.)

How do anti-tank missiles work, and how helpful might they be for Ukraine's soldiers? Ukraine's allies have sent some 17,000 anti-tank weapons into the battlefield, in a bid to help fighters bog down the Russian offensive.

The stockpile includes at least 2,000 NLAW (Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon) missiles from the United Kingdom, 100 NLAWs from Luxembourg, and several hundred Javelin missiles from the United States and Estonia. The NLAW and Javelin are some of the most advanced man-portable anti-tank missiles available.

Both are relatively lightweight, shoulder-fired missiles which — although they won't completely turn the tide of the war — have so far proven valuable in what is otherwise a highly asymmetrical conflict. So how do the missiles work? And what makes them so helpful for Ukraine's defence?

Putin Has Parkinson and MAH Has Bone Cancer?

          (Based on the staff articles from the Facebook posts in March 2022.)

Putin has Parkinson Disease?

Questions have been repeatedly raised about Mr Putin's motives. Some senior Western political figures are suggesting he has a mental health issue.

Current vice-chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Marco Rubio, suggested last week that Mr Putin had a "neurological" condition, backing that up just days ago by telling CNN: "It's not a curiosity, it's not to mock him or troll him, it's because he may be willing to take steps now that the old Vladimir Putin would not."

Several years ago it was suggested Mr Putin had the early stages of Parkinson's disease. "That led to a group of one or two very distinguished neurologists examining very carefully all the recent tapes of Putin being interviewed," Sir Richard said.

International Brigade Fighting Russians in Ukraine

             (Staff article from the ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 08 March 2022.)

Foreign fighters gather in Ukraine to support Volodymyr Zelenskyy's international legion against Russia: Michael Ferkol, who once served as a supply specialist with engineer battalions in the US Army, had been in Rome studying archaeology when he heard the Ukrainian President's appeal for foreign fighters.

Within days, Mr Ferkol said, he presented himself at a military recruiting office in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, hoping to be taken on as a frontline paramedic. "I told them I wanted to triage patients," said the 29-year- old, who has no combat experience. "There was a Finnish guy there too, and he was like, 'I just want to kill Russians.'"

Ukraine has established an "international" legion for people from abroad and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly urged foreigners to "fight side-by-side with Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals" to show support for his country. Last week, Mr Zelenskyy said more than 16,000 foreigners had volunteered, without specifying how many had arrived.

Armed Buddhist Monks Leading Pro-Army Militia

       (Based on the staff article from the Khit-Thit Facebook post on 02 March 2022.)

Racist Myanmar monks are rapidly going mad and arming themselves and their die-hard followers and forming pro-military militia units called Pyu-saw-htee in rural Burma. 

Notorious for their brutality during 1950s and 60s fighting against Burmese Communists and ethnic rebels, the thuggish militia based mainly on village thugs and idiots were disbanded and absorbed into the regular army in the late 1960s.

But the newly reorganized Pyu-saw-htee militia now is strangely led by that notorious racist monk Wirathu and his follower monks and their militia units are now being camped and trained in local village monasteries.

Mad Putin Threatening The World With Nukes

            (Jamie Seidel’s article from the NEWS.COM.AU on 02 March 2022.)

I'll nuke y'all, Motherfuckers!

Sign Putin could use Russia’s nuclear weapons on Ukraine: Putin’s erratic, deranged, “unhinged” and like a “cornered rat” – now this “dangerous moment” could become a lot more frightening.

An analyst from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) told Reuters on Wednesday (March 2) that Russia was switching to more "brutal tactics” after describing its invasion of Ukraine as a 'poorly executed operation’.

 When it comes to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it’s time to expect the unexpected. And that – leading analysts say – applies to nuclear weapons. They said he couldn’t. Then they said he wouldn’t. But he could and has. Repeatedly.