Sanctions Are Lifted & New Ambassador Is Coming!

(Following is the Statement by the US President on Burma from the White House's Office of the Press Secretary for immediate release on May 17, 2012.)

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma. Since I announced a new U.S. opening to Burma in November, President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy.  The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values. That is what we are doing.

KIA Massacre at Sa-done

(Translation of articles and photos from Kachin Daily News –KDN’s WWW site.)

Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

Since they unilaterally terminated the 17 years-long ceasefire agreement last year and resumed the hostilities against the Burmese army KIA has been facing massive casualties and severe loss of materials and weaponry.

Thus as a recent strategy change KIA has now avoided the army mobile columns and fortified army bases, the hard targets, and started attacking the so-called soft targets such as small army outposts and undefended government offices in the Kachin State.

(Photos and video are graphic. Weak-hearted should not read the rest!)

Last Indian Emperor and our King Thibaw?

(This is the repost of Nirmal Ghosh’s article “Dreams of Distant Mandalay” from his Straits Times blog blogs.straitstimes.com.)

King Thibaw, Suphayalatt & Suphayagyi (1878).

Part of my childhood was spent in New Delhi; in the evenings I would be taken to the sprawling manicured grounds of the huge tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun, now a World Heritage monument and one of the loveliest walks in the city, alive with peacocks calling plaintively on still late summer evenings.

Today, when I return to Delhi I go for walks in the Lodi Gardens, a huge park which houses a series of mausoleums and a big ancient mosque. In the mausoleums are the graves of the Pashtun kings of the Lodi dynasty who ruled Delhi from 1451 to 1526, before the Mughals arrived from Central Asia.

The wind blows through the big stone buildings. When you step into them the domed ceilings act like sound chambers; a pigeon cooing unseen high in the darkened roof fills it with sound.

Two Burmese Doctors: What Khin Nyunt Did to them?

(Direct Translation of Khin Nyein Thit’s article from the BurmeseAmericaSingapore site.)

During the failed 8-8-88 Uprising in Burma there was a photo of two young doctors carrying a fatally-wounded schoolgirl taken right in front of the Rangoon general Hospital.

The whole of that day the heavily-armed soldiers of brutal Burmese army had been indiscriminately shooting the unarmed civilian protesters all over Rangoon and the young schoolgirl was just one of many thousands casualties on the streets of Rangoon.

Almost everybody in Burma and probably the whole wide world had seen that iconic photo but no one really knows who they were. And now I would like to tell the story of that picture taken on 18 September 1988 the infamous day the army violently took over Burma from the previous military-controlled Socialist government.

First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826) – Part 9

(Chapter IX of Narrative of The Burmese War by Major John Snodgrass, British Army, the Military Secretary to the Commander of the British expeditionary force and the Assistant Political Agent in Ava.)

Indian Sepoys of British Native Infantry.

By the end of October the rains had ceased; and the return of the cold season, at all times so ardently hailed with pleasure in warm climates, could not fail to receive a double welcome from men who had for five months experienced so much misery and inconvenience, - exposed to severe and arduous duty before an enemy, at a season of the year when the troops of all other nations than those of Ava would have permitted us to enjoy uninterrupted rest – the soldiers naturally ascribing their sufferings, and much of the sickness that had prevailed among them, to the baneful experience and long continuance of the monsoon.

It however proved, as it generally does, in countries subject to periodical rains, that the most unhealthy period is that which immediately follows their termination; when the unwholesome exhalations from the ground, and noxious vapours from sheets of stagnant water, are pregnant with diseases and death.

Burma Fears Loss of Colonial Heritage!

(This video and transcript is direct from ABC Lateline Program.)

Old Secretariat Building in Rangoon.

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: With the easing of sanctions on Burma comes concern that the unique built heritage of the country, in effect preserved by years of isolation, will be lost if something's not done to protect it.

In particular, historians, architects and planners are working together to develop a plan to preserve the unique streetscape of the city of Rangoon, once said to be the wealthiest city in Asia.

For the moment, many of the grand buildings of the era of the British are still standing, but they're at risk of being bulldozed by developers.

Lift All Economic Sanctions against Burma: Jim Webb

(Senator Jim Webb in his press release on May 4, 2012: U.S. should act in a “clear, proactive manner” to facilitate reforms in Burma “We lifted sanctions against China 41 years ago.”)  

US Senator Jim Webb.

Washington, DC—Senator Jim Webb, whose historic trip to Burma in 2009 set the stage for a new direction in U.S. policy toward that country, today called for the Administration “to facilitate reforms in Burma (Myanmar) through the lifting of economic sanctions.” Senator Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, was joined in his letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by subcommittee ranking member James Inhofe.

“This letter is the result of years of thought and effort, and I am confident that lifting economic sanctions is the best course of action,” commented Senator Webb. “The President has the power to do that. It’s time for him to act.”

In 2009, Senator Webb was the first American leader to visit Burma in more than 10 years, and remains the only American official ever to meet with General Than Shwe, the former leader of the country’s former military regime. During that visit, Senator Webb also met with Thein Sein, who now serves as President, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who at that time remained under house arrest. Senator Webb made his third visit to Burma in April, shortly after that country’s national parliamentary by-elections. He then chaired a subcommittee hearing on April 26, 2012, with senior officials from the Departments of Treasury and State and USAID, as well as outside experts, to provide a clearer understanding of the range of sanctions in place and the obstacles to removing them.

Min Aung Hlaing Taking Laiza Soon?

(Will a large scale assault on the KIA HQ at Laiza on the Chinese border begin soon?)

On March 6 this year Burmese military staged a large-scale operational exercise involving a light infantry division and tanks and heavy artillery in Meikhtila. And the Commander-In-Chief General Min Aung Hlaing had attended and watched the war-game.

The replicated field and the sand model used as the enemy target was clearly the close replica of KIO headquarters at Laiza on the Chinese border. The most significant thing about the exercise was that the whole thing was broadcasted on the army-controlled Myawaddy TV while the KIA/KIO and Burmese government had been actively negotiating about a peace treaty.

Daw Suu Enters the Union Parliament

(This news report is from AFP and FT on 2 May 2012.)

NAYPYIDAW — Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in as a member of parliament Wednesday, opening a new chapter in the Nobel laureate's near quarter-century struggle against authoritarian rule.

The 66-year-old, in the capital Naypyidaw for the ceremony, stood to read the brief oath in unison with 33 other members of her National League for Democracy party elected to the lower house in April, an AFP reporter said.

The oath hands Suu Kyi public office for the first time and marks a transformation in the fortunes of the opposition leader, who was held under house arrest for much of the last 20 years but is now central to the nation's tentative transition to democracy.