Myanmar-In 2002 it was reported that the Russian government had agreed to help the military junta build a nuclear research facility that would be used to develop reactors for medical and electricity resources.

ASEAN nuclear ambitions alarm the West

As North Korea’s recent nuclear test raises tensions in Asia, ASEAN members’ nuclear programs are ringing alarm bells in the Western world already irritated by Myanmar’s military junta.

Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines have already notified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of their intention to operate nuclear power plants in the near future as an alternative to non-renewable energy resources.

Indonesia relies on coal, oil and gas to generate electricity for its population of 240 million. Along with the rise in industrial production, the government has sought to develop four nuclear plants that could support 2 percent of its electricity demands by 2017.

Similarly, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam all aim to either build or operate nuclear power plants by 2020, while the Philippines has plans to revive its closed Bataan nuclear power plant.

Myanmar’s notorious junta, which has been subject to Western economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record, has attracted the most criticism over its plan to develop nuclear reactors. In 2002 it was reported that the Russian government had agreed to help the military junta build a nuclear research facility that would be used to develop reactors for medical and electricity resources.

The US has shunned Myanmar’s nuclear plans, saying Yangon has neither the legal framework nor the provisions that would safeguard its nuclear program from posing a security threat.

“Nuclear power and nuclear arms are different sides of the same coin. Every nuclear-power-wielding state can turn into a nuclear-armed nation,” said Tessa de Ryck, an anti- nuclear campaigner from Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“North Korea is an example. Once a country possesses a nuclear power plant, it is hard for the international community to restrict ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.”

The global community has failed to persuade North Korea from nuclear testing, and big powers like China have ensured economic support for Pyongyang. China has also provided economic support for Myanmar undermining economic sanctions imposed by the West.

8888 People Power Jun 1 + China, Asia and Burma by Khin Ma Ma Myo

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A former Burmese senior intelligence official and ambassador to Washington has said he would testify against Burma’s ruling generals if they are eventually brought in front of the International Criminal Court.

Former Burmese intelligence official ‘would testify’ at ICC
June 1, 2009 (DVB)–A former Burmese senior intelligence official and ambassador to Washington has said he would testify against Burma’s ruling generals if they are eventually brought in front of the International Criminal Court.

On Saturday Burma marked the six-year anniversary of the Depayin massacre, in which 70 supporters of opposition National League for Democracy party were killed by a government-backed militia.
The massacre happened whilst Aung San Suu Kyi had been campaigning for supporters, and following the incident she was placed under house arrest.
Speaking to DVB on the anniversary, Aung Lin Htut, who served as the junta’s deputy ambassador in Washington before he sought asylum in the US in 2005, supported the idea of bringing the junta to the ICC.
“I myself would testify if [junta leader Than Shwe] is taken to the international court,” he said.
“Even if I am imprisoned, I could appear as witness.”

The wide-spreading news of the deteriorating health of Burma’s detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is causing worry among people around the country,

“Almost everyone in our locality is worried for her on hearing that she is ill in prison. As she is our sole hope for democratic reform in our country, we hope for her good health and pray for her well-being,” said a female shopkeeper in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan in western Burma.

Anxious over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, most people are listening to the foreign-based radio news from the BBC, RFA, and VOA, so they can keep up with her latest situation. Local media and newspapers, which are heavily censored by the military regime, rarely publish news about political dissent in Burma.

“I don’t hear people talking about the price of merchandise here for days since the detention of Daw Aung San Suu in Insein prison. They start to open their mouth with the latest news about her heard from the BBC, RFA, or VOA radio programs. People are feeling great concern for her and wish for her good health,” said another woman, a cross-border trader from Maungdaw on the border with Bangladesh.

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is being detained in the notorious Insein prison and is on trial on new charges of breaking her house arrest conditions after an American man intruded into her lakeside residence earlier this month. She could face a minimum of five years in prison if convicted.

Burmese Army on High Alert After Unidentified Reconnaissance Plane Spotted(suspected from US Air force)

6/1/2009
Buthidaung : The Burmese army in the Buthidaung cantonment has been put on high alert after an unidentified reconnaissance plane was spotted taking photos of military bases in the area last week, said a source close to the army.

The source said, “An unidentified reconnaissance plane flew over Buthidaung last week secretly snapping photos but the authorities knew a plane intruded into Burma’s airspace on that day.”

After the incident took place, high army authorities put security forces in the area on high alert.

The town of Buthidaung, 80 miles north of Sittwe, is the largest military base in western Burma, with at least 15 army battalions, including an artillery battalion, stationed there. A brigade, called Sakakha 15 in Burmese, and the military operation planning bureau are also stationed in the area.

The source reported that a military official said, “The Burmese army officials suspect the reconnaissance plane was from the US Air Force, but have not officially disclosed that this happened.”

The Burmese military authorities in the area are anxious about the unidentified plan intruding into their territory.

It has also been learned that Kha Kha Kyi, the defense bureau in Burma’s new capital Naypyidaw, also knew of the incident and some high technical officials from the air defense force have been sent to Buthidaung to investigate the incident.

Paranoia is growing…

Interview ZawZawAung,he was going along with Daw Aung Suu when they were attacked (Depayin Massacre)

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more on http://nldlajb.blogspot.com/

DEAR MEDIA; WE ARE NOT HELPLESS INSIDE

Dear Media,

can you please STOP using word “HELPLESS” for inside Burma?If you would read our blogposts about Burmese Activist inside,as Generation Wave,Best Manure and other you would know that RESISTANCE INSIDE continue

REGARDS

Junta publicly defends Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial

by Mungpi
Monday, 01 June 2009 22:56

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma’s military rulers said on Sunday that pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial is in keeping with its law and is an internal affair, where other countries should not interfere.

Major General Aye Myint, Burma’s Deputy Minister for Defence, at the Asia Security Conference in Singapore on Sunday said legal action was taken against Aung San Suu Kyi according to the law and as a respect to the rule of law.

Aye Myint said, the trial is a domestic affair and does not impose any threat to the peace and security of the region saying, “Thus, if any country interferes in the internal affairs of another country, that particular act may possibly affect the mutual understanding and friendly relationship between countries.”

Aye Myint’s speech is the first where Burma’s ruling junta has publicly defended the prosecution of democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which the international community has dubbed a ploy to further detain her.

The Nobel Peace Laureate, who was shifted to Insein prison precincts from her lakeside home, is facing a trial under charges of flouting her house arrest terms by sheltering an uninvited American man, who allegedly swam across the Innya Lake alongside her house.

Burmese military junta authorities raided the office of the True News (Thitsa) Weekly Journal after sales of the journal picked up among supporters of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi waiting outside Insein prison on May 25, sources said.

On May 25 about 10 officials including police and intelligence personnel raided the office of True News Journal in Botataung Township of Rangoon Division.

Sources said, the Production Manager of the Journal had gone to sell the paper to the people assembled outside Insein prison on May 25, the day Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was produced in court. The raid was carried out in the evening of the same day.

“They sold the copies of the journal to the people outside Insein prison monitoring news of the trial. The journal office was searched the same evening by police and the intelligence unit,” a Rangoon-based editor, who has close relations with the Journal, told Mizzima.

An official of the Journal office confirmed of the raid but declined to elaborate.

Reportedly, authorities arrested a person staying in the office of the journal. But he was released the next day.

True News Journal, in its latest issue, carried an article by veteran journalist Ludu Sein Win as a cover story. The next day the censor board summoned an official of the journal and reportedly warned him.

For Your Freedom by Niknayman

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