Free Suu Kyi and the US May Invest in Burma: Clinton

PHUKET, Thailand—If the Burmese military junta releases Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the United States of America wants to expand its relations, including investments, with Burma, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday in Phuket.

“We are calling for release of Aung San Suu Kyi, which we believe is very important. It is so critical that she be released from prosecution she has been under,” she told reporters at press conference.
“And if she is released, there is an open up opportunity, at least for my country, to expand relations with Burma, including investment in Burma. But it is up to the Burmese leadership,” Clinton added.

The Clinton administration has imposed economic sanctions on Burma since 1997, preventing new US investment in the military-ruled country. However, the US set tighter economic sanctions that banned importing goods from Burma in 2003, following the attack on Suu Kyi’s convoy by regime-backed thugs at Depayin.

“We worry about the transfer of nuclear technology” from Stalinist North Korea to military-ruled Burma, Clinton said in an interview with Thailand’s Nation TV.

On Tuesday, she said Washington was taking “very seriously” reports of conventional military cooperation between the two pariah states, adding that it would be “destabilising for the region.”

Burma and North Korea, both isolated and under international sanctions, are set to dominate Clinton’s two days of discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and broader Asean Regional Forum.

Clinton was later set to sign a friendship pact with Southeast Asia in a sign of Washington’s renewed interest to the region after nearly a decade in which it has been distracted by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After arriving in Thailand Tuesday from New Delhi, Clinton said President Barack Obama’s administration wants to send a strong message of engagement with the region after it was neglected by his predecessor George W. Bush.

US influence over Asean has been largely supplanted by China, which inked the same treaty with the 10-country bloc six years ago.

US officials said a key thrust of Clinton’s debut at the forum would be to crank up pressure on North Korea to return to the nuclear disarmament talks after its recent missile and nuclear weapons tests.

North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun declined to attend the meeting, instead sending a roving ambassador to Phuket, and Southeast Asian officials say the Pyongyang delegation is concerned about coming under pressure.

Asean had asked China to play a key role in bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table, a Thai official said after the bloc’s foreign ministers met their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea on Wednesday.

Washington is currently focused on implementing tough new UN sanctions, but officials said the US and its allies were ready to offer incentives to Pyongyang if it changed course — something they did not expect any time soon.

Suspicions about military cooperation between Burma and North Korea escalated after a US Navy destroyer last month began tracking a suspect North Korean ship that was reportedly heading for Burma.

Hillary calls on Asean to expel Myanmar

PHUKET: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should consider expelling Myanmar if it does not release imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

Asked on Thai television whether ASEAN should kick out the military-ruled member state if it does not free the pro-democracy leader, Clinton replied: “It would be an appropriate policy change to consider.”

Myanmar—ASEAN’s problem child since it joined the bloc in 1997 — recently sparked outrage by putting the Nobel peace laureate on trial over an incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside house. “I regret deeply this unfortunate incident, which she had nothing to do with, and which served as an excuse for them to put her on trial,” Clinton said, referring to Yettaw’s uninvited intrusion.

The ruling junta snubbed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by refusing to let him visit Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, deepening concerns in the international community.

„Karen Human Rights Group | KHRG Photo Gallery 2009“

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Hundreds of youths from rural areas in Lashio Township, northern Shan State, are being recruited by junta-backed local militia forces for the Army since last month

Intensive recruiting for Army in Shan State
WEDNESDAY, 22 JULY 2009 18:00 HSENG KHIO FAH
Local sources have reported that hundreds of youths from rural areas in Lashio Township, northern Shan State, are being recruited by junta-backed local militia forces for the Army since last month.
The recruiting drive was led by Bo Mon, leader of Wanpang militia, in areas between Lashio and Tangyan townships under its control.

“One from every household in each village and village tract must enlist for military service,” said a local resident in Mong Yaw village tract who declines to be named.

To date, over 200 youths from Nam Pawng, Man Pang, Mong Yaw, Mong Tawm and Mong Ha villages have already left for Pyinmana, near the new capital of Naypyitaw, a source said.

To escape from the recruiting, many have fled to towns and others gone to stay in monasteries as monks. However, some were unable to escape as they were followed and forcibly disrobed by the group. Families and relatives are also being threatened, said another source.

People who could afford must pay at least Kyat 300,000 ($ 273) per person in order to evade the draft. “Naturally, there are only a few who can pay,” he said.

The Burma Army has reportedly planned to send the local militia forces to the frontline to fight against the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’ and other groups, said a businessman who is close to an officer from the regional command in Lashio.

“The Tamataw will force the militias to fight against rebels, the same way it is using the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) to fight against KNU (Karen National Union) in the south,” he said.

In June, the joint forces of the Burma Army and the DKBA had overrun the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)’s 7th Brigade base after a joint military offensive against the KNLA, the armed wing of Karen National Union (KNU).

Shanland.org

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honor for me to join with you on this auspicious occasion; the awarding of the prestigious “MAGI Award 2009” — “Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace” — to our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dr Sein Win Accepts MAGI Award 2009 for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Wednesday, July 22 2009, 01:31 PM EDT
Speech delivered by Dr Sein Win at the MAGI Award 2009 Presentation Ceremony held at the City Hall of Durban, South Africa, to accept the award on behalf of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honor for me to join with you on this auspicious occasion; the awarding of the prestigious “MAGI Award 2009” — “Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace” — to our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

On behalf of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma, let me express our heartfelt gratitude to the Gandhi Development Trust and the people of South Africa for expressing your solidarity with us.

The special meaning of this award is not lost on me. The fact that MAGI Award is given to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — a strict follower of Gandhi’s Principles and a strong advocate for peaceful, non-violent change in Burma — is indeed a very proud moment for us. While we are meeting here on a joyous occasion, a mind-numbing reality of today’s Burma is that our leader is not only being denied her basic freedoms but also being tried and held in Insein Prison under charges which are preposterous.

This moment, therefore, gives us cause to consider both the strength of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to face the dreadful reality of today’s Burma.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s strength is perhaps best epitomized in her unwillingness to compromise her principles even at the expense of her personal safety. Citing that she had the legal right to be present at a certain town, she led a march in front and soldiers who were aiming to shoot at her, let her proceed. When security personnel were using water cannon on her supporters, she climbed aboard the fire truck with water cannons and stopped them from being used against the people. The military junta in Burma has allowed her to leave Burma at any time. But she chose to remain in her country spending 14 of her last 20 years under detention. She pays the price to share the suffering of the people as all leaders should. She knows that once she leaves, she will never be allowed back. Her ties with her beloved country would be severed. So, she will not yield, will not renege.

Burma’s nuclear nexus with Russia

by Ko Wild
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 21:14

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta’s overt nuclear ambitions are out in the open, in a leaked document from the junta’s military establishment, which reveals that Burma’s number two strongman second Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, during a visit to Russia in 2006, had sought assistance in constructing a 10 million megawatt nuclear reactor.

The document, which is a top-secret memo, details the overseas travels of Maung Aye and Thura Shwe Mann, third in the military hierarchy.

The leaked document, a copy of which is in Mizzima’s possession, says Maung Aye during his trip to Russia sought assistance to build a nuclear reactor. He also sought military cooperation from the Russians.

At the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Maung Aye led a 60-member delegation on a five-day visit, April 2 to 6 2006, to Russia. He met the Russian Prime Minister as well as the Russian Army’ Chief of Staff Yury Baluyevksy, and Chief of Staff of the Navy and Air Force.

Maung Aye received positive response from Russia during the meetings, regarding his “special request” for assistance in constructing a 10 million megawatt nuclear reactor and to allow Burmese students in Russia to learn nuclear technology and aeronautical engineering.

Besides, he also got a nod for increased purchase of Russian-made MIG 29 and MIG 27 jet fighters, providing technical assistance in producing Guided Missiles and for purchase of ships.

Report on child soldier released

by Phanida
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 21:06

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Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The unabated recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army has been exposed in a report released by the Thai-Burmese border based ‘Yoma 3’ Burmese News Agency today.

The agency said, it took about one and-a-half years to compile the 72-page ‘Child Soldiers: Burma’s Sons of Sorrow’, which was released on Wednesday at a press conference held along the Thai-Burmese border.

The report includes interviews with two child soldier deserters, a sergeant and four parents of child soldiers forcibly recruited by the army.

“The junta always claims to the international community and UN that it never recruits child soldiers into the army. They also always claim that organizations in exile are disseminating concocted stories to western countries. We wish to let people know clearly what the true facts are,” Nyein Lu, editor of the Yoma 3 told Mizzima.

The report also presented news and photographs of the No. 1 Recruit Centre at Danyinkone Township in Rangoon Division, No. 2 in Mandalay, No. 3 in Yemethin and No. 9 Basic Military Training School in Zay Chaung village of Thaton Township in Mon state.

The group said, the survey and the facts and figures in the report were provided by activists inside Burma, military personnel in the Burma Army and former soldiers

update/tadusehpreh by Kwekalu Karen News

http://www.kwekalu.net/update/tadusehpreh.html

6 Ideas For Those Needing Defensive Technology to Protect Free Speech from Authoritarian Regimes by Electronic Frontier Foundation

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