What next for Burma?

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOK

Thant Myint-U
18 MARCH 2021

With their recent coup d’état the Burmese army hoped for a surgical shift in power that would leave everything else more or less untouched. Instead, the coup has sent the economy into freefall, raised the possibility of international intervention and triggered a political earthquake. The fight is no longer over elections and constitutional amendments. One path leads to dictatorship without end. The other to a revolution whose exact shape is difficult to see. A crumbling economy may send the lives of tens of millions of poor and vulnerable people spiralling into disaster. And what unfolds in Burma may be impossible for the region, perhaps the world, to ignore: a failed state between India and China, at the heart of 21st-century Asia.

Tension had been mounting for weeks. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the country’s de facto ruler since 2016, won a thumping victory in last November’s elections. Taking more than 60 per cent of the vote, she was set to consolidate her hold over Burmese politics, vowing to push for constitutional changes that would limit further the army’s once limitless powers.

As Burma Ambassador in NY Fired NYT Errs and Says Geneva Amid Silent Guterres Sleaze

Inner City Press
By Matthew Russell Lee,
Patreon,BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
27 Feb 2021

SDNY / UN GATE, Feb 27 – After the Burma coup regime fired its New York-based UN ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun for his speech in New York in the usually scripted UN General Assembly, the New York Times reported that the speech had been in Geneva.

Seven hours later, that remained uncorrected. And UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres, a darling of the NYT, was typically silent, wanting a second five-year term. All of this must be, and is being, opposed.

Alert: U.S. Embassy Rangoon, Burma, February 15, 2021

U.S.Embassy in Burma
Alert: U.S. Embassy Rangoon, Burma, February 15, 2021

Location: Burma

Event: Authorized Voluntary Departure of Non-Emergency U.S. Government Employees and Their Family Members from U.S. Embassy Rangoon

On February 14, the U.S. Department of State authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and their family members from Burma. The U.S. Embassy in Burma reminds all U.S. citizens of the heightened potential for violence, continued telecommunications restrictions, and limited flights out of Burma. The U.S. Embassy in Rangoon remains open.

Will Israel Break Up With Burma?

THE NATIONAL INTEREST

by Daniel J. Samet
February 10, 2021

The Israel-Burma defense relationship has not been without controversy.

In his first foreign policy-related speech as president, given February 4 at the State Department, President Joe Biden spoke about the “close cooperation with our allies and partners” as he addressed the recent coup in Burma. The United States, he said, will “work with our partners to support restoration of democracy and the rule of law and impose consequences on those responsible.”

That’ll be a cinch, right? A look at Israel, which was not among the allies and partners Biden went on to name, suggests the reverse. Israeli ties to the Burmese military may make the country well-positioned to impose consequences but getting Jerusalem to do so is another story.

Beijing wins when democracy is extinguished

The Telegraph

 CON COUGHLIN
DEFENCE EDITOR

10 February 2021

Burma’s military coup plays into the hands of a Chinese regime intent on expanding its influence

First Hong Kong, now Burma. There is an alarming new tendency that, whenever an Asian country seeks to embrace the values of democratic rule, it invariably ends with pro-democracy activists being imprisoned and abused.

Burma’s experiment with democracy is a relatively new phenomenon, dating back only to the country’s 2008 constitution, under which the military junta agreed to permit a limited form of democratic rule. Now even these modest reforms, under which the veteran campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi held the quasi-presidential position of “state counsellor”, have been extinguished after the military, responding to her National League for Democracy’s (NLD) clear victory in last November’s elections, once again seized control of the country.

Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on the Situation in Burma

THE WHITE HOUSE

Statements and Releases

February 01, 2021  

The military’s seizure of power in Burma, the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials, and the declaration of a national state of emergency are a direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law. In a democracy, force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election. For almost a decade, the people of Burma have been steadily working to establish elections, civilian governance, and the peaceful transfer of power. That progress should be respected.

USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs Remarks at the virtual launch of Myanmar’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S.Embassy in Burma
October 14, 2020

Remarks as Prepared for USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs

at the virtual launch of Myanmar’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website

 

Honorable Deputy Minister U Maung Maung Win, Director General U Thant Zin Lwin, National Coordinator U Aye Lwin, representatives of the Government of Myanmar, representatives of civil society, representatives of the private sector, distinguished guests. I am glad to join for this important launch of Myanmar’s newly upgraded Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website. Thank you for your continued effort and partnership to improve transparency and accountability in Myanmar’s extractives industry.

Burma and Bangladesh - Regional Crisis Response Fact Sheet #5, Fiscal Year (FY) 2020

Burma and Bangladesh - Regional Crisis Response Fact Sheet #2, Fiscal Year (FY) 2020

UN General Assembly Resolutions on Burma

UNITED NATION


46th UN General Assembly – 1991

47th UN General Assembly – 1992

48th UN General Assembly – 1993

49th UN General Assembly – 1994

50th UN General Assembly – 1995

History of Burma by Sir Arthur P. Phayre

History of Burma by Sir Art... by on Scribd

Burma's top court rejects final appeal by jailed Reuters journalists

The Telegraph

By Nicola Smith 

23 April 2019 

 

 Journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone have spent more than 16 months in detention since they  were arrested in December 2017  Credit: AFP 

 

Burma’s top court on Tuesday rejected the final appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act while reporting on atrocities committed by the country’s army against Rohingya Muslims.

BRITISH BURMA AND ITS PEOPLE By Captin C.J.F.S Forbes( FRGS,MRAS)

britishburmaitsp00smitiala_... by on Scribd

JEWISH GROUPS PRAISES SANCTIONS BURMA FOR PERSECUTION OF ROHINGYA MUSLIMS.

THE JERUSALUM POST

APRIL 12, 2019

BY JOSEFIN DOLSTEN/JTA

Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Todd Young, R-Ind., introduced the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act on Thursday. It was co-sponsored by 14 lawmakers.

MK MASOUD GNAIM (center) participates in a protest against the killing of his Rohingya Muslim ‘brothers’ in Myanmar, outside the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv, September 11, 2017.. (photo credit: UNITED ARAB LIST)

(JTA) — Jewish groups applauded the introduction of a bipartisan bill in the Senate to sanction Burmese officials responsible for the persecution of the Rohingya people.

The legislation calls for the United States to take a number of measures in response to the violence against the Rohingya perpetrated by the Burmese government.

419- Building Democracy In Burma

Wp2 Democracy Burma

37-ALP’s History Burma by Khine Soe Naing Aung.

ALP's History Burma by Khaing Soe Naing Aung