White House Responds To Burma Coup, Imposing Sanctions, Export Controls

KHARON

Samuel Rubenfeld
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021

U.S. threatens further action if the military does not restore democracy


Students and teachers protest against the military coup in Kayin State, Burma. (Source: Ninjastrikers)

The White House announced broad new curbs on Burma following a coup earlier this month, issuing an executive order, imposing sanctions on military companies and leaders, and other restrictions.

The U.S. actions follow several days of protests in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, after the Feb. 1 coup that ended a decade of democracy there. The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution without a vote that “deplored the removal” of the democratically elected government and called for the military to protect the rights of people.

White House names generals targeted by Myanmar sanctions

StarTribune

By AAMER MADHANI 

Associated Press
FEBRUARY 11, 2021

The Biden administration announced Thursday that new sanctions against Myanmar will target the country's top military officials who ordered this month's coup in the Southeast Asian country.

The sanctions name top military commander Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy Soe Win, as well as four members of the State Administration Council. The executive order signed by President Joe Biden also allows the Treasury Department to target the spouses and adult children of those being sanctioned.

The move will prevent the generals from accessing more than $1 billion in Myanmar government funds held in the United States. The sanctions also will affect the Myanmar Ruby Enterprise and Myanmar Imperial Jade Co., businesses controlled by the regime.

A Yazidi woman from Iraq told Trump that ISIS killed her family. 'Where are they now?' he asked.

The Washington Post 

Politics

By Colby Itkowitz 

July 19

A Yazidi woman from Iraq told Trump that ISIS killed her family. ‘Where are they now?’ he asked.

'You had the Nobel Prize?': Trump meets Nadia Murad

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad met with President Trump on July 17 and appealed for his help to save the Yazidis of Iraq. (The White House)

When President Trump met human rights activist Nadia Murad, an Iraqi who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for speaking out about her agonizing torture and rape while in Islamic State captivity, he seemed unaware of her story and the plight of her Yazidi ethnic minority.

White House hails 'principles' of free press in praising release of Reuters reporters in Myanmar

The Washinton Times
By Tom Howell Jr. - 
The Washington Times - 
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 
 
Arrests sparked outcry, served as key test for a free press

Reuters reporters Wa Lone, center right, and Kyaw Soe Oo hold their children after being freed from prison, in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. The two journalists who were imprisoned for breaking Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act over reporting on ... more >

The White House hailed the release Tuesday of two Reuters journalists who spent over 500 days in a Myanmar prison after reporting on atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.

Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been sentenced to seven years in prison but received pardons under a sweeping presidential amnesty around the traditional New Year, which began in April.