Burmese military crackdown

[KoihimeNakamura]

... so you backed up my statement. Okay? Thanks?

(and I'm actually not that surprised to see they have .. gas)

 

[Dancing David]

Sad, reminds me of the Yugoslavia thing, "It not my job." was the buzz word at the time.

 

[Taffer]

I hope something is done to avoid more loss of life.

 

[dudalb]

Officially? It hasn't. Yet. But apparently the US and UK have never recognised the name change, which is studiously avoided by the pro-democracy people.

"Burma" it is then. I like to call it that anyway, because of another oft-forgotten struggle.

One of my great uncles was one of Merill's Marauders,and I grew up on his stories of the Bruma campaign.
No doubt,the CBI theater was on the bottom of the priority list throught the Second World War.

 

[Natan]

..yes, Oliver, that explains why, you know, he cited them in his speech and called for tighter sanctions. (That don't matter until Russia and China stop supplying them.)

Just to give the impression he's doing something as the western world looks towards their leaders to do something about it. The man doesn't believe in sanctions - rightly or wrongly, not discussing about that - anyway. But when people in Pakistan are protesting that Musharraf is a dictator, you won't hear him utter a word about it.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Just to give the impression he's doing something as the western world looks towards their leaders to do something about it. The man doesn't believe in sanctions - rightly or wrongly, not discussing about that - anyway. But when people in Pakistan are protesting that Musharraf is a dictator, you won't hear him utter a word about it.

Given that Musharraf's efforts are a necessary element to successful operations in Afghanistan, along the Northeastern border and the Durand Line, this is hardly a surprise.

"Politics make strange bedfellows."

Try not to stovepipe, and some things will make more sense.

DR

 

[thinkingaboutit]

Do they have oil?

They have natural gas and are partnered with Chevron in a big way. Of course the Bush administration won't be criticizing or punishing Chevron in any way.

 

[DaChew]

This is the subject of Christopher Hitchens' piece this week:
http://www.slate.com/id/2175047/fr/flyout

An attempt at sanctions would be resisted by China

I thought President Bush was quite correct in listing his least favorite regimes during his address to the United Nations last week and in trying to ramp up the international pressure on the goons in Rangoon. The governments that he singled out were the uniquely repellent ones that consider the citizen to be the property of the state and the uniquely boring ones that have remained in power until their citizens are positively screaming for release. I do not need to specify these senescent gangster systems individually, except that they all have one thing in common. They are all defended, from Cuba to Zimbabwe, by the Chinese vote at the United Nations.

Certainly the U.S. would not be in position to form a coalition and "go-it-alone" militarily. Also, as we all know, sanctions do nothing more than kill hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people as they did during oil for food. And the simple fact that Chevron has an interest in the area is enough to completely rule out any involvement by the U.S.. Especially in light of the fact of our only involving ourselves in Afghanistan so that Chevron could build a giant oil pipeline which they will get to any time now.

 

[thinkingaboutit]

It's probably also worth pointing out that

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: "Sanctions haven't worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma's regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It's really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers." [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal's exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

[/FONT][/FONT]
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100307S.shtml[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Childlike Empress]

And the price for the biggest longterm supporter of the burmese fascists goes to ... not the americans or the chinese but ... la grande nation:

TOTALitarian Oil - fueling the oppression in Burma

That site, burmacampaign.org.uk, hosts a lot of interesting stuff, including this: Supply and Command - A report by the Shwe Gas Movement on how Burma’s military dictatorship could earn over US$12 billion in profits from western Burma gas fields

 

[Oliver]

And the price for the biggest longterm supporter of the burmese fascists goes to ... not the americans or the chinese but ... la grande nation:

TOTALitarian Oil - fueling the oppression in Burma

That site, burmacampaign.org.uk, hosts a lot of interesting stuff, including this: Supply and Command - A report by the Shwe Gas Movement on how Burma’s military dictatorship could earn over US$12 billion in profits from western Burma gas fields

That's it! I call "America Hater!"

 

[Childlike Empress]

 

[Darth Rotor]

And the price for the biggest longterm supporter of the burmese fascists goes to ... not the americans or the chinese but ... la grande nation:

TOTALitarian Oil - fueling the oppression in Burma

That site, burmacampaign.org.uk, hosts a lot of interesting stuff, including this: Supply and Command - A report by the Shwe Gas Movement on how Burma’s military dictatorship could earn over US$12 billion in profits from western Burma gas fields

Enjoyed the links, thanks.

Here is a thought:

“To observe businessmen who come to Burma with the intention of enriching themselves is somewhat like watching passers-by in an orchard roughly stripping off blossoms for their fragile beauty, blind to the ugliness of despoiled branches, oblivious of the fact that by their action they are imperilling future fruitfulness and committing an injustice against the rightful owners of the trees.”
Aung San Suu Kyi
Letters from Burma


“Total has become the main supporter of the Burmese military regime.”
Aung San Suu Kyi
Le Monde

What has Burma done in the past 50 years to grow it own indigenous oil production capacity? Why is this dependence on foreign owned oil interests so commonplace? Why is internal investment in human capital missing?

DR