No money for disaster relief but a billion for Man United

So far I have found the cables published by Wikileaks to be an awful lot of very little. Perhaps I am to cynical in my middle age but most of the revelations are not really surprising.

That said, today’s Grauniad published details of one cable that made me angry. It seems that Than Shwe, utter piece of human shit and leader of the Burmese military junta, considered making a $1bn (£634m) bid to buy Man Utd around the time it was facing rising anger from the United Nations over its appalling response to the 2008 cyclone that killed 140,000 people.

Than Shwe was urged to mount a takeover bid by his grandson, according to a cable from the US embassy in Rangoon. It details how the regime was thought to be using football to distract its population from ongoing political and economic problems.

The proposal was made prior to January 2009, Months before the Burmese junta had been accused of blocking vital international aid supplies after Nargis struck, killing 140,000 people.

Than Shwe reportedly concluded that making a bid for United might "look bad" at the time, but the revelation that the proposal was even considered is likely to fuel criticism of the regime's cruelty. The senior general instead ordered the creation of a new multimillion dollar national football league at the same time as aid agencies were reporting that one year on, many survivors of the cyclone still lacked permanent housing, access to clean water, and tools for fishing and agriculture.

The mooted price tag for Manchester United was exactly the same as the aid bill to cover the most urgent food, agriculture and housing for the three years after the cyclone, as estimated by international agencies including the UN.

According to Forbes magazine's valuation of the club at the time, $1bn would have been enough to acquire a 56% controlling stake.

Than Shwe then reportedly coerced and bribed eight leading business and political figures to establish teams and ordered them to spend large sums on imported players and new stadiums.

Another example of how the Burmese regime does not give a shit about the people of Burma. That they would have even considered spending $1bn on Man Utd shows breathtaking callousness. Bastards

The Lady is freed at last

At last Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest by the Burmese Junta. In and of itself this is a great day. For what it's worth I am delighted but I can'tt help wonder what next or how long before the vermin junta and their parliamentary puppets contrive to return her to captivity. Let's see what happens next.

Nevertheless it is my deepest wish that she sees the junta and their puppets consigned to the gutter

Burmese junta squeaks home in surprise election win

Burma’s military has claimed a shock victory in the country's first election in 20 years, winning 80 per cent of the seats. This will give the junta a wafer thin majority.

''We have won about 80 per cent of the seats. We are glad,'' said a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the junta's political arm, who did not want to be named.

The USDP member said turnout was more than 170 per cent, despite muted activity at polling stations on election day.

“We are most grateful to those people who came back from the dead to vote for us some of them voted up to 500 times. Such devotion to our party is touching”, said

Still victory was far from assured: “It was only thanks to a sustained campaign of intimidation, arrests and a trumped up charge against Aung San Suu Kyi” that we were able to win.”


Needless to say the election was an utter sham which will do absolutely nothing to better the lot of the Burmese people. That said it is interesting to see that the National Democratic Force, the main pro-democracy party, may win almost half the 37 seats in Rangoon, the country's former capital.

Not that it will make a jot of difference: the military will retain a quarter of the seats in the two houses of parliament, according to the constitution.

Elected lawmakers in both houses can nominate a presidential candidate to compete against the military-appointed legislators' contender but somehow I doubt that this person will stand a chance of becoming president

Burmese elections will be free and fair – official!

Burmese foreign minister keeps straight face when declaring elections will be free and fair!

Well according to Burma's foreign minister U Nyan Win who has declared that the junta is committed to a "free and fair'' vote in the upcoming national election on November 7; one which will be "a critical phase of its (Burma’s) political transformation process.''

In a speech to the UN General Assembly he said that more than 3,000 candidates from 37 parties would take part in the vote for 1,171 parliamentary seats.

"Such a large participation made it crystal clear that the elections become virtually inclusive,'' the minister said. "With its ample experiences and lessons learned in holding multiparty general elections in the past history, Burma is confident in its ability to conduct the elections in an orderly manner.

"Whatever the challenges facing us, we are committed to do our best for the successful holding of the free and fair general elections for the best interest of the country and its people.''

Well there you go. I bet you’re all convinced by U Nyan Win’s reassuring words… I know I am! I daresay some fellow leftists will continue to view the junta as a good anti imperialistic, anti American bunch, while, as usual, solipsist libertarians will not give a damn… Hiho

When I say reassured, I mean reassured that the man is talking bollocks. There are four words missing from this election: AUNG, SAN, SUU and KYI.

As for experience of multiparty elections, the vermin in charge of that blighted country have experience of ignoring any election they find inconvenient (to wit a 1990 landslide for Aung San Suu Kyi)

Come 8 November I can predict that the Union Solidarity and Development Party will be major winners. That this party is headed by Thein Sein, the current Prime Minister and thus beloved of the junta is a mere coincidence

Win Tin’s plea on the Lady’s birthday

In yesterday’s Independent, U Win Tin made a passionate appeal to the West to use their freedom to help his country achieve the same.

In a hand-written letter smuggled out of Burma and passed to the paper he wrote "I want to repeat and echo her own (Aung San Suu Kyi) words – 'please use your liberty to promote ours'. I want to add more to it. Please bring more and more liberty to us, to our country, Burma. We are starving for it and we are waiting for someone or some institutions or some countries to bring it to us."

The plea from Ms Suu Kyi's friend and senior political ally, who himself spent almost 20 years in solitary confinement, comes at a desperately difficult time for the opponents of Burma's military junta. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been forced to shut down after it decided it could not participate in an election due later this year when she and more than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars. Ae a breakaway group of supporters has decided to contest the polls, most independent analysts believe the election will simply further cement the junta's position.
The junta has claimed the elections due to be held this year will mark a crucial staging point in Burma's journey to full democracy. It is a claim that has been met with derision by most independent observers.
Just yesterday, The Elders, a group of global leaders called together by Nelson Mandela, used the occasion of Ms Suu Kyi's birthday to denounce the planned election. "National processes in Burma have been usurped by the military government – they do not serve the people. The elections due later this year will not be any different," said Desmond Tutu, chairman of the group.

Despite the junta's efforts to isolate her, experts say Ms Suu Kyi remains the sole person who could perhaps unite Burma. "She remains a powerful icon and, if she were free and there were free presidential elections tomorrow, there's no doubt in my mind that she would win," said author Bertil Lintner.

Even at the age of 65, the woman inside carries with her a rare, special power that the generals still fear. Here’s hoping it won’t be for long and the junta lie in unmarked graves, despised forever.

Music as rebellion - Burma

Stand up to a brutal regime and most times the regime will knock you down and then kick you repeatedly while you are down. This is something that has been seen time and again in Burma. One day the people will rise and the junta will be swept away. Until then rebellion is wherever you can make it.

According to a recent Guardian article It would seem that hip-hop is providing a subterranean vehicle for quiet, yet significant, dissent among Burmese youth. THis is the case fir artist Thxa Soe.

Burma has a history of protest music. Traditional known as thangyat, were once used to air grievances, both small, against neighbours, and large, against authority. Following the 1988 student uprising, however, the music was banned outright by the ruling military junta.

But hip-hop's fluid lyrics wrapped in rhymes and youthful argot make it a perfect modern format for subtly spreading an anti-authoritarian message. Thxa Soe is one of Burma's leading hip-hop stars, and one of its most outspoken. He first heard hip-hop as a student at the SAE Institute in London, instantly admiring the quicksilver rhymes and daring lyrics of Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.

But he also had an interest in the traditional music of his homeland, and began researching the hundreds of documents held in the UK. "In the British Library, I discovered these traditional songs, [with] original Burmese-language lyrics, that nobody had performed for hundreds of years. They were taken from Burma in the 1780s. Many songs that people had never heard."

He began combining the two art forms, meshing the ancient melodies with computer-generated beats, and near-forgotten Burmese-language words with his own modern lyrics. "I like, and people like, the freedom of hip-hop. There is not much freedom in rock, but in hip-hop you have freedom to express, express your ideas. And this is our hip-hop, for Burmese. I have too many words, not only me, too many teenagers have too much to say. Because our country is a very closed country, and the older people have a closed mind, a concentrated mind."

The 29-year-old flew under the junta's radar with his first album, but he is now a victim of its success. Its popularity has meant he is closely watched by the government censors. Outright criticism of the government is forbidden, but he skates close to the edge of what is acceptable in the junta's eyes, and his songs are regularly banned.

Thxa Soe says he has chosen to stay in Burma, despite the risks, because he sees his voice as important in his homeland. "It is very difficult being a musician in Myanmar. You are not free. You are always being watched, for what you say, and you are being told what you can say and what you cannot. [But] I believe music can change a country, not only our country, but the whole world."

And there are others in Burma finding an outlet for dissent in music. A group known as Generation Wave, its exact membership unknown, secretly records and distributes anti-government albums across the country, dropping them at the tea shops that are the social hubs for Burma's underground political network.They write songs such as Wake Up, a call for young people to join the pro-democracy movement, and Khwin Pyu Dot May (Please Excuse Me), the story of a young man asking his mother's permission to join the struggle.

Most of its members keep their identities a secret, after high-profile member Zayar Thaw was jailed for six years for forming an illegal organisation. But the threat of prison has not stopped Burma's young flocking to the group, as fans and as members.

"We welcome young people to participate in our movement against the regime," a performer known only as YG says. "Our songs honour mothers and revolutionists. We want young people to be active and interested in politics. Every youngster can be an activist."

I have little to add but to wish Thxa Soe and his fellow musicians the very best of wishes and hope that they can contribute in some way to the end of the junta

Burmese Junta seeks White Elephant

In the UK we think of a white elephant as an unwelcome gift but in Burma the it is revered as a symbol of power and good - a sign that the nation will prosper, and its rulers are wise and just.

This tale comes from the Independent

It is perhaps unsurprising then, then, that when one was spotted near Burma's western coast earlier this year, the junta sent in a special army unit to capture it. Never mind of course the repression, suspected war crimes or shocking levels of poverty. If a white elephant is found, so the superstition goes, then all will be well.

In the forested hills behind Ngwe Saung beach an elephant handler spotted an albino among a herd of wild elephants in January. He reported the sighting to the head of the timber company, the military was informed and the news was quickly sent up the chain of command. According to soldiers in Ngwe Saung, Senior General Than Shwe – the country's head – himself dispatched a company of some 50 soldiers, with an entourage of elephant handlers and veterinarians armed with tranquilliser darts.

Soe Tin, a local farmer, knew what this meant for him. The first sighting of the elephant in 2008 brought a swarm of soldiers to the area. The military commandeered the local workforce of banana farmers and charcoal sellers to assist in an unsuccessful three-month search. When the hunt resumed in January, Soe Tin was recruited again. "The village authorities demanded one person from each household," the 41-year-old said. "We were forced to work without pay."

The legend of the white elephant originates in tales of the birth of Buddha: a white elephant reputedly appeared before his mother and presented her with a sacred lotus flower. The ancient Burmese kings believed that white elephants were found only during the reign of good kings and that the possession of one would help a country prosper. Conversely, the death of one of these creatures could spell disaster. The demise of King Thibaw's favourite white elephant – who lived in extravagant surroundings, adorned with diamonds and fed from a gold trough – was soon followed by the monarch's ousting by British colonisers in 1885.

Burma's modern-day rulers revere the white elephant just as their royal predecessors did. In 2001, the capture of a white elephant in the jungles of Arakan state was hailed in the media as "an omen for the emergence of a prosperous, peaceful and modern state". The "royal elephant" was brought to Rangoon and presented to General Khin Nyunt – then first secretary of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) – who dressed it in full military regalia and kept it at his private temple in a northern suburb of Rangoon. In 2004 Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004 (how fucking sad)

The junta's leader, Than Shwe, and his army chiefs, now in their newly built capital Naypyidaw, are still waiting for a white elephant of their own. This would be an auspicious year to find one. Burma's first general election in 20 years will be held later in 2010, but Western governments have already dismissed the vote as a sham.

"Old symbols of the monarchy still hold some sway, and the possession of a white elephant might boost the confidence of some, but I think for most Burmese people today, just a little more spending on health and education would be a much more welcome sign of enlightened government," said the historian and author Thant Myint-U.

In the Ngwe Saung hills, the hunt goes on. Local farmers say they think the herd is protecting the elusive beast – estimated to be around five years old and 5ft tall. Farmers in the area where the creature was spotted say they have been driven off their land. They claim soldiers have cut down hardwood trees and allowed their hunting elephants to trample crops.

The search is causing misery and hardship, said Soe Tin. "No one has any idea where this elephant is," he said. "If there is a white elephant out there, I just hope they catch it very soon."

I have just one short expression to describe the shit stains who rile Burma – Pathetic scum. Here’s to their downfall and long miserable lives in prison atoning for their evil,

Burmese junta bars the Lady from forthcoming elections

I suppose this story should come as no surprise whatsoever but the scum that rule Burma have issued a law which will bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in planned elections and could force her party to expel her.

According to the BBC The new law prohibits anyone with a criminal conviction from belonging to a political party. (the sentence handed down by the kangaroo court recently following the unauthorised visit to her place of house arrest by lackwit and possible regime stooge John Yettaw sorts that one).

She was already excluded from political office by a constitutional bar on people with foreign spouses.

Her party, the NLD now faces a stark choice: expel its own leader in order to participate in the elections or opt out and forgo any further influence on the process.

Members of religious orders and civil servants are banned from joining political parties. The former have been banned presumably as a result of their role in anti-junta protests in 2007.

I know this is all no surprise but it shows once again what a craven bunch the Burmese Junta are.

Meanwhile in Burma.... junta still terrified of the Lady

Friday’s Guardian reported, unsurprisingly, sadly, that Aung San Suu Kyi (The Lady) failed in her latest bid to end more than a decade of house arrest today after the country's highest court threw out an appeal against her sentence.

The supreme court's decision was widely expected but her lawyer said he would launch a final special appeal to the supreme court after establishing the reasons why the latest attempt had been rejected. "The court order did not mention any reasons," he said.

The Lady had been sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour following the incursion on to her land of an utter fuckwit called John Yettaw (thereby gifting the scum who run Burma with a pretext for continuing to hold the Lady in detention). The sentence was immediately commuted to 18 months of house arrest by junta chief Senior General Than Shwe.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 14 years. Her National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, refused to cede power. The junta has announced it would hold elections some time this year under a constitution that would allow the military to maintain substantial power. Aung San Suu Kyi's party has not announced whether it will contest the elections.

Than Shwe and his rabble are a pathetic bunch of inadequate. How else can one describe the bunch of vicious and murderous .... Damn it has anyone got some good expressions for these sub humans? I don’t want to use too many expletives....
It remains clear that they are shit scared of one brave and resolute lady.

I still don’t understand Yettaw’s motives. At best he was a bloody idiot, at worst..... Let me just be charitable and call him a fuckwit one more time

Meanwhile in Burma...

Last month a military court in Burma has sentenced a journalist to 13 years in prison for working illegally for foreign media organisations.

According to the BBC Ngwe Soe Lin, who reported for the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma, was convicted of violating immigration laws and the Electronics Act.

Ngwe Soe Lin was arrested as he left an internet cafe in the Rangoon area of Kyaukmyaung in June 2009. After being interrogated for two months, he was sent to the city's notorious Insein prison, where his sentence was handed down.

In December, freelance journalist Hla Hla Win was jailed for 20 years on similar charges to Ngwe Soe Lin after a military court found she had provided video for the Democratic Voice of Burma.

In Burma Hell goes round and round

Total and Burmese Junta rake in the cash

According to the Independent the Burmese junta has earned almost $5bn from a controversial gas pipeline operated by the French oil giant Total. Unsurprisingly the junta has not chosen to invest this money in the nation’s infrastructure, instead depositing almost all the money in bank accounts in Singapore.

A report published today by Earth Rights International (ERI) say that Total says that the windfall from the Yadana pipeline, operated by Total and two other partners, has been so huge that it has done much to insulate the country's military rulers from the impact of international sanctions imposed over its human rights abuses. While their people suffer some of the worst standards of living in Asia, with miserable state investment in health, education, infrastructure and everything else that affects the lives of ordinary people, the self-perpetuating military elite has grown obscenely wealthy.

The pipeline in eastern Burma, which carries gas from rich fields in the Andaman Sea through Burma and into Thailand, has long been controversial. Campaigners have regularly claimed that the authorities have used forced labour in the project, security for which is provided by the Burmese armed forces. Last month, Total rejected claims that forced labour was still being used.

In the report, Total Impact, which has taken two years to research, ERI says the junta, headed by General Than Shwe, manages to avoid including almost all its dollar gas revenues in the national budget by using an artificially low exchange rate. This way it calculates its revenue as just 6 kyat to the dollar when the real rate is closer to 1,000. According to a confidential IMF report obtained by ERI, the natural gas revenue "contributed less than 1 per cent of total budget revenue in 2007/08, but would have contributed about 57 per cent if valued at the market exchange rate". The report says that at these rates, the regime has listed just $29m of its earnings while around $4.8bn is unaccounted for.

"The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the people's revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia," said ERI's Matthew Smith, the report's main author. "The revenue from this pipeline is the regime's lifeline and a critical leverage point that the international community could use to support the people of Burma."
The apparent disregard for its people is a charge that has long been levelled at the Burmese junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council. The group Burma Campaign UK has estimated the regime's spending on health services is the lowest in the world – just 50 pence per person a year – while it spends up to half its budget on the military.

The Burmese Embassy in London has failed to respond to questions about the report's allegations. A spokeswoman for Total said it was unable to respond comprehensively to the claims made by ERI as it had not seen the document. Asked about its earning in Burma, the spokeswoman said: "We do not usually comment on our earnings per country. Nevertheless our amount in Myanmar represents 0.7 per cent of the group's results." In 2008, the group's income was €13.9bn (around $20bn), suggesting Total annually earns $140m from Burma and its controversial pipeline.

Sadly not a word of this item surprises me in the very least. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t anger me though. But then what would you expect when a brutal regime and amoral capitalists get into bed. It’s always “Fuck the people, let’s make profit” Perhaps the not-wife is right and the asteroid that wipes out humanity can’t come fast enough.

Burmese Junta still terrified of The Lady

The Lady

The BBC has just reported that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Lady, has been sentenced to an additional 18 months house arrest by a court in Rangoon.

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, was convicted of breaking the terms of her house arrest by allowing American John Yettaw into her lakeside home in May. She had been jailed for three years with hard labour, but this was commuted to house arrest.

Ms Suu Kyi had denied the charge but said she expected to be convicted.

It was no surprise that she would be hound guilty by the sham trial. After all it would never do to let the Lady actually take place in an election again. Better for that maggot Than Shwe and his junta of vermin to prevent her from participating than having to ignore her inevitable victory.

I can’t help think that Yettaw was put up to this so as to extend her incarceration and keep her out of next year’s elections

Than Shwe - A piece of human excrement

Aung San Suu Kyi’s 5,000th Days of Detention

Today marks the 5,000th day of incarceration for Nobel Peace Prize Winner (and who should have been the real leader of the Burmese state in 1990) Aung San Suu Kyi, The brutal scum that make up the Burmese junta must have thought that by putting her out of circulation she would have been forgotten by the world. How wrong they were! That said the response of the world could and should have been far more robust than it has been.

We are reminded by Andrew Buncombe in today’s Independent on Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi will spend the day in detention accompanied by two women. At present she is being held in a "guesthouse" in the grounds of Rangoon's Insein jail. For the six previous years she in a lakeside house with no television, radio or phone.

As is (or should be) well known she has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American swam to her home and spent the night there. As Andrew Buncombe reminds us her real “crime” was to win an election nearly two decades ago. Moreover, she strikes fear in the heart of the vermin Than Shwe and his junta because even now she can do something they never could for all their brutal force – and that is to unite the Burmese people.
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, The National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide election victory in 1990. But this election was simply ignored by the junta. It was at that time that the opposition leader was first imprisoned, for a period of three years.

She has spent almost 14 of the past 19 years under house arrest. On occasion, the junta has made clear it would release her if she agreed to leave Burma but she has always chosen to remain a part of her country's struggle. In 1999, while temporarily free, she faced the agonising choice of visiting her dying husband, the British academic Michael Aris, who had been refused a visa to enter Burma. Fearful that if she left she would never be allowed to return, she stayed in Burma without seeing her husband again.

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, said the reason for her continued detention was very simple. In a country that has been brutalised by violence and the fear of violence, ordinary people will still, in private, whisper about the "the lady" and how she could help fix their broken land. "It might be one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world but they are terrified of this one woman," he added. "They hoped by keeping her detained the world would forget about Burma, but the opposite has happened. The fact that she has now spent 5,000 days in detention should shame world leaders who have tolerated this situation."

Ms Suu Kyi is just the best known of an estimated 2,000 or more political prisoners being held by the regime. I hope that the day comes and comes soon that the Junta will be swept away into the sewers of history, stopping first to receive a very long dose of what they have inflicted on these people.

UN General Secretary delivers a speech for deaf ears

The Sydney Morning Herald published an extract of a public speech by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon (above) that outlines his vision for a democratic Burma.

Ban told an audience of diplomats, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations at the Drug Elimination Museum in Rangoon that the military regime must free the Aung San Suu Kyi and introduce other reforms for the good of the country's people.

"I am here today to say: Myanmar, you are not alone. We want to work with you for a united, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and modern Myanmar. We want to help you rise from poverty ... work with you so that your country can take its place as a respected and responsible member of the international community, but let me emphasise: neither peace nor development can thrive without democracy and respect for human rights. Myanmar is no exception."

Than Shwe, brutal thug

Junta chief Than Shwe (above) earlier Saturday refused to let Ban visit Aung San Suu Kyi, who is in prison facing trial over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May. Ban Than Shwe's snub as "deeply disappointing" and said in his speech that all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, "should be released without delay".

Ban also urged the junta to ensure that elections promised in 2010 should be free and fair. Critics say they will be a sham that will allow the ruling generals to entrench their power."The upcoming election, the first in 20 years, must be inclusive, participatory and transparent if it is to be credible,"

I agree whole heartedly with the words and the sentiments of the General Secretary. Sadly I cannot imagine them cutting any ice with the brutal thugs that run Burma. A case of fine words falling on deaf ears, sadly. There’s a fat chance of the junta giving up the levers of control... Prising the levers out of their cold, dead hands is a thought though

Aung San Suu Kyi

From the Huffington Post A stunning new depiction of Aung San Suu Kyi by Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic image of Barack Obama.

Meanwhile in Burma Suu Kyi supporters are jailed for praying

A Burmese court has sentenced two supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months in prison simply for praying for her release.

According to the BBC Chit Pe and Aung Saw Wei were arrested in April after leading prayers at a pagoda in Twante, about 40km (30 miles) south of Yangon. They were convicted of insulting religion after leading prayers at a pagoda for Ms Suu Kyi and other activists to be freed
Supporters traditionally pray for the release of Ms Suu Kyi and other activists at Buddhist pagodas. But prison sentences for insulting religion were rare in Burma until the law was resurrected in 2007 to jail monks demonstrating against the military authorities, and has since been largely used to prosecute political cases.

As if we really needed it here is more proof that the Burmese regime is evil

Lest we forget

Aung San Suu Kyi is 64 today

Burmese regime find new excuse to extend Aung San Suu Kyi's detention

Perhaps it comes as no surprise, given the nature of the Burmese regime, that Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with violating terms of her house arrest following the arrest last week of John Yettaw. She could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

Suu Kyi was taken to a prison compound where she will be tried in connection with Yettaw’s (for the want of a better word) trespass. He was arrested on 6 May after swimming across a lake to her house and staying there secretly for two days. Suu Kyi’s trial will almost certainly be used to justify another extension of Suu Kyi's illegal detention which officially ends on 27 May.

"Everyone is very angry with this wretched American. He is the cause of all these problems," a Suu Kyi lawyer, Kyi Win, told reporters. "He's a fool." The lawyer said the incident was merely a breach of security in the lakeside area where authorities normally keep close watch over Suu Kyi and her household.

Kyi Win said Suu Kyi would be held in a house inside Insein compound, a prison holds both common criminals and political prisoners and where, according to human rights groups, torture and mistreatment of prisoners are common. Also to be tried are Suu Kyi's two helpers, Khin Khin Win, 65, and her daughter Win Ma Ma, 41, who have lived with her since her current detention began in 2003.

Suu Kyi, 63, has spent more than 13 of the last 19 years including the past six in detention without trial for her non-violent promotion of democracy, despite international pressure for her release

I daresay that Yettaw is viewed as a godsend by the Burmese regime given that they were probably down to using “wearing a loud shirt in a built up area at night” as a justification for her continued detention ... not that they needed an excuse I suppose.

Burmese junta releases Win Tin

The release of Burma’s longest-held prisoner of conscience is reported in today’s Times and widely reported worldwide too. In a move that damns the nation’s brutal regime with faint praise he was released yesterday in an apparent (and futile) attempt to improve its image a year after its brutal crackdown on democracy demonstrations.

Win Tin, a 78-year-old former journalist, was released after 19 years in Insein prison in the city of Rangoon. For much of the time he was held in solitary confinement, including a period in a room intended for prison dogs.

“I will keep fighting until the emergence of democracy in this country,” he said in Rangoon, a few hours after his release. He was still wearing his blue prison overalls as a symbol of rejection of the spin put on his release by the Government — that it was part of an “amnesty” of 9,002 prisoners to “turn them into citizens to be able to participate in building a new nation. I did not accept their terms for the amnesty,” Mr Win said. “I refused to be one of 9,002. They should have released me five years ago. They owe me a few years."

Mr Win, a poet and former magazine editor, was an adviser of Aung San Suu Kyi. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 1989 during a crackdown on government opponents. In 1996 he received an additional seven-year sentence for writing a testimonial on torture and lack of medical treatment in Insein, and sending it to the UN. As a punishment he was forced to sleep in a room intended for military dogs and was deprived of food and water.

At least six other political prisoners were released yesterday, at a time when Burmese are remembering the brutal suppression of democracy demonstrations last year. The amnesty may be an attempt to pre-empt commemorations of the peaceful uprising with a move that will win approval from Western governments and human rights groups.

Amnesty International estimates that there are 2,100 political prisoners in Burma. “These seven people should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and there are many, many more who should also be released,” Benjamin Zawacki, of Amnesty International, said.

While it it pleasing to see Win Tin released it is only a drop in a bucket – a token gesture. The people of Burma will not see better times until their regime is swept into the dustbin of history.

Aung Sang Suu Kyi remains under close arrest.

The Power of Panties

Again I’m not sure how I missed this when it was originally reported on Friday but it appears that activists exasperated at the failure of diplomacy to put pressure on the Burmese, regime are trying a very different approach - involving underwear

Embassies in the UK, Thailand, Australia and Singapore have all been targeted by the "Panties for Peace" campaign, co-ordinated by an activist group based in Thailand. The action is a calculated insult to the junta and its leader, General Than Shwe. Superstitious junta members believe that any contact with female undergarments - clean or dirty - will sap them of their power.

"Not only are they brutal, but they are also very superstitious. They believe that touching a woman's pants or sarong will make them lose their strength," said Jackie Pollack, a member of the Lanna Action for Burma Committee. So far, hundreds of pairs of pants have been posted, according to another campaigner, Liz Hilton. "One group sent 140 pairs to the Burmese embassy in Geneva," she said.

Although it sounds like a prank the campaign is a serious attempt to allow ordinary women to express their outrage at the regime's response to democracy demonstrations. "Condemnation by the United Nations and governments around the world have had no impact on the Burmese regime. This is a way of trying to reach them where they will feel it," Ms Pollack said."The junta is famous for its abuse of women: it is well documented that they use rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities. This is a way for women around the world to express their outrage."

A message on the website Lanna Action for Burma reads: "This is your chance to use your Panty Power to take away the power from the SPDC. You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often."

Again this sounded like a silly joke when I first saw the story (it could well still be) but if the Burmese junta are that worried about knickers then I would suggest the MOD places an order with Marks and Spencer forthwith, load up a few Trident missiles with unmentionables in assorted colours and styles and aim the buggers at Naypidaw. Hopefully a couple of dozen kilopanty airbursts over the Burmese capital should have Than Shwe running like hell!

In the meantime the not-wife has undertaken to wear the same pair of knickers next week then send them to the Burmese embassy. She will of course write BURMA on the envelope (This time standing for Be Unseated Rapidly Murdering Arseholes). It’s just as well the junta are not scared of men’s undergarments. My underwear is a serious biohazard after a single day.


Note, the address of the Burmese embassy in the UK is:

Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
19a Charles St
London, W1J 5DX