Leading insurers Chubb and XL Capital quit Burma - Telegraph: "Two leading insurance companies are pulling out of the Burmese market in response to human rights offences being committed by the country's military dictatorship.
The insurers, Chubb and XL Capital, announced their withdrawals in separate statements today.
It comes just three weeks after a Burma Campaign UK report, Insuring Repression, which highlighted the flow of billions of dollars from insurance companies to the Burmese regime."
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Leading insurers Chubb and XL Capital quit Burma - Telegraph(MORE)
Russia claims pullback but forces move other way - Yahoo! News(MORE)
Russia claims pullback but forces move other way - Yahoo! News: "By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 19, 1:56 AM ET
GORI, Georgia - Russia said Monday it had begun withdrawing from the conflict zone in Georgia, but it held fast to key positions and sent some of its troops in the opposite direction — closer to the Georgian capital.
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Russian troops and vehicles roamed freely around the strategically located central city of Gori, Russian forces appeared to blow up the runway at a military base in the western town of Senaki.
There were few signs Russia was following the terms of a cease-fire to end the short war, which has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of their highest levels since the breakup of the Soviet Union."
Taiwan Wants To Force XP Out Of Retirement - Microsoft Blog - InformationWeek(MORE)
Taiwan Wants To Force XP Out Of Retirement - Microsoft Blog - InformationWeek: "I like XP, I really do. It's got a lot of life in it, and runs on systems where Vista can't even fit. But Taiwan's announcement of an antitrust investigation into Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s retirement of XP is just crazy.
Let's review where XP stands. Although you can't buy a retail license of XP as of June 30, you can buy Vista Business or Vista Ultimate licenses and exercise the XP downgrade rights. Some major OEMs like Dell (Dell) are are even listening to their customers and doing the downgrade at the factory. So although XP isn't as easy to get or as cheap as it once was, it's still available."
Mekong Flood Warning System Fails(MORE)
Mekong Flood Warning System Fails: "BANGKOK — As communities along the Mekong River face some of the worst floods in decades, a flood warning network that combines scientific and local knowledge is under scrutiny. Activists say it has failed its first major test."
The End of the Post-Soviet Era
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/369956.htm
"19 August 2008
By Sarah E. Mendelson
The dream that many inside and outside Russia had since the Soviet collapse -- to see Russia integrated with the West -- was crushed long before Russian tanks rolled into Georgia. The Kremlin's assault on democratic institutions such as the press, political parties and the parliament began years ago. The controlled process by which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin moved from president to prime minister was the defining moment. It marked the end of the post-Soviet era."
Pundits and policymakers in Washington are now scrambling frantically to figure out what a new U.S. policy should look like. Will the United States be successful in forging this new policy together with Europe, or will there be divisions? No one I have talked to has good answers yet to these questions, but surely the answers will come through analyzing what type of power Russia is and what type of power the United States wants to be.
Under Putin, Russia has been advancing a sort of "benevolent authoritarianism." The government has engaged in elaborate soft-power projects at home and abroad, such as the Nashi youth movement, Russia Today satellite television and rewriting history books. This effort seemed to be paying off. Many world leaders view Russia as a status quo power -- one that is needed to help solve some of the world's most difficult problems, such as Iran and North Korea. At the same time, they tend to dismiss Russia's human rights abuses, violations of international law and poor governance inside the country.
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The quandary for the United States is that it has only two models to choose from: a containment policy from the Cold War era or a policy of integrating Russia as used in the post-Soviet era. Neither approach is appropriate today.
I do not believe that Russia currently poses an existential threat to the United States or the West as it did during the Cold War, despite its nuclear arsenal. But evidence suggests that the Kremlin is interested in shaping a new international order and taking advantage of the decline in U.S. influence worldwide. President Dmitry Medvedev's July 15 speech calling for a new international collective security arrangement is one such example.
The United States must proceed with enormous caution. On the one hand, it is true that existing institutions such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe are feeble. On the other hand, Russia has exerted much greater influence on every multilateral institution to which it is a party than the reverse. The Kremlin has successfully used divide-and-conquer strategies numerous times on numerous issues, including at the United Nations, where it (together with China) successfully delayed international responses to Darfur, Burma and Zimbabwe. The Kremlin is sending a clear message to the world: Countries can commit horrendous human rights abuses with impunity.
At a minimum, this lack of response has had an enabling quality. While violating another state's sovereignty, Russia advances a 19th-century approach to international affairs. It views democracy as a rather weak system and unsuitable for Russia. It also considers the elastic sovereignty of the European Union soft and ineffective. The Kremlin has betted on international ambivalence toward Russia's crackdown on the opposition and its monopolization of power, and I fear that it made a good bet.
The West has not yet identified what ought to replace containment or integration, but diplomacy will be critical to the task. Moscow will be largely successful in undermining the human rights and democracy agenda until and unless the United States adopts smarter policies and coordinates with Europeans. There should be no gap between Washington and its European allies on these issues.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered a speech months ago in Kansas about the need for enhanced U.S. capacity "to engage, assist and communicate with other parts of the world." His points about civilian national security capacity are relevant for a new U.S. policy on Russia. This new policy, which has yet to be constructed, will not be mainly about military might. Instead, as Gates points out, the United States has weakened and even obliterated many policy instruments and agencies that it will need in order to face future Russian challenges.
Going forward, there will be much speculation about what the new policies toward Russia should look like. For the next decade, we will most likely see a continuation or strengthening of Putin's policies, with Russia slipping farther from the West and with the Kremlin forming its own set of allies and networks. Yet in contrast to the myth that Putin is modernizing the country, the government structure is rotten with corruption.
Putin's platform cannot respond to the challenges Russia faces internally. And here may lie the seeds of a future democratic Russia. Maybe within a decade -- maybe two decades -- Russians will become tired of the manufactured Soviet nostalgia we see today and begin to demand governance structures that are more consistent with the dreams many of us had when the Soviet Union collapsed. While the role of outsiders will likely be modest in this future transformation, we should be thinking about how to get back to that ideal. It is in both U.S. and Russian national security interests to do so.
Sarah E. Mendelson is director of the Human Rights and Security Initiative at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.
BURMA NEWS: MYANMAR /TIBET NEWS , BURMA DISASTER NEWS, FREE BURMA / TIBET NEWS: Heavy Rains, Chinese Dams Lead to Flooding(MORE)
BURMA NEWS: MYANMAR /TIBET NEWS , BURMA DISASTER NEWS, FREE BURMA / TIBET NEWS: Heavy Rains, Chinese Dams Lead to Flooding: "Tuenjai said the flooding is a long-term concern for people living along the Mekong River which run through China, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. one of the main problems, she said, is a series of river dams built by China in the past decade, according to a report on the Mekong Post Web site."
China undeserving ,値しない中国
China undeserving | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin:
"China is a major trade partner, major arms supplier and major defender of the junta in the international arena, especially in the United Nations Security Council. The military junta in Burma is still in power, despite strong and continuous resistance by the people of Burma, because of China´s support."
" 中国は国連安全保障理事会の国際的な場の会議の主要な貿易相手国、主要な武器の供給業者および主要な擁護者、特にである。 ビルマの軍の会議は中国サポートのためにビルマの人々によって強く、連続的な抵抗にもかかわらず力に、まだある。
China has provided billions of dollars in weapons, used its veto power at the U.N. Security Council to paralyze peaceful efforts at change, and unilaterally undermined diplomatic efforts to free the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and all political prisoners.
中国はU.Nの安全保障理事会で拒否権使用される武器のドルの十億を変更で平和な努力を無力にする提供し世界を放すための一方的に下を掘られた外交的な取り組みはノーベル平和賞受け手、Aung San Suu Kyiおよびすべての政治犯だけを投獄した。
I think morally it is premature to allow China to host the Olympics. We cannot overlook policies that violate the conscience in favor of a facade of peace. That would be too convenient and irresponsible for the rest of the world to do.
私は道徳的に中国がオリンピックを催すように早期であることを考える。 私達は平和の正面を支持して良心に違反する方針を見落とすことができない。 それはするべきその他の国々のために余りに便利、責任のない。
Ten-Seng Guh
Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts unearthed in Myanmar | Latest News(MORE)
Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts unearthed in Myanmar | Latest News: "New Delhi, August 18 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has unearthed ancient artifacts from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in Myanmar.
Found in Thazi township in the central Mandalay division by the Archaeological, Natural Museum and Libraries Department under the Ministry of Culture, the artifacts provide an evidence of transition from Bronze culture to Iron culture in Myanmar."
ReliefWeb » Document » Myanmar: Cyclone-hit farmers switch to fishing(MORE)
ReliefWeb » Document » Myanmar: Cyclone-hit farmers switch to fishing: "Meanwhile, agriculture experts warn that the more farmers face problems with equipment and seeds, the greater the chance that the country will face a rice shortage in future. They are calling on the international community for greater assistance.
'It's not a good sign to see the farmers fishing instead of working on a field,' one local agriculture expert, who preferred anonymity, warned. 'Their basic needs should be secured so they can concentrate on their [farming],' he said."
Free Preview - WSJ.com
Free Preview - WSJ.com: "A New Breed of Monk Rises in Myanmar
By a WSJ Staff Reporter
Word Count: 1,160
SAGAING, Myanmar -- Sitagu Sayadaw sits on a raised platform, three visitors kneeling below him, and explains the source of his power as a Buddhist monk. 'I don't have any guns but I have very strong weapons: love, kindness and compassion,' he says, as two novice monks massage his feet.
He also possesses two traits that have propelled him to the equivalent of monastic superstardom in this Buddhist but military-run country: a knack for self-promotion and a keen sense of self-preservation.
Mr. Sitagu Sayadaw represents a new breed of monk who eschews traditional asceticism in favor of tactics more familiar ..."
SFFB Investing in his neighbors: A former dentist helps fellow refugees learn the mysteries of money management(MORE)
SFFB Investing in his neighbors: A former dentist helps fellow refugees learn the mysteries of money management: "Most of the 4,000 to 5,000 Burmese immigrants in Fort Wayne, even those who were professionals or had college educations before leaving their native country, earn modest incomes. Kyi said many work in factories or slaughterhouses. Hundreds of women who sewed for Vera Bradley suppliers lost their jobs recently. Some women find work as cooks or servers.
Another obstacle is the absence of many traditional financial services in Burma. Most Burmese know little or nothing about retirement savings, insurance, home mortgages or interest rates."
Junta commander: Thailand violating Burmese sovereignty — Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.)(MORE)
Junta commander: Thailand violating Burmese sovereignty — Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.): "Junta commander: Thailand violating Burmese sovereignty
In a public speech given to the local officials and people yesterday at a location in Shan State’s Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai, the Burma Army commander of the Triangle Region Command had charged Thailand of “violating the territorial integrity” of Burma, according to sources on the border.
19 August 2008"
U.N., Myanmar resolve aid currency problem, in theory(MORE)
U.N., Myanmar resolve aid currency problem, in theory: "BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United Nations and Myanmar have resolved a problem with distorted official exchange rates that led to U.N. losses of more than $1.5 million in the delivery of aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. U.N. officials said on Monday the military government had agreed to let outside donors pay local companies directly and in U.S. dollars, rather than via the official, long-winded system involving foreign exchange certificates.BANGKOK (Reuters) - The United Nations and Myanmar have resolved a problem with distorted official exchange rates that led to U.N. losses of more than $1.5 million in the delivery of aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis. U.N. officials said on Monday the military government had agreed to let outside donors pay local companies directly and in U.S. dollars, rather than via the official, long-winded system involving foreign exchange certificates."
Myanmar natural gas sales up 25 percent: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance(MORE)
Myanmar natural gas sales up 25 percent: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's natural gas sales soared nearly 25 percent to $2.5 billion in the financial year through March, according to official statistics."
Gambari has Big Agenda during Visit(MORE)
Gambari has Big Agenda during Visit: "Burmese dissidents called for UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari to call for tripartite talks with opposition groups, the release of political prisoners and to deliver frank accounts of his meetings with opposition groups and Burmese officials"
Is Suu Kyi Trying to Get the Message Out?(MORE)
Is Suu Kyi Trying to Get the Message Out?: "Neighbors of the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said a new message appeared last month on a large outdoor signboard in her compound, saying, “All martyrs must finish their mission.”"
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