BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 22, 2010-UTK

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 22, 2010
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Reuters - Suu Kyi could be a boon for Myanmar's old soldiers
Al Jazeera - Aung San Suu Kyi
Scoop.co.nz - Myanmar Cyclone Victims Start to Rebuild But Need More Funds, UN Reports
VIVA News - Aung San Suu Kyi Thanks Indonesia
IRIN News - MYANMAR: Cyclone Giri survivors still need shelter
Brisbane Times - Time for a change as Asia's stars rise in the East
Industrial Fuels and Power - India’s NHPC looking to build 12.47GW of hydropower in Myanmar
NPR - The New Republic: Burmese Junta Can't Be Ignored
San Clemente Times - SC Woman Helps in Myanmar
Hindustan Times - Impressions of Myanmar
Foreign Relations - Burma Bombshell
The Irrawaddy - USDP Files Lawsuits Alleging Vote Rigging
The Irrawaddy - Seeking the Cold Truth About Burma
The Irrawaddy - Next Year Crucial for Democracy Movement: Suu Kyi
The Irrawaddy - A Vietnam Syndrome for Burma?
Mizzima News - UN nuclear watchdog asks regime to allow inspections
DVB News - DVB reporter gets 8 year jail term
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Suu Kyi could be a boon for Myanmar's old soldiers
By Martin Petty
BANGKOK | Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:58pm IST

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's military rulers are not getting softer as they maintain their longstanding grip on power, but by freeing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, they could be getting smarter.

Myanmar's democratic facelift is almost complete and with the spotlight firmly on the recently released Nobel laureate, the generals have the perfect distraction to consolidate power behind a civilian-fronted government for decades to come.

A landslide win last month by an army-backed party in an election fraught with allegations of fraud will ensure political and economic power remains in the hands of the current leaders after a government is formed in the next six weeks.

Analysts suggest that Suu Kyi, the arch-enemy of 77-year-old junta supremo Than Shwe and number two Maung Aye, 72, might now be more of an asset than a threat.

The charismatic Suu Kyi, whose party boycotted the poll, has no political role in the new system.

But she has been given an unprecedented free rein that has revived hopes of Western engagement and eased international pressure on the regime as it adds the finishing touches to its new military-managed democracy.

"They're extremely reluctant to release control. They still want to rule this country completely," said Aung Thu Nyein, a Harvard-educated academic and expert on Myanmar politics.

"The generals feel very secure now because of their party's landslide win. China and their other allies have endorsed the polls. They can rule the country as civilians and Suu Kyi is no longer a threat to them."

The release from house arrest of Suu Kyi, analysts say, was no act of benevolence on the part of her foes, who have yet to respond to her calls for dialogue. Most believe the military, which has ruled for almost half a century and curtailed the country's development, will continue to ignore her.

FREE REIN FOR SUU KYI

But the reclusive junta's restraint in letting Suu Kyi conduct myriad media interviews and meetings with diplomats and political allies suggests they might want her to do something they seem incapable of: initiating engagement with the West.

Experts say Suu Kyi could be key to boosting the country's tainted image, and a chance to get Western sanctions lifted, attract foreign businesses and reduce Myanmar's dependence on neighbouring China, its biggest political and economic ally.

"They're trying to use Suu Kyi and (show) a glimmer of reform for their own purposes, namely, to encourage greater investment and re-engage with the West as a hedge against China," said Josh Kurlantzick of the U.S-based Council on Foreign Relations.

"I don't think they want to be this close to China. I think they have concerns about any closeness with any major power, so they need to hedge against that."

Some analysts say the regime's elaborate democratic facade and Suu Kyi's release could have been designed to appease its neighbours and other Asian trade partners, rather than the West.

Their willingness to play ball with a dictatorship has frustrated the West but they can -- and probably will -- now argue that the country once known as Burma is a fledgling democracy moving in the right direction.

The army-dominated parliament, which has limited powers, will choose a president most likely to be one of the junta top brass, who can appoint almost anyone to serve in the government. There is no requirement for ministers to have been elected.

The status quo scenario, whereby the junta and its allies continue to dominate politics and the economy and sideline their opponents, would therefore mean even closer ties with China and other Asian nations. Many of those countries are more likely to accept the regime's grip on power from behind-the-scenes.

ASIAN FOCUS

Others argue that this approach might be more beneficial to the regime: by opening its doors to the West, it could face pressure to reform, become transparent and introduce a proper regulatory framework that might be unfavourable to its business cronies, many of whom are also the targets of sanctions.

Myanmar is already reaching out to Southeast Asia, likening itself to neighbouring Thailand -- one of Asia's most attractive emerging markets -- and touting its vast natural resources, energy reserves and tourism potential.

A brochure by the newly formed Myanmar Business Council distributed at a recent Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting reads: "Unfavourable sanctions leaves Myanmar to focus on their neighbours."

What experts are sure about is that unlike the old adage, Myanmar's old soldiers won't be fading away.

"They've put a very positive spin on things and we would be naive to think Burma is moving forward," said Aung Zaw, editor of the Thai-based Irrawaddy magazine.

"There's no sign the regime is willing to open up. They've released Suu Kyi to provide a distraction and there's no sign of dialogue or compromise with her.

"We've seen this all before. The regime is very, very confident it will have full control of the country and when Suu Kyi steps out of line, they'll lock her up again."
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Al Jazeera - Aung San Suu Kyi
A dialogue with the recently released Burmese dissident about democracy, conflict, and the need for reconciliation.
News special Last Modified: 22 Dec 2010 14:00 GMT

Aung San Suu Kyi, the recently released Burmese dissident, has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression and human rights violations in Myanmar.

The 65-year-old has spent most of the last 20 years in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to military-ruled Burma.

In 1991, one year after her party, the National League for Democracy, won an overwhelming victory in an election the junta later nullified, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now she talks to Al Jazeera about the country's future, the need for change, and why she believes that national reconciliation is the road Myanmar has to take to get the country out of the present state of economic stagnation and political unfreedom.

She speaks about democracy, development, a strong civil society, and the humanitarian situation in Myanmar - and how change and progress could be achieved.

To put the challenges facing Myanmar into global context we are joined by a distinguished panel of experts:

Helping us facilitate the dialogue is Maung Zarni, a Burmese dissident and an academic research fellow at the London School of Economis. His first-hand knowledge of Burma allows him to share his insights of armed conflicts, resistance, and the Burmese military.

Mary Kaldor is professor and co-director of Gobal Governance. She has written extensively on global civil society, how ordinary people organise to change the way their countries and global institutions are run.

Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political commentator and regular colomnist for the UK newspaper The Guardian. He is professor of European studies at Oxford University. His main interest is civil resistance and the role of Europe and the old West in an increasingly western world. In 2000, Aung San Suu Kyi invited Professor Garton Ash to Burma to speak to members of her party, the National League for Democracy, about transitions to democracies.

At the Crossroads: a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi can be seen from Wednesday, December 22, at the following times GMT: Wednesday: 0030, 0730; Thursday: 1230, 1900.
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Press Release: United Nations
Scoop.co.nz - Myanmar Cyclone Victims Start to Rebuild But Need More Funds, UN Reports
New York, Dec 21 2010 3:10PM

Local communities in Myanmar have shown remarkable resilience in coping with the destruction caused by Cyclone Giri, which killed at least 45 people and affected 260,000 others two months ago, with substantial food, healthcare and emergency shelters distributed, according to a new United Nations assessment.

“Humanitarian emergency assistance is forthcoming, and people are slowly starting to rebuild their communities with what little they have left and the aid they are receiving,” the UN Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli told international donors on his return to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, from visiting several villages in Rakhine state to see relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the category 4 cyclone.

But the humanitarian community in Myanmar still needs funding, according to a news release. Only $20.5 million of the estimated $57 million required for both emergency and early recovery phases have so far been allocated by donors, with the main gap occurring in early recovery shelter and livelihood support, he said.

“People are in dire need of more permanent shelter structures and livelihood support,” said Mr. Parajuli, calling their resilience remarkable. “The destruction in these villages has been massive. Up to 70 to 80 per cent of all houses were completely destroyed and schools and health facilities are severely damaged.”

People now rely on emergency supplies distributed to the worst-hit areas by the Government, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN agencies.

According to Government estimates, at least 20,000 houses were completely destroyed, leaving over 100,000 people homeless, and 56 per cent of schools have collapsed or been damaged. Some 17,500 acres of agricultural lands and nearly 50,000 acres of agricultural ponds were also destroyed.

The response from the authorities and the international humanitarian community was immediate and relief and recovery efforts will continue in the coming months, said Mr. Parajuli, who is also UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative.

He was accompanied on his three-day mission by officials from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The delegation met with Government officials and staff from UN agencies and international and local NGOs based in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, and Myebon, where the most severe damage occurred in the 22 October cyclone. They also visited the villages of Min Chaung and Shin Taung in Myebon Township and Byine Thit in Pauktaw Township.

Following the November distributions, WFP and eight partners plan to distribute an additional 6,500 metric tons of mixed food commodities to nearly 200,000 beneficiaries in the four affected townships this month and next. In the livelihood sector, efforts include renovation of embankments, cash-for-work and restoration of fishermen’s livelihoods.

In education, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is supporting the provision of 100 temporary learning spaces and has so far provided school kits to 7,000 children, as well as implementing an expanded immunization plan. As of 10 December, emergency shelter kits had reached 38 per cent of the 52,000 affected households and additional relief items for 22,000 households are planned for the coming months.
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Aung San Suu Kyi Thanks Indonesia
Since Suu Kyi stepped out of her house arrest on November 13.
Rabu, 22 Desember 2010, 14:52 WIB
Renne R.A Kawilarang, Denny Armandhanu

VIVAnews - Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung Sa Suu Kyi is thankful of Indonesia's backup in promoting democracy in Burma. According to spokesperson of Foreign Affairs Ministry Michael Tene, Suu Kyi's appreciation over Indonesia was expressed through phone calls with Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa yesterday, Dec 21.

"Suu Kyi expected that Indonesia is capable of giving positive suggestions to Myanmar in the future," Tene said.

Indonesia, said Tene, stated its stance against Suu Kyi's house arrest. Mr Natalegawa emphasized Indonesia's consistency in condemning Suu Kyi's house arrest.

"Foreign Affairs Minister told Suu Kyi that Indonesia has been consistent over any attempt on Suu Kyi's freedom and is glad over her release," said Tene.

Moreover, Natalegawa also articulated his belief over Suu Kyi's role on the democracy in Myanmar.

"The Minister said Indonesia is convinced that Suu Kyi can become part of future solutions and progress in Myanmar," he said.

Since Suu Kyi stepped out of her house arrest on November 13, she actively makes approaches toward some state figures.

The 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been jailed or under house arrest for more than 15 of the last 21 years, and has become a symbol for the struggle for freedom from military rule.

One of her most famous speeches is the "Freedom From Fear" speech, which begins: "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
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MYANMAR: Cyclone Giri survivors still need shelter

RAKHINE STATE, 22 December 2010 (IRIN) - Two months after Cyclone Giri struck the west coast of Myanmar, Kyi Than and his family of four are still living in a tiny makeshift hut with another family.

"We don't know how long we have to live like this," said Kyi Than, a day labourer in his 40s. When the cyclone destroyed their house, Kyi Than and his neighbour scavenged for anything useful to build a new home.

Their two families, nine members in total, now live in a makeshift hut just 3.3m by 2.1m wide and 1.8m high, which has no floor but a tarpaulin sheet on the ground.

Kyi Than is worried the dwelling will not last until the monsoon season in May.

Two months since the category-four storm struck on 22 October - affecting an estimated 260,000 and leaving 45 dead - shelter remains a pressing need.

According to the UN, up to 70-80 percent of all houses in the villages of Min Chaung and Shin Taung in Myebon Township and Byine Thit in Pauktaw Township were destroyed, while schools and health facilities were severely damaged.

"[The] most precarious conditions are prevailing even after two months," Thierry Delbreuve, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar, who visited the affected area, told IRIN. "Those families who lost their homes are living in public buildings or with host families and in temporarily erected structures covered with tarps."

More shelter kits needed

Cyclone Giri, which made landfall in four townships of the western Rakhine state, left more than 100,000 people homeless, after completely destroying over 20,000 houses, and damaging another 30,000.

In an effort to provide emergency shelters, the government, UN agencies, and international and local NGOs have been delivering tarpaulin sheets, ropes, tents, and tools to the survivors.

According to OCHA, as of 10 December emergency kits have been distributed in 38 percent of the cyclone-affected areas.

However, many cyclone-affected families have yet to receive any help.

"Many families are still in need of tarpaulin sheets with which they can make the roof or the walls for their makeshift huts," one aid worker from an international agency said on condition of anonymity. "But we are still unable to provide emergency kits to all the needy households due to lack of sufficient funds."

Logistical challenges

Insufficient funds are just one problem, with many aid agencies reporting logistical challenges in reaching those affected.

"A major challenge for our relief activities was to arrange the timely transport of relief items from Yangon to the project area," said Arno Coerver, country coordinator of Malteser International/Myanmar, a German-based relief organization.

Malteser has concentrated relief efforts in Pauktaw and Myebon townships on providing household kits and tarpaulins to 1,250 families, as well as providing emergency sanitation (latrines).

Many villages are only accessible by water. In some cases, agencies must rely on the tide to deliver aid.

Rising prices

In Rakhine State, people traditionally construct their houses with wood, bamboo, and nipa palm for roofs.

Before the cyclone, such housing material was not expensive but now prices have spiralled, with many cyclone survivors saying they have to spend at least US$500 to rebuild their homes.

"How can we afford such things when we don't have any income?" asked one woman from a small coastal village about six hours by motor boat from Myebon.

"We can't even dream of rebuilding such a house while we're unable even to find food ourselves," another cyclone survivor added.

OCHA estimates that $17.5 million is needed to repair the damaged houses and to build temporary shelters.

Given that sub-standard housing led to the extensive damage caused by the cyclone in the first place, funding for shelter activities should be a priority in order to be prepared should another cyclone make landfall in the region, Delbreuve said.

"If no sustainable solutions are found," said Delbreuve, "the international community needs to spend similar amounts every time a disaster hits the region."

According to the UN, overall funding needs for all sectors for both emergency and early recovery phases are estimated at $57 million.
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Brisbane Times - Time for a change as Asia's stars rise in the East
William Pesek
December 23, 2010

Julian Assange must feel like he was robbed. Time magazine looked past the suddenly ubiquitous founder of WikiLeaks.org to name Mark Zuckerberg ''person of the year''. The founder of Facebook was the safe choice - honour the internet celebrity connecting people, not riling them. Assange was relegated to runner-up, as was the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, and the former Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin.

Yet Asia produced more than its fair share of contenders in 2010. Time hasn't chosen an Asian since the Taiwanese-born scientist David Ho in 1996 and that was after a 10-year drought after Corazon Aquino's nod in 1986. Here are four Asian options who could easily have supplanted Zuckerberg this year.

❏ Kim Jong-un: little is known about the 27-year-old tipped to lead North Korea when his father, Kim Jong-il, dies. Yet the succession drama has gone global in a big way. The timing of the North's deadly attacks on the South this year isn't a coincidence; the Kim dynasty is in self-preservation mode.
Kim the younger would inherit an impoverished Orwellian state with nuclear weapons and geriatric, reactionary generals who might harbour doubts about a Swiss-educated Michael Jordan fan. At last month's Group of 20 summit in Seoul, I heard more than a few South Korean businessmen refer to Kim as the ''nuclear kid''. How that process goes will say much about the future of Asian markets, credit ratings and regional co-operation. Kim Jong-un may turn out to be person of the next decade.

❏ Liu Xiaobo: it's hard to think of an individual China would rather the world talk less about. Officials in Beijing are beyond enraged that the jailed activist won the Nobel peace prize. It was a well-deserved honour and China's over-the-top reaction was as surreal as it was telling.
China is racing ahead. Its economy grew at a 9.6 per cent annualised rate in the third quarter while Europe tries to stave off disaster, US unemployment rises and Japan's living standards slide. Its political development is lagging far behind, though, and Liu's Nobel put the issue in the spotlight as rarely before.

❏ Aung San Suu Kyi: never one to mince words, the Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew seems to have been extra candid in conversations with US diplomats about Burma, according to documents released by WikiLeaks. He was quoted as calling Burma's junta ''stupid'' and observing that dealing with them was like ''talking to dead people''.
Well, Suu Kyi's recent release from seven years of house arrest pumped new life into the chances of political reform in one of Asia's most isolated nations. No one believes Burma is about to roll out the welcome mat for free markets. But with Suu Kyi back in action, progress suddenly has a shot.

❏ Xie Xuren, Zhou Xiaochuan and Zhu Changhong: Xie is China's Finance Minister, Zhou runs the central bank and Zhu is chief investment officer overseeing the nation's $2.7 trillion of currency holdings. At a time when the world economy is reeling, this trio will increasingly hold our attention.

Last week, Portuguese officials could barely contain their glee over Chinese statements of financial support. The mere possibility was a tonic for European markets.

Get used to such news items involving cash-rich China. The International Monetary Fund used to be the bailout king. China seems sure to grab that role for developing and developed nations alike. Remember that when the US cuts taxes or adds stimulus it's effectively borrowing the money from China.

That gives Xie, Zhou and Zhu remarkable leverage over global markets. Get ready for the mantra of 2011: Brother, can you spare some yuan?
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Industrial Fuels and Power - India’s NHPC looking to build 12.47GW of hydropower in Myanmar
under News December 21st, 2010 by IFandP Newsroom

State-owned Indian power utility NHPC has announced that it is planning to build 20 hydropower projects with a combined generating capacity of 12,466MW in Myanmar.

Construction is expected to take place over the 2012-17 period. The projects will be in addition to the two already announced by NHPC, which will be constructed over the same period at a cost of US$5.6bn.

Such large-scale investment in a country with one of the most unpalatable regimes in the modern world is likely to attract criticism from some circles. However, the recent release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi suggests that the country could be on the verge of substantial change, with some drawing parallels to the release of Nelson Mandela, which helped hasten the end of apartheid in South Africa. The country has an economic hydropower potential of 37GW.The majority of electricity from the previously announced projects will go to Thailand, while its geographical location raises the possibility of exporting power to mainland China.
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NPR - The New Republic: Burmese Junta Can't Be Ignored
by Joshua Kurlantzick
Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Many minor Wikileaks scoops have attracted media notice — like the fact that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi apparently always travels with a buxom Ukrainian "nurse" — but one frightening disclosure in particular has not received nearly enough attention. In several cables written from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, the largest city (and former capital) of Burma, diplomats provided information about the Burmese junta's potential cooperation with North Korea, including details of what may be nascent nuclear and missile programs.

In one cable, from back in 2004, American officials reported that sources told them North Korean workers potentially were helping the junta build a ballistic missile program at one secret military site inside Burma. In another cable, a source told U.S. officials of reports that Burma is importing significant quantities of ore, possibly in order to be refined into uranium. In still another cable, sources reported on more details of covert military cooperation between Burma and North Korea, including on potential nuclear production.

The fact that two of the world's most repressive and opaque regimes could be collaborating on nuclear and missile technology is disturbing enough. But nearly as disturbing is that reports of this collaboration have been surfacing for years, mostly among Burmese exiles — yet, until recently, diplomats mostly shrugged these stories off. Indeed, foreign governments know so little about (or are so disinterested in) Burma that the junta may have been able to start building a nuclear program with scarcely anyone knowing or caring. Save Kim Jong Il, that is.

The first reports that the junta might be launching nuclear and missile programs started filtering out of Burma at least five years ago, from exiles and several foreign intelligence analysts. These reports were picked up by news outlets run by Burmese exiles, such as the Democratic Voice of Burma, a radio station based in Norway. Last winter, the respected Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) published a report detailing a range of suspicious sites in Burma and Burmese purchases of sophisticated machine tools as well as other technology that would have little civilian use. Yet, as recently as a year ago, when I spoke with several top Asian officials about the potential of a Burmese nuclear program, they pooh-poohed the possibility, saying that they doubted the junta had any real intention to build nukes, or the capabilities to get it done.

Just last month, a United Nations investigation found further evidence that North Korea was providing nuclear equipment banned for export to Burma. Proof that something problematic might be going on, in other words, is right under our noses. But, while some senior U.S. policymakers, like Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, recognize the nuclear threat in Burma, they seem to be in the minority. Several months ago, the investigative reporting outfit ProPublica reported that many officials in the U.S. government have rejected findings that suggest Burma may be working to obtain nuclear and missile capability.

Why won't foreign governments consider the possibility? Denying that Burma could be trying to construct a nuclear or missile program fits into a larger pattern of mistaken thinking about the junta — a pattern that involves seeing the regime as crazy, unpredictable, or even stupid. This attitude is evident in much of the media coverage of the country, which focuses on the junta's superstitions — it has used astrologers to help it pick propitious dates — or other bizarre tendencies. In conversations with officials from another, wealthier Asian nation last year, I was repeatedly told how hard it was to deal with the junta because its leaders have little education. Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has been blunter, telling American diplomats, in one conversation captured in a Wikileaks-released cable, that the junta is "dense."

To be sure, building a nuclear program is a serious undertaking — witness the trouble Iran is having — and the impoverished and relatively isolated Burmese junta would face an uphill climb. What's more, to produce a nuclear program, Burma would likely have to alienate its major patron, China, which certainly has no interest in having another nuclear state right on its border. And, even if the junta is importing workers and knowledge from North Korea, that doesn't absolutely mean it will, or can, build nukes or missiles.

But, as I have written previously for The New Republic, the junta often has the last laugh with the international community. Twice before, in 1995 and 2002, the regime released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and then used her freedom to gain what it wanted from the international community: increased investment as well as membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In both cases, outsiders hailed a new era of reform — but, both times, when the junta had gotten what it wanted, it put Suu Kyi back into jail. (She was released again a few weeks ago and, for the time being, remains free.) The regime then continued keeping its people under mercilessly tight control, violating their most basic rights.

There could be another explanation for U.S. denial of Burma's nuclear ambitions: Burma expert Bertil Lintner has suggested in the Asia Times that some lower-ranking U.S. officials may be trying to play down evidence of a nuclear program so as not to threaten the Obama administration's new policy of engagement with the junta. But even if this were the reason — in whole or in part — for Washington's quiet approach, it would still be yet another example of U.S. naivete when it comes to Burma. After all, engagement doesn't seem to be working: Another Wikileaks-released cable reveals that U.S. officials have suggested junta leader Than Shwe might be willing to make compromises in order to gain closer relations with the United States—compromises that we have yet to see.

In the end, neither the hope of engagement nor a faith in the regime's essential incompetence seem like good reasons to play down the nuclear issue. To be fair, the Obama administration doesn't lack for major headaches around the world. But it might be time to add this one to the list.
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SC Woman Helps in Myanmar
by San Clemente Times
Dec 21, 2010 | 199 views |

San Clemente resident Marina Goffredo recently returned from a humanitarian trip to Myanmar (Burma).

Working with the aid group Shanta Foundation, Goffredo assisted in Shanta’s goal of building and sustaining clinics, schools and co-operative loan programs in 10 villages in the Shan tribal area of Myanmar.

In Myanmar, less than 50 percent of children will complete five years of education. They also suffer from a range of diseases including AIDS and tuberculosis.

Goffredo took dental equipment donated by several local dentists, including Drs. Ron Redmond, John Redmond and Cheryl Colker. The dental supply donations helped equip several dental clinics started by Dr Tom Grams in 2007. Grams was one of 10 aid workers tragically killed in Afghanistan in August.

The Shanta Foundation, a federally recognized 501(C)3, was created by Mike and Tricia Karpfen in 2006 after their visit to numerous countries in Southeast Asia and southern Africa. Both had been involved in the Kripalu Center, the nation’s largest residential wellness center.

For more information on the foundation’s efforts go to their website, www.shantafoundation.org.
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Hindustan Times - Impressions of Myanmar
Geetika jain, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 21, 2010

I’d stopped to take a photograph of local men playing a game of chinlon, with a cane ball, when our otherwise relaxed guide, Mrs. Kyi Kyi, ushered us away. “The party’s headquarters are here, we must not linger.” Earlier, she not only dissuaded us from tarrying near the barricade outside Aung San

Suu Chi’s house, but also wouldn’t use her name, always referring to her as “the lady,” because “even walls have ears.”

That was just over a year ago. Although hundreds of other opponents are still awaiting release, the ruling junta has succumbed to external and internal pressures and freed Suu Chi.
Relic from a bygone era

Myanmar’s essence is that of a teenager experiencing a prolonged childhood enforced by draconian parents. Whispers arrive of her neighbours’ free ways, their adoption of western comforts and lifestyle and she awaits her moment.

For now, Myanmar has six digit phone numbers and the mobile network does not reach beyond the border. There are no ATMs, very few credit card facilities. The internet is censored, sometimes even the mail. There are very few foreign visitors, so notes are seldom exchanged.

On the streets, blue jeans are a rarity, people wear tops with cotton longy wrapped around their waists and the women pretty their hair with scented flowers. Small street kitchens, hawker stalls and tea shops are where people huddle close, share meals and words. Myanmar cuisine is varied and delicious. It surprised me to see how many vendors, rickshaw pullers and merchants read their books as they waited for customers. The people smear their faces with a wood paste called tanakha. What might seem rather clownish make-up to us, is an effective skin protector to them.

The Buddhist path and the earning of merit in this life is a pre-occupation. Barefoot monks and novices do the rounds early in the morning; housewives have enormous pots of cooked food ready for handouts. Impressive gold clad temples, pagodas and shrines are everywhere, contrasting with often dilapidated streets and ageing buildings. The exquisite Shwedagon Paya in Yangon is filled day and night with worshippers. They release birds from cages, clad images of Buddha with squares of gold leaf and bathe idols with cupfuls of water.

Glimpses of Indian influence

Several people I met, spoke of their desire to make a pilgrimage someday to the birthplace of Buddha, Bodh Gaya, in India. There was much that reminded me of India. The ubiquitous Nat (from Sanskrit Nath) shrines are a relic of pre-Buddhist religion. Redented temple architecture is redolent of Hindu influences and many classical dance themes emanate from the Ramayana and Jataka stories. The wearing of sarongs, similar to our dhotis and lungis, use of turmeric in the cuisine, betel stained mouths and counting in “lakhs” were some of the things that roused familiarity.

As we left the land of rubies and teak, of rich natural resources, which are in the hands of a few, what played on my mind was how, despite hardship, tyranny and inequalities, the ordinary people manage to conduct themselves in the most elegant and dignified manner.
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Foreign Relations - Burma Bombshell
Author: Joshua Kurlantzick, Fellow for Southeast Asia
December 20, 2010
The New Republic

Many minor Wikileaks scoops have attracted media notice—like the fact that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi apparently always travels with a buxom Ukrainian “nurse”—but one frightening disclosure in particular has not received nearly enough attention. In several cables written from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, the largest city (and former capital) of Burma, diplomats provided information about the Burmese junta's potential cooperation with North Korea, including details of what may be nascent nuclear and missile programs.

In one cable, from back in 2004, American officials reported that sources told them North Korean workers potentially were helping the junta build a ballistic missile program at one secret military site inside Burma. In another cable, a source told U.S. officials of reports that Burma is importing significant quantities of ore, possibly in order to be refined into uranium. In still another cable, sources reported on more details of covert military co-operation between Burma and North Korea, including on potential nuclear production.

The fact that two of the world's most repressive and opaque regimes could be collaborating on nuclear and missile technology is disturbing enough. But nearly as disturbing is that reports of this collaboration have been surfacing for years, mostly among Burmese exiles—yet, until recently, diplomats mostly shrugged these stories off. Indeed, foreign governments know so little about (or are so disinterested in) Burma that the junta may have been able to start building a nuclear program with scarcely anyone knowing or caring. Save Kim Jong Il, that is.

The first reports that the junta might be launching nuclear and missile programs started filtering out of Burma at least five years ago, from exiles and several foreign intelligence analysts. These reports were picked up by news outlets run by Burmese exiles, such as the Democratic Voice of Burma, a radio station based in Norway. Last winter, the respected Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) published a report detailing a range of suspicious sites in Burma and Burmese purchases of sophisticated machine tools as well as other technology that would have little civilian use. Yet, as recently as a year ago, when I spoke with several top Asian officials about the potential of a Burmese nuclear program, they pooh-poohed the possibility, saying that they doubted the junta had any real intention to build nukes, or the capabilities to get it done.

Just last month, a United Nations investigation found further evidence that North Korea was providing nuclear equipment banned for export to Burma. Proof that something problematic might be going on, in other words, is right under our noses. But, while some senior U.S. policymakers, like Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, recognize the nuclear threat in Burma, they seem to be in the minority. Several months ago, the investigative reporting outfit ProPublica reported that many officials in the U.S. government have rejected findings that suggest Burma may be working to obtain nuclear and missile capability.

Why won't foreign governments consider the possibility? Denying that Burma could be trying to construct a nuclear or missile program fits into a larger pattern of mistaken thinking about the junta—a pattern that involves seeing the regime as crazy, unpredictable, or even stupid. This attitude is evident in much of the media coverage of the country, which focuses on the junta's superstitions—it has used astrologers to help it pick propitious dates—or other bizarre tendencies. In conversations with officials from another, wealthier Asian nation last year, I was repeatedly told how hard it was to deal with the junta because its leaders have little education. Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has been blunter, telling American diplomats, in one conversation captured in a Wikileaks-released cable, that the junta is “dense.”

To be sure, building a nuclear program is a serious undertaking—witness the trouble Iran is having—and the impoverished and relatively isolated Burmese junta would face an uphill climb. What's more, to produce a nuclear program, Burma would likely have to alienate its major patron, China, which certainly has no interest in having another nuclear state right on its border. And, even if the junta is importing workers and knowledge from North Korea, that doesn't absolutely mean it will, or can, build nukes or missiles.

But, as I have written previously for TNR, the junta often has the last laugh with the international community. Twice before, in 1995 and 2002, the regime released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and then used her freedom to gain what it wanted from the international community: increased investment as well as membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In both cases, outsiders hailed a new era of reform—but, both times, when the junta had gotten what it wanted, it put Suu Kyi back into jail.

(She was released again a few weeks ago and, for the time being, remains free.) The regime then continued keeping its people under mercilessly tight control, violating their most basic rights.

There could be another explanation for U.S. denial of Burma's nuclear ambitions: Burma expert Bertil Lintner has suggested in the Asia Times that some lower-ranking U.S. officials may be trying to play down evidence of a nuclear program so as not to threaten the Obama administration's new policy of engagement with the junta. But even if this were the reason—in whole or in part—for Washington's quiet approach, it would still be yet another example of U.S. naivete when it comes to Burma. After all, engagement doesn't seem to be working: Another Wikileaks-released cable reveals that U.S. officials have suggested junta leader Than Shwe might be willing to make compromises in order to gain closer relations with the United States—compromises that we have yet to see.

In the end, neither the hope of engagement nor a faith in the regime's essential incompetence seem like good reasons to play down the nuclear issue. To be fair, the Obama administration doesn't lack for major headaches around the world. But it might be time to add this one to the list.

Joshua Kurlantzick is a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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The Irrawaddy - USDP Files Lawsuits Alleging Vote Rigging
By KO HTWE Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Three Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidates have filed lawsuits accusing the winning candidates of vote rigging in the election on Nov. 7.

Sai Kham Hlaing, a USDP candidate who competed in Kunhing Township for a State and Region Parliament (1) seat, filed a lawsuit against Sai Moon, the winning candidate representing the Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP).

Sai Saung See, a spokesperson and deputy SNDP chairman, said the SNDP didn’t violate any rules in the election process and the accusation is groundless.

“He [Kham Hlaing] must show evidence. The difference in the vote count between the SNDP and the USDP was nearly 2,000 in that seat. The case is now being examined in Naypyidaw,” Sai Saung See said.

Kham Hlaing alleged that 50 SNDP members organized within 500 yards of a polling station and that the SNDP also worked with members of the local people's militia, which was transformed from Shan State Army Brigade-7, to put pressure on local residents to vote for the SNDP, according to a letter the Election Commission (EC) sent to Sai Moon.

An official poll watcher in Kunhing Township, however, said that, “In fact, the SNDP lost in the area controlled by SSA Brigade-7.”

Kham Hlaing was set to become a state minister had the won in the election, according to USDP sources.

SNDP candidate Sai Tun Kyi, who ran for State and Region Parliament (2) in Kunhing Township, also filed a lawsuit against Sai Nu, the winning USDP candidate, accusing him of vote rigging. The difference between the two candidates was only seven votes.

“We have clear evidence in the case,” Saung See said.

Sai Myo Aung, a SNDP candidate who was elected to the State and Region Parliament in Momauk Township in Kachin State, also faces a lawsuit filed by the losing USDP candidate, said Saung See.

In the pre-election period, the USDP and the authorities were collecting advance pro-USDP votes through intimidation in many rural areas across Shan State, according to sources.

The SNDP, the largest ethnic party contesting in the election in Shan State, complained to the EC about vote rigging in advanced voting but no action has been taken in response to the allegations.

The SNDP won 57 of the 156 constituencies it contested in the Nov. 7 election. Most of the constituencies were in Shan and Kachin states.

The Democratic Party (Myanmar)'s chairman Thu Wai told The Irrawaddy that party candidate Tin Tin Mar, who won the State and Region Parliament seat in Chanayetharzan Township in Mandalay Division, also has been named in a lawsuit filed by the USDP. The EC is expected to make a decision in the case on Dec. 29, he said.

Thu Wai said most people have been talking about widespread USDP vote rigging in the election, “so they are trying to refute that” by filing the lawsuits.

The USDP has alleged that Tin Tin Mar paid local residents 1,500 kyat (US $1.5) per vote and campaigned in the area of polling stations on election day.

A fee of 1 million kyat (US $1,136) is required to file an election fraud lawsuit with the authorities, and it carries a possible two-year jail term if the case is lost.

On Nov. 17, the EC told candidates who planned to challenge election results that they could be fined 300,000 kyat ($340) and sentenced to three years in prison if their accusations are deemed to be unfounded.

“Both plaintiff and defendant have to pay 100,000 kyat ($100) in the lawsuit. If one side cannot afford that amount, they forfeit the case. So we have to collect the money for that lawsuit,” Thu Wai said.
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The Irrawaddy - Seeking the Cold Truth About Burma
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Extreme cold and snowfalls welcomed me to Germany on my first visit to Europe. After the warmth of Thailand, it was like being on another planet.

A high-speed train took me from Frankfurt International Airport to the center of one of Germany's oldest cities. The landscape outside the train window was a winter wonderland—farmland, roads, trees, gardens, rooftops were all white with snow.

A friendly taxi driver took me from the railroad station through streets hung with Christmas decorations to the human rights foundation center where I was to attend a human rights workshop.

I was one of 25 participants from more than 20 countries, who included researchers, politicians, activists, lawyers, journalists and university students. We began to get to know each other at dinner that day.

The workshop began the following day in seminar rooms decked out with the national flags of the participants, who came from all over the world. Despite our different nationalities and backgrounds, I learned that we all had one thing in common—our home countries were not free of problems.

During the seminar, we were able to travel to the eastern part of Germany, the former German Democratic Republic, ruled by a repressive communist government until reunification in 1989.

Reunification came after pro-democracy demonstrations by huge crowds in several east German cities. The demonstrations were peaceful—unlike Burma's own uprising the previous year, when some 3,000 people died when regime troops fired on unarmed protesters.

In eastern Germany, I sought the views of German residents about the situation in Burma but, sadly, received no concrete replies, only idealism.

Some said the Burma situation is not important, others found it difficult and complicated. Some declared that the European Union (EU) doesn’t really want to change things in Burma. They detected disagreement and confusion within the EU over Burma.

The UK, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands were mentioned as countries that wanted to uphold the EU’s common policy on Burma, while others, especially Germany and Spain, were seen to be pushing more of a pro-engagement line, if not openly supporting the regime’s election.

Some EU officials are said to be highly critical of Aung San Suu Kyi and her party's decision not to contest the Nov. 7 election. They are also reported to view civil society groups, campaigners on the border and ethnic campaign movements as “troublemakers.”

Workshop participants from countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), all agreed that Asean’s non- interference policy protects the Burmese government and its human rights abuses.

All participants agreed that the seminar was a great opportunity to meet people from so many countries and backgrounds and share our experiences and events in our own homelands.

The discussions went on over breakfast, lunch and dinner, during coffee breaks and sessions at the bar. It was also a social occasion—where photos were taken, addresses exchanged and basic language lessons were given. All went home able to say in at least a couple of foreign languages: "Hello! How are you?"

Contacts made in Germany were kept up at home, thanks to the Internet and the encouragement of the foundation. We may be thousands of miles apart, but I feel that we have a global house on the Internet. I can talk to my international friends on the Internet and also spread news about Burma to a wider world.

A Chinese friend's wish for a "free and prosperous Burma" remains with me. Working with that hope, I'm again busy at my desk at The Irrawaddy, reporting on events in my troubled country.
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The Irrawaddy - Next Year Crucial for Democracy Movement: Suu Kyi
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Describing the coming year as “crucial” for Burma's pro-democracy movement, Aung San Suu Kyi has called on opposition parties operating both inside and outside parliament to coordinate their efforts to achieve a democratic breakthrough in the country.

“If both sides desire to strive towards a democratic system and improve the human rights conditions in the country, they would need approaches necessary for that to happen,” Suu Kyi said in a recent interview with the BBC's Burmese-language service.

“Both sides need to compromise with each other,” she added.

Win Tin, a leading member of Suu Kyi's disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said that democratic and ethnic parties working inside the parliament, which is due to be formed sometime early next year, could be forces to be reckoned with.

He added, however, that policy differences could stand in the way of cooperation between the parties and the NLD.

“We are still not sure about the agendas of those democratic parties preparing to work in the parliament. For example, some of them do not share our views on the proposed ethnic conference,” he said, referring to the NLD's support for efforts to revive talks with ethnic groups demanding greater autonomy.

Even if the NLD is able to work together with pro-democracy parties in parliament, its would-be partners will be greatly outnumbered by the regime-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which claimed nearly 77 percent of the seats contested in last month's election.

But Win Tin remained optimistic that some form of cooperation remained possible.

“I think all the democratic forces should be able to work together. We are even prepared to talk with the USDP,” he said.

Khin Maung Swe, the leader of the National Democratic Force (NDF), which won 12 seats in the bicameral parliament, said he welcomed Suu Kyi's call for cooperation among democratic forces but was not sure how things will work in parliament once it is formed.

“We have no experience with parliamentary politics and there are also uncertainties about its procedures,” he said.

Soe Tun, one of the leaders of the 88 Generation Student Group, said that he also supported the idea of working together with elected members of the new parliament, even though many members of his own group remain in prison and he himself has been forced to go into hiding since a military crackdown on monk-led protests in 2007. Such a move would have several advantages, he said.

“For example, we could raise the issue of transparency in the parliament,” he said.

He noted, however, that for the NLD to be able to work together with the parliamentary democracy forces, it might have to consider seeking a legal status by transforming itself into a registered organization under the new government.

Meanwhile, there were also calls for members of the international community to work more closely together to foster democratic change in Burma.

In an interview with Asia Times online, Nobel economics laureate Amartya Sen recently predicted that Suu Kyi would be forced to return to past populist practices which would risk her rearrest if the international community did not get its act together on Burma's democratic movement.

Soe Tun agreed, saying that South Africa would not have achieved national reconciliation or the dismantlement of its apartheid system without international pressure on the country.

“The Mandela factor alone will not solve our country's problems, either,” he said, referring to the charismatic leadership of Nelson Mandela, who, like Suu Kyi, became a democratic icon after spending years as a political prisoner.
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The Irrawaddy - A Vietnam Syndrome for Burma?
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Tuesday, December 21, 2010

HANOI—One thousand years old this year, Hanoi's streets remain decorated with thousands of the gold-starred red flags of the resistance. Nominally a socialist republic, the country's economy has in fact adapted the post-Deng economic model of China, applied with a Vietnamese touch.

Now a focus for Western investors such as Intel, Boeing, Microsoft, Apple and many more, Vietnam has seen spectacular economic growth since the Đổi Mới system was introduced, and particularly since the normalization of relations with the US in 1995. Membership of the World Trade Organization came in 2007, another boost for the latest addition to Asian Tiger ranks and adding to the growing incentives for foreign multinationals to invest.

According to economist Suiwah Leung, “During the last two decades, the country has had an average FDI/GDP ratio of 5.9 percent; the highest among many Asean countries during their respective periods of rapid growth from the mid-1970s to mid-1990s.”

In his August 2009 meeting with Burma Prime Minister Thein Sein, US Sen. Jim Webb, who fought in the Vietnam War and has worked on America's relations with Asian countries for many years, said that the Vietnam experience was one that Burma could look to. Links between the two countries are growing.

In April 2010, a bilateral trade fair was held in Rangoon and flights from Burma's main city to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were launched. The value of bilateral trade between Burma and Vietnam has increased almost 60 per cent year on year, now coming up on US $160 million, according to Vietnamese deputy industry and trade minister Nguyen Thanh Bien, who was in Rangoon last week

According to the August 2009 diplomatic cable drafted by the US Embassy in Rangoon and published by Wikileaks, Sen. Webb deferred to Thein Sein's view that economic development was needed before a country could democratize. The cable added that Sen. Webb “had observed parallels between Burma and Vietnam during his 2001 personal visit to Burma.”

With Vietnam's economic growth spurred by a normalization of relations with the US, which is the country's second biggest trade partner after China, Webb hinted that the removal of sanctions on the Burmese junta could, in his view, help revitalize the Burmese economy, noting “that one of his friends had closed his business in Burma because of sanctions, putting people out of work. Burma's citizens could have a better life if relations (between Burma and the US) were better.”

The recent Nov. 7 elections seem to have put paid to some of the optimism in US and Western policy-wonk circles about a looming, if flawed, transition to democracy in Burma, with the junta accused of ballot-stuffing by way of advance voting, intimidation and setting electoral rules that hampered the opposition parties. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won with 76 percent of the vote, for 75 percent of available seats, and with the military guaranteed the remaining 25 percent of seats, as well as key positions in the next government, Burma will be a democracy in name only.

In Vietnam, there is no pretense. With its centralized political system maintaining rigid control and brooking no dissent, the Vietnam government is betting its legitimacy on delivering economic growth and rising living standards for the country's 90 million people. In Hanoi, there are signs of this growth everywhere, from new construction sites to increasingly heavy traffic and the feeling is of an increasingly confident city and people.

Despite categorizing Vietnam alongside Cambodia, Laos and Burma as countries that should not have been admitted to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) during the 1990s, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew conceded that Vietnam had made progress where the others had not and labeled the Hanoi leadership as “bright.”

Like in China, Facebook is blocked, though getting around the restriction is fairly easy. However, around 20 writers, bloggers, lawyers and people from religious minorities have been arrested or jailed in the past two months, adding to a list of dissidents, some fairly high profile, that have been imprisoned in Vietnam in recent years.

The government accuses most of those imprisoned of various forms of sedition, or of breaching public order, and the country's Constitution elevates the ruling Communist Party above the law.

Although the country's parliament has seen some debate over issues such as troubles in Vinashin, a state-owned shipping company, opposition parties are not tolerated and there is no sign that anything like a multiparty system will come to Vietnam anytime soon.

Could Burma, wealthy with natural resources and an investment target for companies from China, Thailand, India and South Korea, take the Vietnam-style route to prosperity, sugaring a “benign authoritarianism” with the promise of higher living standards and economic opportunity?

It is an understatement to say that Intel or Microsoft will not be setting up shop in Rangoon or Mandalay anytime soon. While sanctions preclude any such investment, the chief obstacle to Burma's adopting a Vietnam-style road seems to be the Burmese rulers, who are motivated by retaining power and enriching their families and business associates, in the first instance. An out-dated and complex exchange rate fiddle means that the country's oil and gas income is downplayed in official figures, with the real revenue possibly siphoned off into military spending or personal bank accounts. When a “wave of privatization” was implemented in Burma during 2010, more than 300 state-owned businesses were sold, but the buyers were all regime cronies.

State-owned enterprises still make up a large chunk of the national economy in Vietnam, perhaps at least a quarter, and there are stories of corruption, but the government is capable of convincing Western investors to put their money into the country and has been commended for economic reforms and legal amendments in recent years.

In contrast, economic policy making in Burma has been dismissed as opaque and incompetent even at the best of times, with digressions into numerological folly—such as former dictator Ne Win's decree that all currency denominations should be divisible by 9— marking Burma out as an economic twilight zone, attractive only to those who want to take oil, gas, gems, timber and other resources., out of the country. Even if Western sanctions were reduced or dropped, it remains to be seen whether Burma’s rulers would break with a half century of disastrous economic policies in response.
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UN nuclear watchdog asks regime to allow inspections
Wednesday, 22 December 2010 01:55 Thomas Maung Shwe

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote to Burma’s ruling military junta recently asking that it be allowed to visit alleged nuclear sites in Burma, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Friday that cited unnamed US officials.

The letter from IAEA Department of Safeguards chief Herman Nackaerts followed two other letters to Burma asking for “clarification of its alleged efforts to develop nuclear technologies at sites in the country’s north”, the journal reported, citing the US officials.

As Burma is a signatory to the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the IAEA is allowed to request to see Burma’s alleged nuclear facilities. However, under international law, Burma can argue it has the right to deny such requests.

The latest IAEA letter was sent after revelations contained in secret diplomatic cables released by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks that the US government was concerned about reports of Burma-North Korea nuclear co-operation. A cable read that the US embassy in Rangoon was told by a source that suspiciously large shipments in the north of the country were destined for a rumoured nuclear power plant under construction near Minbu in Magway Division.

The cables also revealed that Australian ambassador to Rangoon Michelle Chan was told last August by a Burmese government official “the Burma-DPRK [North Korea] connection is not just about conventional weapons. There is a peaceful nuclear component intended to address Burma’s chronic lack of electrical power generation”.

In a remarkable about-turn, a follow-up cable described how the source later told Chan there had been misunderstanding and that Burma was “in fact” not working with North Korea on a nuclear programme.

Responding to the apparent retraction, a cable written by a staff member of the US embassy in Rangoon last November concludes “Bottom line: GOB-DPRK [Government of Burma-Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea] co-operation remains opaque. Something is certainly happening; whether that something includes ‘nukes’ is a very open question which remains a very high priority for embassy reporting.”

The leaked cables also revealed that in 2004 the US embassy in Rangoon received reports that: “North Korean workers are reportedly assembling ‘SAM missiles’ and constructing an underground facility at a Burmese military site in Magway Division.”

Members of Burmese dictator Than Shwe’s entourage during a 2004 trip to New Delhi told the Indian government that they “wondered whether they would have to ‘go nuclear’ to get US attention”, a November 2004 US diplomatic cable released last week said.
The memo written by staff at the US embassy in Delhi quotes extensively from information relayed to the Americans from a senior Indian diplomat about Than Shwe’s October 2004 trip to the Indian capital.

Former IAEA director believes Burma likely involved in nuclear project

This past May, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a news organisation in exile, released a documentary that featured the testimony of a defector who said Burma was pursuing both rocket and nuclear programmes. Defector Major Sai Thein Win, a former senior scientist in the Burmese military, had left the country with substantial documentation, which DVB then showed former IAEA director Robert Kelley.

Kelley wrote that information provided by the defector “suggests that Burma is mining uranium, converting it to uranium compounds for reactors and bombs, and is trying to build a reactor and or an enrichment plant that could only be useful for a bomb. There is no chance that these activities are directed at a reactor to produce electricity in Burma. This is beyond Burma’s engineering capabilities. It is up to Burma to notify the IAEA if these conditions have changed. Clearly, if it is trying to secretly build a bomb and is breaking these rules it will not be voluntarily notifying the IAEA”.

In June, after the airing of DVB’s report featuring Kelley, Burmese state media quoted from a letter written by Tin Win, Burma’s representative to the IAEA, informing the nuclear watchdog that: “No activity related to uranium conversion, enrichment, reactor construction or operation has been carried out in the past, is ongoing or is planned for the future.”

Former IAEA experts duel over alleged atomic programme

Kelley’s conclusions have been challenged by other nuclear experts including his former boss at the IAEA, Olli Heinonen. The former deputy director of the IAEA was featured in a recent 15-minute documentary on American public television that aired last month. The feature, a collaboration between PBS and not-for-profit investigative news organisation ProPublica, alleged that Kelley’s concerns about Burma’s nuclear programme were overblown.

Heinonen told ProPublica that despite the information provided by the defector and Kelley’s interpretation of the evidence from the defector, “There is no alarming factor triggering suspicions about nuclear weapons programmes at this stage.”

Several weeks after the airing of the documentary however Heinonen and ProPublica were forced to withdraw one of their key allegations against Kelley. An article accompanying the documentary on ProPublica’s website, co-authored by ProPublica’s managing editor Stephen Engelberg and Natan Dotan, quoted Heinonen dismissing Kelley’s supposed conclusion about a photo of a specialised “glove box”, because the process to make uranium metal needs very high temperatures and was unsuited for such a device. Heinonen was quoted saying: “When you look at the picture you see, for example, that the box has rubber gloves. You would not build a box with rubber gloves to do such a process.”

He said the operator would “burn his fingers literally”, adding: “I don’t think this box is for that purpose.”

The trouble with ProPublica’s apparent refutation of Kelley’s claim was that neither Kelley nor DVB actually claimed that the glove box would be used for the stage of the uranium metal processes that required high heat.

Kelley sent a scathing response to ProPublica, which said: “You claim that I said that a glove box could be used to make uranium metal. I said no such thing. Nuclear industrial chemistry is a highly technical field where precision and expertise is essential. For you to make such a stupid misquote, particularly given how easy it should’ve been to check this fact, is indefensible. The written record clearly shows it to be patently false. All my briefings show both the glove box and the bomb reactors and clearly differentiate them.”

Kelley also took a shot at his former boss: “You have Olli Heinonen on the record trying to figure out the difference between a bomb reactor and a glove box. Heinonen was the senior official at the IAEA responsible for directing the team assessing my accusations against Burma. He has not read the report well enough to know the difference between these two industrial uranium devices. Do not mix up my precise explanation in the report with his bumbling attempt to explain something I never said. He is your only ‘technical’ source to criticise me and he is lost in this topic. You have provided no credible source to say I am wrong.”

Following Kelley’s letter, ProPublica included a statement at the end of the article which downplayed their initial allegation against Kelley. ProPublica now claims that the article has been “clarified to more accurately paraphrase references to a device known as a ‘glove box’ in a report about possible Burmese nuclear weapons development by Robert Kelley.”

In the revised version Heionen was quoted saying that it would be “cumbersome” to use the “glove box”.

ProPublica claimed their reporter Dafna Linzer had asked unnamed sources inside the US government about Kelley’s report. She was quoted in the documentary as saying that the nuclear experts in the CIA and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) nuclear division who looked at the report found that “while Burma may have some nuclear work, it is not nuclear-weapons related”.

Next, the documentary shows ProPublica’s Engelberg confronting one of DVB’s funders with a rather bold assertion about Kelley’s report. Referring to the report, Engelberg claimed: “The first step that we did in terms of vetting it was to go to the American Intelligence Community, which takes frankly a very dim view of these allegations, are you aware of that?”

Kelley responded to this in his letter to ProPublica: “You claim that the CIA and DOE reviewed my report ‘line by line’ and rejected its findings. You put this information forward as if there is unanimity within the intelligence community in the USG [United States Government] about the report. Yet, senior officials of the Department of Energy intelligence unit who have done bomb reductions of uranium discussed my technical findings and agreed they are reasonable. In addition, IAEA experts agreed with me. Moreover, no one from these communities who read the whole report has challenged the technical evidence I present.”

Thai PM dismisses claims of Burma nuclear programme

The Bangkok Post reported on December 12 that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had downplayed reports that Burma was seeking a nuclear weapon. Abhisit was quoted as saying: “I can remember that Burma confirmed in an Asean-US summit that it wanted to see Asean as a nuclear-free region.”

The Oxford-educated Abhisit also claimed that none of the members of Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) wanted nuclear weapons in the area but that Thailand was always monitoring the nuclear issue for reasons of national security.

The following day the Bangkok Post shot back with an editorial scolding Abhisit, whom the paper generally supports politically.

“It was good of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to defend the Burmese government against yet another charge of secret nuclear projects. But Mr Abhisit’s attempt at rebutting the latest WikiLeaks memo on the subject was weak. He quoted statements by Burmese leaders, who hardly are good examples of openness and virtue. The six-year-old document from the US embassy in Rangoon certainly provided no proof that Burma has lied to the world about its nuclear ambitions. Neither did Mr Abhisit’s good-natured trust of propaganda statements from the military junta.”
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DVB News - DVB reporter gets 8 year jail term
By NANG KHAM KAEW
Published: 22 December 2010

A man arrested by Burmese authorities for photographing the aftermath of the deadly bombings in Rangoon in April this year has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Sithu Zeya, 21, a reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma, was yesterday found guilty by Rangoon’s Mingalartaungnyunt township court of illegal border crossing and holding ties to an unlawful organisation. He was arrested shortly after the April bombings and has been held by police since.

“I am sad that he’s now ended up prison for taking some photos,” said his mother Yee Yee Tin. “He just finished school and had not even started working yet. He is interested in journalism, that the only thing I know.”

Sithu’s father, Maung Maung Zeya, also a DVB reporter, was arrested a day after his son and is still awaiting a verdict, but from a high-level court. Yee Yee Tin said that she was expecting his sentencing to be harsher.

Sithu is facing a further charge under the Electronics Act, which can result in up to 20 years in prison. The family’s legal advisor, Aung Thein, said that none of the accusations were supported by strong evidence.

“The prosecutors couldn’t provide any independent evidence for the accusations on [Sithu Zeya’s] illegal border crossing and contact with the individuals of the so-called ‘unlawful association.’ The verdict was based on informal confession results from torturing the accused while he was under interrogation,” said Aung Thein.

Sithu Zeya was arrested on 15 April after taking photographs of the bombing at X20 pavilion during Rangoon’s Thingyan Water Festival. Nine people died in the incident, which was the worst attack in Rangoon since 2005. It preceded a number of other bombings around Burma, focused mainly on controversial hydropower projects.

Maung Maung Zeya remains in detention in Rangoon’s Insein prison and is due to appear in court today. Maung Maung Zeya is the son of renowned late writer Linyon Maung Maung.
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