Thursday Blog Action For Burma

Just got this in a comment:-

Free Burma!
International Bloggers’ Day for Burma on the 4th of October

International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.

www.free-burma.org

Which is fine and dandy and I will support something that shows solidarity, however I don’t think me not posting for a whole day while shit is still going down in Burma is actually as helpful as continuing to blog about it. Um, I mean I think it works if it focuses your blog for the day on Burma and you refrain from other subjects, perhaps use the downtime from blogging to send notes to companies trading with the regime and contact your elected representatives and make sure they know they must help the democracy movement. Also there are demos planned so check for those-

On Saturday 6th October there will be an international day of action, with marches and protests. A non-stop vigil is also being held outside Parliament.

But I think I will continue although I will solely post about Burma on (Thursday) the 4th.

Blair Agreed To Attack On Iran

Well according to Sy Hersh’s latest-

During a video conference over the summer, Bush allegedly told Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, that he was considering striking Iranian targets across the border and that the British “were on board,” according to the article.

But it’s mostly about a change of focus, selling the attack as protecting the marauding troops in Iraq-

President George W. Bush has requested the Joint Chiefs of Staff revise plans for a possible attack on Iran, with the focus on “surgical” raids against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps which Washington accuses of targeting US forces in Iraq, the magazine wrote.

Previous contingency plans called for a more elaborate bombing campaign against suspected nuclear sites in Iran as well as other infrastructure, the magazine reported, citing unnamed former officials and government consultants.

Bush and his advisers have adopted the new “counter-terrorism” approach recognizing the US public is not convinced that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat and that the US intelligence community believes Tehran is at least five years away from obtaining an atomic bomb. 

As Blairwatch asks, dos the change of PM alter that position of support? Now how can I put this, it fucking well better Gordon or guess who you are sharing a cell with until you die? Oh yeah and ‘cell’ is a best case scenario for you two NuLab fuckwits, capice?

Burma: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Money

As I linked to in the previous post and MOA also reports on the Burma campaign- us, yes we, have succeed in making two companies that trade with Burma halt their business that benefits the junta. One of them from the Dirty list I wrote to, I didn’t get a reply but I don’t mind, seems the MD was growing a conscience-

The Burma Campaign UK today warmly welcomed announcements by Timbmet and K J Howells and Son that they will no longer sell teak from Burma. Timber exports are a major source of revenue for the regime in Burma.

In an email to the Burma Campaign, K J Howells stated: “In light of the recent brutal treatment of the Burmese people by the military, we have made the decision to end all ties with suppliers of Burmese products, and will not place any further orders until a democratic government is put in place. I have contacted my primary supplier, who has also announced their withdrawal of ties with Burma, and we are now together looking at alternative sources.”

Just two words for that, Fuck Yeah! So why not ask the other firms on the Dirty list why they still want be BFF with the Generals, click here includes contact details including email. Also the Burma campaign needs funds, they’ve been providing comment and information for media across the world, hundreds of calls a day, so show them some love click here. Meanwhile –

Around 3,000 people have joined a protest in London today, the biggest demonstration for Burma in the UK so far. Tomorrow demonstrators will converge on the German Embassy, calling on Germany to stop blocking EU economic sanctions.

Background to the EU’s relationship with the junta-

“The current EU Common Position is pathetic,” said Mark Farmaner [Burma Campaign UK]. “It has no economic impact on the regime. If you wanted to design a sanctions regime to miss the mark, this would be it.”

Current EU measures against Burma include:

An arms embargo
Welcome, but the EU has made no effort to secure a United Nations arms embargo, so the regime can still purchase weapons from other countries.

A ban on non-humanitarian aid
Again welcome, but not a measure that has a serious impact on the regime.

An end to GSP trade privileges
Again, no significant economic impact on the regime.

A visa ban for senior regime officials and their families
Otherwise known as the shopping ban, as exemptions in the visa ban allow regime officials to attend many international meetings in Europe. As the British foreign office has admitted, regime officials rarely came to Europe anyway.

A freeze of assets held in Europe by people on the visa ban list
From information released to the Burma Campaign UK by the German and British governments, less than €7,000 has been frozen in all 27 EU member states, again hardly a measure to bring the regime to its knees.

A limited investment ban – targets pineapples, but not gas or timber

Pineapples! Jeebus. Now the US is publicly better, not least because it is a way to lessen Chinese influence in the region, but via GodlessLiberalHomo there is this short history of US oil corporation Unocal/Chevron involvement in Burma-

Even in Burma, however, Bush’s support for human rights yields to his fondness for the oil and gas industry. Burma has large natural gas reserves, and multinational oil corporations want to cash in. Chevron Corporation is currently the largest U.S. investor in Burma, with a partnership stake in the multi-billion-dollar Yadana gas pipeline project. The Yadana project was originally developed by Unocal, another American oil company, which was acquired by Chevron last year. (Although new investment in Burma is prohibited, the pipeline is grandfathered in under an exception, pushed by Unocal, for preexisting projects.)

The Bush administration has close ties to Chevron. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was a member of the Chevron Board of Directors for 10 years before Bush was elected, and even had a Chevron oil tanker named for her until it was quietly renamed after Bush took office. And Halliburton, the oilfield services giant formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, has numerous ties to Chevron, signing several multimillion-dollar contracts during Cheney’s tenure.

Indeed, even before Chevron acquired Unocal and the Yadana project, Bush’s government actively took steps to thwart accountability for the Yadana project. When refugees who had suffered rape, torture, enslavement, and murder at the hands of soldiers protecting the Yadana pipeline sued Unocal in U.S. court, the Bush administration intervened to try to convince the courts that the lawsuit should not proceed. The administration essentially argued that, even if the case would not actually interfere with U.S. relations with Burma, holding Unocal liable would create a precedent that could conflict with U.S. foreign policy in other parts of the world.

Much as Sarkozy’s previously mentioned position he professes support for the democracy movement but in reality-

Announcing a freeze of what is already frozen is hardly revolutionary. It allows (the president) to surf on the notion of a French ‘new deal’ for human rights, while protecting French economic interests

So it really is up to us, our governments, the ruling classes, global capital, corporations are not disturbed one bit by a regime reported to be cremating people alive–

Myanmar’s proven gas reserves were 19 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2006, according to BP PLC’s World Review of Statistics. While that’s only about 0.3 percent of the world’s total reserves, at current production rates and Thailand’s contract price for gas, the deposits are worth almost $2 billion a year in sales over the next 40 years.

“It points to the potential that Myanmar has,” said Kang Wu, a fellow at the University of Hawaii’s East-West Center in Honolulu.

Altogether, nine foreign oil companies are involved in 16 onshore blocks exploring for oil, enhancing recovery from older fields, or trying to reactivate fields where production has been suspended, according to Total’s Web site. A block is an area onshore or offshore in which an oil company is granted exploratory and discovery rights.

Offshore, nine companies, including Total, Petronas, PTTEP, South Korea’s Daewoo International Corp., Chinese state-run companies China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, are exploring or developing 29 blocks, Total said.

Despite economic sanctions against Myanmar by the United States and the European Union, Total continues to operate the Yadana gas field, and Chevron Corp. has a 28 percent stake through its takeover of Unocal. Existing investments were exempt from the investment ban.

This is about people and the bastards that govern us, in Burma, at home, in the genocide in Iraq and the capital that grows with every death.

UN Envoy Meets Aung San Suu Kyi But Not Top Generals

The BBC report it very positively expecting he will meet the top leaders today, Al jazeera find it more curious that Gambari didn’t initially meet with Senior General Than Shwe or his deputy but has met with the imprisoned opposition leader/elected leader.

“There must be a result from this visit,” said Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat and Gambari’s predecessor as UN special envoy. “[Gambari] must get a promise from the military that they will not shoot the people who express their views [on the streets]. We cannot let the people down,” he said.

All amid the lockdown by the armed forces and the beginning of disappearances-

[The military] has managed to quell any sign of a protest at the moment and judging by the way soldiers are going round the city they are preparing to face an enemy. They have a list of names that they are going through and a lot of people have gone to ground.

We are now getting some reports of disappearances of people.We know at least one journalist who worked for a weekly newspaper has gone missing but do not know exactly how many others have disappeared.

A short translated & transcribed telephone conversation on Ko Htike’s blog-

Er… they shot… people got killed. Er…but it seems like it wasn’t as bad as yesterday in terms of number of deaths, however we will know the accurate picture tomorrow. Er… la another disturbing news is that er… I would like to know if you would inform BBC and CNN about? (sob!!!) They burned the injured protesters/civilian people in the YaeWay Crematorium la la . Er… the staff from crematorium told this, crying, to the people who went to the funeral service. Please let this known to CNN and BBC. Thank you!!

I’m not sure if the implication from that is they cremated people alive. The Karen National Union killed four soldiers in a gun battle-

The KNU spokesperson, Pado Mann Sha, said a unit of Battalion 103 of the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of KNU, ambushed the Burmese troops near the Phalu village in Karen State and killed at least four soldiers.

“I don’t know where this battalion will be posted as they have been ordered to move back to base. I don’t know if they will be deployed in Rangoon to kill protesting monks and students. But it is a reinforcement. That’s why our people have attacked them,” Pado Mann Sha told Mizzima.

He added that the Burmese unit’s strength was about 40 and the half an hour battle left three Burmese army officers and a private dead.

Specially convened military courts have already sentenced captured monks to six years imprisonment-

A senior monk who was taken to Insein Prison by authorities to talk to the monks said they were stripped of their robes and are now wearing prison clothing. Some monks have already been sentenced to six years imprisonment by a specially convened court, he said.

Meanwhile the junta are stage managing as best they can with the UN envoy visiting, quickly restoring sacked monasteries and forcing people into pro-government demonstrations-

Ngway Kyar Yan monastery, which was raided by government troops on Wednesday, was quickly cleaned up and restored by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in advance of United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s arrival in Burma yesterday, according to sources close to the monastery.

Burmese authorities were yesterday forcing local residents to join mass pro-government rallies to show their support for the newly-completed National Convention, according to local sources. A resident of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state in northern Burma, told DVB that authorities demanded that two people from each household join a mass rally held early yesterday morning in Myitkyina stadium to show support for the National Convention.

“We were warned that we would be punished if we didn’t come to the rally. So we attended it because we were afraid,” said the resident.

Despite the lockdown they still gear up to protest and this message is inspiring-

Everyone in Burma is a leader and should individually take to the streets in protest against the junta, said Sayadaw (abbot) U Gamira, whom the junta is searching, told Mizzima while on the run.

“The people should not wait for leaders to lead them, everyone should be a leader in their own right. We have to be individually involved and lead. It is important for everyone to lead at this time. The monks have done a lot and many are now thrown into jails and interrogation camps. And many have to sacrifice their lives,” Sayadaw told Mizzima.

Also some companies on the dirty list finally feel ashamed while Total do not know such an emotion, more on that later.

Burma Saturday Night & Links

To trick Mr.Gambari, UN envoy, the junta announces through their mouth-piece-media that there is a demonstration in Myitkyiinar . Actually that demonstration is a fake one for the junta wants to prove that their soldiers are not terrorist and not shooting at people and it’s also the junta’s plan to hide the truth of their terrorist evidences. At the same time, in Rangoon, the riot police are hitting with iron bar to any group of people whether they are demonstrators or not. After hitting violently, they arrest the people who collapse.

Jotman’s roundup of news here.

Burma links-

Asia-Pacific Peoples’ Partnership on Burma 

Burma Campaign

Burma Digest

Burma Net

Democratic Voice of Burma

Free Burma Rangers

Irrawaddy

Jotman’s blog

Ko Htike’s blog

Mizzima News

And an update from the Burma campaign-

“We are living in hell…. Please help us.”

Just half an hour ago, despite the regime’s attempts to cut off communication, we received a message from Rangoon. They want the world to know what is going on in Burma, and appealed for more international pressure.

“Everyone is so afraid. People are scared to go out into the streets, most shops are shut. The world must know what is going on, we need international pressure. If the pressure continues the regime can’t survive. Maybe a few months, but it can’t survive if the pressure continues.”

The Burma Campaign UK is here to deliver that support, to pressure the international community to take action against the regime in Burma. In the past week we received more than 600 calls a day from journalists, and we have made sure that news from Burma has reached the television programmes and newspapers you have been reading. We are pressuring governments to impose targeted economic sanctions, and push for a global arms embargo against the regime. And we are having an impact. Yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown personally called us and pledged to push for strong economic sanctions by the European Union.

But we are a small organisation, desperately short of funds, and we are struggling deliver the support that the people of Burma are asking us for. We need your help.

Please make a donation on our website now. Visit:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

Please take action:
Visit our website at: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/ There will be a new campaign action on our website every day.

Two days ago another person in Rangoon told us “All night long I could hear people screaming and crying out for help. Soldiers were beating everyone they found. We are living in hell. Please help us.”

Please donate as much as you can. We can help them – with your support.
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

Mark Farmaner
Burma Campaign UK

Blackwater Gets War On Drugs Contract & Rendition Plane Crashes With 4 Tons of Cocaine Onboard

Awarded by the Pentagon’s Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office in Dahlgren, Va., the contract vehicle has a potential value of $15 billion over five years. One participant is ARINC, a Maryland-based provider of airline communications systems.…the other participating vendors are defense giants Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, and security contractor Blackwater USA. Blackwater confirmed its participation, but the other vendors did not respond to inquiries.

Ok now get this, Blackwater are building an airship!

The Blackwater Airships team completed design work at the end of 2006 and is now building the Polar 400 airship. This highly capable RPAV will provide a platform ready to accomodate a wide variety of state-of-the-art surveillance, communications and detection equipment that can record and store events and downlink them in real-time to ground operators.

And that unrelated mysterious rendition plane crash-

U.S. authorities are assisting the Mexican government in the investigation of an American business jet that crashed near Cancun this week with four tons of cocaine on board, officials said Thursday.

One of the men listed as the registered owners of the plane, Joao Luiz Malago, said in a telephone interview from Brazil that his Florida-based company sold the aircraft for $2 million on Sept. 16 to a Lakeland, Fla., man and his partner, who Malago believed was from Miami.

Some news reports have linked the plane to the transport of terrorist suspects to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but those reports cite logs that indicate only that the plane flew twice between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo and once between Oxford, Conn., and Guantanamo. No terrorist suspects are known to have been transferred to Guantanamo directly from the United States.

The jet, carrying the tail number N987SA, changed hands twice in recent weeks. But how it ended up in the hands of suspected drug traffickers remains a mystery. (h/t Rachel Maddow show)

Of course the CIA have never ever traded in drugs, so there.

Designated As Terrorist Organisations- CIA & US Army

Well they started it!

Iran’s parliament has approved a nonbinding resolution to label the CIA and the US army as “terrorist organisations”. The move is seen as a diplomatic tit-for-tat after the US senate also voted in favour of a motion urging the state department to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist organisation.”

The parliament said the two organisations were terrorists for a number of reasons. It said they were involved in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II and used depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. It also said they supported the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombed and killed Iraqi civilians and tortured terror suspects in prisons.

Um, there’s really nothing to argue with there,

The government is expected to remain silent over the parliament resolution and wait for US reaction before making its decision. On Wednesday, the US senate voted 76-22 in favour of a resolution urging the state department to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation.

While the proposal attracted overwhelming bipartisan support, a small group of Democrats said they feared labeling the state-run organisation a terrorist group could be interpreted as a congressional authorisation of military force in Iran.

Burma Saturday

State media are declaring Rangoon is calm as the goverment lockdown tries to take effect and they want to present a sanitised view to the visiting UN envoy. However-

Several hundred people have gathered in Burma’s main city of Rangoon, despite three days of a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The demonstrators have been surrounded by security forces and pro-military vigilante groups, eyewitnesses said.

The UN envoy is being taken to the new fake capital Naypyidaw-

Gambari will arrive YGN 3:30 pm local time with the Silk Air today. The Junta is planning to take him to NAYPYITAW, which is the official capital of the country where there are not civilian apart from civil servant.

So, what is the reason for Gambri to go to Myanmar? He is … shown the place where no people live and junta trying to blind him, and they will lie to him as usual, finally he might come back with answer … well! .. SPDC is moving toward to Democracy. They will continue to cause blood shed in the streets of Rangoon and other cities ….

In order prevent the crowd gathering near the airport they are asking anyone going near the airport they are also blocking the road to prevent protest at the Air.

The lockdown though may be taking on a very sinister edge-

The UN’s World Food programme on Saturday said Myanmar’s rulers have stopped or restricted the delivery of food relief to 500,000 people. Paul Risley, WFP’s Asia spokesman, said: “The immediate concern is in Mandalay, which is our logistics hub for delivering food assistance to vulnerable people that we serve in Myanmar.”

All movements of food from the northern city of Mandalay, where monk-led protests began 11 days ago, have stopped, affecting WFP operations in Shan State and central areas. The WFP says most of the country’s hungry are young children and people suffering from HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, with 60 to 70 per cent of children in some parts of Myanmar malnourished.

At Ko Htike’s blog there are pictures of protest and a murdered protester and evidence of another person who was beaten to death on the street. According to Mizzima news some odd things are going on relating to the Generals-

Senior General Than Shwe’s right hand man business tycoon Tayza owned Htoo trading company shut-down its operations since yesterday after giving two months salaries to its staff.

“After giving us two month’s salary, we were asked not to come to office. They told us to contact the company in November,” a staff working at the Htoo company told Mizzima.

With rumours of Burma’s military supremo Senior General Than Shwe’s family fleeing to a foreign country making the rounds, among Burmese people, a chartered Air Bagan flight was spotted in Laos’ capital city of Vientiane, an eyewitness told Mizzima. The chartered Air Bagan flight carrying eight special passengers landed in Vientiane at 6 p.m (local time) on Thursday. Air Bagan is owned by Than Shwe’s right hand business tycoon Tayza.

Also arrested monks have gone on hunger strike-

Over 30 monks being detained in Bamaw prison have started a hunger strike . They were later transferred to other prisons and separated on September 27. The local authorities raided various monasteries in Bamaw on September 25 night and arrested 108 monks. They were forcibly disrobed and sent to prison. Since then, 30 monks have been staging a hunger strike and over 100 monks are reciting the Sutra.

Internet is back up reportedly but patchy and proxies are not working properly.

Government Forces Crackdown On Protests, in Britain

On Monday 8 October the Stop the War Coalition will be marching from Trafalgar Square to Parliament calling for all troops in Iraq to be brought home immediately. After a series of relatively co-operative meetings, the police now say they have been instructed not to allow the march to take place and that all demonstrations are banned within a mile of Parliament whilst in session.This is a new development which threatens our democratic rights. When Gordon Brown became prime minister he promised to liberalise the laws on protest, saying that one of his principles would be, “civil liberties safeguarded and enhanced”. Government ministers, including Gordon Brown, have lined up to support the right to protest in Burma. It is important that these same ministers also defend the rights of people in this country to protest peacefully.

We are determined to march to make our views known to parliament on 8 October, when Gordon Brown will make his long awaited statement on Iraq. We urge everyone who opposes the war policies of our government to join the call for all British troops to come home immediately and to help defend our civil liberties now under attack. We have produced a petition calling on the authorities to review the decision to ban the march. (h/t Blairwatch)

Sign the petition here. Now of course this is not comparable in severity to Burma but across the planet one can see the ruling classes enforcing measures that remove the ability for us to have a say in how we are governed, outside of the false choices offered by consumerism & twin competing conservative parties we are in a straitjacket of moribund wage slavery.

Platitudes For The Dead

President Nicolas Sarkozy has also drawn criticism this week for urging French companies to “freeze” new investments in Burma. No other French company operates in the country. Total, as the President presumably knew, has not made new investments in Burma for years.A French diplomat told the newspaper Liberation off the record yesterday: “Annoucing a freeze of what is already frozen is hardly revolutionary. It allows (the president) to surf on the notion of a French ‘new deal’ for human rights, while protecting French economic interests.”

France’s Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, this week rejected suggestions that Total is a, de facto, ally of the military junta in Rangoon. He can claim to be something of an expert on the issue. In 2003, when he was out of office, his company BK Conseil was paid to advise Total on how to improve the public image of its Burmese operations.

Meanwhile, campaigners have also been targeting the US oil giant Chevron Corp, the only sizeable US company still investing in Burma. The group EarthRights International has written to the company’s chairman Dave O’Reilly urging Chevron to use its influence with the regime and ask the military government to use restraint when confronting the demonstrators.

“The government of Burma is not only your host but also your client and your business partner in the Yadana gas pipeline consortium,” their letter said. “So long as you remain in Burma, therefore, it is incumbent upon you to use your influence to help prevent mass bloodshed. Please do not stand by as the killing begins again.”

I suspect this is the story across the board, tough talk to achieve concerned humanitarian image PR…and nothing else. Burma does quite nicely for global capital as it is, why rock the boat. The resistance is starved of aid at the moment, that needs to change.

Burma Frontline- Al Jazeera

He had a craggy face, a limp, he was 60 years of age and had a resolve that underlined Myanmar’s new drive for democracy.

“I am not afraid to die,” he told me in halting English. “They will only kill flesh and bones. Spirit cannot be destroyed, so in the end we will win.”

Then he walked to the head of several thousand protesters in downtown Yangon and advanced towards the waiting soldiers, stern faced, fingers on the triggers of their weapons. He raised his hand and stood there in a gesture of defiance. It met with applause from the protestors and people who watched the unfolding drama from their windows and balconies.

The soldiers did nothing – but it was only temporary. Minutes later they acted. Two army units closed both ends of the street in a pincer movement that trapped hundreds of civilians. They poured out of their trucks, with guns and batons. Men in civilian clothes joined them with large bamboo sticks.

They waded into the protestors, beating and slashing. I saw people on the ground being beaten and pounded and kicked, blood pouring from head wounds. Others were dragged off to a row of waiting buses.

…the army used the night time curfew to arrest thousands of monks. Something like 2,000 are said to have been taken, along with intellectuals and other public figures like poets and actors. It’s rumoured that many are being held at the race course in the city but it is impossible to get near there. Now the military clampdown is accelerating. Soldiers now stand guard at all the hospitals in the city and a makeshift morgue is said to have been set up.

Friday! Tom Robinson: War Baby

Burma Tipping Point

However, activists on the ground in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, are reporting a death toll of nearly 200 since the government crackdown began on Wednesday, with several hundred more wounded.

Hundreds of others are reported to have been arrested, many of them beaten or seized from their homes in overnight raids.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Myanmar says that the protests are now largely made up of students instead of monks.

Brown also thinks the death toll is likely to be climbing into the hundreds, what a shame he doesn’t command any armed forces or have any way to communicate with world leaders and stop this, oh wait.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he believes the loss of life in Burma has been “far greater” than that reported by the authorities. He was speaking after holding talks by phone with US President George W Bush and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

According to the blog Jotman (h/t Mr. Eugenides & Davide at Nether World) ethnic insurgent groups are gearing up-

Burma’s Karen National Union has issued a call for all ethnic ceasefire groups to rise up against the Burmese regime in solidarity with the people of Rangoon and Mandalay.

Top Generals disagree over the use of violence-

Unconfirmed reports say there are unusual troop movements underway in Rangoon, amid reports that Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the junta’s chief, and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, his second in command and the commander in chief of the army, have disagreed over the response to the recent demonstrations.

Diplomatic sources in Bangkok said Maung Aye is scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, and that he disagreed with the bloody crackdown that has been underway for three days.

Troop movements and discontent?

Military aircrafts from the Matehtilar airbase are airborne. It is not known why the aircrafts have scrambled. On the other hand there is commotion in the Light Infantry Division 33 and 99 of the Burma Army. The exact nature of the commotion cannot be determined as yet.

Troops marching to Rangoon
There is an urgent report that Burmese troops from middle Burma has started to march towards Rangoon. The reported troops are from Central Command based in Taung Oo and South East Command. At this reporting, it is not clear if the troops are marching to reinforce or to challenge the troops in Rangoon for shooting the Buddhist monks.

Bottom line this is continuing and growing, it is not now over because the government have started to shoot, the resistance is growing and when SLORC captured some monks others took their place, students, general public. Now it’s possible the army is splintering and armed insurgent groups are uniting to fight the government. This is an ongoing struggle and it is a tipping point as in the time that actions will have the most consequences. Help will be the most useful, solidarity the most effective, the news agenda wants new stories, ‘crackdown’ is not the closing chapter. This rebellion is beginning and growing and disparate groups are uniting to fight the Generals who are dividing in their tactics.

“In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about.”
George Orwell- Politics and the English Language.

Elsewhere

Meanwhile…In the Empire’s homeland both parties support the Lieberman/Kyl amendment that names Iran’s armed forces a terrorist organisation while another plan also passes to huge bipartisan support to split Iraq into 3 ethnic territories now the ethnic cleansing has been enforced. As such the political class in America is overwhelmingly an Imperial caste and the anti-war majority have no effective representation, the Dems aren’t even liberals let alone leftists.

Now is it just me…but surely US border agents patrol the US border and having them in Iraq makes it look like…I dunno, a wholly occupied territory, for example? They are going to be helping out at the new forward base called, ahem ‘Combat Outpost Shocker‘ (and not ‘Base Provocative Bait’) in Iraq that is being built 5 miles from the Iranian border. They will be there to lend their staunch defence of human rights and their innate compassionate understanding of differing cultures.

Two famous figures publicly declared they just could not get enough cock- General Peter Pace and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Most puzzling was the General who surrounded by hard bodied young men all day still can’t satisfy his lust for dick.

Naj at Neo Resistance has kept tabs on the anti-Iran rhetoric, not least Lee Bollinger the worst opening act since that Bush impressionist lowered the rooms IQ before Colbert went on.

And there was this fine example of terrorism–

Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual

How many Iraqis does America need to kill before they give the USA their hearts & minds? Why must they test Uncle Sam’s love so cruelly?

And from the past what was called the Spanish Downing Street memo, you’ll never guess, Bush is a deluded killer who planned the war in advance but thinks he’s doing his utmost to avoid war! Saddam would of booked for a billion saving over a million lives and failing to funnel hundreds of billions of public funds into that military industrial complex thingy, oh wait, now it makes sense. So that’s both European leaders, Blair and Aznar who lied to their people all the while knowing they were assenting to Bush’s attack that had been planned for years-

[Bush] described the US as playing a game of “good cop, bad cop” with the former prime minister, Tony Blair…Mr Bush referred optimistically to the reconstruction of Iraq, which he thought “could be organised into a federation”.

Asked by Mr Aznar whether the Iraqi dictator could really leave, Mr Bush replied: “Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated.

From your mouth to God’s ear George.

Crackdown, Net Shut Off, Monasteries Occupied But Resistance Grows

Ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has long had a policy of non-interference in the affairs of Burma, had unusually sharp words for its fellow member at a meeting at the United Nations.“They were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar Government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.The ministers “expressed their revulsion to Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities,” he said.They strongly urged Burma to exercise restraint and seek a political solution, and wanted the ruling junta to resume national reconciliation with all parties and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy.

However the crackdown is in effect, Ko Htike reports-

I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the internet connection throughout the country. I therefore would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta.

I will also try my best to feed in their demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive though other means (Journos!! please don’t ask me what other means would be??). I will continue to live with the motto that “if there is a will there is a way”.

We probably need to lobby the Chinese government or UN envoy to Burma to ask the junta to switch on the Internet. Please!

Video of monastery raid via Democratic Voice of Burma, also-

Protests continue in Rangoon amid ongoing crackdowns Sep 28, 2007 (DVB)–Soldiers have used slingshots to disperse demonstrations in Rangoon today, which have been less organised than on previous days. – more

Local residents thwart monastery raidsmore Sep 28, 2007 (DVB)–Army troops attempting to raid monasteries in Mandalay and Rangoon last night were forced to withdraw by local residents. –

Security forces fire on school pupils Sep 28, 2007 (DVB)–Government security forces beat up and fired upon young students in front of a school during yesterday’s brutal crackdown on large-scale protests in Rangoon, according to witnesses. – more