From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), Dec. 19: Bush Administration Trains Members of Indonesian Terrorist Groups Human rights advocates have learned that the US is training members of Kopassus, the notorious Indonesian Special Forces unit with a… Read morePentagon trains Indonesian “terrorists”
The rival Moro guerrilla groups in the Philippines have agreed to talks after a meeting in Manila with Saiful Islam Qadaffi, eldest son of Libyan President Moammar Qadaffi. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)… Read moreMoro factions pledge peace in Philippines
From the International Herald Tribune, Nov. 15, links and emphasis added: Unorthodox sects face prosecution in Indonesia JAKARTA — Indonesian human rights lawyers are again questioning the country’s commitment to religious freedom after the recent arrests of several unorthodox Islamic… Read moreIslamic “heretics” persecuted in Indonesia
A remotely detonated car bomb attack on the Batasan complex that houses the Philippines House of Representatives at Quezon City in Manila Nov. 13 killed four, including the suspected target—Rep. Wahab Akbar (Basilan), a former Muslim militant who backed operations… Read moreAbu Sayyaf behind Manila blast?
It seems that since the capitulation of warlord Khun Sa 11 years ago, his Mong Tai Army has collapsed back into its constituent entities—and that his former militia, the Shan State Army, is back in rebellion against the Burmese regime…. Read moreBurma: Shan guerillas pledge continued resistance
Democratic Voice of Burma Oct. 2 reports claims from members of the Burmese junta’s Swan Arr Shin militia that thousands of detained monks could be headed for labor camps: Monks currently detained at the government technical college compound in Insein… Read moreBurma: labor camps for detained monks —”energy blackmail” silences neighbors
While the Burmese regime still touts an official count of 10 dead in five days of repression, the UK’s Daily Mail reports Oct. 2 claims of a “a former intelligence officer in Burma’s ruling junta that thousands of protesters have… Read moreHow many killed in Burma repression?
For all the opprobrium being directed at China over its support for the repressive Burma regime, the US corporate presence is going unexamined. As we recently noted, the new Burma sanctions announced by Bush mean no more than a visa… Read moreUnocal still in Burma
The Burmese junta currently shooting unarmed protestors received a cynical plea for restraint from the Israel government on Sept. 29. According to the Israeli paper Ha’aretz, the Israeli foreign ministry announced “Israel is concerned by the situation in Myanmar, and… Read moreIsraeli military aid to Burmese regime: Jane’s
A few days before Burma exploded into the world headlines, the annual US State Department report ranking nations on their narcotics control efforts listed the Rangoon regime as among those not making the cut. Twenty countries were listed as major… Read moreUS anti-drug report blasts Venezuela, Burma (conveniently)
The Democratic Voice of Burma website reports that army troops attempting to raid monasteries in Rangoon and Mandalay were forced to withdraw by local residents Sept. 27. Troops approaching the monasteries backed off after locals armed with sticks and slingshots… Read morePeople’s resistance in Burma
History is being made in Burma, as some 100,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks marched through Rangoon Sept. 24, the largest demonstration since a 1988 pro-democracy movement was brutally crushed by the military regime. Surreptitiously shot photographs and videos show… Read moreWill Burmese democracy movement become pawn in pipeline wars?
