Word: burma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Burma's military rulers are notorious for using brute force. Now a human-rights report accuses them of using that force against the country's ethnic-minority populations. Released last week, "Dying Alive: A Legal Assessment of Human Rights in Burma" is 600 pages long and was three years in the making. The author is British human-rights researcher Guy Horton, who was inspired to do the study by his friend, British academic Michael Aris, the late husband of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Produced with funds from the Dutch government and non profit organizations, the report draws...
...Burma's failure to improve its human-rights record is testing the world's patience. The Bush Administration has announced it will renew sanctions against the junta, citing the government's suppression of the country's democratic opposition. And with Burma set to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year, its neighbors are trying to persuade the country's military dictators to "voluntarily" give up their turn, so as to avoid the embarrassing prospect of the U.S. and E.U. boycotting the forum's meetings. On that, at least, Rangoon appears to be listening: Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand...
...majority through democratic or economic reforms. In other words, oil can insulate governments that would otherwise have bleak long term prospects. The result is that oil-rich states develop a powerful, well-armed elite that can do whatever they please—which in the case of Burma, Sudan, and other states is generally an unpleasant mix of oppression, genocide, or warfare. Other states, like Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, have successfully diverted the frustration of the populace into anti-western terrorism...
...companies that are ethical do have some leeway in enforcing standards on the nations they work in. Unocal threatened to leave Burma when it heard reports that the government was using slave labor in the construction of a pipeline. Other firms like Encana Corporation in Ecuador have set aside funds for reforestation in areas near their oil fields. After all, a host government that has been sanctioned by most of the world has little left to lose except the income from investments made by those firms that will deal with them...
...really want to starve the beast of these governments, there are two viable options: military force or reducing oil demand. Forced change of these governments is generally drastic and unpopular—no one is clamoring for invasions of Sudan or Burma. The other option is to give pause to how world oil demand could be reduced. While demand remains at current levels, these governments will get their money and very little can be done to change these governments that have no internal incentives to improve. Thus, if we want to make a real difference we should not vent...