Word: burma
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Wirth praises Ban Ki-moon for the same quality of persistence. The U.N., Wirth says, gets dumped with the problems that great powers can't solve, like nudging the regime in Burma into improving its miserable human-rights record or bringing peace to Darfur in southern Sudan, where bitter fighting raged for years. The U.N. had long been unable to come to any consensus on how to handle Darfur, with deep divisions in the Security Council about whether and how to send a peacekeeping force there. Wirth praises Ban's diplomatic skills in finally getting Security Council approval...
...Stothard says the regime fears a Security Council inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Burma has been engaged in a civil war with various ethnic groups since 1948, although some have signed cease-fire agreements with the government. The regime has been accused of torturing its political prisoners. But China and Russia have opposed any Security Council action on Burma. China, which views Burma as a resource-rich, strategically important client state, is seen as the regime's strongest backer in the international community. "It's time China realized that having instability on its border with Burma...
...Russia's expanding trade with Burma includes an agreement to sell the poverty-stricken nation a nuclear research reactor, and the regime has also been bolstering ties with North Korea, receiving arms shipments from its sister Asian pariah state, and employing North Korean engineers to build massive underground bunkers at its fortress-like capital of Naypyidaw...
...stressed that he would remain focused on the situation, and said he expected the government "to demonstrate real progress in the near future." Real progress, however, hasn't been seen in Burma since 1962. And contempt for the U.N. is nothing new among Burma's generals. A Burmese, U Thant, served as U.N. Secretary-General for 10 years, from 1961 to 1971. When he died in 1974 and his body was flown back to Burma, leader General Ne Win, the mentor of current ruler Than Shwe, refused U Thant a state funeral or any honors whatsoever...
Read about the 2007 crackdown in Burma...