BurmaNet News: August 21 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

August 21 2003 Issue #2310

DRUGS
AFP: Thailand tightens screws on Myanmar over narcotics crisis
Irrawaddy: Thai Threat Flouts Burma’s Sovereignty
SHAN: Drugs Rebel commander: Thai curbs on friends  weaken curbs on drugs

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: $200 Tourist Levy Dropped
AP: WHO Lauds Myanmar's Progress In Promoting Condom Use
Xinhua: Myanmar injects huge investment in border areas development

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Thai police raid NGOs

MONEY
AP: Myanmar advises embassies open euro accounts because of dollar ban
Accountancy Age: Ernst & Young Joins ‘Dirty List’ of Burma Firms

REGIONAL
BP: China, Japan Asked to Support Road Map
Kaladan: Two Bangladeshi Deals with Burma in the Process of Implementation
Malaysiakini: Police presence forces UNHCR to cease operations

INTERNATIONAL
Kyodo: U.S. urges Asia to pressure Myanmar junta

EDITORIAL
SCMP: The Triumph of the Hard-Liners by David Steinberg

DRUGS

Agence France Presse   August 21, 2003
Thailand tightens screws on Myanmar over narcotics crisis

BANGKOK, Aug 21 (ASP) - Thailand on Thursday increased pressure on Myanmar
over its failure to halt its huge narcotics trade, sending an official
letter to the ruling junta and accusing it of "indifference" over the
crisis.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra this week warned the Yangon military
government that if it does not act against the laboratories churning out
narcotics in the jungles on the Thai-Myanmar border, Thailand will shut
them down itself.

"The prime minister has sent a clear signal for them to get tough with the
bad guys. Myanmar should do something -- they should not be so indifferent
because people are suffering," said deputy premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.

The comments from Chavalit, a former army chief and close ally of the
Yangon generals, indicate mounting Thai anger at the junta's failure to
solve its narcotics problem.

While opium-eradication efforts in Myanmar have made headway, it is still
the world's second-biggest producer of heroin and in recent years drug
kingpins have begun churning out vast quantities of cheap methamphetamine
pills.

Thaksin spoke out Wednesday after Thai forces killed nine alleged drug
smugglers from the Yangon-allied United Wa State Army in a clash on the
border.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said a letter of concern
had been sent to the Myanmar government after the fighting.

"In the letter we expressed our concern over drugs production and asked
Myanmar to cooperate more closely with Thailand in the fight against the
drug problem," Sihasak told AFP.

Thailand is the world's largest per-capita consumer of methamphetamines,
with five percent of its 63 million people thought to be users of the
extremely addictive drug.

The army said last year that it expected a record one billion "speed"
pills to be brought in from Myanmar this year, up from an estimated 700
million in 2002.

Chavalit said that the Myanmar government's decision to relocate hundreds
of thousand of ethnic Wa to regions near the Thai border posed a serious
threat, as they continue to produce narcotics instead of alternative
crops.

"They are still determined to produce drugs and we have seized a large
amount of drugs on the border," he said.

The drugs issue has been the cause of frequent rows between Thailand and
Myanmar, which have an historically troubled relationship.
________________________

The Irrawaddy   August 21, 2003
Thai Threat Flouts Burma’s Sovereignty
By Naw Seng

The head of Burma’s Drug Enforcement Department called Thailand’s alleged
threat to send troops inside Burma to destroy drug factories an affront to
the country’s sovereignty.

Pol-Col Hkam Awng told The Irrawaddy he had not yet confirmed whether the
Thai Prime Minister made such a threat.

According to a report in today’s English language daily The Nation,
Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned he may send troops to
destroy drug labs in Wa-controlled areas in Burma. The comments were made
in reaction to a deadly clash yesterday between Thai border police and Wa
militiamen who were reportedly smuggling drugs into Thailand.

If Rangoon does not make an effort to snuff out drug factories along the
border, "we will go there and do it ourselves," said Mr. Thaksin.

Hkam Awng believed that Burma would not tolerate any foreign troops on its
soil. He expressed skepticism about the veracity of the news report. "I
don’t think Thailand’s Prime Minister would speak so irresponsibly," he
said.

Thaksin also asked the Foreign Ministry to send a letter to their Burmese
counterparts, demanding action be taken against the drug trafficking
activities of the Wa militia. If no action is taken, "the Thai government
will deal with the issue itself," said the Prime Minister.

Hkam Awng explained that Burma’s government has difficulty obtaining
detailed information from the remote areas along the Thai-Burma border
where the drug factories are located. Several groups operate in the area,
he said, not only the United Wa State Army (UWSA). Thailand, however,
focuses solely on the activities the Wa group, he added.

A veteran Shan analyst said the regime would welcome cooperation with the
Thais but is sure to object to the presence of foreign troops in country.
"The Burmese government won’t allow it [Thai troops entering Burma]," he
said, adding that Burmese authorities and Wa soldiers would resist if Thai
troops entered their territory.

Mr Thaksin rejected the suggestion that military action against the UWSA
would strain ties with Burma.

Burma is also at odds with the Wa, according to a veteran analyst. "Both
armies [Burmese and UWSA] are waiting for an order to fire," he said.

A source close to the UWSA confirmed that relations with Rangoon became
strained after an alleged clash between Wa and Burmese troops in northern
Shan State earlier this month.

He believes that Thailand is "just playing a game" and will not dispatch
troops. "I don’t think the Thais would dare attack the Wa," he said.

A resident of a village close to yesterday’s confrontation thinks that
dispatching a large number troops to the Wa area would be impossible.
However, he believed a swift attack and retreat may be feasible.

The clash near Huay Sala Village in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district resulted
in the death of nine Wa militiamen and the confiscation of 500,000
methamphetamine pills.
________________________

Shan Herald Agency for News   August 21, 2003
Drugs Rebel commander: Thai curbs on friends  weaken curbs on drugs

A casualty of increased pressure on armed resistance groups along the
border by the Thai government happens to be the rupture in the monitoring
of drugs across the border, according to a Karen commander.

"Even my movements are being restricted," said Lt-Col Nerdah Mya,
Commander of the 201st Battalion, Karen National Liberation Army, the
armed wing of Karen National Union. "In the past, we were able to keep all
the drug activities along the border under surveillance and keep the Thai
authorities informed. Now that the relations have been downgraded, we are
getting less and less access to our sources of information."

The Thai media reported in 2001 a number of Thai army seizures of drugs
opposite Tak province. In April 2001 alone, the total haul was 13.7
million speed pills and 4.5 kg of heroin. Thai security officials
privately credited Karen rebels for their timely and accurate
intelligence.

Likewise, the Shan State Army's counter-narcotics operations had been
impaired by rising Thai restriction, according to Shan rebel sources. "In
the past, the SSA had been able to expose Burmese commanders' involvement
in drugs," commented one officer, who requested anonymity. "Maybe their
so-called friends in Bangkok were not too happy about the disclosures."

"I would like Thai leaders to rethink carefully," added Nerdah, who also
happened to be the son of Karen rebels' celebrated commander, Bo Mya,
"before they decided to ditch us. Are they confident of finding in the
junta truer friends than us?"

The Thai police seized 500,000 methamphetamine pills coming from Mongyawn,
opposite Chiangmai's Mae Ai. Mongyawn is the joint stronghold of Burmese
and Wa forces.


INSIDE BURMA

The Irrawaddy   August 21, 2003
$200 Tourist Levy Dropped
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Foreign visitors no longer have to exchange US $200 upon arriving at
Burmese airports, sources in Rangoon said today.

Authorities lifted the order on foreigners three weeks after the US passed
stiffer sanctions on Burma. As part of the sanctions, banks in the United
States stopped trading dollars through Burma’s three main exchange banks,
a move which has made the greenback scarce inside the country.

Staff at Rangoon International Airport confirmed that the counters used to
change US currency for Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) have closed,
but the government is yet to make any announcement about a shift in
policy.

Since 1993, the government has encouraged the use of FEC instead of
dollars. Forcing visitors to change $200 on arrival was an important way
for the government to get hold of foreign currency. FEC are supposedly
equal in value to the US dollar, though real currency fetches a higher
value from blackmarket moneychangers.

People in Rangoon’s business circle also confirmed that officials were no
longer demanding foreigners change money at the airport, and said the
government was trying to find a way for the economy to cope without access
to dollars. The euro is now being promoted by officials as the new
currency for trade.

"On Aug 10, authorities unofficially told both local and foreign companies
to use other currencies instead of US dollars in trade with overseas
firms," the businessman added.

Other businessmen in Rangoon speculate that FEC will gradually disappear,
as the government encourages the use of euros and other currency. "FEC
will be useless once the dollar is dropped," an owner of an import-export
company said. "Even now, FEC are not as common as they were before."

Official exchange rates are grossly undervalued, and most currency trading
in the country is done through illegal moneychangers. According to
moneychangers in Rangoon, one FEC currently buys only 590 kyat, while one
US dollar is worth 1,020 kyat. Officially, one FEC is equal to one US
dollar, and the banks buy dollars for just 6.50 kyat.
_______________________

Associated Press   August 21, 2003
WHO Lauds Myanmar's Progress In Promoting Condom Use

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP)--Myanmar, a conservative country that wouldn't even
acknowledge having prostitution just two years ago, has made great strides
in promoting condom use to fight the spread of AIDS, said World Health
Organization officials.

"This is an amazing shift in Myanmar's policy," WHO spokeswoman Mangai
Balasegaram said Thursday at the end of a regional conference organized by
the U.N. organization to promote condom use.

"Only three weeks ago the word 'condom' was used for the first time in the
national press, in an article from the New Light of Myanmar," she said
referring to one of the country's state-owned newspapers.

At the conference, Myanmar health official Dr. Tun Myint said his
government was now distributing condoms through a national AIDS program
funded by a US$21 million Trust Fund for HIV-AIDS from the United Nations.

The conference, organized to promote the strategy of "100 percent" condom
use in the sex industry, was attended by representatives of WHO's Western
Pacific region countries: Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos and the
Philippines.

Myanmar and Thailand - which pioneered the "100 percent" strategy in
1991-92 - attended as observers. The 100 percent strategy seeks to ensure
that condoms are used in every sexual transaction between a sex worker and
customer.

Tun Myint, assistant director of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease
Control in Myanmar's Department of Health, said an estimated average of 20
to 50 female sex workers work in each of Myanmar's district capitals.

In late 2000, a "100 percent" condom use program was begun on a pilot
basis in four district capitals, and Tun Myint said 60 district capitals
are being targeted by the end of 2003.

The participation of a representative from Myanmar was a highlight of the
four-day conference, said Balasegaram.

Equally encouraging was the presence of Myanmar Cabinet ministers at an
international meeting on HIV transmission through drug use held in Yangon
last week, she said.

Tun Myint said Myanmar had identified 45,968 people with HIV - the virus
that causes AIDS - by March 2003.

WHO estimates are significantly higher.

By the end of 2001, an estimated 180,000 to 400,000 individuals were
living with HIV/AIDS, according to its Epidemiological Fact Sheet on
HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections. "AIDS deaths will constitute
a major, if not the major, cause of death in young adults during the
coming decade."

WHO officials nevertheless view Myanmar's example positively.

"It is difficult to talk about sex in Asia, but quiet work is now breaking
taboos," said Balasegaram.
____________________

Xinhua General News Service   August 21, 2003
Myanmar injects huge investment in border areas development

YANGON, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) --Myanmar injected huge fund in building
infrastructures of various sectors for its border areas development since
1989, said an official statistics released on Thursday.

In the transport sector, the country built 7,488 kilometers (km) of earth,
gravel and tar roads, and 42 major bridges, repairing 4, 744 km of the
existing ones during the 14 years' period, according to the figures of the
Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development
Affairs.

In the education sector, the government opened 750 basic education
schools, accommodating a total of 101,515 students. Besides, 31,879
illiterates have become literates.

In the health sector, the government built 52 hospitals, 82 dispensaries
and 69 rural health centers in the areas.

In the energy sector, 251 generators were installed to small and medium
power stations in eight border towns, electrifying 186 towns and villages
in the areas.

Moreover, the government built 40 dams in the border regions during the
period with 17 others under implementation.

Although Myanmar has made achievements in the border areas development but
these areas are still backward as compared with other parts of the
country. The main factors restricting the development are due to
insufficient investment in the sector, heavy tasks in drug control and
disturbances of anti-government armed groups.


ON THE BORDER

Mizzima News   August 21, 2003
Thai police raid NGOs

The National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM), a religious
organisation that has been helping Burmese migrant workers in Bangkok, was
raided on 19 August by the Thai police. A Burmese woman was arrested and
deported to Myawady on the Thailand-Burma border.

The Burmese woman, identified as Ma Nyo Nyo Lwin (21), came to Thailand a
year ago expecting to find a job, but unfortunately was deceived by
brokers resulting to her being forced to work as a housemaid with out any
pay.  Having fled work three (3) days prior, she was caught by the Thai
police while approaching the NCCM to meet survival needs.

NCCM has been assisting Burmese migrants who are in Thailand for a variety
of reasons.

Thai authorities recently started raiding the NCCM office following an
accusation by the Burmese Military Junta that the NCCM was supporting
pro-democracy activists demonstrating outside the Burmese Embassy.

The Thai authorities are restricting the work of many NGOs, especially
those that are helping Burmese migrants. Another organisation named Jesuit
Refugee Service (JRS) also reported frequent raids by the Thai
authorities.


MONEY

Associated Press Worldstream   August 21, 2003
Myanmar advises embassies open euro accounts because of dollar ban
By Aye Aye Win; Associated Press Writer

YANGON: Myanmar's military government, which last week told businesses and
state agencies to use the euro in place of the dollar for international
currency transactions, has advised foreign embassies to do the same, a
foreign diplomat said Thursday.

The United States last month banned all imports from Myanmar, froze the
U.S.-based assets of Myanmar officials and stopped all U.S. dollar
remittances to the country as part of efforts to pressure Myanmar's junta
into releasing detained pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.

In a briefing Wednesday, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry advised diplomats that
they could open euro accounts at the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank to
facilitate their operations, said a diplomat who was there, speaking on
condition of anonymity.

Because dollar remittances to Myanmar, no matter what their origin, have
to be cleared through banks in the United States, Washington's ban makes
it impossible to send dollars into the country through normal financial
channels.

At Wednesday's briefing, Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told
diplomats they can continue to use their U.S. dollar accounts at the
foreign trade bank, but are encouraged to open euro accounts as well.

The U.S. government announced recently that diplomats and U.N. agencies
will be allowed to remit money but "since it's not sure how it will be
implemented given the unclear situation, Myanmar's government wants to
give the option of opening a euro account," said the diplomat.

The government has already decreed that state and private enterprises
should use euros in business transactions. They are also allowed to use
the Japanese yen or Singapore dollar.

Because most trade - aside from unregistered cross border commerce - is
conducted in U.S. dollars, Myanmar's trading sector has been hamstrung by
the U.S. actions.

The junta seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It
held elections in 1990 but annulled the results after Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party won.

She was kept under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again for 19 months
before her release in May 2002. After one year of freedom, she was
arrested again on May 30 following a clash between her supporters and a
pro-junta mob in northern Myanmar.
_____________________

Accountancy Age   August 21, 2003
Ernst & Young Joins ‘Dirty List’ of Burma Firms

Ernst & Young has been included on the latest 'dirty list' of companies
that operate out of the military dictatorship of Burma, reports David Rae.

The Big Four firm joined the list after the Burma Campaign pressure group
discovered that E&Y has an associated company - U Tin Win Group - that
operates in the country. Fellow Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has
been on the list since last year.

Mark Farmaner, spokesman for the campaign, said E&Y was surprised to be
included.

Since PwC has been on the list, some of its clients have expressed
concern, and Farmaner said at least one planned to write raising concerns
with the firm.

This may have contributed to the decision by senior partner Kiaran Poynter
to write to Farmaner, indicating a possible cessation of operations in the
area. 'One member of the PwC network does have an ownership interest in an
entity operating in Burma, but we understand that such interest is in the
process of being re-evaluated,' the letter said.

Farmaner said he would publicise E&Y's involvement with all the Burma
campaign groups, of which there are 13 in Europe alone. He hopes that,
when coupled with US sanctions coming into effect on 28 August, E&Y will
reconsider its position.

E&Y confirmed that clients in countries without a trade embargo against
Burma are referred to U Tin Win, which it described as 'a technical
assistance firm'. A spokesman said: 'Neither Ernst & Young global nor any
of its firms has any interest whatsoever in the technical assistance
firm.'

EDITOR’S NOTE:  To view the full ‘Dirty List’ please go to:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/pm/weblog.php?id=P86


REGIONAL

Bangkok Post   August 21, 2003
China, Japan Asked to Support Road Map
By Achara Ashayagachat

Thailand is trying to persuade China and Japan to back its road map for
democracy in Burma.

Chinese ambassador to Thailand Yan Ting'Ai and Japanese ambassador Atsushi
Tokinoya were briefed by Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai this week
about the road map.

They were also asked to continue their support for a proposed meeting of
like-minded countries, according to the ministry's spokesman Sihasak
Phuangketkeow.

Beijing was receiving Burma's vice-chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) Gen Maung Aye, and Thailand hoped Beijing would
persuade Burma to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and to back
the road map.

However, China says it does not want to interfere in neighbours' affairs.
State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan said after the meeting with Gen Maung Aye,
also Burma's deputy commander-in-chief of defence, that China disagreed
with foreign interference or attempts to punish Burma with sanctions.
_____________________

Kaladan News   August 21,2003
Two Deals with Burma in the Process Implementation

Chittagong, August 21: Two deals with Burma are in the process of
implementation, said Commerce Minister Amir Khosoru Mohmud Chowdhury to
reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Ministry of
Commerce Conference room on 18th August, according to Star report.


That are account trade and a joint survey to construct a 28-kilometre road
will begin by November. But there was no mention where the road is to be
constructed, source further said.

Although the government of Burma did not mention the location of the new
road, the local people thinks that this road may be crossed from the
northern side of Buthidaung township to Kyauktaw Township of Arakan State,
where no residential areas are existent.

Representatives from home, foreign, shipping and communication ministries
and the National Board of Revenue (NBR), Sonali Bank, Export Promotion
Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh-Burma Business Council (BBBC) attended the
meeting.

The meeting formed two committees for recommending necessary rules and
regulations for the coastal shipping agreement with Burma.

Representatives of the shipping, commerce ministries and NBR are the
members of the committee for the coastal shipping agreement.

Besides, another committee was formed to suggest ways to make the existing
border trade agreement effective. Headed by a joint secretary of the
Ministry of Commerce, representatives from the NBR, EPB and BBBC are the
members of the committee.
___________________

Malaysiakini   August 20, 2003
Police presence forces UNHCR to cease operations
By Yap Mun Ching

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was forced to
close down its operations today after a police van was dispatched this
morning to block the entrance to the agency’s Kuala Lumpur office.

UNHCR refugee eligibility coordinator Evan Ruth said the agency decided to
shut down its operations as it could not "credibly offer protection" to
asylum seekers approaching the office.

"We cannot operate with the police present and deterring people from
approaching our office. We will have to decide on a day-to-day basis
(whether to resume operations) depending on what the police decide to do,"
he said when contacted.



INTERNATIONAL

Kyodo   August 21, 2003
U.S. urges Asia to pressure Myanmar junta

WASHINGTON — Japan and other Asian countries should stop engagement with
Myanmar's junta and take a tougher stance to press for a change of
government there, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday.

Lorne Craner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and
labor, said results from the engagement policy taken by Asian countries
have been "absolutely nil."

EDITORIAL

South China Morning Post   August 15, 2003
OP-ED: Burma/Myanmar--The Triumph of the Hard-Liners
By David I. Steinberg

The May 30 state-sponsored attack on the Aung San Suu Kyi caravan in
central Burma, the purportedly large but unknown number of deaths, and the
government’s response by keeping her in custody in a undisclosed location
claiming that this is for her protection against potential assassins, is a
tragic triumph of those ‘hard-liners’ in the country who do not want to
deal with political transitions and who ignore international opinion.  The
tragic American imposition of sanctions on Burmese exports to the U.S.,
and the executive order to freeze Burmese assets and transactions
involving American banks is a triumph of American hard-liners.  If one
hopes for some kind of conflict resolution in this impoverished but
potentially rich country, both actions have made it far more difficult. 
We have not gone back to the status quo ante before May 30; the
confrontation has degenerated further into a miasma of growing
proportions.

The Burmese have resolved nothing by their assault on Aung San Suu Kyi and
her entourage.  They likely have heightened sympathy for her internally,
and certainly have increased her international acclaim and reputation. 
Support for the opposition National League for Democracy may be as much a
desire to extract the military from administration as it is for any more
liberal political philosophy or personality, but antipathy toward the
military is real.  Thus, the military regime has simply undercut achieving
its own evident objective of marginalizing her influence and popularity. 
Even Japan, the most pliant of donors from the industrialized world, has
cut off all assistance, including humanitarian aid.

The United States has a policy toward Burma of a high moral tone, but its
virtuousness is undercut by its likely ineffectiveness and the U.S.’ more
pliant polices to other autocratic states in the region.  The sweeping
nature of the executive order and legislation mean that no international
non-governmental organization providing humanitarian relief or assistance,
no foreign embassy  paying local expenses or salaries, and no local
business operating in the ASEAN region whose accounts and/or payments go
through an American bank anywhere, as most do through New York,  can
operate without obtaining a license from the U.S. Treasury. 
Pharmaceuticals needed for humanitarian aid are held on the high seas.  
The American Embassy personnel dismissed these as ‘collateral damage.’ It
is ironic that those well-meaning human rights groups that try to assist
the betterment of the Burmese people, but which  lobbied for this
legislation, now cannot provide help without obtaining such exemptions,
which may take a considerable amount of time.  Foreign ambassadors and
embassy personnel who attended the U.S. Embassy briefing on the
legislation’s effects in Rangoon were reportedly angry and shocked.

The economic effects on the Burmese military are likely to be marginal. 
Of the $356 million in Burmese textile exports to the United States, fully
80 percent represent imports of fabric, buttons, thread, and machines into
the country.  Burma supplies labor, and in this country probably nets
something less than $10 million in foreign exchange earnings.  The
legislation is said to be designed to hurt the military; in fact, it hurts
the people.  Sixty-four textile factories have filed for closure in a
two-week period.  Some 80,000 jobs have already been lost and this will be
followed by another 100,000, mostly young women who provide supplementary
income for impoverished families. One recent academic inquiry in central
Burma indicated that some of those let off are finding their way into the
brothels.  There are few other jobs available.  If the EU follows suit,
more unemployment will result.

None of this is to justify the regime and its disregard for the well being
of its own people.  But the history of this sad land is testament to a
virulent xenophobia that is palpably increased by such strident and overt
pressures.  Pressures on the regime are certainly necessary, but diplomacy
is required, and public sledgehammers achieve little except pounding 
anger.  Not only have both sides in this depressing equation made solution
more difficult, they have marginalized those within the Burmese military
who were seeking some equitable compromise with the opposition.  Now
influential military officials in Burma believe the U.S. will ‘move the
goal posts,’ as one said, and make amelioration more difficult.

Those in Washington who celebrated with a party the passage and the
signing of the sanctions bill have in reality little to celebrate if they
are concerned about progress and the lives of the Burmese people.  Now,
both sides in their inscrutable ways have cemented stasis.  The Burmese
military leadership will be thrown back on China, and on their own
resources, which they erroneously believe are sufficient for their
purposes, and in the U.S. a false sense of moral accomplishment will
prevail.  By such actions, the U.S. may actually enhance autocratic rule.

Some Burmese too have a wish that is unrealistic.  They hope the U.S.,
militarily will intervene.  The joke in Rangoon is “Gold after Diamonds,”
because Senior General Than Shwe (“shwe” in Burmese is gold) will have the
same fate as Saddam Hassein (“sein” in Burmese is diamonds). This is the
unrealistic hope of desperation.  It will not be moderated by present
actions, but simply drive despair even deeper.

The writer is Director of Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service,
Georgetown University