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Burma Myanmar
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The United Nations and the Junta in Myanmar
Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Unfortunately, Einstein's definition of insanity fits the United Nations handling of the sad situation in Myanmar (Burma) for the last seventeen years.
Consider that since the overthrow of the legally elected government by Myanmar's military junta in 1991, the U.N. General Assembly and Human Rights Commission have passed a total of twenty nine separate Resolutions aimed at stopping the Junta's atrocities. For its part, Myanmar’s leadership has completely ignored every single United Nations Resolution.
In addition to all these United Nations Resolutions, there have been twelve calls during the last fifteen years by the United Nations Secretary General in an attempt to secure the release of imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, the legitimately elected leader of the country. Sadly, to this day, Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest by Myanmar's military junta.
In 2005, former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and South Africa's retired Bishop Desmond M. Tutu, wrote a report on Myanmar for the United Nations Security Council. The 2005 Havel/Tutu report was a complete indictment of the most brutal military dictatorship in the world today. The report indicated that the military kidnaps male children at an early age and trains them in the use of weapons by age eleven. It is estimated that nearly 70,000 children have been forced to join the military in this manner. The country is also the world's leading producer of heroin and is heavily involved in drug trafficking.
In addition to the drugs and rampant child abuse, thousands of Myanmar villages have been systematically destroyed by the military Junta. Over 200,000 refugees have fled the country to escape the brutality of the regime. In Myanmar, there are no basic human rights, healthcare, education, political rights, or free speech. Atrocities are common with murder, rape, and forced labor common.
In addition, HIV aids is a major problem in the country as well. In effect, the military's corrupt ruling Junta has succeeded in making Myanmar one of the poorest countries in the world. The 2005 report also found that Myanmar met all the criteria necessary for United Nations Security Council intervention.
The truth is that the Havel/Tutu report was largely ignored by the United Nations because both Russia and China are significant arms suppliers to the Myanmar regime. Also, both of these United Nations Security Council members are actively seeking future investment opportunities with the Junta because of the country's large gas reserves.
Last year, Myanmar's military was attracting dubious international publicity for killing innocent monks. The monks were protesting the intolerable conditions in the country, even as construction of a palatial inland city for the Junta's leadership called Naypyitaw was well underway. The United Nations quickly responded to last year's tragic events in Myanmar by appointing a "special envoy", Ibrahim Gambarito, as a liaison to improve the situation. A series of meetings between Gambarito and the military Junta would not, in the words of the U.N. special envoy, produce any "tangible outcome".
Today, the sad story of the United Nations and Myanmar continues to get even worse. The wind and rain of Hurricane Nargis have recently devastated much of the country. More than 100,000 people are feared dead and millions more are starving and homeless. The International Community and the United Nations have tried to provide relief aid to the hurricane victims. However, the paranoid Myanmar Junta has refused to let most of the aid enter the country, fearful of a foreign military invasion.
The Junta's continued refusal to accept foreign aid led to the recent meeting between Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at General Shwe's newly constructed palace compound in Naypyitaw. Shortly after the meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left Myanmar praising General Shwe's "flexibility."
It was certainly ironic that only several hours after meeting with the United Nations Secretary General , Than Shwe's government announced that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be held for yet another year under house arrest. At least the U.N. Secretary General will not have to make that historically futile telephone call to try and secure her release for the next twelve months.
Then, a government controlled newspaper called, "The New Light of Myanmar" concluded that the country's hurricane crisis was over as it announced; “The government and the people are like parents and children. We, all the people, were pleased with the efforts of the government.” As for the millions of starving and homeless from the recent hurricane, the government reasoned that it does not need any international aid because the Myanmar people can now eat “large frogs” that are plentiful during the rainy season.
So, the process goes on and on and on. Myanmar atrocities followed by the same sad diplomatic dance between the U.N. and Myanmar's corrupt military leadership. A lack of any diplomatic progress is eventually followed by empty U.N. Resolution after Resolution, over and over again, year after year. However, there has never been a single, positive, tangible outcome to any of the country’s many vast problems.
This entire process is defined by Albert Einstein as insanity and it is the only real term that accurately describes the response of the United Nations to the actions of the world's worst regime of despots in Myanmar for the last seventeen years.
About the Author
James William Smith has worked in Senior management positions for some of the largest Financial Services firms in the United States for the last twenty five years. He has also provided business consulting support for insurance organizations and start up businesses. Visit his website at http://www.eWorldvu.com
What's the reasoning behind Burma changing it's name to Myanmar?
I would like to know why and when they changed their name from Burma to Myanmar.
Thanks
The name "Myanmar" is derived from the local short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw. In Burmese, the name "Myanma" has been used since the 13th century, while "Burma" historically was used for the home-country of the Burmans, but also for the areas annexed / conquered by Burman kings .
The country achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 4 January 1948, as the "Union of Burma". It became the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" on 4 January 1974, before reverting to the "Union of Burma" on 23 September 1988.
The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC = the name of the military junta at that time) passed the "Adaptation of Expressions Law" that officially changed the English version of the country's name from Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar. The law also changed the English versions of many place names in the country along with it, such as its former capital city from Rangoon to Yangon. Similar drives to use "native" names have been seen in other former colonies, e. g., in India and in South Africa.
Moreover, the use of The Union of Myanmar (rather than the Union of Burma) was a feeble attempt to appease the non-Burman population in the country.
The Panglong Agreement, February 1947, was reached after an historic meeting between the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic minority leaders and Aung San, head of the interim Burmese government. On the agenda was the united struggle for independence from Britain and the future of Burma after independence as a unified republic. The spirit and promises of this Panglong conference did not last long. At the time of "British Burma" became independent (as the Union of Burma), the Burman leaders - for various reasons - decided to ignore the promises made with respect to referendums to be held as to whether non-Burman states wanted independence from or only a loose association with The Union of Burma.
Partly as a result of broken promises and of "marginalization" from the political process, the Karen and Mon rose up in rebellion in early 1949, and soon the Muslims in northern Arakan also revolted. In early 1960s, the Kachin and the Shan rebellions took off.
So, the Burman military dictators had long been fighting internal rebellions, and the name change was also intended to signal "unity" and downplay Burman dominance of the country's political system.
Beleaguered Myanmar find support in Timor-Leste
HANOI, Vietnam – The military-led government of Myanmar (Burma) received an expression of support Wednesday, ironically from a country led by a Nobel peace laureate, Timor-Leste.
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