Climate of fear hangs over Myanmar

For many in Myanmar life is daily struggle simply to get enough food to survive.

In a narrow street in central Yangon, people push their way through a frenzied crowd to get a free plate food.

Many stuff their pockets with rice and vegetables to save for later. Barefoot children throw lollipops and soft drinks into plastic bags, to be shared out later with others whose only home is the street.


It's hard to believe that just 60 years ago Myanmar was one of the richest countries in the region, supplying most of Asia with rice.

Nowadays, despite the country's abundant natural resources, it can barely feed it's own people.

Just four months ago, unannounced fuel price hikes pushed food costs up threefold, triggering street protests that were led by monks and ended with the army turning its guns on the demonstrators.

Today, to talk about food is to criticise the government. So no matter how much the people suffer, few are brave enough to open up.

I asked one woman why food was so expensive. Even with her identity hidden she wouldn't respond, such is the state of fear in Myanmar today.

Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda is one of the country's most important religious shrines and became one of the centres of the protests in September.

Now, in the streets around the pagoda, everything looks normal. Kids sell flowers or offer to wash the hair of worshippers to earn extra money for their families.

Hopes for the future
Inside the 2,000 year old monument, devotees light candles and touch their heads to the marbled ground.

Elderly monks collect alms and give out blessings, as though encouraging the faithful to keep their hopes up for the future.

Along the streets leading up to the Sule Paya Pagoda where troops fired on unarmed civilians, pavements are a riot of colours with stalls hawking goods such as tomatoes, multi-patterned longyis, cameras, gems and watches.

Everyone seems happy, everything seems calm. But of course appearances can be deceptive.

Many of the monestaries which were shut in the wake of the crackdown are still closed.

Dissident monks are banned from returning to their sanctuaries and the dreaded undercover police are everywhere, watching for any signs of agitation that could lead to more protests.

The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 people were detained following the protests.

Up to a thousand remain in detention or have disappeared. Many activists have gone underground and even those who sympathise with them live in fear of being arrested in the middle of the night.

I found one man willing to talk, but we had to walk through the streets for an hour before he found a place he felt safe enough to talk.

Desperate
The situation in Myanmar, he said, had become desperate.

"The business is very slow so the people are suffering. We also feel depressed. Our spirits are a little down."

He told me that the generals had put forward a series of economic initiatives based on its "Roadmap to Democracy".

More encouraging though was their engagement with the opposition, the National League of Democracy, and its leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi.

But he said the way forward wouldn't be easy.

"Within this period we will have so many struggles and sometime it may be bloody".

For now the primary concern for most in Myanmar is how to stay alive.

These days a bowl of noodles costs the equivalent of 80 cents - an enormous amount for a people who, on average, live off just one dollar a day.

While spirits are low, people in Yangon say they still have hope, if not for democracy then at least for a government that does not starve them to death.

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Al Jazeera English

19th Dec 2007

US Congress raises auto fuel standards, boosts biofuels

The US Congress overwhelmingly approved Tuesday a bill raising fuel efficiency standards for the first time since 1975 and offering massive support for biofuels, in an effort to slash US dependence on foreign oil.

The bill requires the auto industry to reduce fuel consumption in most cars and light trucks by 40 percent, raising the fuel efficiency standard to 35 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) by 2020.

The current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard is around 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and just over 22 miles per gallon for light trucks.

The bill also calls for a sixfold increase in the use of ethanol, a biofuel, to 136 billion liters per year by 2022. The provision is a boon to US farmers as the United States uses corn to produce ethanol.

In addition, the legislation sets new energy efficiency standards requiring the use of more electricity-efficient light bulbs and appliances.

Pressure for action on energy policy has been mounting as Americans become increasingly frustrated at rising gasoline prices amid warnings that the United States must wean itself of foreign oil from the unstable Middle East.

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NST 19 Dec 2007

Back from Guantanamo

Adil Hassan Hamad can scarcely believe he is back with his family in Sudan, because only days ago he was still in the US's Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

"I am very, very happy and not believing this," Adil tells Al Jazeera, "That I am here with my family - even now I feel this could all be taken away at any moment."

In 2002, Adil and another man, Salim Mahmoud Adam, were picked up from their homes in Peshawar, Pakistan, by Pakistani troops and were later handed over to the US.

Most of his children were babies when their father, who was then working as the director of a hospital in Afghanistan, was taken to Guantanamo.

His daughter, Rahma, now six, was only a few months old when he was taken and now her father seems like a stranger.

"She knows I am her father," says Adil, balancing Rahma on his knee and holding her close. "But she's not used to me."

"Like a cage"
Since his release from Guantanamo, family, friends and neighbours have come to Adil's home in Khartoum to greet a man many thought they might never see again.

Adil recounts stories of torture, interrogation and solitary confinement when speaks of his time in the prison.

"The cell was all made of iron on iron. You don't see anyone or hear anything," he says.

"It was a boring and miserable life... psychologically very tiresome. It was like a cage ... like an animal living in a cage."

Among those present to celebrate Adil's return is Assim al-Haj, brother of Sami al-Haj, the Al Jazeera cameraman imprisoned in Guantanamo six years ago.

He listens to Adil's story of his release from the prison, but knows that his brother's health is deteriorating in captivity.

"Injustice and abuse"
More than 750 people have been held in Guantanamo since January 2002 and only three have been formally charged.

Even with the recent releases, over 270 detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay.

The US supreme court has reviewed the legal status of Guantanamo prisoners on several occasions and found in favour of the inmates - that they should be allowed to have the legality of their detention examined by US courts.

The US administration, which argues that since the base is outside the country rights under the US constitution do not apply, has avoided following this judgment.

Amnesty International, the UK-based human rights group, has called Guantanamo "a symbol of injustice and abuse" and called on the US government to close the down the prison "in a transparent manner which fully respects the human rights of those detained and brings to fair trial all those who are accused of recognisable crimes".

But though the US has drawn international criticism for holding foreign nationals captive in Guantanamo, there are few signs that the US has any plans to close the prison.

Adil and Salim were two of 15 people, the rest Afghan, recently released by the US. Neither have ever been told why they were imprisoned.

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Al Jazeera English

18th Dec 2007

The debate: THW grant detainees in Guantanamo Bay fair trials.

Japan tests interceptor missile

The Japanese military has successfully test-fired an interceptor missile from a ship at sea, destroying a mid-range ballistic missile in space.

Monday's $55m test off Hawaii was the first time a US ally had shot down a ballistic missile from a ship at sea.

The Japanese navy and the US missile defence agency called the test "a major milestone in the growing co-operation between Japan and the US".

But it may deepen Chinese concerns that Tokyo could use the technology to help the US defend Taiwan if conflict erupted across the straits.

The interceptor fired by the JS Kongo knocked out the target warhead about 160km above the Pacific Ocean, said the US agency, which carried out the test together with the Japanese and US navies.

The JS Kongo is the first of four Japanese destroyers due to be outfitted to counter missiles that could carry chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

North Korean threatExperts say the test target resembled the Rodong missile owned by North Korea, which has a shorter range than the Taepodong missile North Korea sent over Japan nearly a decade ago.

But North Korea is believed to have an arsenal of about 200 Rodongs, and Japanese defence experts say it represents the greatest threat to Japanese security.

Riki Ellison, a prominent missile-defence advocate who monitored the test, said that by intercepting a missile similar in speed and size to those in North Korea's arsenal "Japan has proven its capability to defend and protect their country from North Korean missiles".

Tokyo has invested heavily in missile defence since North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over northern Japan in 1998.

Shigeru Ishiba, Japan's defence minister, described the successful test as "extremely significant".

"We will continue to strive to increase the system's credibility," he said, insisting the missile shield was worth the high cost.

"We can't talk about how much money should be spent when human lives are at stake."

Japan plans to have spent a total of $11.2bn on missile defence over the four years to March 2008 using the US-developed Aegis combat system, according to the defence ministry.

China offered a muted reaction to Japan's anti-missile test, saying only that it hoped Tokyo's actions would be positive for peace and trust in Asia.

"We hope that the actions of Japan are beneficial to the peac and stability of the region and conducive to mutual trust of the countries in the region," Qin Gang, China's foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Palestinians win $7.4bn aid pledge

A follow up article about Palestinian aid pledge.

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International donors have pledged $7.4bn in aid at a one-day conference in Paris aimed at helping improve the Palestinian economy and underpin the Middle East peace talks.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Monday that the Palestinians would receive the money over the next three years.

"Our goal had been for $5.6 billion. Now we have $7.4 billion," he said at the end of the conference.

The Palestinian government had asked the more than 90 assembled donors for $5.6bn to finance an ambitious development plan to stem the economic decline in the West Bank and Gaza.

"Without the continuation of this aid and without the liquidity needed for the Palestinian budget, we will have a catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank," Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, also spoke of the need to secure the funding, calling the conference the Palestinian government's "last hope" to avoid bankruptcy.

Major donors
The European Union pledged $650m over the next year, while France and Kuwait promised $300m over the next three years.

Most of the $555m promised by the US had been previously announced, but is yet to be confirmed by congress.

Britain and Germany pledged a combined $1.08bn by 2010.

However, the World Bank says the situation will improve only if Israel eases restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said: "The Paris conference must provide immediate support for all the Palestinian territories. "Our financial support will also be used for the population of Gaza. Its prolonged isolation carries great political, economic and security risks.

"The entry points must be reopened to let the economy breath. A full and immediate freeze of settlement activity is a priority."Peace negotiations
Monday's donor conference came after last month's talks in the US city of Annapolis, the first peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years.

The renewed peace talks are aimed at achieving an agreement on Palestinian statehood by the end of 2008.

But at the conference, Abbas ruled out talks with the Hamas movement which seized total control of Gaza in June.

He said that Israel must freeze Jewish settlements "without excuses" if it wants to be seen as a serious peace partner."If we want to launch serious talks to end the conflict as we and the world have decided to do, then how can a key party pursue settlement activity and expansion?" he said.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, did not directly address the settlement issue, but welcomed the Palestinian plans "as a serious effort to build the basis for a responsible Palestinian state".

Rice said the settlement dispute was "ever more reason that it's time to get an agreement" and appealed to both sides not to "consider every bump in the road to be a barrier".

"There is an assumption here that there is not going to be turbulence in this process. There is. I don't care how much you talk to people before, I don't care how much work you do. There will be turbulence."

Political support
The success of the gathering will be measured in more than financial terms. Pledges are also being seen as political support for Abbas.

Of the $5.6bn the Palestinian Authority hoped to secure, 70 per cent would have gone to reducing the government's deficit.

The remainder would have been used for development projects.
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Paris, said: "What we've been hearing from people attending the conference has been the mixture of opportunity and also risk.

"The opportunity now to cease the political momentum started at Annapolis, the good relations and the willingness to engage between the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president.

"But at the same time, really quite stark warnings of what is at stake if in fact this money does not come through and the international mission to rebuild the Palestinian economy and build the foundations of a state are not successful.
"Clearly the subtext of this conference is to boost the authority, popularity and credibility of the authorities of President Abbas, at the expense of Hamas."

Gaza 'collapse'
In a report coinciding with the talks, the UN warned that Israel's restrictions on the Gaza Strip had pushed the local economy to the brink of collapse, reducing production to 11 per cent of capacity.

The UN Development Programme report said: "The private sector in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse with no scope for recovery unless the strict imposed closure regime on the strip is lifted."

Israel has so far balked at removing checkpoints scattered across the occupied West Bank, citing security concerns.

It has also tightened its military and economic cordon around Gaza since Hamas gained control in June following factional fighting with Abbas's Fatah movement.

Familiar sound
Al Jazeera's David Chater in Gaza said: "There is a very familiar sound coming out of the conference in Paris from the donors, the diplomats and the politicians.

"The [recent] UN report [shows] that there is a huge dislocation between the fine words and the promises we're hearing in Paris and the situation that we are hearing on the ground.

"Nothing has changed, it's getting worse."

On the ground, Israel killed at least five Islamic Jihad fighters in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including a senior commander and a leading rocket maker, prompting the group to threaten suicide bombings in revenge.

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Al Jazeera English

18th Dec 2007

World powers gather in Paris to bankroll Palestinian state

I find this Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State a new move to help establish a better condition for the Palestinians. It sounded like the same old relief and developmental aids but this time they believe the brand new PM Salam Fayyad will manage the funding and hence the development of state well.

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Major powers and key donors gathered Sunday in Paris for a conference aimed at raising billions of dollars to help the emergence of a viable Palestinian state and give political impetus to the newly-relaunched peace process with Israel.

Ninety international delegations are expected at Monday's Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State, the biggest of its kind since 1996, which aims to shore up the process jumpstarted in the US city of Annapolis last month.

President Mahmud Abbas is seeking 5.6 billion dollars (3.85 billion euros) spread over 2008 to 2010 for an ambitious development plan to underwrite a promised state and tackle economic hardship in the Palestinian territories.

The amount the Palestinians needed for 2008 was "around 1.6 to 1.7 billion," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists accompanying her on the plane to Paris.

Sources in her delegation said the United States was prepared to shoulder one third of the financial burden in 2008 by forking up 550 million dollars. The German government, meanwhile, promised 200 million dollars by 2010.

"This is an historically large figure. I think this is the largest assistance package that we have ever done for the Palestinians," a senior US official told journalists on condition of anonymity.

Delegates gathering for the occasion include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair, peace envoy for the Middle East quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is co-chair of the event along with host country France, peace-broker Norway and the European Commission.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will represent Israel, which is under pressure to lift restrictions on freedom of movement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to allow the Palestinian Authority's plan to take shape.

Livni and Abbas held a meeting in a Paris hotel Sunday afternoon after which the Palestinian leader highlighted French President Nicolas Sarkozy's diplomatic credentials.

"He maintains close links with all the parties, Israel and the Arabs, which allows him to play an important role," Abbas said of his host.

Sarkozy will open the proceedings, at Abbas' side, with a speech at 9:30 am (0830 GMT) on Monday, before handing over to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for the rest of the day.

At the US-sponsored meeting in Annapolis, Maryland last month, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to seek a peace deal by the end of next year, relaunching negotiations frozen for seven years.

Abbas has said he is confident Paris will clinch the necessary aid -- 70 percent in budget support and 30 percent for development projects -- sending a powerful signal of backing for the peace process.

"It is urgent to stabilise the Palestinian economy and implement measures on the ground that will improve the daily lives of Palestinians," said Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon.

The Palestinian development plan has been drawn up by the West Bank-based government of the economist Salam Fayyad, whom Abbas appointed prime minister when the Hamas radical Islamist group seized armed control of the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with AFP, Fayyad said his government had undertaken important economic reforms which should reassure donors that their money will not be wasted.

"The reforms are not abstract slogans but concrete actions which he have taken. I can say with certainty that Palestinian financial management is no longer a cause for concern," he said.

Aside from budget support, the Palestinians say the largest chunk of development aid would go to projects in education, health and women's emancipation.

Between 30 and 40 percent of projects would be in the Gaza Strip -- with guarantees to ensure funds do not reach the Hamas militants in control of the territory, according to French and Palestinian sources.

The United States praised Abbas's government before the opening of the conference.

"You have the best Palestinian government since Oslo. This is not only the best Palestinian government, it is also the most moderate in the Arab world," said the senior US official.

Conference members are expected to urge Israel -- which operates 550 checkpoints in the West Bank -- to gradually lift restrictions on movement between Palestinian towns and villages, while asking the Palestinians for a big push to improve security conditions.

"The two have to move forwards in tandem," said a French diplomat, though he said the funds would not be strictly tied to either condition.

The senior US official said Rice may also publicly push Israel to halt construction of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

"We may say something publicly. ... Settlement activity is one of the central concerns everybody has."

The Middle East quartet is expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference, while several high-profile participants -- including Ban, Fayyad, Livni and Blair -- held an informal dinner with Kouchner on Sunday evening.

Rice will have a bilateral meeting with Sarkozy on Monday afternoon, his office said.

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From NST 17th Dec 2007

CLinn

Murder and terror blackout

Media craze comes in seasons. Probably because one high-profile case (often shocking, tragic and sudden) often leads to the reporting of cases similar to it. News-worthy, they call it. Just like suicide cases after a financial crisis; gun laws after random massacres by depressed and neglected (mental illness activists are crying out for more funding to treat more patients) murder and terror has hogged the headlines. Face it, do you want to know more about LIMA or the notorious congregation of people? :)

Terrorist, some call them. Then they were "linked to terrorists". Mainstream and alternative media are at loggerheads at what is the actual situation. People who are on the ground tells a different story. Like the problems facing one of the many structures of our motherland, one of the people I met asked, why is the shutdown scantily reported? What ensued was various speculations and views on what happened. And when we report the (actual?) situation, will it fuel the cause of the perpetrators? like the gun massacre in Virginia High, Finland and the case of Robert Hawkins of late?

The debate is: is lack of information actually fueling the sentiment or diffusing the situation? =)

I WANT TO BE FAMOUS - SHOULD THE MEDIA STOP HELPING?

Robert Hawkins predicted in his suicide note that he’d be famous once he carried out his plan, and he was right. Yesterday, he killed eight people and himself in a Nebraska shopping mall and today his face and name is featured on thousands of TV stations, websites and newspapers.Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in April. He too was confident the media would play its part. Between his two attacks he sent a video to a major US network and days later we all watched him.

Is it time the media took a collective decision to report such massacres with only the bare facts? No pictures, no suicide note, no videos, in the public domain. No live reports from the scene and no blanket coverage? Could it work? Should it be done?

TERRORIST RAGE: NOT JUST MIDDLE EASTERN PROBLEM

Alicia Crall

In a terrorist attack last Tuesday, one congressman and one civilian were killed and several local councilmen and radio journalists were injured in a bombing in an upscale cafe'.

If this story does not sound familiar, it is because it was barely covered in the news media. Considering how "terrorist aware" the news has become, why did this story not merit coverage?
It is because this terrorist bombing took place, not in the Middle East, but in Columbia.

I found this story while on the CNN Web site. I watch the news regularly, so I was surprised a terrorist attack killing a government official was not reported.

Click here to read more...

Debatabase has this to say: Terrorism, should not be allowed publicity

Cheers, and till we meet, have a great training!

PS: the debate research and ppt slides can be summarized and uploaded here for the benefit for those unable to attend the training.