Thread: Aung San Suu Kyi appears at protest in Burma

Myanmar releases 91 more people for demonstrations
2007-10-19

YANGON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar authorities have released 91 more people, bringing the total of the release to 2,550 out of 2,927 detained for being involved in recent demonstrations in the whole country, according to a state-run press Friday.

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xinhuanet.com


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Myanmar junta forms committee to draft new constitution
The Associated Press
Published: October 18, 2007

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's ruling junta claimed to have taken another step in its "road map" to democracy that is supposed to lead to free elections with the creation of a committee to draft the country's long-delayed constitution.

The announcement late Thursday came amid a barrage of international pressure on the junta to halt a crackdown on government opponents and hold talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

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iht.com

Junta fails to stop the ridicule
Edward Loxton
October 18, 2007
Crowds at rallies chant anti-regime slogans

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Reports from people forced to attend pro-government rallies indicate that the carefully-staged functions threaten to backfire. Whole sections of the crowds herded into city stadiums and country market places to listen to turgid government propaganda are chanting anti-regime slogans and ridiculing local officials trying to establish order.

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newsdeskspecial.co.uk

Burmese Monks' Leader Speaks From Hiding
2007.10.18

U Gambira, a leader of the All-Burma Monks’ Alliance that spearheaded nationwide protests in Burma in September, became a fugitive following the deadly Sept. 26-27 crackdown on protesters nationwide.

“My situation is not good. I have slept without shelter for two nights. I am not very well now. My security is pretty bad,” he said, speaking from an undisclosed location. “Now these fellows are trying to butcher me. Now if you are done talking, as soon as you hang up, I have to move somewhere…”

“The important thing for overseas Sanghas [monks] is to carry out the Burmese cause continuously, with unity. At the moment, as you know, we cannot do anything inside Burma. We have been assaulted very badly. A few got away, a few left. I am still trying to get away but I haven't succeeded.”

He read the following message to U.N. Spcial Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, U.S. President George Bush, and to the world:

“Mr. Gambari… I wish to say, please do something effective and practical for Burma. Measures such as economic sanctions and arms embargo will take time (years) to achieve a political solution. What is most important is for today, for tomorrow. Please tell Mr. Gambari that I am very grateful for his active participation in Burmese affairs. I have a tremendous respect for him. But please tell him to implement the most effective practical measures in Burma. Please try. Please send U.N. representatives to Burma to carry out various ways and means to get political results now. For today.”

“To Buddhists all over the world and activists and supporters of Burmese movement, please help to liberate the Burmese people from this disastrous and wicked system. To the six billion people of the world, to those who are sympathetic to the suffering of the Burmese people, please help us to be free from this evil system. Many people are being killed, imprisoned, tortured, and sent to forced labor camps. I hereby sincerely ask the international community to do something to stop these atrocities. My chances of survival are very slim now. But I have not given up, and I will try my best.”

Killings, torture, labor camp

“...I would like to make an appeal to President Bush: Please take pride as a President who has worked hard for Burma to achieve something before his term expires.”

“I might not have very long to live. I, Gambira, speaking by phone with you right now, have a very slim chance of survival. Please try your best to relieve our suffering. It will be worse in future when they [the junta] have laid down their roadmap so they can remain in power forever—it will be a blueprint to oppress us systematically. Once they establish their constitution, the Burmese people will suffer for generation after generation.”

Translation by Ko Ko Aung for RFA’s Burmese service. Service director: Nancy Shwe.
rfa.org

Burma Crackdown Goes on Amid Fears for Women in Custody
2007.10.17

BANGKOK—Two prominent female Burmese dissidents are voicing special concern over the junta’s treatment of women in custody, as the authorities pursue ever-greater numbers of people in connection with nationwide protests in September.

Both Ma Mie Mie [Ma Thin Thin Aye] and Ma Nilar Thein, who served seven and nine years respectively in Burmese prisons for opposing the junta, have described sexual harassment and abuse of women in Burmese jails. Ma Mie Mie was arrested last week, and Ma Nilar Thein is now in hiding. A third prominent female dissident, Thet Thet Aung, is also in hiding, although authorities have arrested her mother and mother-in-law.

“I am very sad because my friend Mie Mie [Ma Thin Thin Aye] was arrested like this. I am especially concerned for her because I read the military authorities’ vengeful writings in the newspapers about [her],” Ma Nilar Thein, who spent nine years in Thayawaddy prison, some of them with Mie Mie, told RFA’s Burmese service.

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rfa.org

Monasteries raided on Sino-Burmese border
News - Mizzima News
Written by Myo Gyi
Thursday, 18 October 2007

In the unabated crackdown on monks, a local police team has started mounting a search and conducting raids in monasteries and places where monks live in northern Burma's Kachin state and neighboring Sino-Burma border areas.

As of Tuesday, the police team began raiding, interrogating and collecting guest lists from monasteries on the Sino-Burma border district of Bamaw, local residents said.

"The situation is not improving. The monasteries here are being raided for the third time now. This time they [authorities] are conducting a more comprehensive search and sustained interrogation," an abbot on the Chinese border town of Loi Kye told Mizzima.

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bnionline.net

New Light of Myanmar

Commission for Drafting State Constitution formed

Tay Pyi Taw, 18 Sept � The Announcement No 2/2007 of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar is issued today.

The full text of the announcement is as follows:-

Union of Myanmar
State Peace and Development Council
Announcement No (2/2007)
7th Waxing of Thadingyut 1369 ME
(18 October 2007)

Formation and Assignment of Commission for Drafting State Constitution

1. Since 29 September 2007, the entire people have held mass rallies state-and division-wise throughout Myanmar to express their unanimous support for the National Convention and the forthcoming State constitution.

2. In response to the unanimous support of the entire people, and in recognition of the people's desire of upholding Our Three Main National Causes: Non-disintegration of the Union, Non-disintegration of national solidarity and Perpetuation of sovereignty, ensuring community peace and prevalence of law and order, building of a peaceful, modern and developed discipline-flourishing democratic nation, and successfully implementing the State's seven-step Road Map, the Commission for Drafting the State Constitution is formed and duties are assigned as follows to implement the third step of the seven-step Road Map�Drafting of a new constitution:
Commission for Drafting State Constitution

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By order,
Sd/ Thein Sein
Lieutenant-General
Secretary-1
State Peace and Development Council

Myanmar military nears decisions on succession
Nirmal Ghosh
Fri, Oct 19, 2007

SENIOR General Than Shwe is firmly in charge of Myanmar's ruling junta, but change at the top level is imminent, and the job of the successor will not be as easy.

Gen Than Shwe, 70, the xenophobic head of the nation's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is known to be a shrewd and well-informed man, glued to the internet. His rise to the top level was a skilful manoeuvre by keeping peers and subordinates off balance by playing one against the other.

But, there are divisions between him and his deputy Gen Maung Aye, 70, over the use of Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and Swan Arr Shin cadres - and then of soldiers - against monks and civilians.

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asiaone.com

Three elderly people released from detention
Oct 19, 2007

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U Ba Hmin, an 85-year-old Pakokku resident, was released by authorities about five days ago, along with U Than Oo, the owner of a monks’ accessory store, and gold shop owner U Kyaw Htay, both of whom are over 70 years old.

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Reporting by Aye Nai
english.dvb.no


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Bago couple arrested for challenging government protests
Oct 19, 2007

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Ni Ni Mai stood in the doorway and challenged them about their support for the violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, embarrassing some members of the group.

“My sister asked the protestors if they really agreed with the killing of monks and civilians in Rangoon, and the government protestors stopped chanting slogans and some of them dropped their placards,” Ni Ni Mai’s sister told DVB.

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Reporting by Maung Too
english.dvb.no


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Family members speak about teen protestor’s death
Oct 19, 2007

Oct 19, 2007 (DVB)–Family members of Maung Thet Paing Soe, a 16-year-old protestor who was shot dead during last month’s demonstrations, have spoken to DVB about his death.

Maung Thet Paing Soe was shot in front of Tamwe High School (3) on 27 September when government security forces fired on young students protesting outside the school.

Daw Thuzar, Maung Thet Paing Soe’s aunt, described what happened when the family heard the news of his death.

"We were told by a friend of Thet Paing Soe, on the day, that he had been shot and had died. We went to the school immediately and looked for his body. But bystanders there told us it had already been taken by troops who came in two military trucks. We couldn't go after it as the curfew was in force. We saw the body the next day," she said.

"There was a big hole on the back of his head and the brain was gone. We assume it was a gun-shot wound."

Authorities refused to give a copy of Thet Paing Soe's death certificate, which would have shown his cause of death, to family members.

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Reporting by Aye Nai
english.dvb.no

Originally Posted by Mid

Myanmar military nears decisions on succession
Nirmal Ghosh
Fri, Oct 19, 2007

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But, there are divisions between him and his deputy Gen Maung Aye, 70, over the use of Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and Swan Arr Shin cadres - and then of soldiers - against monks and civilians.

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asiaone.com

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Gen Thura Shwe Mann: Ready to be New Army Commander?
By The Irrawaddy
October 19, 2007

Gen Thura Shwe Mann has effectively taken over day-to-day command of the armed forces and the country's internal affairs as instructed by Snr-Gen Than Shwe, according to unconfirmed reports from Naypyidaw.

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rrawaddy.org

Junta gets glimpse of freedom push
Peter Alford, Tokyo correspondent
October 20, 2007

THOUGH stamped down for now, Burma's "saffron uprising" has given its aged dictators a frightening glimpse of the new capacities of their democratic opponents - and the effect of millions of foreign taxpayers' dollars being quietly spent to develop those capabilities.

Between $US10 million ($11million) and $20million a year is being funnelled into projects fostering Burmese democratisation and non-violent struggle against the junta.

The bad news for Senior General Than Shwe's regime is that the vicious suppression of the August-September uprising is likely to encourage a funding surge after several years of dwindling support from abroad.
The democracy funding, much of it provided at arm's length by governments in the US and Western Europe, has gone not just to exile groups but to covert training programs within Burma.

Some of the tens of thousands of monks who began marching in August -- for the first time as an organised focal point of national resistance -- had been trained in programs funded from money voted by the US Congress.
The new techniques were evident in the rapid spread of organised dissent, internet-savvy "citizen journalists" and widespread videoing, swift transmission of information to the outside world, mocking the junta's news blackout, and the dissemination of news and images back to Burma.

"For the first time, Burmese in their own country could know, could see, what was going on," said Brian Joseph, who directs the National Endowment for Democracy's Asia programs

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theaustralian.news.com.au

Over 50 villagers picked up for helping attack military base
News - Kantarawaddy Times
Friday, 19 October 2007

Over 50 villagers have been arrested by the Burma Army on suspicion of helping the Karenni Army attack IB 54 (Infantry Battalion) stationed between Chikel and Dawtakhar village, early this month in Loi Kaw township, Kayah State, Karenni Army commander General Bee Htoo said.

One corporal and three soldiers of the IB 54 died in the attack by the Karenni Army on October 4. The Burma Army suspected that the villagers had helped the rebels and rounded up 50 villagers on October 8 for interrogation.

"Over 50 villagers were arrested and soldiers will interrogate them to find out whether they helped the rebels," Gen Bee Htoo said.

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bnionline.net


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Traveling monks face difficulties
News - Kaowao News
Friday, 19 October 2007

After being forced back to their hometowns by the Burmese military junta, many monks around the country are finding it difficult to move freely, as police search and interrogate them thoroughly at each checkpoint.

Monks from Mon state and HPa-an State have found travel outside their hometowns near impossible.

This has led to complaints from vendors in charge of cars and trains, as the interrogations are creating problems both for monks and other passengers causing conflict and delaying trips.

According to one monk from Lamine Township, Mon State , "Last week when I came to Moulmein Town, I was asked a lot of questions by the checkpoint police. So I think now car drivers are not willing to take the monks in their vehicles. Whenever a monk travels in their car they have to answer questions and are investigated by the checkpoint police."

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bnionline.net


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Census for monks in Arakan
News - Narinjara News
Friday, 19 October 2007

A census is on for the monk population in Arakan State, Burma by the junta since last week. The idea is to monitor the activities of monks' in the future, said an abbot on the border.

A team of Nasaka border security officers came to his monastery in Maungdaw Township yesterday to collect the names of monks in the monastery. Later, the Nasaka team went to another monastery to get names there, the abbot said.

The authorities are collecting the names, ages, address, family names, and photographs of each monk in every monastery in Arakan, according to a monk source.

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bnionline.net

Rice donation cancelled in Magwe division


Oct 19, 2007 (DVB)–Local residents in Magwe division have speculated that local authorities have cancelled their annual rice donation due to worries that monks would refuse to attend.

The rice donation has been held as part of merit-making on the day after the full moon at the end of Buddhist lent in October for the past five years, and has always been well-attended.

However, this year Magwe division authorities have cancelled the event, which is usually organised by the divisional Peace and Development Council.

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Reporting by Aye Nai
english.dvb.no


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State press reports explosives find

Oct 19, 2007 (DVB)–The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper has reported a seizure of high explosives linked to a monk from Shwedaung monastery in Mingala Taungnyunt township, Rangoon.

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The New Light claimed that the incident is a sign that “external elements are sending explosives and accessories into the nation”.

Reporting by DVB
english.dvb.no


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Family members of monk leader arrested

Oct 19, 2007 (DVB)–Government authorities have arrested family members of U Gambira, a monk wanted for his involvement in anti-government demonstrations, and say they will not release them until U Gambira has been detained.

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The sources also told DVB that the military intelligence officer who arrested U Gambira's family members apparently told them they would not be released until the monk is detained.

Reporting by Maung Too
english.dvb.no


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HRW calls for Chinese action on Burma

Oct 19, 2007 (DVB)–International rights group Human Rights Watch has urged China to take immediate and concrete action on Burma, in a letter sent to Chinese president Hu Jintao on Wednesday.

The letter expresses regret that China has not publicly condemned the actions of the Burmese military regime in its brutal crackdown on last month’s demonstrations, particularly given its position of influence over the junta.

“Chinese officials have publicly called for ‘cooperation’ and ‘dialogue’ between the Burmese generals and their critics, but said nothing when these critics were arrested, ‘disappeared’ or killed,” said Sophie Richardson, HRW’s Asia advocacy director.

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Reporting by DVB
english.dvb.no

Constitution drafting commission has to toe junta line: MUL
Fri 19 Oct 2007
IMNA

The Burmese military junta yesterday formed a commission for drafting the constitution as the next phase of its seven-point road map to democracy. Criticizing the move a Mon Unity League (MUL) leader said it was purely for show.

"It is not practical and there is no meaning in it. Everything has to be the way the Burmese generals want it," Nai Suthorn, Chairman of MUL.

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monnews-imna.com


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Over 3,000 villages destroyed in 10 years: TBBC
Fri 19 Oct 2007
Mi Kyae Goe, IMNA

Over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma were destroyed and forcibly relocated by the Burmese Army in 10 years from 1996 to 2006, according to a report by the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).

A TBBC press release said that at least 167 villages have been displaced during the past year. TBBC is an alliance of ten non-governmental humanitarian relief and development agencies from eight counties. They provide food, shelter and other non-food items to Burmese refugees and displaced persons.

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monnews-imna.com

Charter snub for Suu Kyi party
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok
Published: October 19 2007

]Burma’s military rulers have appointed a 54-member committee to finalise a new constitution, as international charities seek greater assistance for the long-suffering population, and US legislators pushed for tougher sanctions against the junta.

The new charter committee excludes the National League for Democracy – the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was barred from taking power – despite calls from Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy, for democracy advocates’ aspirations to be reflected in a new charter.

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ft.com

Surrend ad in Myanmar Times

Surrend has placed an ad in the weekly burmese newspaper Myanmar Times. The ad which looks as if it is promoting tourism in Burma for Scandinavian had a hidden messages to the burmese junta. The first letter in each of the words in the poem spells the word "freedom" and the name of the Board of Islandic Travels Agencies is "Killer Than Shwe" spelled backwards. Surrend wanted to show that you can find cracks or holes in even the worst regimes.


surrend.org

Junta cracks down on NLD
October 19, 2007

Local leaders jailed

Secret courts in jails throughout Burma are sentencing local leaders of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy to long prison terms in what is being seen as a regime attempt to crush the movement once and for all, reports Edward Loxton.

The NLD is led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years. Her party has been accused by young dissidents of shrinking from political engagement, but many NLD members participated in the recent demonstrations and are now paying the price.

Several have been sentenced to long prison terms in secret trials in Rangoon’s infamous Insein prison. News is now filtering through from the provinces of other trials, apparently aimed at disrupting the NLD’s nationwide network.

Five leading NLD members in Burma’s northwestern Arakan State were sentenced to prison terms of up to nine and a half years for their part in the recent demonstrations, according to friends and family members. They included the joint secretary and the chairman of the NLD in the provincial town of Taunggok.

The joint secretary, Min Aung, was sentenced to nine and a half years, while the chairman, Kyaw Khine, received a seven and a half year sentence. Two other senior members of the Taunggok NLD, Tun Kyi and Than Pe, were each sentenced to seven years.

Monks are also not being spared. A member of the monastic community of Sittwet, U Indriya, was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment for his part in organizing a peaceful demonstration in the Arakan coastal town.

Film footage now reaching the West from remote regions of Burma show that the mass demonstrations by Burma’s monks were far larger than originally thought. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of such towns as Taunggok and Sittwe.

newsdeskspecial.co.uk

Burma holding 2,500 in prison and arrests continue, UK says
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
Saturday October 20, 2007
The Guardian

The military regime in Burma is still holding up to 2,500 people in prisons and labour camps around the country, and continues to arrest suspected dissidents, the British government claimed yesterday.

The crackdown on the protest movement has only served to make Burma more unstable, a senior British diplomat argued, with acts of resistance widespread.

He added that the country's long- running ethnic conflict between the regime and the Karen minority could deepen, with former fighters who had signed a ceasefire with the government now talking of a return to armed resistance.

The military junta has come under increasing pressure in the form of US and European sanctions targeted on the regime's money-making ventures and a rebuke from the UN security council.

However, the sanctions do not include the oil and gas sector, and Amnesty International yesterday said the junta was still receiving military equipment from China, Russia, Ukraine, and India.

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guardian.co.uk

Originally Posted by Mid

Gambari failed us, says protest leader
Connie Levett Herald Correspondent in Mae Sot, Thailand-Burma border
October 11, 2007


No surrender … U Pancha, the veteran protest leader, speaks for the first time after arriving in Thailand.
Photo: Jack Picone

AN organiser of the protest movement in Rangoon has blasted the United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, for bowing to the junta and gaining nothing in his visit to Burma.

Surinder Karkar, also known as Ayea Myint and U Pancha (the Punjabi), was among the Burmese who organised civilian protection circles that ringed monks as they marched through the streets of Rangoon for eight days last month.

"Nothing was achieved … Whatever the regime told him, he did. While he was there we were being shot, we were being detained. After he left there was more rounding up of people," the 43-year-old Sikh Burmese said.

He called on Dr Gambari to publicly release what the detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had said to him during two meetings in Burma.

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smh.com.au

Letter to U Pancha,
Written by WSN Bureau
Friday, October 19, 2007

Dear U Pancha,

Wherever you are in exile, please accept my greetings –of faith and belief in the success of war of good against evil.

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worldsikhnews.com


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In Rangoon too, the Khalsa Fights On
Written by J Singh
Friday, October 19, 2007

Burmese Sikh, Surinder Karkar Singh, leads fight for democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, provides protection to agitating Buddhist Monks

BURMA: In the truest spirit of Sikhism's teachings, which include a strong resistance to any one trampling over the human rights of the weak, a Sikh Burmese national Surinder Karkar Singh, has been in the forefront of the determined and brave fight against the Burmese military junta, and has roundly castigated even the United Nations Special Envoy who had recently visited Burma and met the military rulers.

Surinder Karkar Singh, 43, often referred to as Ayea Myint or U Pancha, or by several other names which often become a necessity when one is leading an underground resistance movement, has recently come over ground to take a public stance after the world witnessed the Burmese junta trampling the pro-democracy uprising recently which was led by the Buddhist monks.

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worldsikhnews.com

Monks join refugees in Malaysia protest
Published: Saturday, 20 October, 2007, 09:21 AM Doha Time

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 200 Buddhist monks and Myanmar refugees staged pro-democracy demonstrations yesterday outside the country’s embassy here.

It was the first time monks from Myanmar have joined protests in Kuala Lumpur against the ruling junta in the reclusive nation.

About 20 monks stood shoulder to shoulder with refugees clad in T-shirts in torrential rain outside the Myanmar embassy in the Malaysian capital.

They also protested outside the Russian and Chinese embassies.

They accuse those nations of backing the Myanmar regime and called on them to withdraw that support.

The protestors also gathered at the Japanese embassy to pay tribute to Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, who was shot and killed during the pro-democracy protests in Myanmar’s main city Yangon.

They sang songs and placed a portrait of the slain journalist, framed with flowers, in front of the embassy.

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gulf-times.com

Burma prisoners rising before crackdown - UN expert
Posted: Saturday, October 20, 2007

Burma's junta held nearly 1,200 political prisoners before a crackdown on Buddhist monk-led street protests last month, according to a report by the U.N.'s independent expert on human rights in Burma.

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christiantoday.com

Crackdown Continues as US Applies Sanctions
By Wai Moe
October 20, 2007

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Pokpong Lawansiri, the Southeast Asia program officer with the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, said the continuing crackdown shows the military junta does not care about the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council or the calls for dialogue by the international community.

“It also means the international community, particularly Burma’s neighboring countries, do not work hard enough for the Burmese people,” he said. “The Asean reaction was very weak. The Asean countries need to take more concrete actions critical of the junta.”

irrawaddy.org


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International Aid Groups Ask Junta to Eliminate Barriers
By Violet Cho
October 20, 2007

Thirteen humanitarian organizations working in Burma have called on the military government to allow international aid groups to help the poorest members of society who lack adequate health, education and food.

Inger Sandberg, an adviser to Norwegian People’s Aid, said, “The situation is getting worse, particularly for the poorest people after the oil and commodities price increases in Burma.”

The aid groups said the military regime's policies have weakened the ability of local communities to aid members of society who have fallen below subsistence levels.

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irrawaddy.org

Myanmar junta calls on Suu Kyi to compromise
Updated Sat. Oct. 20 2007


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The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper did not mention of the sanctions in its Saturday edition. Instead, it focused on trying to persuade Suu Kyi to participate in talks with the government.

The government announced earlier this month that the junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, was willing to meet with Suu Kyi -- but only if she meets certain conditions, including renouncing support for foreign countries' economic sanctions targeting the junta.

It remains unknown if Suu Kyi would accept the offer, which also called on her to give up what the junta called her support for "confrontation'' and "utter devastation'' -- an apparent reference to the recent public protests, the largest in tightly controlled Myanmar in nearly two decades.

The regime accuses Suu Kyi and her party of working with other nations to sabotage the junta's own plans for a phased return to democracy.

Than Shwe has only met with Suu Kyi once before, in 2002. The talks quickly broke down.

In a lengthy commentary, the newspaper said the time was right for Suu Kyi to respond positively to the offer of talks "with a view to serving the interest of all.''

"We are tired of watching a stalemate for a long time considering that we should not go on like this forever,'' the commentary said. "There should be some forms of compromise. If one side makes a concession, the other side should do so. The situation will get worse if both sides are arrogantly intransigent refusing to budge from their stand.''

The views in the commentary are believed to represent those of the junta.

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ctv.ca


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Myanmar lifts curfew order in Yangon
2007-10-20


YANGON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar authorities Saturday pre-lifted its 60-day night-to-dawn curfew imposed on the country's biggest city of Yangon before its expiry, according to an announcement broadcast by loudspeakers on the authorities' vehicles patrolling around the city.


xinhuanet.com

Mid, been busy lately and just posting in "fun threads." Having watched the developments so closely, do you see any positive outcomes from the uprisings at this point?

unfortunately very little ,

latest is that the #3 who gave the shoot to kill will likely be the successor ,

the suit was paid lip service and ignored ,

the junta published an order to form a sub committee to finalise the new charter , dated prior to the crackdown and published after ,

that sub committee does not include any NLD people ,

arrests and intimidation continue and the basket case economy is getting worse .

trouble ahead still .....................

as positives , increase cohesion and networking for the opposition parties .

^ What about all the noise coming out of Washington about additional sanctions? Just useless lip service?