BurmaNet News, October 7, 2005

[Editor]

October 7, 2005 Issue # 2819


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Myitkyina clean-up order
Narinjara: Increasing use of monastery education due to the rising poverty
in Arakan State
DVB: Burmese authorities intimidate NLD leaders again
Xinhua: UN agency trains Myanmar police officers

REGIONAL
Mizima: Burma activists attend World Social Forum-India seminar
Hindustan Times: Don't buy gas from Myanmar: NLD
SHAN; Dam projects on the Salween revived

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma needs more than false hopes
The Nation: Standing up to Burma’s drug-lord generals
New Statesman: Mark Thomas finds America on the side of the angels

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 07, Irrawaddy
Myitkyina clean-up order - Khun Sam

Do-it-yourself householders in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin State, are
working round the clock to meet an October 15 deadline to refurbish the
city. The deadline was set by Myitkyina’s new military commander, Maj-Gen
Ohn Myint, who has reportedly ordered the appearance of the city to be
worthy of a state capital.

In a decree signed by Myitkyina’s deputy director, Aye Pe, the roofs of
all homes in the downtown sector have to be painted green and fences
white. Bamboo fences must be replaced by wooden ones. Drainage ditches
must be dug in front of homes.

The order, which applies not only to private homes but also to official
buildings and temples, has sparked opposition among Myitkyina residents.
One retired school teacher asked: “How can I afford to build a new fence
or paint it while I can hardly find the money to buy rice?”

A Myitkyina liaison officer of the ethnic ceasefire group New Democratic
Army-Kachin said householders would have difficulty meeting the October 15
deadline. “Many families are fixing their fences, but I’ve seen only three
or four who are painting the roofs of their houses,” he said.

Although the clean-up was announced as part of a city development program,
there’s speculation that it has to do with a big golf tournament due to be
held in Myitkyina from October 20-23.

The state run New Light of Myanmar reported on Friday that the first leg
of the Air Bagan Golf Tournament is to be held in Myitkyina under the
auspices of the Myanmar (Burma) PGA and the Myanmar (Burma) Golf
Federation and sponsored by Air Bagan Ltd. The tournament was to have been
held from October 13-16, but was then postponed—although it’s not known if
the Myitykina clean-up had anything to do with the postponement.

____________________________________

October 6, Narinjara News
Increasing use of monastery education due to the rising poverty in Arakan
State

There has been a marked increase in the number of students using the
classes provided free of charge by the Buddhist monasteries through out
Arakan state.

A monk who is volunteering in one of the many monasteries says “they can’t
feed their children. That is why they send them to the monasteries. How
can they send them to school if they can’t even provide them with meals?
The children are generally fed from the monastery donations. But we also
have very limited sources, food, money, and places to sleep. We cannot
accept every child. Some parents go back in tears when we have to turn
them back.”

The increasing level of poverty is pushing the number of students wanting
to attend the monastery schools. The government schools require entrance
fees of 3,000 kyats, and with other expenses the cost can add up to more
than 10,000 kyats.

“The parents want to put their children in the monastery classes where
they don’t have to pay any money and where they will also be fed.” Say the
monk.

Even in Akyab alone, there are about five monasteries which open free of
charge schools.

There are about 50 such schools throughout the state opened by Buddhist
monks to help the education of the increasing number of children who are
being denied a formal education due to their parents’ poverty.

____________________________________

October 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese authorities intimidate NLD leaders again

The election commission authority members at Yamethin Township Mandalay
Division in central Burma, recently summoned local NLD leaders and told
them that they have no rights to carry out political activities because
they haven’t got enough members.

Mandalay Division NLD organising committee member Win Mya Mya told DVB
that the leaders were told on 5 October that the authorities would arrest
them if they carry out political activities. When NLD leaders argued that
they have enough members, the commission only told them to refer the
matter to higher authorities and refused to lsiten to their arguments.

The authorities also threatened to brand their branch illegal if they
don’t follow their order. So far, only the local authorities at two
townships in Mandalay Division declared their local NLD party illegal;
they are Singu and Maymyo (Pyin-U-Lwin).

NLD legal experts told DVB that the election commissions have no right to
carry out such threats and their actions are against the existing laws.

Observers believe that the ruling military junta, State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) is planning systematically to destroy the NLD
branches throughout Burma with similar thuggish actions so that they could
not take part in the coming election.

The junta has also been suppressing the party by closing down its offices
throughout the country, arresting and detaining its popular leaders,
intimidating and restricting its followers into not supporting the party
and not allowing the party to accept more members.

____________________________________

October 6, Xinhua News Agency
UN agency trains Myanmar police officers

The United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF) has trained Myanmar police
officers, including woman officers, to deal with young offenders, a local
weekly reported in its latest issue.

Woman officers were also trained for them to be better suited than their
male counterparts in handling child offenders to prevent physical and
mental effects, police sources were quoted by the Myanmar Times as saying.

The trained police officers would be attached with a special task force to
be formed later this year to deal with juvenile culprits under an action
plan being drafted by the National Committee of the Rights of Child, the
report said.

Meanwhile, the UNICEF has launched a survey program since last year on
street and working children in Myanmar, aimed at developing measures to
protect them from being abused and exploited in various forms.

In cooperation with two Myanmar ministries relating to social welfare and
labor, the UN agency has conducted an assessment of children in three
cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Pathein to determine the living conditions
and the vulnerability of them to various forms of abuse and exploitation.

The agency has carried out training for dozens of social and religious
workers, teachers and caretakers in the two prior cities in 2004 on
protecting children from being deprived of care and from being infected by
HIV/AIDS.

Besides, a study has also been made by the agency on internal and
cross-border migration in five townships in collaboration with an
international non-governmental organization, the World Vision, to monitor
the link between migration and the problem of human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is drafting a national plan of action in line with the
UN agenda "A World Fit for Children" drawn up in 2002 which includes 21
goals focusing on education, combating HIV/ AIDS and protecting children
from being abused and exploited. The agenda is targeted to be achieved
within a decade.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has urged Myanmar to enhance
endeavors to integrate the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child (UNCRC) into laws and practices.

Myanmar became a signatory to the UNCRC in 1991 and afterwards the country
enacted its child law in 1993 prohibiting child labor.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 6, Mizzima News
Burma activists attend World Social Forum-India seminar - Nam Davies

Burmese democracy activists attending the World Social Forum-India, which
started today in Chennai, Southern India, have given a presentation
detailing human rights violations in Burma.

The theme of the seminar is Politics, Challenges of Globalisation and
Vision and is hosting delegates from six countries. Four people are
attending the forum to represent Burma, and highlight the continuing
suppression of the Burmese people.

The Director of the Mon Human Rights Foundation said, "We'd like to
highlight the blatant human rights violations in Burma. At the same time
we'd like to appeal to the all neighbouring countries to stop all
cooperation with the military regime in exploration and production of oil
and natural gas from Burma . . . we want to provide the information on
related human rights violations in Burma from these investments and
infrastructure developments in it."

About 100 delegates from India, Korea, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Burma and
Bangladesh are attending the seminar which ends tomorrow. One Burma
representative, Ramjeet Verma from the National League for Democracy
(Librated Area) said he hoped delegates would know what is going on in
Burma.

The Burmese held a press conference at the Chennai Press Club today
morning where they detailed about the current political situation in Burma
under the rule of military regime.

Thin Thin Aung of the Women’s League of Burma said, "I present the
situation of women in military ruled Burma. The women are widely and
gravely oppressed in Burma. The regime committed blatant human rights
violation against women".

A Burma Affairs meeting will be held tomorrow at Madras (Chennai)
University where Burmese delegates plan an interactive session with the
students and professors at the university. The meeting is jointly
organized by Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies and
Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras.

While in Chennai, the Burmese delegates will also meet expatriate Burmese
who were expelled from Burma after Gen. Ne Win took power in 1962.

Next World Social Forum will be held in 2006 in Bomarco, Mali and will
cover a wide range of issues.

_____________________________________

October 6, Hindustan Times
Don't buy gas from Myanmar: NLD

Pro-democracy activists from Myanmar Thursday urged India not to do
business with the military junta in that country, saying the purchase of
oil and natural gas from the Arakan region will only make the military
rich.

A tri-nation gas pipeline deal is expected to get India a hefty chunk of
Myanmar's 9.9 billion cubic metres of gas and seven million barrels of
crude, which is expected to bring $655 million annually to the coffers of
the ruling junta in Myanmar.

In 2004, the oil and gas sector in Myanmar received the largest FDI, worth
about $3 billion.

"Oil hungry neighbours - China and India - competing for Myanmar's
resources are the biggest supporters of the military junta," activists
from Myanmar's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy
(NLD), said in Chennai.

The tri-nation project envisages getting natural gas from the Kaladan
river basin in the Arakan region through a pipeline to the northeastern
state of Mizoram into the Brahmanberia area of Bangladesh.


>From there it will reach Rajshahi in Bangladesh and finally into West Bengal.


"The project will showcase a peak in India's bilateral relations with
Yangon's military rulers," NLD foreign affairs spokesperson in India Ram
Jeet Verma said.

Ethnic Mon rights activist from the Human Rights Foundation of Monland,
Nai Kasauh Mon said: "To get this pipeline, ethnic civilians living near
gas reserves in south Burma are being moved out of the proposed rout by
thousands of military men".

More and more refugees from Arakan are flooding into Bangladesh and
Thailand as the "Myanmar army confiscates farmlands from the ethnic
people, terrorising women and children", the NLD umbrella group said.

It included activists from the Shwe Gas Movement that operates in
Bangladesh and Thailand border areas, the Arakan National Council,
EarthRights International, the Korea House for International Solidarity
and the Women's League of Burma (WLB).

"The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in India even sold arms
to the military junta and the present government in the world's biggest
democracy is maintaining a defence and diplomatic status quo, which we
find very hard to understand", said Verma.

"There is a great contradiction when the government of India says it
supports the movement for democracy in Myanmar and at the same time
continues to sell arms to the military and trade in oil and gas with the
junta," he said.

"We expect India to call for a regime change, at least support us in the
United Nations forums and vote against the military regime," the activists
said.

"Why is India silent and not advocating actively to free Aung San Suu
Kyi", said WLB's senior leader Thin Thin Aung.

_____________________________________

October 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Dam projects on the Salween revived

Hydropower projects on the Salween, known as Nujiang in China, are being
revived in the face of protests by activist groups from China, Burma and
Thailand where the river runs through, according the latest edition of
Watershed, a publication by Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional
Alliance (TERRA).

Wang Shucheng, China's Minister of Water Resources, told the National
People's Congress in March that 4 of the proposed 13 dams will be built
first, citing they would have less environmental impact. Appraisal and
review for the 4 dams, which include Maji, Yabiluo, Liuku and Saige, has
already started.

His disclosure came a year after Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the suspension
of the original proposal in February 2004.

Two months later, Thailand and Burma signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU), on the joint development of hydroelectric projects along their
common border.

Feasibility study is undergoing for two dams, Hatgyi (600 MW) and
Tenasserim (600 MW). In addition, Thailand is gearing up to divert water
from the Salween to the Bhumibol dam in Tak province.

80 activist groups from Thailand (50) and Burma (30), have recently (29
September) written a letter to President Hu Jintao, asking him to fully
disclose the environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies to the public.
Under Chinese law, disclosure of information and public participation are
obligatory, they said.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 07, Irrawaddy
Burma needs more than false hopes - Amyotheryei U Win Naing

What has happened to Burma’s “first families” these days? The ruling
generals and their family members rarely appear in state-controlled media
pages. Is it important that they do? Of course it is, particularly now,
when Burmese society is dominated by neo-monarchical pageantry, and the
well-executed political “photo op” is the only source of inside
information.

Unfortunately, most readers of Burma’s three official dailies care very
little for photo captions. They instead come to their own conclusions
about the images they see by a process of visual observation and
divination. Has Snr-Gen Than Shwe gained or lost weight? Health can be an
important political or economic indicator. Is he smiling or frowning—and
at whom? With whom is he standing? Are they new members of an inner
circle? Or are they soon to join the ranks of dispossessed cronies
currently in prison? Who is standing closest to the esteemed general?
Perhaps the next prime minister? Such questions by readers lead to the
wildest rumors—almost always misleading and patently unreliable, but
nonetheless influential.

Such speculation can produce dire consequences. Consumer prices may soar
by double digits. Exchange rates for gold and currency may rise. While
Indonesians spilled out into the streets of Jakarta to protest an increase
of a few cents in the price of petrol, and while neighboring India vocally
opposes an increase in bus fares, Burmese accept such fluctuations with a
grudging smile. Is such tolerance the product of religion, or has it
become something of a national characteristic?
The majority of Burmese practice Theravada Buddhism, which teaches
non-violence and self-sacrifice for the good of others. Such beliefs make
the Burmese one of the most soft-hearted peoples on Earth—and one of the
most vulnerable. Such submission has come at a high price. The Burmese
endured thousands of years of ruthless monarchies until the 19th century,
and another century of caustic colonial rule under the British. Freedom
came briefly following Britain’s withdrawal after World War II. Repression
fell once again in 1962 with the advent of Ne Win’s military regime, and
Burma has been the plaything of dictatorial generals ever since. No
wonder, then, that the Burmese people have adopted a certain tolerance
toward their present masters.

The current air of submission in Burma has gone much deeper. Survival is
the only thing that most Burmese care about. Moral and ethical
considerations have been sacrificed for the sake of family and livelihood.
Even religious belief has been conditioned by social problems.
Nationalism—once the rallying cry of all Burmese—has also withered. In a
society where the gap between privileged and disadvantaged has become
chasm-like, nationalism can never flourish. This is the present reality of
daily life in Burma.

Given such conditions, is there any hope for Burma?

Many inside Burma and outside its borders strive for reform in the
country. Yet many also take advantage of Burma’s hardships for economic or
political gain. It is typical of human beings, perhaps, to pursue their
own interests first and the good of others second—as long as doing so
doesn’t cause too much inconvenience.

The mighty powers of the Western world and international organizations
such as the United Nations seek to resolve the Burma problem. And we
appreciate their enthusiasm, though I must honestly confess that I feel
little encouragement from their efforts.

Internationally respected political figures, backed by numerous
organizations, have called for the Burma problem to be brought before the
UN Security Council. Such a move is bound to create excitement among
Burmese who are desperately waiting for international intervention in
Burma. But can such a move effectively benefit the Burmese people? Such
actions have failed in the past, and they are likely to fail again.

On October 4, I had the honor of attending a Korean Day celebration in the
Sedona hotel in Rangoon. During the usual round of meeting celebrities and
members of the diplomatic corps, I asked one diplomat about his
government’s position with regard to tabling the Burma problem at the
UNSC. His response was quick and unequivocal. His government would block
any such move. There we are.

Even if such a debate on Security Council action against Burma took place,
the process would be interminable. Meanwhile, the Burmese people would be
kept in limbo, thinking unrealistically that the UN could—or would—take
effective steps to improve their lives. I have frequently appealed to
interested government and non-government organizations not to give the
people of Burma false hope. Let us instead be practical and find quick and
workable resolutions. I offer the following guidelines for foreign
governments and all parties interested in a free and democratic Burma.

Any parties interested in Burma should maintain close ties with Burma’s
government leaders and opposition groups alike. Representatives of foreign
governments in Burma should talk to generals, democratic activists, and
politicians. If they are not familiar with the perspectives of all sides,
how will they assist us in finding a mutually acceptable solution to
Burma’s problems? The head of a Western diplomatic mission in Rangoon
recently returned home after a three-year stay in Burma. Not once did he
meet with members of the democratic movement face to face.

Many representatives from Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries
have made no effort to contact us either. Why? They have no interest in
what we want for our people? They do not want to know what kind of
relationships—immediate and future—we want to establish between their
countries and ours?

Please refrain from the typical diplomatic crab: “That’s your internal
affair. Do not expect us to get involved.”

You are involved. All of you. And everyone knows it.

Amyotheryei U Win Naing heads the Rangoon-based pro-democracy National
Politicians Group, Myanmar.

_____________________________________

October 7, The Nation
Standing up to Burma’s drug-lord generals - Jon Ungphakorn

The news blackout imposed by Burma’s military junta on its decision to
forego its turn as chair of Asean next year shows that it has received a
severe blow to its prestige. Indeed, the decision was far from voluntary.
Junta leader Senior General Than Shwe lost face and promptly disappeared
from public view so completely that some Burmese thought he had died.

The protagonists that pressured the regime into relinquishing the Asean
chair were not the usual Western human rights campaigners, but Burma’s
closest Asean neighbours. This must have made the retreat doubly painful
for the generals, as Asean was previously one of the junta’s strongest
shields against international pressure.

For Asean, the episode was a lesson in assertiveness. It showed that
persistent pressure works better than the constructive engagement that it
had pursued, to no avail, for the eight years since Burma joined the
organisation. This shift has been led by an embryonic grouping of elected
regional parliamentarians known as the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on
Democracy in Myanmar (AIPMC), of which I am a member. Established last
November to spur progress on democratisation in Burma, parliamentarians
from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and
Cambodia took the unprecedented step of crossing national and party lines
to review critically Asean policy on Burma, seek the release of Aung San
Suu Kyi, and disqualify Burma from chairing.

Now, we will move for the suspension of Burma’s membership of Asean unless
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are released and clear
progress towards democracy is made through negotiations involving the
National League for Democracy and representatives of the various ethnic
groups.

As elected legislators in Asean’s established and budding democracies, the
members of AIPMC feel that our voices have merit and legitimacy. We know
that Burma’s political destiny is inextricably linked to that of our own
countries.

When Burma joined Asean in 1997, there were only 210,000 Burmese refugees
and asylum seekers throughout the region. Now, nearly one million people
have fled Burma’s political and economic chaos for neighbouring countries,
and another million people remain internally displaced. Our youth are at
an all-time high risk of drug addiction from the massive flow of
narcotics, particularly amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), from Burma,
while the generals there maintain congenial ties with notorious drug
lords.

In mid-September, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime admitted that Burma and
China were the world’s top producers of ATS. Amphetamine drugs produced in
eastern Burma seem to be transported with such ease that significant
quantities have been found in northeast India, on Burma’s western border.
That, together with the heroin that is trafficked from Burma to India,
China, Thailand, and other countries in the region, poses a serious threat
to our political and economic security.

It is both tragic and inevitable that the areas of India and China
bordering Burma now suffer from those countries’ highest concentration of
drug addiction and HIV infection. My own country, Thailand, receives up to
900 million amphetamine pills from Burma every year, and about a third of
our regular drug users are below the age of 16. If this is the impact on
Thailand, what about the young people and children of Burma, who have been
restricted from access to education, information, and healthcare?

It is scandalous that drug lords enjoy more freedom to operate than aid
agencies, while basic access to food, education, and healthcare suffers
many restrictions.

Indeed, in August, World Food Programme Executive Director James Morris
revealed that the WFP had delivered only 430 tonnes of the 5,500 tonnes of
rice earmarked for vulnerable people in Burma’s northern Arakan State
because of restrictions imposed by the regime. Two weeks later, the Global
Fund for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria pulled its funding for
programmes in Burma, citing government restrictions that had created “an
impossibly difficult environment.”

Preventing aid from reaching those in need is bad enough. But Burma’s
regime actually perpetuates conditions that sustain and worsen the
HIV/Aids epidemic by restricting access to counselling, medication, and
other support services.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s eloquent plea, “Please use your liberty to promote
ours,” has special resonance for us in AIPMC, who enjoy the benefits of
representative democracy. This is why we feel obligated to call on the
highest levels of the international community - including the UN Security
Council - to address the question of Burma, for we must show that we are
serious about peace, democracy, and human rights. The courageous people of
Burma, like people everywhere around the world, deserve what far too many
of us take for granted.

Jon Ungphakorn is a member of the Thai Senate and committee member of the
Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Democracy in Myanmar.

_____________________________________

October 10, New Statesman
Mark Thomas finds America on the side of the angels - Mark Thomas

I am surprised to find myself saying this, but in the case of Burma the
neo-cons might just be on the side of the angels.

We expect politicians to say preposterous things: it's part of the pay-off
for having them. They get into office, promptly ignore us and then berate
us for not being interested in them. On the upside, we can always rely on
them to utter something so ridiculous, it makes David Icke appear
statesmanlike. Charles Clarke, for example, said he hoped to have
abolished antisocial behaviour by 2010. For anyone interested in joining
this vital debate, I'm spending New Year's Eve 2010 on Clarke's doorstep.
As the midnight chimes usher in 2011, I'll be shouting "Wanker" through
his letter box. At present, this is on the cusp of the legal definition of
terrorist activity; God knows how it will be regarded by 2011. So if you
want to join me, please bring body armour and three months' worth of
reading material with you.

Despite believing we should never underestimate new Labour's reactionary
capabilities, I am surprised to hear myself saying that "new Labour is
losing ground to the Tories on international human rights", and "UK
foreign policy should follow America's lead". Just saying these words
sounds wrong, in the same way as choosing to play a Gary Glitter song does
(though that doesn't rule out Blair walking on to "I'm the Leader of the
Gang (I Am)" at the next party conference). But, in the case of Burma, the
neo-cons might just be on the side of the angels.

On 20 September came the publication of a report commissioned by Vaclav
Havel (former president of the Czech Republic, dissident and Velvet
Underground fan - so not too bad a chap) and Bishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel
Peace Prizewinner, anti-apartheid activist and easily the best dancer the
clergy has ever put forward - again, not too bad a chap).

The report, compiled by the international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray
Cary, is called Threat to the Peace: a call for the UN Security Council to
act in Burma. The report lists the abuses and horrors of the Burmese
military regime and compares Burma's record with those of other countries
that have come before the UN Security Council. Burma's case is unique, in
that it ticks every single one of the boxes for international action.
Let's run through them:

1) Overthrow of a democratic government - the National League for
Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won elections in 1990 with more than
80 per cent of the vote but has never been allowed to take office.

2) Factional conflict - the "protracted and violent oppression of ethnic
groups in Burma".

3) Widespread human-rights violations - use of forced labour and child
soldiers; destruction of 2,700 villages since 1996; frequent raping of
women from ethnic minorities by government troops.

4) Outflow of refugees - almost 700,000 refugees have come out of Burma in
recent years.

5) Drug protection and drug trafficking - it's the Afghanistan of the Far
East. Nuff said.

Burma surely qualifies as a candidate for international action, even
before you also consider that its military budget is between 30 and 50 per
cent of total annual spending - this despite World Health Organisation
rankings for public healthcare that place Burma 190th in a field of 191
countries.

It is important to say that this is not a call for military intervention.
I know the Americans are backing the demand to bring Burma before the
Security Council, but they have not invaded every country that has been
the target of Council action (it just feels like that sometimes). The call
is for the international community to focus diplomatic pressure on Burma.

Yet the British government is not following America's lead on this, nor is
it supporting the call to put Burma before the UN Security Council. At the
most inopportune moment, Jack Straw and Tony Blair have developed a sense
of independence. This means George Bush is now in a position to defend the
UK/US alliance on the grounds that it enables him to curb some of Blair's
reactionary excesses.

The Conservative MP John Bercow, joint chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, knows what should be done: "It
is time the UN Security Council denounced this bunch of sadistic thugs . .
. It should demand that the government of Burma stop abusing its own
citizens, release all political prisoners and set out an agreed timetable
for the transition to democracy. Failing this, the UN should apply
rigorous, targeted economic sanctions to squeeze the junta until it
bursts." A Tory said that!

Roger Lyons, a patron of the Burma Campaign, said: "This is the worst
position the UK government could put itself in . . .

The Tories and America have outflanked Labour on this issue."

No doubt Foreign Office mandarins will mutter about the British way of
making protests in private, but where has this got us? The newly appointed
Foreign Office desk officer for Burma was due to visit the country a few
months ago but, according to Lyons, he wasn't given a visa. "This is an
unprecedented slap in the face for the UK government," he said.

I might not expect much from politicians, but you would have thought, at a
time when the Tories and the US are outflanking Blair, that he would do
the right thing - if only as an act of self-preservation.