Burma's constitution meeting takes (r)

[dohrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: Burma's constitution meeting takes a break


Mr. Pillai,

You are apparently still annoyed about someone calling the SLORC "Thieves 
and snoops."  Let me clarify what happened, then you tell me whether that 
remains an accurate assessment.

I spoke to Dr. Duncan Beardsley, who is leading a Stanford U. trip that 
was scheduled to include a stop in Burma.  After ASSK was released from 
house arrest, he innocently thought it would be nice to meet with her 
during their trip.  Naively, he wrote her an invitation to meet, and sent 
it via regular mail (about as sensible as sending a letter to A. 
Sakharov, Gorky, USSR, and expecting it to get there).

The letter never arrived at its destination.  Instead it was intercepted, 
and in the event, led to the cancelling of the Stanford trip's landing 
permit.

"Asian Values" aside, the stealing of a letter from the mail amounts to 
snooping and thievery.  The cancellation of the trip is a separate matter.

When others have written about "snoops and thieves," thisis the incident 
they are referring to.  Does this still amount to hysteria to you?  Or is 
it merely an appropriate characterization of the facts in the incident, 
based on interviews with the principle actors involved?

LD