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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________ September 5, 2000 Issue # 1609__________
INSIDE BURMA _______
Business 2.0: Burma Digs its Own Net Grave
AP: Myanmar rulers step up propaganda campaign against Suu Kyi
AFP: US says Myanmar guilty of continued religious repression
Reuters: Myanmar promises access to Suu Kyi, but not yet
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
AP: Watchdog says Myanmar army only one in region using land mines
Reuters: Britain calls in Myanmar ambassador over crackdown
PD Burma: Norway's former Prime Minister worried about Aung San Suu
Kyi
Czech Press: PLF Men Kidnapped near Mae Sot
AFP: Myanmar's foreign minister leaves for UN summit
OPINION/EDITORIALS _______
The Washington Post: The Missing Leader
NY Times: Pressure Myanmar
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
Business 2.0: Burma Digs its Own Net Grave
The notoriously strict Burmese government's new "open" approach to
the Internet is laden with hidden clauses. As a result, hackers from
around the world quickly exploit the country's second-rate
infrastructure to make fun of the backward policies. Posted on
September 04, 2000
[BurmaNet adds: Business 2.0 is a US magazine that covers ecommerce
and the Internet).
The word "open" means different things to different people. So when
the notoriously strict Burmese military government, the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) (named one of the "20 Enemies of the
Internet" by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders) says
it's "opening" up and allowing citizens to access the Internet,
democracy-minded folks start scouring for asterisks and hidden
clauses.
On top of the numerous government policies that forbid Burmese
citizens from speaking out against the government, the asterisks for
that "open" statement are financial. According to an article that
appeared in the July 2000 issue of the Burmese-language Living Color
Magazine by economic analyst Dr Ko Ko, the state-run Myanmar Posts &
Telecom (MPT) dictates that if citizens want to open an Internet
account, they must pay a $1080 deposit, plus a limited monthly rate
of $65.
Not surprisingly, such a two-faced approach makes the government an
easy target for hackers. And in August, SPDC's official Website,
Myanmar.com, normally festooned with colorful, flashy graphics,
tourism and business opportunities, and pro-junta propaganda, found
itself covered by pro-democracy electronic graffiti.
According to news reports that followed, the hacker, "Danny-Boy"
from "X-Org", changed the site's homepage, leaving pro-democracy
slogans and anti-government invective, which led the SPDC to blame
the intrusion on Burmese dissidents living abroad. But a member of
the Myanmar Hackers' Club (MHC) who was granted anonymity, considers
the hack the crude, unsophisticated work of a beginner. "There are a
number of better ways [to retaliate], such as Denial of Service
(DoS)" he wrote in an email. "But most [MHC members] are not
interested in such things, as it hurts the people [of Burma] more
than the military."
Ironically, some of the hacker's ire was directed at the MHC itself--
the hacked page contained the message, "And a big F--- Off to Myanmar
Hacker's Club... you guys are a bunch of CLUELESS IDIOTS!"
Glen Norris, Webmaster of the Free Burma site, agrees that the hack
was most likely the work of an inexperienced individual. "I don't
think it's a huge, organized group [that hacked Myanmar.com]," he
says. "Besides, The New Light of Myanmar [the government's official
daily newspaper, which is part of Myanmar.com] is stepping on their
own toes all the time, so it would actually be a shame if someone did
hack it."
SPDC released a revised set of its 1996 Computer Science Development
Law earlier this year in an attempt to remind people of the penalties
associated with uses the junta deems illegal. "The law goes on and on
about how the government is going to help the people by establishing
computer clubs, and then at the very end, it spells out penalties,"
Norris explains. The regulations stipulate that all computers, fax
machines, and modems must be registered with the government, with
prison terms of between 7 and 15 years for offenders.
Regardless of who hacked Myanmar.com, hackers sympathetic to the
Burmese cause are aware that these attacks embarrass the government,
which means the hacks are almost certain to continue. Add in the fact
that the military personnel who run the country's ISP service are
woefully inexperienced--themselves victims of the slow flow of
information in Burma--and future hacks become even more likely. "[The
SPDC] has inexperienced administrators, huge security flaws, and
[bad] user policies, and this will drag down the country's future IT
development," predicts the MHC member.
Although he may agree with the hacker's message, Larry Dohrs, public
education director of the Free Burma Coalition, isn't sure if the
Myanmar.com hack was the right way to effect social change. "The
Burmese Democracy movement is a non-violent movement," he says. "Does
putting graffiti on the Website of the junta constitute a violent
act? I'm not sure."
Kevin McLaughlin (kmclaughlin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) is a reporter for
Business2.com
____________________________________________________
AFP: US says Myanmar guilty of continued religious repression
NEW YORK, Sept 5 (AFP) - The United States claims in a new report
issued Tuesday that Myanmar's junta shows no sign of diverting from a
long trend of discriminating against religious minorities.
The report on International Religious Freedom accuses junta troops
of destroying holy sites in areas populated by some of the country's
myriad ethnic minorities.
"Security forces have destroyed or looted Buddhist temples, churches
and mosques in ethnic minority areas," said the report.
"Government security forces continued efforts to induce members of
the Chin ethnic minority to convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian
Chin from proselytizing by highly coercive means."
The report also says there is "credible evidence" that officials and
security forces compelled people to donate labour, or money to build,
renovate or maintain Buddhist monuments.
"The Government calls these contributions voluntary donations" and
imposes them on Buddhists and non-Buddhists" the report said.
Evidence also existed of severe legal, social and economic
discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the western
state of Arakan, the report said.
"There were credible reports that Muslims in Arakan state continue
to be compelled to build Buddhist pagodas as part of the country's
forced labour program. These pagodas are often built on confiscated
Muslim land."
The United States is a constant critic of Myanmar's military
government and a strong supporter of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Myanmar was one of five countries on which were slapped with
symbolic US sanctions for alleged religious intolerance late last
year.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Reuters: Myanmar promises access to Suu Kyi, but not yet
By Lyndsay Griffiths
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Myanmar has told Britain it may allow
detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet diplomats
within two weeks, the Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
Diplomats say the gates to Suu Kyi's house have stayed locked since
she was forcibly returned there on Saturday after a nine-day roadside
standoff with the authorities outside Yangon.
The ruling military have denied Suu Kyi and colleagues are under
house arrest, but say they have been asked to stay at home while they
investigate reports of ``terrorist activity'' within their National
League for Democracy (NLD).
The crackdown in former Burma has drawn global condemnation, with
diplomats voicing grave concern about the de facto house arrests and
other alleged human rights violations.
Yangon, in turn, has lashed out at the West for meddling in its
internal affairs, saying ``big western countries'' are trying to push
Myanmar into poverty and unrest.
John Battle, a junior Foreign Office minister, summoned Myanmar
Ambassador Kyaw Win on Monday to protest at the crackdown and demand
information about Suu Kyi.
``I got an interesting response,'' Battle said on Tuesday.
``I said 'Is there a crisis?' He said 'Yes'. I then said, 'When then
can we have diplomatic access to Aung San Suu Kyi?' And he
said, 'Shortly, perhaps in the next two weeks.'''
Battle told BBC radio it was the first time the Yangon authorities
had admitted Myanmar was in crisis, which he attributed to the effect
of international diplomatic pressure.
``The pressure now is stepping up and the regime cannot go into the
21st century in isolation,'' said Battle.
``There is one light of hope and that was that the ambassador said
that Burma does need to move towards democracy a bit more quickly.
Well, it can jump start now into the 21st century and join the rest
of the league of nations.''
CAMPAIGNERS SAY CRACKDOWN BODES ILL
Yangon authorities have not yet confirmed the whereabouts of Suu Kyi
and her colleagues of the NLD, which won elections by a landslide in
1990 but hsw never been allowed to govern.
London-based Amnesty International has expressed ``grave concern''
for their safety. It has called on the military to produce the Nobel
Peace Prize winner to prove she is alive and well, but so far the
authorities have not budged.
``The longer she's held incommunicado, the greater our concern for
her safety,'' an Amnesty spokesman said. ``The situation could easily
get very, very much worse.''
The Burma Campaign said the crackdown could spell doom for the pro-
democracy activists and the West must bear some of the blame for
failing to impose tough sanctions.
``Obviously the regime has failed Burma. But so has the
international community,'' Yvette Mahon, a director of the human
rights lobby group, told Reuters. ``This could be the final death
blow to the NLD. And as for Suu Kyi, nobody actually knows where she
is, so how can we take it for granted that she is safe?''
____________________________________________________
AFP: Myanmar's foreign minister leaves for UN summit
BANGKOK, Sept 4 (AFP) - Myanmar's foreign minister left Yangon Monday
for the US to attend the UN general assembly and Millennium summit,
state media said, amid speculation he will be criticised for his
recent crackdown on the country's opposition party.
Foreign Minister Win Aung was accompanied by a group of senior
ministry officials and lawyers from the attorney general office, TV
Myanmar said.
Senior Myanmar diplomats and ambassadors, based in US and European
countries, will also join Win Aung to attend the 55th United Nations
(UN) general assembly and summit, according to the report.
Win Aung is expected to face criticism from UN members for the
recent crackdown on the country's main opposition party, the National
League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an
observer here noted.
Myanmar's authorities raided the headquarters of the NLD and
seized "incriminatory material" and documents early Saturday, just
before they officially announced that the nine-day showdown between
Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta was over.
The Nobel peace laureate and a dozen NLD members had been camped out
in their cars on the outskirts of Yangon since August 24 when they
were blocked from travelling to a party meeting.
A government statement said Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters
were "escorted" to the capital and had arrived home safe and sound
Saturday morning after their stay in Dallah town."
Win Aung told reporters at a brief press conference in Yangon
earlier that the move was "obviously premeditated" and designed to
embarrass the military regime ahead of the UN meetings.
"She would like to show the world that the people are against the
government and if any action is taken against her by the government
she thinks that the people will come out to the streets," Win Aung
said.
"She wants us to arrest her and put her in jail," he said adding
that the eruption of violence would then be blamed on the government,
he said.
On Sunday, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his "deep
concern" about the Myanmar military government's crackdown against
Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The reports concerning further infringement of the freedom of
movement and the freedom of political expression are particularly
disturbing," Annan's spokesman said in a statement.
The United States also condemned the military government's treatment
of Myanmar's opposition leader and her party members and accused the
junta of forcibly ending her roadside stand-off.
The US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Saturday she
was "outraged" at Myanmar's treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Albright also called on the core of Myanmar generals to "immediately
cease all activities aimed at preventing the free exercise of
internationally recognised human rights."
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the
junta has never recognised the result and is accused by foreign
critics and human rights groups of severe repression of opponents.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burmese nationalist leader General
Aung San, was under house arrest for six years and has subsequently
had her movements greatly restricted.
____________________________________________________
Reuters: Britain calls in Myanmar ambassador over crackdown
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British Foreign Office minister John
Battle summoned the ambassador of Myanmar on Monday to protest
against its crackdown on the opposition National League for
Democracy.
Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is being kept locked in her
Yangon residence where she was forcibly returned in the early hours
of Saturday following a nine-day stand-off in her car after
authorities barred her and supporters from travelling outside the
capital.
Battle said he would tell Ambassador Kyaw Win that the forcible
return of Suu Kyi, the de facto house arrest of NLD leaders and the
search of the party's headquarters were serious infringements of
their human and political rights.
``I deplore this treatment of the leader of a democratically elected
party and other members of the NLD,'' he said in a statement issued
in London.
``I shall be conveying to Dr Kyaw Win our protest at the manhandling
of the British ambassador in Rangoon (Yangon) over the weekend as he
tried to establish contact with members of the NLD. I will also
demand that diplomatic access to Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues
be immediately restored.''
The Myanmar government denied Suu Kyi and senior colleagues were
under house arrest, but said they had been asked to stay at home
while it investigated reports that some NLD members had been involved
in ``terrorist activity.''
The NLD won 1990 elections by a landslide but has never been allowed
to govern. The United States, Britain and Australia have all
condemned the crackdown by the Myanmar military.
The Foreign Office said Britain had persuaded its European Union
partners to strengthen the common EU position on Myanmar, co-
sponsored resolutions in the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN
General Assembly and tried to stop the use of forced labour in the
country.
Battle had also asked British-based oil and gas prospecting firm
Premier Oil to end its involvement in Myanmar and the Yetagun
pipeline project as soon as it lawfully could, to try to restrict the
flow of revenue to the Yangon government.
____________________________________________________
AP: Myanmar rulers step up propaganda campaign against Suu Kyi
September 4, 2000
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military rulers intensified their
campaign against Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement,
announcing Wednesday that 24 members of her party have deserted her.
State-run newspapers reported that the members resigned from the
National League for Democracy party in Mandalay, Myanmar's second
largest city, and an important constituency for Suu Kyi.
The New Light of Myanmar daily said the resignations were submitted
to the Election Commission in March. But making the news public now
indicated that the government wants to convey the impression that Suu
Kyi's movement is losing popular support as it falls under increasing
restrictions by security forces.
The resignations could not be immediately confirmed as NLD's offices
and headquarters have been shut down since Saturday by the
government, which accused the part of links with terrorists.
NLD's top nine leaders including Suu Kyi, 55, are under virtual
house arrest and their telephone lines have been disconnected. No one
is allowed in or out, and guards are posted outside the gates of
their homes.
Myanmar's authoritarian government has kept the NLD on a tight leash
since 1988 when Suu Kyi led pro-democracy demonstrations. The
military government allowed national elections in 1990 but refused to
honor the results when the NLD won a landslide. Suu Kyi was awarded
the 1991 Nobel peace prize for her work.
Suu Kyi's latest confrontation began on Aug. 24 when security forces
blocked her vehicle as she tried to drive out of Yangon to the
countryside for party work. She camped out in the open for nine days
before being forcibly returned to Yangon.
In the following days, the state press launched blistering attacks
on her and the NLD. The government has ignored international
condemnation and accused the West of meddling in its affairs.
In comments published Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the head of
military intelligence, said ``two Western countries'' are ``creating
unrest in the country by agitating a handful of disruptive and
subversionist groups.'' He did not name the countries, but apparently
was referring to the United States and Britain, who have harshly
criticized the military rulers.
The government has also been irked by British ambassador John
Jenkins' attempt to go to the house of one of the NLD leaders, Tin
Oo, over the weekend.
A government statement said Tuesday Jenkins had overstepped
``universal diplomatic norms.''
``It is difficult to understand why a foreign ambassador was so
adamant to intrude into the internal affairs of an independent and
sovereign nation,'' it said.
The government says the restrictions on the NLD are an internal
affair, and that most Myanmar people support it.
In the past, the government media have frequently reported
resignations from the NLD, but the party dismisses the reports as
propaganda.
The latest resignations in Mandalay were apparently of ordinary
members and not elected representatives. In the 1990 elections, the
NLD won 392 of the 485 seats at stake.
The Election Commission, however, says the victories of only 109 NLD
candidates remain valid as the rest have either resigned or were
disqualified, or have died or are in exile.
Suu Kyi does not accept the disqualifications or the resignations.
The government has also detained a number of elected representatives.
According to official figures more than 60,000 ordinary party
members had resigned so far, a figure disputed by Suu Kyi who says
the resignations were forced under coercion.
____________________________________________________
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
AP: Watchdog says Myanmar army only one in region using land mines
September 4, 2000
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Myanmar's army is the only government force
in Southeast Asia still using anti-personnel land mines, which are
littering 10 out of the country's 14 states, an international
watchdog said Tuesday.
The statement by Landmine Monitor is contained in a report that will
be released Thursday along with reports on the status of land mines
in over 100 countries.
The group also expects to deliver Thursday copies to Myanmar's
military rulers in an attempt to persuade them to stop production and
use of land mines, said a summary of the report. The full text of the
report was published in advance on its website.
In a statement, the Myanmar government said the claim is inaccurate.
It did not elaborate.
Landmine Monitor is part of the 1997 Nobel peace prize winning
organization, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which
created an initiative to monitor compliance and implementation of the
1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has not signed the treaty, and calls a
sweeping ban on land mines ``unnecessary and unjustified.'' It says
the real problem is the indiscriminate use of mines and their
transfer.
Of the 131 countries that have signed the treaty, 91 have ratified
it. Among those who have not signed it are the United States, Russia
and China.
``We should begin with the bigger nations which can cause much
bigger harm than smaller nations,'' the Myanmar government statement
said.
The Landmine Monitor report said that the Myanmar Defense Products
Industries produces at least two types of mines modeled after Chinese
designed fragmentation and blast mines.
The report said there are no reliable estimates of the number of
mines planted in Myanmar, or the amount of land affected, but
research shows that 10 out of its 14 states and divisions have land
mines.
``The pollution ranges from minimal to severe, and is mostly located
close to its borders with Bangladesh and Thailand,'' where the army
is fighting some 30 different ethnic rebellions, the report said.
All of the armed groups are believed capable of building blast mines
and improvised explosive devices, and at least 10 groups are actually
using them, the report says.
``It is their `final solution' to keep the Burmese army from
entering (their) areas, but they will ultimately act as an obstacle
to post-conflict development,'' the report quoted its researcher,
Yeshva Moser-Puangsuwan, as saying.
It said land mines in Myanmar are producing more casualties than in
any other country in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia where 1,000
people are killed or maimed each year. In Myanmar, the mines are
estimated to have claimed 1,500 victims in 1999 alone, the report
said. The government statement said this was inaccurate. It did not
elaborate.
___
On the Net:
The Landmine Monitor report:
www.igc.org/nonviolence/burmamines/lm2.html
PD Burma: Norway's former Prime Minister worried about Aung San Suu
Kyi
Oslo, 5 September 2000
Late Monday evening the former Prime Minister of Norway Mr. Kjell
Magne Bondevik sent a letter to Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Torbj°rn Jagland, in which he expressed his concern for the
situation for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party members in the National
League for Democracy (NLD). Bondevik is a member of the International
Network of Political Leaders Promoting Democracy in Burma (PD Burma).
On Saturday 2 September, the 9 day long confrontation between Aung
San Suu Kyi and the military regime in Burma suddenly ended when she
and the NLD vice chairman Tin Oo were forcibly returned to Rangoon.
The situation in Burma is very tense, and reports say that the 14 NLD
members who were together with Aung San Suu Kyi have been exposed to
violence when they opposed to return to Rangoon. They have since
Saturday been in arrest in Insein prison in Rangoon. The military
junta raided the NLD headquarters in Rangoon on Saturday. So far
nobody from the diplomatic community or others has been allowed to
see Aung San Suu Kyi or the other NLD members detained.
Bondevik on Monday urged the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs to
consider the following steps;
1) that Norway, together with other countries, raise the
situation in Burma
with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and asks the UN the
investigate the present condition for Aung San Suu Kyi,
2 that Norway raise with the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
what the UN and the world community can do to improve the situation
for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party colleagues in Burma,
3 lastly, that Norway raise with the UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan how the world organisation now can work to achieve a dialogue
between Aung San Suu Kyi, the military regime and the ethnic
nationalities in Burma to restore democracy in Burma.
This week state leaders are gathering in New York to attend the
Millennium Summit in the UN. In this connection Norway's Prime
Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Norway's Foreign Minister Torbj°rn
Jagland will be in New York.
____________________________________________________
Czech Press: PLF Men Kidnapped near Mae Sot
6 September 2000
By: Maxmilian Wechsler
Mae Sot , Czech Press
Twelve members of the People Liberation Front (PLF) were abducted
and are missing, according to the group's chairman Aye Saung.
The PLF is an Burmese opposition group aiming the overthrow the
Burmese military junta. They are active in Mae Sot area, Tak
province.
According to one witness who managed to escape, a number of
plainclothes men raided three locations near Mae Sot just before
midnight on 23rd July and kidnapped twelve members of the PLF. The
abductors arrived on pick up truck.
The PLF men were savagely beaten, tied up by the rope and
throwned on the pick up truck . All three houses were ransacked,
valuables and documents taken.
The witness said the kidnappers spoke a foreign language and one
was brandishing a shotgun. No shots were fired during the raids.
Up to this time no group claimed a responsibility for the
kidnappings and no ransom demand was made.
A source close to the PLF strongly discounted the possibility the
kidnappers came from Burma side.
Aye Saung is puzzled by the motive for the abductions but an
independent source suspecting that a conflict with another group is
the reason for the kidnapping
The raiders were well organized and executed the abductions with
the military discipline and precision.
The remaining PLF members fled the area after a rumour spread that
the kidnappers are planning to abduct another seven members of the
PLF. Their names appeared on the note received by Aye Saung.
Aye Saung who is well know and respected executive member of the
Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB) expressed his outrage on the
abductions and is prepared to meet with the kidnappers to solve the
problem. He hope his men are alive and will be returned.
The next issue of the PLF's Liberation Bulletin No.18 will
devote its front page to the kidnappings. The bulletin will be
publish on Saturday.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
The Washington Post: The Missing Leader
Tuesday , September 5, 2000 ; A24
AS KINGS and presidents jostle for attention at the "Millennium
Summit" in New York this week, they ought to devote a few words, or
at least a few moments of thought, to one of their number who won't
be present. Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's rightful leader, is effectively
under arrest, captive of a thuggish military regime that refuses to
accept the results of an election she won a decade ago. In the past
few days, the generals have tightened the screws on Aung San Suu Kyi
and her party, jailing supporters, stealing documents and cutting off
telephone connections to her house and those of her associates. Her
plight represents, among other things, a failure on the part of the
international community that will be celebrating itself with such
fanfare at the United Nations beginning tomorrow.
The latest drama in Burma began when Aung San Suu Kyi dared to set
out from her house, where the regime keeps her confined even while
pretending--with its usual mendacity--that she is free. The generals
sent their goons to block her way, let the air out of her car's tires
and diverted her to a muddy field on the city's outskirts. There Aung
San Suu Kyi stubbornly camped for nine days, intent on exercising her
rights of free movement and association. After nine days, the goons
sent 200 soldiers on a midnight raid to return the Nobel Peace
laureate to--it is presumed--her house. Even diplomats have been
forbidden contact with her.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright strongly condemned the regime's
latest bullying, but as usual others send different signals. Big oil
companies, including Unocal of the United States and Total of France,
continue to bolster the regime. European diplomats plan a December
meeting with Southeast Asian officials, including those from Burma.
China's gerontocrats, who feel right at home with Burma's generals,
keep the drug-tainted junta well supplied with weapons.
Aung San Suu Kyi herself, when last permitted to communicate, made
clear that she and her party seek only dialogue with the regime. That
international leaders and businesses cannot unite in support of that
modest, nonviolent goal is a sad reality that ought to temper any
self-satisfied huffery and puffery at the Millennium Summit.
NY Times: Pressure Myanmar
September 4, 2000
To the Editor:
Re Popular Burmese Leader Tests Wills With Junta (news article, Aug
3, 2000):
Despite the standoff between the Burmese pro democracy leader, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, and the country's military authorities. your
article suggests that there is little that the united States can do
to pressure the regime because it has already banned new investment
by American firms. Yet a fifth of the export earnings of Myanmar.
which was called Burma until it was renamed by the junta, comes from
exports to the United States. Those exports, particularly apparel
shipments, have been growing. Shouldn't the United States consider
barring imports from Myanmar?
Robert Naiman
Washington. Aug. 31, 2000
The writer is a senior policy analyst of the Center for Economic and
Policy Research.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
____________________________________________________
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