Several ethnic organizations at home and abroad welcomed the invitation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) to all ethnic organizations in Burma, including ceasefire groups, to come and discuss differences in policy matters.
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Police in Rangoon have charged a Burmese blogger, Nay Phone Latt, who is believed to be in detention, under an emergency act, according to a close friend. (more…)

The Shan National Day and Chinese New Year fall on the same day in Burma this year. But while the country’s Chinese residents are celebrating on Thursday, the native Shan are officially barred from publicly marking the occasion.
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Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon flies to Burma today for talks with the military government. However, exiled Burmese pro-democracy leaders dismissed the move as an attempt to secure natural resources in Burma. (more…)

Like a Burmese boy in the photo last year, many other Burmese and Indian youths in Rangoon also participate the traditional dance in the Chinese New Year (more…)

Three thousand acres of privately-owned land has been seized from Ngwe Saung township farmers by family members of a State Peace and Development Council general, according to locals. (more…)

Rambo star Sly Stallone may not be to everyone’s taste. But on the streets of Rangoon, people are willing to risk jail just to catch a glimpse of the ageing action hero as he takes on the junta.
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Burmese military authorities have been searching for two monks who recently escaped to Bangladesh in their native village in Irrawaddy Division of Burma’s delta region, said U Painya Dissa.
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In commemoration of the 61st National Day and in order to highlight the struggle of ethnic Shans for freedom, equality, democracy and human rights, a Shan representative office was inaugurated today in Germany.
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Three Burmese fishermen, rescued by Indian fishermen after being adrift in the sea on a bamboo raft for over three months, said they look forward to help from the Burmese Embassy. (more…)

Shunned by the West, Myanmar is developing ever closer commercial links with its neighbours, especially China (more…)

A Singapore resident is among those targeted under new US sanctions aimed at an alleged ‘henchman’ and arms dealer for the Myanmar junta.
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For anyone grappling with the thorny problem of assigning a financial value to human life, help is at hand. Insurance companies of the world, rejoice: Burma’s Defense Ministry has definitively established that one life is worth a bit less than six US dollars.
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Yaba is still being widely smuggled into Bangladesh, despite the Bangladesh authorities’ crackdown on yaba trafficking along the Burmese border, says an analyst from Maungdaw. (more…)

Thailand’s new government will revive a controversial war on drugs in which more than 2,500 alleged dealers were killed, Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said on Thursday. (more…)

Thailand’s new government will not change the country’s policy on Myanmar of non-interference and working with Southeast Asia to push the junta towards democracy, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said on Thursday. (more…)

Does the appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra’s former lawyer, Noppadon Pattama, as the new foreign minister of Thailand mean a new foreign policy that favors the generals in Naypyidaw?
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The government’s tougher sanctions against Burma last fall will have some impact on existing Canadian investments in the Southeast Asian country, senior Foreign Affairs officials told the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on Jan. 30.
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As Burma gets into world spotlight with the Saffron Revolution, lots of arguments against democratization are surprisingly heard from many quarter-politicians, statesmen, scholars, so-called Burma experts and even some Burmese in exile who have never set foot on the native soil or who have been out of touch with reality for decades¬ absurdly claiming that the substitute for the military junta will be, out of all things, the devil’s alternative. (more…)

I HOPE I MIGHT be forgiven, at the start of a new year, for recalling a few recent topics that otherwise might be too easily forgotten.
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