Burma: Time For All Out Sanctions By All Powers

Witness: Monks held in Burma









Total Sanctions

The street protests inside Burma have been dramatic. The echo action by the powers of the world must also be dramatic. And what would be dramatic would be all out sanctions, total sanctions by all powers of the world. The good news is those sanctions can be readily lifted, not only those but all actions can be lifted in a matter of weeks after Suu Kyi's interim government is sworn into power. The pain that companies will feel will be highly temporary. The rewards they will reap will be much grander than before.

Total sanctions make democracy sense. But they also make money sense for the foreign powers and the foreign companies.

Those powers that delay or act miserly on the sanctions part will have blood on their hands. Major blood.

Smuggle In Thousands Of Video Cameras

And spread word that all brutality is being extensively recorded. If you smuggle in a thousand cameras, spread word that 10,000 cameras have been smuggled in. The army has guns. The democracy activists must have cameras.

Smuggle out footage if possible. If not, it is okay to simply record and keep for later online distribution.

The idea is to penetrate the army with a major whisper campaign. All soldiers have family and relatives who are civilians. Spread word to them. Ask them to pass it on. Word will spread fast.

Make up stories. Spread word that the CIA is itself involved. Everything is being recorded.

Democracy activists in the rich countries should help pay for these cameras.

Millions Out Into The Streets

That is the only way. If the people stop coming out into the streets, no external power can do much for the democracy cause.

No Democracy, No Olympics

That is one thing the Chinese will listen to. They will do anything to make sure the 2008 Olympic Games do not get hampered. They will even prevent a major military crackdown. They will even negotiate Suu Kyi's release.

Burma: Momentum Is Key To Victory
Shame On The Top Politicians Of The World: Burma Asks For More
In Solidarity With The Burmese People

Burma, Bhutan, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Sudan

People power.

In The News

Burma's fight for freedom: Troops reclaim the streets as monks ... Independent, UK
Activists denounce violence in Burma at Harvard march Boston Herald
Burma junta blocks UN meeting Times Online, UK
Burma needs action from the West, not cheap platitudes Sunday Herald how easy it is to "disappear" for even hinting at political criticism of a regime that keeps dissent in check through torture and murder. ...... the junta, which relies on the income stream generated from Western-based companies to ensure their supply of arms and financial clout. ...... the number of UK firms trading with Burma include tour operators, oil and gas companies, shipping companies, furniture firms, timber importers and transport companies. ....... dissidents claim hundreds of peaceful protesters, including monks, have been killed. ...... The EU was not, however, at this time considering an expansion of sanctions against the junta .... Burma's neighbours - most of which, like Thailand, have managed to emerge from dictatorship to prosperous democracy in the past decade - are as bad, if not worse. ..... Thailand and Singapore are two of its biggest trading partners. India now sells arms to the generals.
Protesters in Burma scared off by troops Scotsman
The business of oppression Sunday Herald a simple message for the British businessmen and women trading with Burma's military dictatorship: "Stop it. You are helping to kill my people." ...... Phan, a member of the ethnic Karen group which has been mercilessly persecuted by the ruling military junta, was just 14 when her village was attacked by Burmese soldiers. She fled to the jungle and lived in hiding before escaping over the border to Thailand, ending up in a refugee camp. Phan eventually made her way to Britain, studied at university and now works full-time as a campaigner for democracy in Burma. ....... rape being used as a weapon of war against girls as young as five years old. ..... The Burmese military regime owns every single one of the teak plantations in Burma and teak sales earn the dictators millions of pounds a year. ...... the UK has more companies than any other nation on Earth trading with the regime. ........ 128 firms globally are trading with Burma - of those 44% are British. ..... "The Burmese regime spends half its budget on the military, and just 19p per person on health and education. It relies on foreign trade to supply this income. So, companies which trade with Burma are helping support a military dictatorship which uses foreign money to buy weapons to suppress its own people." ...... it is up to the government to impose sanctions. It should send a clear message to industry that trade is not acceptable. When the regime came to power in 1988 it was bankrupt. It was foreign trade which gave it its legs. It has not used that trade to help ordinary people but to double the size of the army and increase repression."
Oil companies look to exploit Burma Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Burma, Darfur and Democracy -- The Bush Betrayal BuzzFlash
The business world beats a quiet path to a pariah’s door Asia Sentinel
Firms Seek Access to Myanmar Oil Fields The Associated Press
An Eye in the Sky on Burma TIME
Satellite images show Burma's plight Boston Globe
Satellites show Karen villages burnt in Burma ABC Online
Satellite images show burned Burma villages Telegraph.co.uk
UN Envoy in Burma to Try to Mediate Protests Voice of America
More arrests as envoy heads to Burma ABC Online
UN Envoy Heading for Burma to Try to Mediate Protests Voice of America
UN envoy heads to Burma for emergency talks Telegraph.co.uk
Japan Protests Death of Journalist in Burma Voice of America
Japanese Minister heading to Burma ABC Online
Video Allegedly Shows Japanese Journalist Shot at Close Range in Burma Voice of America
Japan protests over death in danger zone The Age
Protesters urge Olympic boycott over Chinese support for Burma San Francisco Chronicle, USA Without China's military and financial help for the government in Rangoon, and without China's power to veto United Nations resolutions that would punish Burma, Burmese military leaders could not keep arresting and assaulting monks and others who are demanding changes there ........ Demonstrators urged people to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics ...... Nyunt Than, who fled Burma in 1992 and is now president of the Bay Area-based Burmese American Democratic Alliance. .... "The oceans are collections of single raindrops. (Protests) are not only happening here but all over the world."
Burma forces storm cities The Australian, Australia the third day of a crackdown .... About 10,000 people surged onto the streets of the main city of Yangon, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as they repeatedly confronted police and soldiers before scattering and regrouping once more. ....... In the central city of Mandalay, thousands of young people on motorbikes rode down a major thoroughfare towards a blockade set up by security forces who unleashed a volley that witnesses believed could have been rubber bullets. ........ With dozens of monks arrested, beaten or confined to their monasteries, the mantle has now been taken up by student groups and youths who dominated Friday's rallies. ....... Myanmar's main Internet link was down Friday because of what a telecom official said was a damaged undersea cable. ..... Security forces have also smashed cameras and cellphones, and beaten people who were carrying them. Several newspapers in the country, which was formerly known as Burma, are no longer operating....... being shoved down by Myanmar troops and then shot at close range. ..... The 47-member UN Human Rights Council decided to hold a special session on October 2 to examine the unrest in Myanmar ..... the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued an unusually critical statement on its fellow member Myanmar, expressing "revulsion" over the use of force against demonstrators.
Burmese monks become spiritual warriors Toronto Star
Toronto rally supports Burma protests Toronto Star
What Makes a Monk Mad New York Times they held the bowls upside down ... That gesture is a key to understanding the power of the rebellion that shook Myanmar last week. ...... even the highest generals have felt a need to honor the clerical establishment. They claim to rule in its name. ....... the country’s two largest and most established institutions were confronting each other, the monkhood and the military, both about 400,000 strong, both made up of young men, mostly from the poorer classes, who could well be brothers ......... Their militant resistance to the British produced the most prominent political martyr of Burmese Buddhism, U Wisara, who died in prison in 1929 after a 166-day hunger strike. ...... the spire of the Shwedagon Pagoda, which now glitters with 53 tons of gold and 4,341 diamonds on the crowning orb. ...... the huge street demonstrations were an act of courage and catharsis. ...... “This was not an accidental uprising,” said Zin Linn, a former editor and political prisoner who is now information minister for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, an exile opposition group based in Washington. The transition in leadership in the protests — from militant former students to activist monks — was well planned, he said, through secret meetings among young men sharing similar grievances and aspirations for their country. ....... their gesture of rejection of the junta, and the junta’s violent response, had changed the dynamics of Burmese society in ways that had only begun to play out.
Sporadic rallies in Myanmar Hindu
Myanmar Breaks Up Rallies, Cuts Internet Guardian Unlimited
Rambo-Stallone claims Burma death threats Bangkok Post, Thailand Burma, where he insists a "full-scale genocide" is currently going on. .... The 61-year-old, who witnessed refugees fleeing from Burma to Thailand, and the crew received a "lot of threats" and were warned they'd be shot. ..... "It's the most brutal regime in the world and the most secretive. It has an oppressive regime that (keeps all riches) for themselves. Everyone is forced into drugs or prostitution or slavery. ..... "People are escaping all the time (from Burma), coming over with gaping, maggot-infested wounds, their ears being cut off. You saw a lot of suffering, a lot of malnutrition. ...... "We were on the Salween River and we were told to get out because we were going to be shot."
Stallone received death threats at Myanmar border NewKerala.com
Burma:The British companies that help to prop up a murderous regime Sunday Herald, UK
Foreign Office Minister meets with Burma Pro-democracy lobby eGov monitor
Large turnout at Burmese and Chinese embassies in London Indymedia UK
India Is Mum on Burma, But Speaking Volumes TIME The race for resources has helped make Burma the frontline in a larger struggle for influence in Southeast Asia. The threat of unfettered Chinese influence in Burma is one of Delhi's main ripostes when western allies question India's ties with Rangoon.
Explaining India’s silence over Burma Daily Times
India Reluctant to Pressure Burma Voice of America
When world condemns junta, India monitors Burma Narinjara News
UK fears Burma toll 'far higher' BBC News, UK
Brown condemns violence in Burma BBC News
Thailand tightens Burma border security Bangkok Post, Thailand
Burma on boil Asian Tribune George W. Bush says he would call the country by its old name just to spite the junta. ..... New Delhi is under greater pressure than the other neighbours—China and Thailand among them—to move at once against the Burmese regime. Comments in the Western media even suggest that it is India, a democracy that is playing the principal spoilsport by its ‘lukewarm’ response to the atrocities in Myanmar. The impression could be wrong but it provides an occasion to remind the Western champions of freedom in Burma now shooting arrows at New Delhi how lackadaisical, uncoordinated, irrational and inconsistent their own approach has been to that hapless country. ...... The Burma-Thailand bilateral trade has been going up and is about $4 billion today. More than half of it in the form of export of natural gas to Thailand. ....... In the first eight months of this year, trade between China and Burma increased by 50 percent, to cross the $one billion mark. The actual volume of the bilateral trade is believed to be much bigger because of free flow of timber, gems and other goods from Burma into the southern parts of China.
George Bush urges China to pressure Burma Telegraph.co.uk

Red China is playing games over Burma Sunday Herald
US Urges China to Help Curb Violence in Burma, Prepare for Transition Washington Post use their leverage with Burmese authorities to limit the violence and help manage a transition to a new government in Burma ...... the Chinese have been "shocked" by the world's reaction to the confrontation between the government and protesters. ...... China, which has extensive commercial interests in Burma, has received a blunt message from the United States: "You wanted to become a big power -- part of being a big power is you will be held responsible for your client states" ....... urged China to consider some form of refuge for Burmese leaders, to help speed a transition to a new government ..... China is nervous about prospects that the 2008 Olympics in Beijing could be tarnished if the situation in Burma is not stabilized peacefully. ...... House and Senate leaders drafted resolutions yesterday condemning the military government, with little of the normal partisan bickering that often accompanies foreign policy debates on Capitol Hill. ........ The U.S. government is also doubling the amount of Burmese-language broadcasts beamed into a country ....... Both Bushes have been heavily influenced by private meetings with Burmese dissidents and other activists ........ "a regime under severe stress." ...... division-level military commanders in Burma are refusing orders to participate in the crackdown. ...... there is "overwhelming dislike" of the government among civilians. ....... a condemnation this week from neighboring members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Burma's true leaders Guardian Unlimited In the years since the uprising of 1988, the opposition movement in Burma has been decapitated. Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy, and Tin Oo, the party chairman and former commander in chief of the armed forces, remain under house arrest. Min Ko Naing - whose nom de guerre translates as "Conqueror of Kings" - was hastily thrown back into prison last month with many of his "88 Generation Students" group as they came back to the street to test the water. ...... the regime's response was vicious. Words such as national reconciliation and compromise simply do not exist in the generals' vocabulary. ...... the Burmese leaders still believe that they can count on China, India and Russia to prop up their regime ...... the Burmese regime continues to kill and imprison innocent citizens, monks and students; to drive talented people into exile
Burma junta's bunker mentality BBC News, UK "The top echelons are made up of graduates from the defence services academy, which is Burma's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point" ..... a secretive cabal of 12 generals called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). They may disagree behind closed doors but always present a unified position in public. .... The junta is run by three top generals. .... Number three is Soe Win, a ruthless military commander who is widely believed to have organised government militia to kill opposition members in the past. He is now believed to be terminally ill in a Singapore hospital. ..... Number two is Maung Aye, a hardliner who is opposed to any talks with Burma's pro-democratic opposition. ..... And at the top is Senior General Than Shwe, a high school drop-out and former postal clerk who rose through the ranks of the army in jungle campaigns and as an expert in psychological warfare. .... the 74-year-old Than Shwe and the way he governs. .... "[At a] Cabinet meeting he rarely speaks... but he listens very attentively to people... and then he will come out with a decision," he said. .... the upper echelons of Burma's closed, xenophobic and vehemently anti-Western regime. ...... Its fierce nationalism is reinforced by the sense that Burma is threatened by imperialism from abroad and ethnic rebels from within. .... "I think what's in their mind is that they're the saviours of the country... the country would fall apart without the military in power," he said. .... The top generals have dug themselves deeper into isolation over the past few years, following an internal power struggle between military intelligence and the hard men of the army. .... In 2003, the head of military intelligence, the regime's number three and prime minister, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, was purged and jailed for corruption. ..... The generals are not just brutal and insular but increasingly rich. While most people survive on as little as $1 a day, Burma's top leaders control or at least receive a cut from all major business in the country. .... the regime is extraordinarily inept... businesspeople will enter into an agreement with various forces in Burma only to find that decision reversed sometime later ...... The profits from Burma's vast natural resources finance a lavish lifestyle for the generals at the top. ..... Last year, ordinary Burmese were outraged by a video posted on the internet showing the wedding of Than Shwe's daughter. She was seen dripping with diamonds and accepting gifts said to be worth up to $51m. ...... "China wants strategic minerals, oil and gas, raw materials," said journalist Isabel Hilton. "That, of course, upsets India, so what you've seen in the last several years is India trying to counter that influence... and the junta playing them off against each other with relative skill." ..... Burma's military regime are very unresponsive to quiet words, even by their closest trading partners .... "This is a regime that very often doesn't understand its own interests, or the country's own interests, and so they do tend to be quite tone-deaf to any talk of economic reform or political reform." ...... There have been rumours of a potential mutiny among some commanders - the regime's worst nightmare. .... They rule the country with fear but they also live in fear
Reclusive junta chief firmly in control Financial Times Last year, Burma’s impoverished citizens were both mesmerised and enraged by a widely circulated underground video of the lavish wedding of the daughter of their country’s repressive ruler, Senior General Than Shwe. ....... While the public is fascinated with him, Gen Than Shwe, a 74-year-old psychological warfare expert, has shown little concern with the reality of his people’s lives .... the grandiose, isolated new capital, the reclusive and famously obstinate Gen Than Shwe ...... preoccupied mainly with his own survival and self-enrichment, reportedly relying heavily on astrologers to make big decisions. ...... Gen Than Shwe and his number two, Gen Maung Aye, are the last original members of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, which grabbed power in September 1988. ....... Many cabinet ministers are said to be fearful of the senior general, who makes virtually all important decisions himself – a structure that has led to policy paralysis as well as miscalculations such as the recent fuel price rise that provided the spark for the current protests. ....... none of them dare to inform Than Shwe how bad the situation is.” ..... international humanitarian agencies, of which Gen Than Shwe is said to be highly suspicious. ..... how little anyone knows of the reclusive generals’ thinking ..... “When you look at the mid-level and senior military leaders, they don’t really trust each other,” said Kyaw Yin Hlaing, a City University of Hong Kong professor. “After witnessing what happened to Khin Nyunt, they don’t talk about anything that might suggest they are not happy with the situation, or the top guys.”
Inside the Ring Washington Times The ongoing monks' revolution against the military regime in Burma is shaping up as a major setback for China, which regards Burma as its main client state and resource center in Southeast Asia ....... ethnic Chinese Khin Nyunt .... Gen. Maung Aye was once viewed as pro-India and anti-China but was co-opted by Chinese military leaders after a meeting in 2006. ...... China's stability-obsessed rulers also fear that the collapse of the junta will send the million Chinese now working in Burma back across the border into China, further destabilizing that country. ...... China also regards Burma's junta as part of its strategy of countering growing U.S. influence in neighboring Vietnam and Cambodia. ...... the top three threats to the United States as Islamist terrorists and their supporters, state sponsors of terror and communist China, which she calls "the thousand-pound dragon in the room." .... the dominant notion in U.S. policy and intelligence circles that China's fascistlike system will be transformed through global trade as "naive as the liberal hope that al Qaeda would leave us alone if we cut off all foreign aid to Israel."
Junta head's family said to have fled from capital Electric New Paper the family of Myanmar's military Senior General Than Shwe has fled to neighbouring Laos. ..... included the general's wife, Daw Kyaing Kyaing. ..... not all in the junta are happy with the crackdown on protesting monks and citizens in Yangon. ..... Gen Than and ViceSenior-Gen Maung Aye, his second in command and the commander-in-chief of the army, have disagreed over the way the unarmed monks were attacked. ..... 'Maung Aye and his loyalists are opposed to shooting into the crowd ...... The gifts handed to the general's daughter and her husband reportedly were worth more than US$50 million ($74m). ........ General Than cannot even say her name ..... Gen Maung is due to meet Ms Suu Kyi. .... All the main roads into central Yangon have been blocked. .... international handphone signals have been interrupted and soldiers are searching people for cameras and handphones. ...... the government was sending bus-loads of vigilantes into the main city to attack the demonstrators. .... The atmosphere is said to be extremely tense. There is a palpable sense of fear on the streets. ..... Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200 ...... (Asean foreign ministers) were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators.
Libs makes money from Burma: Nettle The Age, Australia
Australia to boost efforts on Burma Sydney Morning Herald will introduce financial sanctions targeted at key figures in the junta and plans to ask Beijing, New Delhi and other South-East Asian governments to use their influence with Burma to counsel restraint and push for genuine reform. ...... Despite the deaths of up to five people on Wednesday as security forces tried to suppress the protests, crowds of up to 10,000 gathered in the centre of Burma's biggest city, Rangoon on Thursday. ..... Australia's ambassador to Burma, Bob Davis, believes more violence is inevitable. ..... Foreign Minister Alexander Downer isn't hopeful UN intervention will do very much.
A Burma Revolution The Conservative Voice
Rally calls for end to violence in Burma The Age
Food aid starts flowing again in north Burma ABC Online, Australia
UN: Burma Unrest Could Affect Food Delivery Efforts Voice of America
Burma crackdown hampers aid efforts Melbourne Herald Sun
Myanmar food relief hit by protest crackdown Reuters

Gingrich Won’t Run in 2008 New York Times
Giuliani in YouTube's Crosshairs ... Again Washington Post Thursday night, while several of his GOP rivals were debating in front of a black audience at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Giuliani was in Santa Barbara at a $2,300-a-plate fundraiser attended by Bo Derek and Dennis Miller.
Bloody Riots Erupt in Islamabad Over Musharraf Decision TIME government forces laid siege to the Supreme Court grounds, where several hundred lawyers had taken refuge after a vicious attack on a peaceful protest in the capital, Islamabad. ..... More than 10,000 riot police and plainclothes officers ...... Yasser Raja, a 33-year-old lawyer from nearby Rawalpindi was beaten repeatedly on the head; when he attempted to protect himself the police continued to attack, causing extensive damage to his upraised arm. His lawyer's uniform of white shirt and black suit was soaked in blood, but he continued to shout anti-Musharraf slogans. ........ saw police passing around bags of rocks ..... Security forces fired tear gas shells directly into the crowd, causing a panicked stampede. ..... Ahsan was hit by a brick in the kidneys at point blank range, then beaten on the head with batons, which shattered his glasses. ...... beaten so badly that the force of blows broke his arm. ..... "This is a massive violation of not just human rights, but of the Supreme Court ruling," said Anila Ateeq, a high court lawyer, as she dabbed her face with a water-soaked headscarf to ease the sting of the tear gas. "Our cause is the restoration of democracy, that is why we are protesting. The government has no cause, it has no mandate, it only has force." ....... "We are looking at an obscene and unnecessary show of excessive force," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia Researcher for Human Rights Watch, who had come to observe the protests. "This has been wanton brutality against a professional group that is struggling to uphold the rule of law." ....... The only people General Musharraf has been able to fool and beguile are the governments of the United States and Great Britain." ...... "It's just a shade short of Burma," said one bedraggled lawyer, echoing an earlier statement by Ahsan. "Yeah," said his companion. "But here they are attacking lawyers in suits instead of monks in saffron."
Myanmar refugees want India to step in Times of India Asked how the soldiers shot their own people, Aung said, "Most of them are uneducated and jobless. They are caught young and brainwashed to see an enemy in anyone who talks of democracy. ..... The activists are in touch with members of the government-in-exile, spread out in Australia, US, Thailand and India. "Our New York office is trying hard to bring about a new resolution from the United Nations on the issue.
Ahmadinejad walks away with a win Los Angeles Times the arrogance of the American academy and most of the U.S. news media's studied indifference ..... the totalitarian impulse knows no accommodation with reason. You cannot change the totalitarian mind through dialogue or conversation, because totalitarianism -- however ingenious the superstructure of faux ideas with which it surrounds itself -- is a creature of the will and not the mind. ...... totalitarian demagogues -- who are as image-conscious as Hollywood stars ...... Ahmadinejad, who was a brilliant university student ..... "The wave of the Islamic revolution" would soon "reach the entire world," he has promised. ..... the American press always has had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Islamists like the Iranian president mean what they say and that they really do believe what they say they believe.
An Eye in the Sky on Burma TIME sealing thousands of monks inside their monasteries ..... scientists were able to use orbital satellites to confirm on-the-ground reports of burned villages and forced relocations of civilians by the military. The technique has already been used to document human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Darfur ..... Burma's eastern Karen State, where a rebellion against the government has been simmering for over 50 years ...... The satellites can see objects as small as 60 cm across ....... the AAAS had ordered up new images from Burma's major cities, Rangoon and Mandalay, over the past few days ...... with a military cordon drawing around Burma, every scrap of data will help.
Jerry Seinfeld Goes Back to Work Seinfeld is getting ready for a different sort of ancient ritual: stand-up comedy. "It's kind of that feeling before an ocean swim," he says of facing an audience armed with nothing but jokes. "You know it's gonna be cold at first, but once I get in, it's really fun. And you never know what the waves are going to be like." ....... "I used to see couples pushing strollers and think, Why would you do that? Why would you want someone in your house that just craps in their pants while they're looking you right in the eye?" ...... "Is it just all that sand and no beach that just drives everyone in the Middle East out of their freaking mind?" ....... This is what he has been doing on most weekends since Seinfeld went off the air: traveling to stand-up gigs across the country. No press, no entourage, just a tour manager, a garment bag and an opening act (usually one of Seinfeld's old friends—Mario Joyner, Tom Papa or Mark Schiff). "Doing my act and working on that—that's my job," says Seinfeld. "To actually do your creative thing right in front of an audience and have them judge it right there—that's exciting." ....... Steven Spielberg .... a neighbor of Seinfeld's in New York's tony Hamptons .... "As a single person, I was always exploring the world," says Seinfeld ..... "Now I've lost some interest in the world. I'm more interested in my wife and kids." ..... came to the conclusion that the applause of a few hundred people is worth more than the adulation of millions ....... Home for Seinfeld (who made a reported $225 million for Seinfeld's syndication alone and appears almost annually on Forbes' list of richest celebrities) is an apartment overlooking Central Park. ....... He hits the gym regularly, and every day when he's in the city he walks 25 blocks through Central Park to his midtown office—a spacious aerie with sweeping views of the skyline—where he works on his stand-up act. The office is equipped with a high-tech videoconferencing system called Halo so he can communicate with the directors and animators of Bee Movie. ...... "There is a thing about comedians," he says. "They are cranky—all of them. If you're not cranky, you're not funny." ...... "To be honest," he says, "I was kinda lost after the show. I really didn't want to get married, I didn't like being single anymore, and I didn't know what I wanted to do." ...... "'That's not the water Mr. Seinfeld prefers, you idiot'—I just wanted to get away from that. I missed people yelling at me and treating me like a regular guy." ....... "whenever I have the opportunity to go to an old bar in New York that has that smell—that beer-soaked wood, that cheap-wine smell—I just swoon." ....... One night he invited a woman he had met at the gym, Jessica Sklar, to his show. ...... "I was dating for 25 years. Do you know how exhausting that was? Do you know how much acting fascinated I did?" But Jessica, whom he calls a "neighborhood girl," actually did fascinate him. Like Seinfeld, she had grown up on Long Island, and available to him, he says, "she was the nicest." There was one catch:of all the nice Jewish girls two months earlier, she had married Eric Nederlander, the son of a prominent New York family in the theater business. Her marriage ended, she and Seinfeld began dating, and the tabloids loved it. "I couldn't believe anybody thought it was anything," says Seinfeld of the media storm. "And I had trouble understanding how painful it was for her. I was used to it. I think I made some mistakes in that period as far as helping her through it." ..... "I had left a relationship where I was sort of supposed to be someone I wasn't. That relationship was never going to work, and I met someone who was heaven and earth to me." ....... married in a small ceremony ..... daughter, whom he called "the sweetest candy of all." .... "The great thing about kids is there's nothing I find too embarrassing to do in front of them," he says. "To hear them laugh is worth anything. It's the best sound in the world." ....... Seinfeld considers The Sopranos "a really good sitcom. .... describing himself as "obsessive, yes; perfectionist, no." ..... "What was that instrument that has a little pathos to it? A clarinet? That's a very emotional instrument, a very Jewish instrument. I'm not sure this is that kind of scene. It feels a little like Yentl." ....... he's perfectly happy right where he is—on the road, going to or from one stand-up gig or another. "I had a really good time tonight," he says as the car pulls into the airport. "I'm a comedian again."
Time Video: Barack Star Rally, NYC
Barack Obama's not ready to lead, says Clinton Telegraph.co.uk
Obama Quotes Clinton on Clinton’s Experience New York Times example of Mr. Clinton in 1992 arguing against Mr. Clinton in 2007 .... No response yet from the Bill Clinton campaign – make that the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Obama leads pack among Iowa likely voters, though Clinton ... Raw Story in Iowa, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is gaining steam. ..... among likely caucus-goers, Obama enjoys a slim lead, polling 28 percent to best Clinton (24 percent) and Edwards (22 percent). ....... Neither Clinton’s gender nor Obama’s race seem to be a sticking point for Iowa Democrats
Political Stardom Profitable for Obama The Associated Press Earlier this year he reported assets of up to $1.14 million in addition to his Chicago home. ..... Obama's own success allowed him to buy a $1.65 million mansion near the University of Chicago in 2005. ..... When he entered the U.S. Senate in 2005, Obama's salary jumped to more than $154,000 — nearly triple what he had been making as an Illinois legislator. ...... His sudden political stardom also brought him a three-book deal worth $1.9 million from Random House Inc. ..... His contract gives Obama 15 percent of the sale of each hardcover book, 8 percent or more from paperbacks and 10 percent from audiobooks. .... After Obama was elected to the Senate, his wife's income tripled thanks to a promotion she received at the University of Chicago Hospitals. When Michelle Obama rose from executive director to vice president, her salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962. ...... a relatively uncomplicated financial picture. ...... Their assets — which are between $457,000 and $1.14 million — are mostly in mutual funds and pensions. ....... Mitt Romney is the wealthiest candidate in the race, reporting assets of between $190 million and $250 million. ..... "He worked the street. He knocked on doors," Powell said. "He speaks from personal experience."
Edwards focusing on Clinton in White House bid Reuters The sustained focus on Clinton seemed to irritate Edwards in an interview with Reuters, and his voice hardened as he faced questions about her rather than his own positions. ...... the latest Reuters/Zogby poll which showed Clinton with 35 percent and Sen. Barack Obama with 25 percent ...... The brief interview with Reuters, conducted late on Thursday in a moving campaign van as Edwards mostly gazed out the window, ended the way several have with reporters lately -- the van pulled over on a busy highway and the interviewer got out and ran to a waiting car as traffic whizzed by.
Obama Seeks Support Quoting Bill Clinton The Associated Press "The same old experience is not relevant. ... And you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience," Clinton said at the time.
Giuliani's Strategy: Not Hillary Clinton The Associated Press
Nepal minister arrested after resignation Hindustan Times Nepal's Commerce minister Rajendra Mahato was arrested on Saturday for staging a demonstration in front of the Election Commission along with his supporters. They were protesting against the Election Commission decision to recognise the Anandi Devi Singh-led faction of the party. It is for the first time that a minister has been arrested in Nepal after restoration of democracy in the Himalayan nation. Earlier in the day, Mahato quit the interim Koirala government. However, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has not accepted his resignation as yet. In addition to the minister, over three dozen leaders of the party, including Laxman Lal Karna, Sarita Giri and Anil Kumar Jha, were arrested along with Mahto.
NSP-A Mahato-led faction demonstrates against EC verdict, 22 arrested Kantipur Online
Mahato Resigns, Arrested; Calls for Terai Bandh from Oct 4 Himalayan Times
Google Buys Mobile Social Network Zingku PC World

Obama in NYC: Changing the Past? Washington Post his three years in the city in the early 1980s ..... in the book -- Obama spends less time describing his studies at the college than he does describing his first night in the city, when he had to sleep in a Harlem alley ..... "I stopped getting high. I ran three miles a day and fasted on Sundays," Obama writes. "For the first time in years, I applied myself to my studies and started keeping a journal of daily reflections and very bad poetry. Whenever Sadik tried to talk me into hitting a bar, I'd beg off with some tepid excuse, too much work or not enough cash. One day, before leaving the apartment in search of better company, he turned to me and offered his most scathing indictment. 'You're becoming a bore.'" ...... "Uncertain of my ability to steer a course of moderation, fearful of falling into old habits, I took on the temperament if not the convictions of a street corner preacher, prepared to see temptation everywhere, ready to overrun a fragile will."

Clinton Edges Obama in Black Caucus The Associated Press the greater number of members from Clinton's New York state as opposed to members from Obama's Illinois.
Clinton: Give every baby in America $5000 Newsday "I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that down payment on their first home," she said. ....... 4.1 million babies born in America each year. ..... said crime dropped in the 1990s because Bill Clinton's White House funded more police and backed tougher laws on illegal guns. ..... Clinton denounced what she said was "incident after incident" of minority voter suppression, and vowed to "end systematic disenfranchisement." ..... "We need to make voting easier," she said.

Bill Clinton: Obama’s Not Ready to Run New York Times Bill Clinton showed his singular ability to diminish his wife’s presidential rivals ..... said that Senator Barack Obama had about as much experience as Mr. Clinton did in 1988 — the year Mr. Clinton decided not to run for the presidency. ...... 1988 when I came within a day of announcing .... “Senator Obama has over two decades of the experience America needs right now,” Mr. Burton said in a statement. “When it comes to restoring America’s image in the world, America needs a president who made the most important foreign policy decision of a generation based on what was right for America, not the politics of the moment.” ........ Mr. Hunt read him a line from Mrs. Clinton’s autobiography, in which she recalled that some people initially dismissed Mr. Clinton in 1992 as “too young and inexperienced.” Mr. Hunt then noted that some view Mr. Obama the same way today. ....... whether former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts would maintain his lead in opinion polls in Iowa and New Hampshire through New Year’s Day. .... Several of Mrs. Clinton’s advisers have said in interviews with The Times that they believe at this point that Mr. Romney will be the Republican nominee.

Is Obama Really Trailing Clinton? Washington Post How do you reconcile the apparent wide gap between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (according to recent polls) and the significant reaction (both in donors and total dollars) that puts Obama at the top tier, above Clinton? Is it possible that despite those polls, this grassroot movement for Obama is something the media is missing that will show its strength at the voting/caucus settings, and that is why Obama continues to avoid any strident criticisms of Clinton? ...... Biden ... put to a vote in the Senate this week, his plan for the confederation (not a partition, he was quick to note during the debate) won a majority.

Bill Clinton Says He Had More Experience Than Obama at Same Age Bloomberg ``I was the senior governor in America. I had been head of any number of national organizations that were related to the major issue of the day, which is how to restore America's economic strength.'' ..... Clinton was 46 in 1992 when he beat Republican President George H.W. Bush to win the highest U.S. office, the same age that Obama is now. When Clinton, then the Arkansas governor, was first running, ``he was initially dismissed as an obscure if colorful outsider, handsome and articulate but, at age 46, too young and inexperienced for the job,'' his wife Hillary wrote in her autobiography, ``Living History.'' ...... her husband's comments were the Clinton camp's most pointed and direct to date on Obama's level of experience. ...... former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, in August dismissed the experience comparison, saying, ``Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president.'' ..... Bill Clinton, 61, said Obama's experience today is closer to his own in 1988, when he decided not to pursue a White House run. ``I came within a day of announcing, because most of the governors were for me and I had been a governor for six years,'' Clinton said in the interview taped in New York. ``And I really didn't think I knew enough and had served enough and done enough to run.'' ....... Obama has the added difficulty that the international situation is more complicated today, with the threat of terrorism and the war in Iraq, than it was in 1992, Clinton said.

The Largest Rally In US Presidential Campaign History

Photos
Video: New York City For Barack Obama 6



Give Me A Huge Rally In This City Before Summer Is Over

Burma: Momentum Is Key To Victory

Shame On The Top Politicians Of The World: Burma Asks For More
In Solidarity With The Burmese People

This is not 1988. They can not kill 3,000 people like they did back then. If they do, China can kiss the 2008 Olympics goodbye.

They might kill 100, maybe 200, maybe even 500.

But the way to reduce the casualties is not to get off the streets. That way thousands of Burmese will keep dying slow deaths for years.

The key is for the people of Burma to come out in the streets in the millions. 10 million Burmese should come out into the streets. That is the only way. The world stands by them, but they must stand up, they must march, day after day after day.

No peace talks. The generals have to surrender, totally and unconditionally. The marches come to an end only after Suu Kyi has been anointed interim Prime Minister of the country. Her mandate would be to form a multi-party interim government that will give Burma an interim constitution within a month, and elections to a constituent assembly within a year.

China and India and Europe and America and Australia and everyone else must use all channels of communication private and public to make it absolutely clear to the devil generals that they have no choice. Their time is up. They have to exit. They have to be shown the door.

But all depends of millions of Burmese coming out into the streets. The democracy activists must get sophisticated. They must infiltrate the military. They must attack the military with confusion campaigns. The rank and file soldiers must be made to feel this regime has at most two weeks, and then it is gone. And so they must think. They must think for themselves. Penetrate the army with sophisticated whisper campaigns.

The street protests have to be daily, unceasing, and they must grow larger by the day. Dawn to dusk, day after day, in the millions, in every town, every city, every hamlet, every village.

The ethnic minorities who have been fighting the military must be brought in by promising them federalism and autonomy in Suu Kyi's Burma. They too have to join the democracy movement.

The Burmese diaspora must organize in every country where they might be present. Protest in front of all Burmese embassies around the world. Bring along your local friends, and the local media.

The show of force has to be overwhelming.

There are two goals: establishment of democracy, and with the fewest casualties possible. You achieve both through an overwhelming show of force.

10 to 20 million inside Burma, hundreds of thousands across the world, marching, protesting.

Victory is near.

In The News

Jena Six -- Another Story of Unequal Justice for Blacks? Yahoo! News
Obama Vies for Black Vote While Waging `Deracialized Campaign' Bloomberg Donna Brazile, who ran former Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000, said Obama's strategy would be effective. ``Just because he's black, Obama doesn't have to pander to black voters,'' she said. ``He must prove to them that he can win the White House.'' ..... ``His campaign emerges in the middle of the electorate,'' Walters said. ``In that sense, he is not Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, whose campaigns rose in the black communities at the margins of the electorate.'' .... Clinton and Obama each have 12 endorsements from lawmakers belonging to the 42-member Black Caucus ..... Obama ``can't overtly appeal to'' blacks for fear of turning off other voters, while ``Hillary can, and Bill shamelessly does
Pakistani apex court allows Musharraf to contest elections Indian Muslims
Nepal poll talks fail, Maoists begin republic bid Sify
Myanmar Forces Chase Down Protesters New York Times Myanmar’s armed forces appeared to have succeeded Friday in sealing tens of thousands of protesting monks inside their monasteries, but they continued to attack bands of civilian demonstrators who challenged them in the streets of the main city, Yangon. ....... troops were now confronting and attacking smaller groups of civilians around the city, sometimes running after them through narrow streets, sometimes firing at protesting groups. ........ the military is being very quick to use violence, tear gas, guns and clubs ...... the death toll was “several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities.” ......... an apparent government clampdown on Internet and telephone communications. ..... Exile groups passed on many vivid, unconfirmed reports about brutality toward monks and their superiors. Many monks were reported to have been seized and driven away in trucks, and armed soldiers were said to have been preventing others from leaving. ....... “Wednesday night numerous monasteries were raided, and we have reports that many monks were beaten and arrested, and we have pictures where whole monasteries have been trashed, and blood and broken glass” ....... With the monks contained, another diplomat said, the demonstrations seemed to have lost their focus, and soldiers were quick to pounce on any groups that emerged onto the streets. ......... “There are pockets of protesters left. They are unorganized, and it’s all very small scale.” ...... a trade embargo that has left Western countries with little leverage with the junta. ..... videojournalist, Kenji Nagai. Videotape has emerged showing that Mr. Nagai, who was killed Thursday while filming the protests near the Sule Pagoda, may have been shot at close range as a target instead of having died in cross-fire. ..... “The military is doing their best to frighten people into going back, but they are not doing anything about the underlying grievances,” Ms. Villarosa said. “Whether they will ultimately be successful, I doubt, because the grievances are real.” ..... deep discontent and anger over the economic mismanagement and harsh rule of the junta. .... In 45 years of military rule — and 19 years under the current junta — the country once known as Burma has become a ragged, suffering nation, one of the poorest and most repressed in Asia. ......The crowds grew suddenly much larger after Sept. 18, when huge columns of monks filled the streets and residents joined them by the tens of thousands. Over the next week the demonstrations swelled to as many as 100,000 monks and supporters in Yangon alone........... Defying international warnings and condemnation, the government crackdown began Wednesday morning with raids on several monasteries and the use of aggressive force on the streets.
Bush, Clinton, Bush ... Clinton? The Associated Press Forty percent of Americans have never lived when there wasn't a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. Anyone got a problem with that? ..... talk of Bush-Clinton fatigue is increasingly cropping up in the national political debate. ... And now, if Hillary Clinton were to be elected and re-elected, the nation could go 28 years in a row with the same two families governing the country. Add the elder Bush's terms as vice president, and that would be 36 years straight with a Bush or Clinton in the White House. ...... Does a nation of 303 million people really have only two families qualified to run the show? .... The Clintons and Bushes, he said, have built up strong "brand" recognition for their names — just as the Kennedys did in an age of promise cut short by assassination — making it harder for newcomers to compete. ....... fully one-quarter of all Americans said that the prospect of having at least 24 straight years of a President Clinton or Bush would be a consideration in their vote for president in 2008. ....... Even among Democrats, 17 percent said it would be a consideration. .... "Well, I think it is a problem that Bush was elected in 2000," she offered. "I actually thought somebody else was elected in that election." ..... Gergen said any fatigue factor Clinton faces is "overwhelmed by the positive nostalgia for Bill Clinton among Democrats."..... "right now there is one massive fatigue in America and that is with George Bush. No other fatigue comes close."
Nepal's leading dailies fail to hit stands Hindu
Serbia and Kosovo discuss a split Christian Science Monitor
Bloggers in Burma keep world informed during military crackdown San Francisco Chronicle Dodging a deadly military crackdown that has killed at least nine protesters, Burmese bloggers are on the front lines, providing news and photos of death and insurrection. ..... Their Internet blogs, written in Burmese and grammatically flawed English, are posted mostly by residents of Rangoon ....... The bloggers rely on word-of-mouth, cell phones, online chat groups, instant messaging, and firsthand accounts of protesters facing barricaded streets, tear gas and gunfire from Burmese security forces. The best blogs provide photos, video and text updates purportedly by eyewitnesses, which are later confirmed by news organizations or, in some cases, can't be verified. ...... blogger accounts have captivated the outside world, including President Bush and the United Nations. ...... Burmese and foreign bloggers in Rangoon, Mandalay, the nation's second-largest city, and elsewhere have risked their lives to document the pro-democracy demonstrations ..... www.xanga.com/dawn_1o9 ...... "I heard the gun shots too, but it sounded a lot like clapping. ...... ko-htike.blogspot.com .... "now the regime open fire into these group, and used fire engine to sweep the blood on the street." ...... burmesedayze.blogspot.com .... "The BBC is getting hold of a reasonable amount of video footage that people are taking surreptitiously and sending to them," the foreigner posted Saturday. "Some of it is hand-held video clips shot from the hip (so that the photographer isn't too obvious to the police watching the marches), while other clips seem to have been shot out of windows in tall buildings in downtown Rangoon." ...... Even before the current protests, Burma had a strong presence on the Internet, created over the years by Burmese dissidents and foreigners who had established pro-democracy Web sites in Thailand, Europe, United States and elsewhere. ..... www.irrawaddy.org .... www.dvb.no ..... mizzima.com ... weunite-weblog.blogspot.com ..... saffronrevolutionworldwide.blogspot.com ..... the site's bloggers, who are in Mae Sot, Thailand, near the Burma border.
Burma Military Shoots at Protesters, Cuts Off Internet Voice of America
Burmese troops seal off Buddhist monasteries Guardian Unlimited
Brazil whips US women's soccer team Chicago Tribune
In Reversal, Student Is Given Extra Exam Time to Pump Breast Milk New York Times





















88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 2
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 3
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 4
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 5
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 6
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 7
88 Generation Burmese Activists - 8888 - 19 Years - Part 8


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