Burma Democratic Concern (BDC-TV Entertainment)

Opening remarks at UN Headquarters year-end press conference

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
UNHQ

17 December 2010

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,

Before we begin, I want to make a statement on Côte d’Ivoire.

As of this morning, the situation has taken a dangerous turn.

Let me say clearly and directly: any attempt to obstruct UN operations or blockade the Golf Hotel is totally unacceptable.

Any attack on UN forces will be an attack on the international community.

I emphasize: those responsible for the loss of civilian lives will be held accountable.

In these circumstances, it is crucial for both parties to avoid provocations or a further escalation of violence.

The response by ECOWAS and the African Union shows the continent united in its commitment to respect the constitutional order and will of the people.

That is our message, as well: the results of the election are known. There was a clear winner. There is no other option.

The efforts of Laurent Gbagbo and his supporters to retain power and flout the public will cannot be allowed to stand.

I call on him to step down and allow his elected successor to assume office without further hindrance.

The international community must send this message — loud and clear.

Any other outcome would make a mockery of democracy and the rule of law.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Since this is the final press conference of the year, let me take a few minutes to reflect with you.

2010 was a big year for multilateralism — a big year for the United Nations.

We adopted a forward-looking action plan on the Millennium Development Goals.

We mobilized $40 billion for the new Global Strategy on Women’s and Children’s Health. And we just established a high-level Commission on accountability to ensure that commitments are tracked and results delivered.

We are making progress in the malaria fight.

After years of effort, we created UN Women and hired a dynamic new head of the agency, Michelle Bachelet.

We made advances in Nagoya on biodiversity.

In Cancun, Governments took an important step forward in building a low-emissions, climate resilient future.

They agreed on a balanced package of measures that formalizes mitigation pledges from all countries and ensures increased accountability for them. They made progress on forest protection, climate finance, adaptation and technology. We will build on this foundation as we look to COP 17 in South Africa.

We completed the first successful NPT Review Conference in ten years, and were able to advance my five-point plan on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

We supported highly sensitive elections in Afghanistan and Iraq.

We strengthened the UN’s capacities for preventive diplomacy and mediation.

All told, we supported 34 different mediation, facilitation and dialogue efforts this year.

The persistent work of UN envoys helped, for example, to ease the crisis in Kyrgyzstan and keep a transition to democracy on track in Guinea. Next week, the Deputy Secretary-General will attend the inauguration of the newly elected civilian President of Guinea.

We advanced the fight against impunity by strengthening the International Criminal Court.

We have continued to assist Member States in resolving difficult issues and undertaking impartial inquiries on sensitive matters from the Flotilla incident to the Bhutto Commission to the Special Tribunal on Lebanon.

We enhanced efficiency and effectiveness on the ground through a first-of-its-kind Global Field Support Strategy, which concentrates support for various peacekeeping missions in single, more efficient regional hubs.

We responded to the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, as well as the floods in Pakistan. And we helped amplify the voices of the vulnerable, the billions around the world facing global economic insecurity.

Looking ahead, our challenge is to carry our progress forward.

Resources are tighter. Demands on the UN are growing. This requires us to focus more on prevention, preparedness, being proactive, being persistent – all within a framework that is transparent and accountable.

I will have much more to say next month on our agenda for 2011.

For the moment, let me say:

We will continue to closely watch the situation in Côte d’Ivoire.

In Sudan, I am deeply concerned by the recent clashes in Darfur. And in just a few weeks, the people of Southern Sudan will exercise their right to vote on their future.

The United Nations remains committed to supporting the parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and holding the referendum on January 9 next year. And we will work to help the two sides address common challenges in the aftermath.

We will seek to advance the Middle East peace process to realize the two-state solution, despite the absence of direct talks.

I once again urge the parties to engage seriously and be forthcoming on substance.

A meeting of the Quartet principals is expected early in the new year.

We will also continue to focus on improving life in Gaza. And I repeat: Israel must meet its obligation to freeze all settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem.

With respect to Myanmar, despite its serious shortcomings, the elections and the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi were significant developments. Myanmar can and should build on them.

Our strategy is one of long-term comprehensive engagement. We will continue to work to help Myanmar meet the objectives of national reconciliation, democratic transition and respect for human rights.

And we will seek progress on many of the longer-term challenges – including peace and security in the Korean Peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue, bringing a stable government to Somalia, and helping to reunify Cyprus.

With regard to Cyprus, we have worked to increase the momentum in the talks, and I plan to meet leaders next month in Geneva. Between now and then, I hope they will continue to build on common ground as I urged them to do last month here in New York.

Finally, a few words on Haiti.

I am concerned about allegations of fraud in the recent elections. A second round is scheduled for mid-January.

We will continue to support free and fair elections that reflect the will of the Haitian people.

I urge all candidates and their supporters to remain calm and refrain from violence.

With respect to the cholera challenge, our first priority continues to be saving lives. We are working to reassure the population that the disease can be managed through early treatment and some clear and simple steps.

It is crucial to get this message out, far and wide.

And we need more funding. The Cholera Response Strategy that we launched last month is still only 21 percent funded. Haiti needs more doctors, nurses, medical supplies, and it needs them urgently.

As you know, there are several theories on the origins of the cholera outbreak in Haiti.

Not all reports have reached the same conclusion. MINUSTAH and the Government of Haiti have conducted a number of tests. All so far have been negative.

But there remain fair questions and legitimate concerns that demand the best answer that science can provide.

That is why, pursuant to close consultation with Dr. Margaret Chan of WHO, I am announcing today the creation of an international scientific panel to investigate the source of the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

The panel will be completely independent and have full access to all UN premises and personnel. Details on the panel will be provided when finalized.

We want to make the best effort to get to the bottom of this and find answers that the people of Haiti deserve.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Looking back and looking ahead, I want to reiterate a point that I believe defines today’s complex and connected world.

Truly global action requires mobilizing support, creating broad alliances and building coalitions.

In the search for solutions, progress does not come with big bangs, but with steady, determined steps.

It is the accumulation of these small steps, these steady elements of progress that set the stage for larger changes — the breakthroughs of tomorrow.

We live in a unique multilateral moment — a world changing in the most dramatic ways since the end of World War II.

The United Nations must keep pace.

We have made progress this year. But we can and must continue.

Thank you for all your support and now I will be happy to take your questions.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=1039#

APNewsBreak: Laura Bush speaks by phone to Suu Kyi

Updated: Dec 17, 2010 – 13:27PM

Jamie Stengle
AP
DALLAS -Former first lady Laura Bush, a longtime advocate for free elections in Myanmar, spoke for the first time Friday with the isolated Asian country’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released last month after more than seven years of house arrest.

Bush told The Associated Press that “it was thrilling” to finally get to speak to Suu Kyi by phone.

“I was especially happy to hear how strong her voice was and how enthusiastic,” Bush said.

Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle for democracy, was first arrested by Myanmar’s military junta in 1989 and has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.

Bush, the wife of former President George W. Bush, has advocated for free elections in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and has spoken out many times about Suu Kyi’s plight, raising the issue at United Nations meetings and with U.S. senators.

Bush said Suu Kyi told her that during her house arrest, she listened to the Voice of America on the radio and was aware of how much support she had around the world. She said she also knew of a 2008 visit Bush and her daughter, Barbara, made to a refugee camp in Thailand for political refugees from Myanmar.

“She was very forthcoming but we both assumed the call was bugged. She was circumspect and so was I,” Bush said.

Suu Kyi’s release last month came a week after Myanmar’s first election in 20 years, which was widely seen as a sham. The 1990 election was won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, but the military refused to hand over power and instead clamped down on its opponents.

Bush said that it appears that the government is allowing Suu Kyi to conduct the meetings and phone calls she wants.

“I hope I’ll have the chance to speak with her again,” Bush said. “I hope that someday we’ll have the chance to meet face to face.”

The former first lady said she also told Suu Kyi about an effort by the George W. Bush Presidential Center to be a repository for the papers and oral histories of political dissidents struggling to spread democracy. Bush said Suu Kyi was receptive to the idea of one day being interviewed for the project.

The center, which will be made up of a presidential library, museum and policy institute, is set to open in February 2013 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the city George and Laura Bush moved to after he left office in 2009.

Burma Insight: 16 Dec 2010

BDC

16 Dec 2010

Yangon, December 16 — Chinese-aided Myanmar’s largest hydropower plant namely Yeywa Hydropower Plant with generating capacity of 790 megawatts together with its RCC embankment was opened yesterday at Pyin Oo Lwin town near Mandalay with pomp and splendour by Prime Minister U Thein Sein.

Built on Myitnge ( a ) Dokhtawaddy tributary of Ayeyarwaddy River just inside Shan State 31 miles South East of Mandalay by Chinese engineers and technicians together with their Myanmar counterparts with a total cost of US dollars 600 million including US dollars 200 million loan from China plus a large amount of local currency, it took Myanmar military government nine years from 2001 to finish building it.

In his inaugural speech at the site of the plant, PM Thein Sein hailed the opening of Yeywa Hydropower Plant “as the day the nation should be filled with great pride.”

According to Thein Sein, the Yeywa dam is not only the first-ever reinforced concrete ( RCC ) facility in Myanmar but also the third largest RCC dam of its kind in the world.

He said the plant has been installed with 790 megawatts generating capacity with four 197.5 megawatts generators. It would thus generate 3550 million kilowatt hours annually.

“The Yeywa Hydropower Plant will certainly fulfill the electricity needs of the nation,” the Prime Minister said.

In comparing the consumption of electric power needs by the people before 1988 and now, Thein Sein said before 1988 the nation could generate only 529 megawatts. “As generating of electricity have been speeded up after 1988, a total of 15 hydropower plants including Yeywa Hydropower Plant, one coal-fired power plant and 15 gas power plants, totaling 31 across the nation are now generating 3045 megawatts,” the PM added in his speech.

In addition he said more hydropower plants are being built. The statistics given by technicians on Yeywa dam is it is of RCC type, which is 2264 feet long and 433 feet high embankment with 448 feet wide spillway. Water storage capacity is 2.114 million acre feet.

Another major hydropower plant built by Chinese aid was Paunglaung Hydel power plant, which lies on Paunglaung River, a tributary of upper reaches of Sittaung River, 11 miles east of Nay Pyi Taw in Yamethin district, Mandalay Division.

This project is being implemented in two phases – the first phase namely the lower Paunglaung project was completed on March 24, 2005 and since then it has been supplying 140 megawatts electricity to Nay Pyi Taw and nearby areas.

In November 2005, eight months after the completion of lower Paunglaung the military government shifted the capital from Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw.

Upper Paunglaung phase of the project, which will also generate another 140 megawatts, is under construction.

The military government has never announced to what extent the Chinese have aided in building this Paunglaung Hydel plant and Paunglaung multi-purpose dam.

Though PM Thein Sein claimed that the newly opened Yeywa hydropower plant would fulfill the power needs of the people, the population of which has grown from 40 million in 1988 to 60 million now, some parts of major cities including Yangon up to now suffered hours long power cut off.

VALIDATED BY WIKILEAKS ON BURMA URANIUM SALES

December 16, 2010

Wikileaks is in the process of releasing over 250,000 United States
diplomatic cables. The less than 1% published so far have already changing
the way we think about the world. Hitherto secret information has been
revealed about one country after another. The cables have also made
evident that the U.S. regularly lies in its public statements about
international issues. The government isn t even close to being open with
American citizens and the people of the world.

For Burma, the Obama Administration is obliged under the Tom Lantos JADE
Act to disclose publicly what it knows about the SPDC s nuclear program.
The State Department has refused to publish the Act s Report on Military
and Intelligence Aid, even in the face of our Freedom of Information
filing, which was made eight months ago.

Wikileaks has provided an extraordinary opportunity to circumvent this
blackout. The organization has 1,864 cables from the United States Embassy
in Rangoon, and additional cables from other locations mention Burma as
well.

As of the time this statement was posted, at least nineteen of the
released cables involve Burma, and eight of these deal with nuclear and
related issues:

– The possible construction of a nuclear reactor – 04Rangoon88

– A large underground site in Magway, with North Korean workers –
04Rangoon1100

– How the SPDC s growing nuclear program is a barrier to U.S. engagement,
with reference to the detection of increasing military purchases from
North Korea and an alarming increase in the number of nuclear science
students studying in Russia (which number Dictator Watch first disclosed)
– 09Beijing2868

– The possible shipment of uranium ore to China – 07Rangoon105

– China revealing that Burma s North Korea relationship includes a nuclear
component and that the North is providing hardware and Russia software and
training – 09Rangoon502

– China promoting the idea that Burma-North Korea
cooperation is acceptable – 09Rangoon732

– An offer to sell uranium to the Embassy in Rangoon – 08Rangoon749

– Burma named as a WMD proliferation risk – 09State80163

The uranium sale cable is from September 23, 2008. It reports that a
Burmese national gave the embassy a vial that purportedly contained U-238.
The seller claimed to have 50kg of uranium-bearing rock in Rangoon, and
access to at least 2,000 kg more in Karenni State. However, it is not
clear when the offer took place. The cable header refers to another
communication from 2007 – State162091.

This cable validates intelligence about the availability of Burmese
uranium that Dictator Watch has previously published, albeit with some
differences.

At the end of 2006, we learned that a Burmese broker was offering to sell
yellowcake (low refined uranium). Our initial response was to inform the
U.S. We don t want a dirty bomb with Burmese uranium to go off someday in
New York, London or Bangkok. We were told to stay away from it – we had
offered to help arrange a sting – from which we concluded that the U.S.
already knew about it.

In July 2007 we mentioned the situation for the first time in an article,
Burma: A Threat to International Security and Peace. There was no
response, official or press, to our information. We subsequently described
the case in more detail in a 2009 article, Elements of a Nuclear Weapons
Program, Threat Assessment for Burma. In this piece we disclosed that the
broker had referred to a 60kg supply of yellowcake that was stored at an
industrial center near Bangkok, and that the material was under the
control of a Wa general. We also revealed that we had learned of a second
broker. There was no response to this information either.

While there are differences, U-238 versus yellowcake, and 50 versus 60
kilograms, we think it is likely that the broker that approached the
Rangoon Embassy was the same as the first that we heard about. We would
like to know the result of the U.S. testing on the sample that the Embassy
received, and why America didn t work to stop the broker. As far as we are
concerned, the threat of terrorism using Burmese uranium remains critical.

If the U.S. is interested, we can provide additional information on the
broker, from a document that mentions the yellowcake.

We have no doubt that as the bulk of the Burma cables are published, more
about the SPDC s role in weapons of mass destruction proliferation will
become known. We would also comment that these are State Department cables
– the CIA, of course, knows more than State – and that the latest cable is
from early 2010. Unquestionably, the U.S. has substantial and more recent
intelligence about the SPDC s proliferation, which in the interests of
openness it should reveal, without the need for a Wikileaks.

Problems for Burma’s Freedom (Bo Gyoke Aung San Speech)

We have then a big historic task which we have received from those who have gone ahead and passed, as an inviolable trust. How shall we fulfill it? Before we seek the answer to this question, it is essential in my opinion that we look round and find the threads that could lead us to the final solution. For the problems that confront humanity today are closely interwoven and form one indivisible fabric. Such is the order of the world today which is in a vast melting pot. Internationalism and nationalism, economics and politics, politics and sociology, sociology and culture, religion, ethics, etc., are but different parts of the one complex whole, each related to the other, ever changing in form and content.

We cannot think, live and move in watertight compartments only. We cannot keep on holding fixed, rigid dogmas which can no longer be in tune with the spirit of the times. Today in our country several of us have not yet been able to comprehend the phenomena of life and society in truer light. Some of us have been going still, consciously or unconsciously, about the same old way of “dirty” politics. But is politics really “dirty”? Certainly not. It is not politics which is dirty, but rather the persons who choose to dirty it are dirty. And what is politics?

Is it something too high above us to which we can just look up in respectful awe and from which we refrain, because we are just mortal clay in His hands and cannot do it? Is it, as some charlatans, roaming occasionally about in distant nooks of our country, used to prey upon the credulous imagination of some of our people, the kind of thing capable of being set aright only by fanciful tales and legends? Is it a dangerous ground which we must be wary to tread and might as well avoid, if we possibly could? Is it just a question of “race, religion and language” forever, as we were once wont to say? What is it, then, really?

The fact is that politics is neither high nor low, neither magic nor astrology nor alchemy. Nor is it simply a dangerous ground to tread upon. It is not also a question of bigoted or parochial nationalism either. It must always approximate to the truth of marching events. In short, after all is said and done, politics mean your everyday life. It is you in fact; for you are a political animal as Aristotle long ago declared. It is how you eat, sleep, work and live, with which politics is concerned. You may not think about politics. But politics thinks about you. You may shun politics. But politics clings to you always in your home, in your office, in your factories. There, everyday you are doing politics, grappling with it, struggling with it. The worker works for his wages, the peasant tills for his living, the clerk and the official toil for salaries, the trader and the broker struggle for decent incomes. It is, all, the question of livelihood. The worker wants to have higher wages and live in better conditions. The peasant desires to improve his land and his lot. The clerk and the official want something more than the drudgery of office, something more secure, more complete, more independent. The trader and broker want fair opportunities for trading and business.

Thus you have to live and get certain things that are yours for your living, and this is your politics. This is your everyday life; and as your everyday life changes, so changes your politics. It is for you to have such opportunities for your livelihood and better life that we say there must be freedom, freedom to live, freedom to create and develop nationally, and individually, freedom which can raise your and our standards without affecting others. And this is politics. Politics, then is quite human! It is not dirty. It is not dangerous. It is not parochial. It is neither magic nor superstition. It is not above understanding.

WikiLeaks: Singapore Lee says Myanmar ’stupid’

Alex Kennedy
AP
SINGAPORE-statista Singapore Lee Kuan Yew chiamata Myanmar i leader della giunta “stupido” e “densa” nelle conversazioni con i diplomatici statunitensi, secondo i documenti classificati pubblicato questa settimana da Wikileaks.
Il leader di Singapore ha detto che fare con il regime militare del Myanmar è stato come “parlare con la gente morta”, secondo un briefing riservato Stati Uniti su una conversazione del 2007 tra Lee e l’ambasciatore americano Patricia L. Herbold e il Vice Assistente Segretario di Stato Thomas Christensen pubblicato da Wikileaks.
Il 87-year-old Lee è noto per le sue valutazioni franco e schietto degli affari del mondo, ma evita di insultare pubblicamente la leadership dei paesi stranieri. Lee è stato primo ministro dal 1959-1990 e rimane un consulente senior a suo figlio, attuale primo ministro Lee Hsien Loong.
Un cavo pubblicato da Wikileaks un paio di settimane citazioni precedenti Lee chiamata della Corea del Nord leader “tipi psicopatica con un ‘tipo flaccido vecchio’ per un leader che s’impenna in giro per gli stadi in cerca di adulazione.” Il riferimento al leader della Corea del Nord Kim Jong Il è da un cavo citando una conversazione maggio 2009 tra Lee e vicesegretario di Stato James Steinberg.
Lee non ha commentato le uscite, mentre il governo di Singapore, li ha liquidati come “gossip” e messo in guardia contro la presa fuori dal contesto.
Nel cavo più recente pubblicazione, Lee ha detto che la Cina aveva il più influenza sulla leadership del Myanmar di qualsiasi paese straniero e che Pechino è preoccupata che il paese avrebbe “Blow up” e minacciano pertanto di investimenti cinesi lì.
“Lee ha espresso il suo disprezzo per la leadership del regime,” ha detto il cavo trapelato. “Ha detto di aver rinunciato a loro una decina di anni fa, li chiamavano ‘densa’ e ‘stupido’ e ha dichiarato di avere ‘cattiva gestione’ grandi risorse naturali del paese.”
Lee ha detto che l’India è stata coinvolgente leadership di Myanmar nel tentativo di ridurre al minimo l’influenza della Cina, ma che “l’India mancava di cogliere sottili della Cina come la Birmania lavorato”, secondo il cavo.
Lee ha detto che un gruppo di ufficiali militari più giovani meno ‘ottuso’ potrebbe prendere il controllo e condividere il potere con attivisti per la democrazia “, anche se probabilmente non con Aung San Suu Kyi, che era un anatema per i militari”.
Dopo più di sette anni agli arresti domiciliari, la leader democratica Aung San Suu Kyi è stata rilasciata 13 novembre, una settimana dopo la prima elezione del Myanmar in 20 anni, che hanno visto la vittoria schiacciante da parte di un pro-militari. I critici hanno denunciato la farsa elettorale come volto a cementare il controllo dei militari.
Singapore ha messo in dubbio la veridicità di alcuni documenti presumibilmente trapelare da Wikileaks e pubblicata da alcuni giornali australiani. I rapporti diplomatici Singapore inserito come fare commenti poco lusinghieri su Malesia, India, Giappone e Thailandia durante gli incontri con diplomatici statunitensi.
In una dichiarazione rilasciata in ritardo Martedì, Singapore ministero degli Esteri ha detto che “quello che i funzionari di Singapore sono stati accusati da Wikileaks abbia detto non coincidono con le nostre registrazioni.”
“Un incontro pretesa (tra Singapore e diplomatici statunitensi) non hanno nemmeno prendere posto”, ha detto.
Singapore il ministro degli Esteri George Yeo ha detto ai giornalisti all’inizio di questa settimana che, in ogni caso, questi cavi sono state interpretazioni delle conversazioni dei diplomatici degli Stati Uniti, e quindi non dovrebbe essere “sovra-interpretare”.
“Questi sono nella natura della conversazione cocktail”, ha detto Yeo. “E ‘sempre fuori contesto. Si tratta di pettegolezzi. “

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