Myanmar, one ginormous prison camp?

[albion]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...parently-found-regatta-coat-lining-derbyshire

Maybe Gaza and West Bank have connectivity too.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Isn't Myanmar the place we used to call Burma?

That article seems to be about garments for the Regatta chain produced in China.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Isn't Myanmar the place we used to call Burma?

That article seems to be about garments for the Regatta chain produced in China.

Myanmar is also that peaceful buddhist country that has been committing genocide on its muslim Rohingya population.

Doesn't get the same level of criticism from the West as Israel for some reason.

 

[albion]

Isn't Myanmar the place we used to call Burma?

That article seems to be about garments for the Regatta chain produced in China.

These days Myanmar and China are practically joined at the hip. "Chinese prisoner"

 

[newfhouse]

Doesn't get the same level of criticism from the West as Israel for some reason.

They should.

One reason may be that they're unlikely to be using the West's weapons and intelligence to assist them.

 

[Rusty Nails]

They should.

One reason may be that they're unlikely to be using the West's weapons and intelligence to assist them.

That may be one among many reasons, but are you saying that if Israel used weapons sourced from further east there would really be less criticism and fewer demonstrations?

 

[multitool]

Myanmar is also that peaceful buddhist country that has been committing genocide on its muslim Rohingya population.

It's been a military dictatorship since 1962, with a brief decade of pretend democracy which ended 3 years ago.

At no point during these 60 years has Myanmar been a fully peaceful country, in part because it is barely a country.

Doesn't get the same level of criticism from the West as Israel for some reason.

There is no parallel with Israel other than it is another post-colonial fûck up, sandwiched between a voracious China and pro-Western Thailand.

It's not even as if the Bamar controlled military has persecuted only one ethnic group. Its just that the Rohingya are the only ones you have heard of.

 

[multitool]

These days Myanmar and China are practically joined at the hip. "Chinese prisoner"

It shares a massive border with China, and China has long been heavily involved in military and economic cooperation with Myanmar.

However, in recent years it has tried to move towards cooperation with India. The sudden apparent relinquishing of control by the military in 2010 did not make sense other than as a sop to the West in order to win Western investment and reduce its reliance on China. As we saw 3 years ago the generals never really gave up power.

 

[newfhouse]

That may be one among many reasons, but are you saying that if Israel used weapons sourced from further east there would really be less criticism and fewer demonstrations?

My take is that many of those that have marched here, and engaged in protest in other ways, have been attempting to influence our own government at least as much as Israel directly. So, to that extent, yes.

 

[Rusty Nails]

It's been a military dictatorship since 1962, with a brief decade of pretend democracy which ended 3 years ago.

At no point during these 60 years has Myanmar been a fully peaceful country, in part because it is barely a country.

My flabber is gasted. I was being sarcastic...is there a sarcasm emoji?

There is no parallel with Israel other than it is another post-colonial fûck up, sandwiched between a voracious China and pro-Western Thailand.

It's not even as if the Bamar controlled military has persecuted only one ethnic group. Its just that the Rohingya are the only ones you have heard of.

Those are quite important parallels, along with the killing and displacement of Muslims.

Until the Rohingya issue and reading about Aung San Suu Kyi some years ago I will freely admit I was not aware of the problems that other ethnic groups had experienced in Myanmar.

 

[multitool]

My flabber is gasted. I was being sarcastic...is there a sarcasm emoji?

Sure, about it being peaceful. But the key difference between it and Israel are that it makes no pretence of being democratic. And with that it mind...

Those are quite important parallels, along with the killing and displacement of Muslims.

In what ways does the post-colonial fark-up (more on that in a minute) make it analogous to Israel? Genuinely curious.

From a global perspective there is no analogy. Israel does more or less what it wants with more or less impunity. The worst it can expect from the powerful nations of the west is a tiny caveat to full-on western affirmation of Israeli actions and intentions.

The difference between it and Myannar is that the ruling class of Tatmadaw generals in Myanmar keep isolated because they can enrich themselves and their cronies regardless of Western opprobrium.

Until the Rohingya issue and reading about Aung San Suu Kyi some years will freely admit I was not aware of the problems that other ethnic groups had experienced in Myanmar.

Really? In which case I would suggest (and I do not intend this to be taken as a slight) that your knowledge of the country is as good as non-existent. It has always gone on often under the guise of drug elimation programmes. There's a museum of North Korean levels of insanity in Yangon called "The Museum of Drug Elimination". It has primary-school level models of army assaults on "drug producing villages", which are, naturally, not Bamar. I was the sole visitor in this huge museum. It doesn't take a genius to work out the two reasons for its existence.

ASSK is the daughter of Bogoke Aun San, the General who negotiated post-war independence of Burma from the British on the condition that he could unite the country. He sort of did (before being assassinated) for the purposes of independence, but it has never really been very unified. If you travel there, which I have extensively on several occasions you are struck how ethnically delineated the regions are, and how close to one another they are. That is to say, you can travel 100 miles and find yourself in a distinctly different ethic area from the central Bamar region.These regions are almost like seperate countries, which becomes very apparent when you cross into them and have to go through passport checks. The last time I was there, 20 years ago, I got into the rebel held Shan State in the north-east, well into the heroin trafficking zone.

Back to ASSK. She, as the daughter of the country's most famous high-ranking soldier, occupied a sort of twilight zone. Under house arrest, pre-2010, rather than with all the other opposition leaders in Insein prison...or dead.

When she became leader of Myanmar westerners accused her of gross hypocrisy when she failed to stop or condemn the attacks on Rohingya villages, but these critics were viewing Myanmar through the western prism of democratic States.

She never was in control, but on a very short lead.

 

[Rusty Nails]

In what ways does the post-colonial fark-up (more on that in a minute) make it analogous to Israel? Genuinely curious.

You stated that "There is no parallel with Israel other than it is another post-colonial fûck up". The origins of the state of Israel came about under the British mandate over Palestine following WW2, and Myanmar was a former British colony. Both are post-colonial fûck ups.

and I do not intend this to be taken as a slight)

I do not believe this for a second.

I did say that my knowledge of Myanmar came only from the time when ASSK came to the world's attention years ago, and having never been there I am always ready to learn from someone who has, with greater knowledge than I have on Myanmar, even when couched so patronisingly.

 

[multitool]

You stated that "There is no parallel with Israel other than it is another post-colonial fûck up". The origins of the state of Israel came about under the British mandate over Palestine following WW2, and Myanmar was a former British colony. Both are post-colonial fûck ups.

Bolded. Because you seem to have missed it, and then paraphrased my sentence.

I do not believe this for a second.

I did say that my knowledge of Myanmar came only from the time when ASSK came to the world's attention years ago, and having never been there I am always ready to learn from someone who has, with greater knowledge than I have on Myanmar, even when couched so patronisingly.

Bit touchy tonight, are we.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Bolded. Because you seem to have missed it, and then paraphrased my sentence.



Bit touchy tonight, are we.

I took another parallel to be that Israel is also sandwiched between competing interests: the West, whose support it needs and it's Middle East neighbours who just want to see it gone.

I do not believe the two countries are analogous to any great level, other than their treatment of Muslims. Being a democracy is no guarantee that a country will do the right things.


Not touchy at all, just amused by the disingenuous nature of the part of your response I quoted.

 

[albion]

One could argue that our beloved government are doing/did sonebof the same to the British Windrush generation.
The obviously Myanmar Rohingya were made stateless along some similar lines.