And In Other News...

Now that Sir Menzies Campbell has stolen the headlines for the next few hours by resigning as leader of the Liberal Democrats, I feel it is down to me to bring a few of the day's other stories worth noting...

Perhaps most significant is the European Union's adoption of a package of measures against Burma's military junta, including an embargo on the export of wood and metals and gemstones. Less encouragingly, despite still being "seriously concerned about the human rights situation in Uzbekistan," the EU has eased sanctions that were imposed against the Central Asian republic after the Uzbek authorities rejected demands for an international probe into a deadly uprising in Andijan province two years ago. As a spokesman for Human Rights Watch has observed, "Suspension in the face of no progress is nothing less than capitulation."

As for leaked suggestions that Britain should switch to long-life milk to reduce the emissions that the climate change lobby claim are responsible for global warming, I for one will most positively be sticking with fresh, full-fat. In the wake of foot and mouth and bluetongue, the Government (whose lab was responsible for the former and whose mismanagement was responsible for its re-emergence days after the all-clear was given) should be supporting our country's dairy farmers, not adding to the pressure they are under.

You might like to read A Rough Guide to the UK Farming Crisis, which concludes:

"Farmers, environmentalists and people concerned about social justice have a common cause: the transformation of the current damaging and highly exploitative food system and the creation of a pattern of food production based on respect for the land and the needs of local communities rather than exploitation and greed. None of us will succeed in this cause until we learn to work together."

A League Apart

Breaking News: The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to environmental campaigner Al Gore and the UN panel on climate change, the IPCC.

I merely repeat the question I asked a couple of days ago: Can anyone seriously tell me he is in the same league as Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi?

Burma's Steve Biko?

Ko Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of Aung San Suu Kyi's besieged National League for Democracy in Burma, has died as a result of torture during interrogation after being arrested on September 26th for his active support and participation in the monks' demonstration. Dead bodies of monks have also appeared in the Pazundaung River in Rangoon in the past few days.

Source: Assistance Association for Political PrisonersThe body of Steve Biko in a prison in King Williamstown, South Africa. Leader of the Black Consciousness Movement, Biko was arrested on August 1977, and died soon afterwards. In 1997 five former members of the South African security forces admitted to killing Biko, who died a year after the Soweto riots which rocked apartheid South Africa. [Al-Ahram Weekly]

Free Burma!

Why the Silence on Zimbabwe?

"Why is there such a crushing international silence on the outrages in Zimbabwe? Is it because a defeated and damaged people cannot get onto the streets in sufficient numbers for the western media to have good pictures? Is that what it takes to get western governments these days active and concerned about such flagrant abuses of human rights?"

Reflecting on all the noise being made over Burma, John Redwood asks some pertinent questions about the international community's media-driven foreign policy. Echoing sentiments expressed on this blog yesterday, he concludes, "Will someone in western governments please do something? Will the UN wake up from its slumbers and show it has the diplomatic skills to mobilise the international community against this evil?"

Majority Favour Military Intervention

Here are the results of our last poll on military interventionism abroad. From the total number of votes, it is clear that far fewer of you than usual were prepared or felt able to express an opinion either way. However, of those that did do so, a majority were at least in favour of the principle of intervening to prevent genocide or to defend the human rights of others, even if not everyone agreed whether the conditions for intervention had been reached in either Sudan or Zimbabwe. I wonder whether anyone thinks such an approach should be taken to protect the freedom of those protesting against two decades' oppression by the military junta in Burma...?

In 2000, British troops salvaged the UN operation in Sierra Leone. Should we now take military action in either Darfur or Zimbabwe?

Yes, both.  36% (8 votes)

Only Sudan.  5% (1 votes)

Only Zimbabwe.  27% (6 votes)

No, neither.  32% (7 votes)

Total voters for this poll: 22

Make sure you take our new poll on the review of self-defence legislation.

Beyond Disgrace and Disbelief

So, once again, China's economic interests and veto on the UN Security Council prevents the UN from taking any effective action in another world crisis. First Zimbabwe and Sudan, now Burma. And just yesterday UN chief Ban Ki-moon was saying, "To deliver on the world’s high expectations for us, we need to be faster, more flexible and mobile. We need to pay less attention to rhetoric and more attention to results — to getting things done... The Human Rights Council must live up to its responsibilities as the torchbearer for human rights consistently and equitably around the world. I will strive to translate the concept of our Responsibility to Protect from words to deeds, to ensure timely action so that populations do not face genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity." Sadly, all just talk, once again...

The UN has proven itself this summer to be wholly irrelevant. There can be no more second chances for this sorry institution, not when so many lives are at stake. It is time for reform. At least France, Burma's biggest Western investor, is now talking about trade sanctions and even disinvestment.

UPDATE: Apparently Russia has also taken the opportunity to play games throw its weight around once more, threatening France instead of helping to send a unanimous message to the Burmese military.

British Investment in Burma

Be sure to watch the follow up to yesterday's clash between Miliband and Paxman on Newsnight in tonight's "episode" — The promised statement provided by the Foreign Office, which can be found at the Newsnight site, leaves much to be desired, as the following excerpts from the responses from Burma Campaign UK and Newsnight make plain:

"Britain's ranking as the second largest investor in Burma is due in part because for years it has allowed foreign companies to use British territory to facilitate investment. The government's refusal to close this loophole is inexplicable."

"It remains the case that Britain has not banned UK companies from investing in or trading with Burma. And we note that the Foreign Office has not provided more details to support David Miliband's claim on Newsnight that no major companies are now investing in the country.

"The Foreign Secretary also promised to investigate whether or not Britain provides any funding to "exile" groups that promote democracy. This, as we stated on the programme, was highlighted in a report from the International Development Select Committee of July 2007. The Foreign Office has not addressed this issue in today's statement."

So Much For Good Intentions

David Miliband may have learnt that it's not good enough to have good intentions, but neither is it good enough for the foreign secretary to appear completely unbriefed about one of the hottest international issues of the day — namely, the protests in Burma. His inability to provide a satisfactory answer to any of Jeremy Paxman's questions about British investment in Burma [the world's second highest] or commitment to pro-democracy movements there [none] on Newsnight was appalling.

Our government should be following President Bush's lead, who today announced a tightening of sanctions against the Burmese junta:

"The United States will tighten economic sanctions on the leaders of the regime and their financial backers. We will impose an expanded visa ban on those responsible for the most egregious violations of human rights, as well as their family members. We will continue to support the efforts of humanitarian groups working to alleviate suffering in Burma, and I urge the United Nations and all nations to use their diplomatic and economic leverage to help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom."

Religion's Place in Politics

Those who claim that religion has no place in politics need to take a look at the latest developments in Burma's continuing demonstrations, where thousands of Buddhist monks have taken to the streets in defiance of Burma's oppressive military regime. Despite violence used against earlier rallies by pro-democracy activists, hundreds of monks are now leading protests right across the country's cities. The monks have also excommunicated the government and its supporters by refusing alms or donations from anyone linked to the junta.

Once again, it seems that when the going gets tough, people of faith get going. On the other hand, can you imagine similarly large groups of Christians or church leaders in this country taking such a lead on fundamental issues affecting society?

Jim Carrey on Burma's Unsung Mandela

Lest yesterday's Mandela freedom-fest in Parliament Square should go to our heads, actor Jim Carrey appears in a new YouTube video campaigning for the release in Burma of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and calling for the end of the General Than Shwe's oppressive military regime which placed her under house arrest in the city of Rangoon:

"She's a champion of human rights and decency in Asia, and a symbol of hope to all struggling people. Even though she's compared to a modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, most people in America still don't know about Aung San. And let's face it, the name's a little difficult to remember. Here's how I did it: Aung San sounds like 'unsung,' as in unsung hero. Aung San Suu Kyi is truly an unsung hero."

His video comes after nearly two weeks of street demonstrations in the most sustained defiance of the junta in a decade, sparked by a sudden sharp rise in prices for fuel and cooking gas on 15th August.

Mandela's statue should remind us — and our politicians, every time they pass it — that the global fight for freedom against oppression goes on around the world. The bronze figure should not merely "commemorate and celebrate for the ages triumph in the greatest of causes" but should daily call us to action.

Birthday Behind Bars

Today is the 62nd birthday of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the leader of Burma's democracy movement, Aung San Suu Kyi, whose political party won a landslide 82% victory in Burma's last democratic election, in 1990, since when she has spent the majority of her time under house arrest.

Earlier this year, hopes for constructive change in Burma were raised as the United Nations Security Council held it's first ever vote on Burma. This garnered enough votes to pass but the measure was vetoed by China and Russia. As with Sudan, China is the Burmese military regime's primary benefactor, sending billions in arms and weaponry and importing massive quantities of natural resources.

Besides locking up Suu Kyi, Burma's military regime has destroyed 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, forcing 1,500,000 people to flee their homes as refugees and internally displaced people. It has also recruited up to 70,000 child soldiers, far more than any other country in the world. Up to 1,300 political prisoners remain behind bars, including elected members of Suu Kyi's political party.

Those of us in free nations must do what it takes for freedom to prevail.

Free Burma

As widely expected, a week after President Bush extended US economic sanctions against Burma and two days before the seventeenth anniversary of elections in which the National League for Democracy Party won a landslide victory, the Burmese government has extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military junta in Rangoon has been in power since leading a coup in September 1988 and the pro-democracy leader has been under house arrest for most of the years since her government was prevented from taking office in 1990. That so little is being done, both by Burma's neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and further afield, should be an international scandal.

As Caroline Spelman said about The Difference's Zimbabwe campaign, "Uncertain what would actually work to bring an end to human rights abuses, politicians in the developed world seem paralysed by inaction."

However, the British Government could start by making the promotion of human rights a priority in its own right, rather than consigning them to a sub-set of sustainable development priorities. We should also do a lot more to support dissidents and pro-democracy movements, and to document and publicise human rights violations.

Human Rights of the Forgotten

"Saddam Hussein's Iraq was constantly in the news; Mugabe's Zimbabwe though featuring less prominently nonetheless does make news; even Kim Jong Il, leader of what is probably the world's most secretive State merits the odd headline. But somehow Burma or Myanmar as it has been renamed by the SLORC military junta who have held it in its firm grasp, appears not to be newsworthy."

The American Chronicle has an excellent article on the largely forgotten and unreported plight of Burma's oppressed peoples and wonders whether the promise of the United Nations Charter of 1945 began, "We the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scrouge of war..." or "determined to save particular generations from the scourge of particular wars that affect our narrow national interests?"

Star Wars

A week ago, I reported on the financial crisis facing Europe's bid to compete with America's Global Positioning System, the Galileo project. As expected, in its bid to make the continent the world's mightiest commercial and military empire, the European Commission now looks set to fund the ailing satellite navigation system.

Ever one step ahead in this battle for control of the skies, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has today announced in Moscow that America will not allow Russia to prevent it from extending its missile defence shield into Eastern Europe. However, Washington still needs Russia's support if it is going to maintain international pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.

So, we have Europe and America determined to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear programme, but slowly heading for conflict over Europe's potential military independence. Meanwhile, their mutual rival Russia is supplying the Islamic Republic with nuclear fuel and has today agreed to build a nuclear research centre in Burma—another pariah state.

Clearly seeing an opportunity to reassert its claim to be a superpower, Russia is now threatening to pull out of its 1987 treaty with the United States banning intermediate range nuclear forces and to end its commitments to force reductions under the Treaty on Conventional Weapons. So, when Mr Putin criticises the US for its "almost uncontained hyper use of military force" around the world and accuses it of making the world a more dangerous place, observers are surely right to talk of a new Cold War era dawning.

The question is, given this global struggle for superpower status between Europe, America, Russia, and emerging powers in the Middle East and Asia, what should Britain's role be in the new wargame? I invite your suggestions in the comments.

Burma Gas Rights

Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the proposed development of gas fields off the coast of Burma will exacerbate serious human rights abuses and serve to entrench the brutal military rule in the country. Construction of overland gas pipelines would involve the use of forced labor, and result in illegal land confiscation, forced displacement, and unnecessary use of force against villagers.

This comes at a time when it has also been revealed that India is supplying arms to Burma's military junta in an attempt to counter China's influence over their neighbour. However, pro-democracy activists fear the junta will use the weapons to target ethnic minorities, suppress opposition, and resist democratisation.

The introduction to the Annual Human Rights Country Reports published earlier this month included the following summary about Burma:

"The military government in Burma extensively used executions, rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced relocation of entire villages, particularly of ethnic minorities, to maintain its grip on power. Prisoners and detainees were subjected to abuse and held in harsh, life-threatening conditions. Surveillance, harassment, and imprisonment of political activists continued; Nobel Laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained incommunicado under house arrest, and over 1,100 political prisoners languished in prison. The use of forced labor, trafficking in persons, conscription of child soldiers, and religious discrimination remained widespread. The government reconvened the sham National Convention, handpicking delegates and prohibiting free debate. Touted as part of a 'democracy road map', the convention was designed to nullify the results of the 1990 election and adopt a new, regime-friendly constitution. The regime's cruel and destructive misrule also resulted in refugee outflows, the spread of infectious diseases, and the trafficking of drugs and human beings into neighboring countries."