Aung SanSuu Kyi... please show your support.

In an unsurprising turn of events, the meeting that occurred two gays between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Junta General Than Shwe ended in the same way it started: with Aung San Suu Kyi remaining under arrest and awaiting "trial" and with Ban Ki-moon still unable to visit her.

“I pressed as hard as I could,” Mr. Ban told reporters. “I had hoped that he would agree to my request, but it is regrettable that he did not.”

World leaders and celebrities have been criticizing the Junta and the treatment of the citizen of Myanmar since 2007's Saffron Revolution. But nothing has ever come of this criticism, the junta has never moved its position on Aung San Suu Kyi or on the treatment of the citizens living under its iron fist rule.

In 1990 Aung San Suu Kyi's party had won the elections but the Junta did not relinquish power, now the Junta says it is planning another election as part of the “road map to democracy”.

Rock band U2 kicked off its latest world tour by asking fans to click HERE and dowloading a mask of Aung San Suu Kyi's face and wear them at concerts to show their support and help raise awareness about the cause.

The website 64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi has now received over 16,000 message from all around the world for both her and the 2154 other political prisoners Burma.

For those wanting to know more or have a chance to interact with the Burmese community please visit Ahsin Mettacara's social network Smile Club and join, it's free and you can send messages directly to others who care for the cause and directly to Burmese members.

Burma was voted the worst country in which to be a blogger. I urge other bloggers to perpetuate the message the the blogosphere stands with the people of Burma and show our support.

(source for quotes G&M)

Muchacho Enfermo

Yet Another Internaiotal Mistake on Human Rights

The UN Human Rights Council has been elected, should we be excited? Not really...
The countries who are now new members of the council are:
Cameroon, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Belgium, Djibouti, China, Hungary, Mexico, Norway, Kenya, Jordan, Russian Federation, Uruguay, United States, Mauritius, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Senegal

The council was created about 3 years ago to replace the Human Rights Commission which basically ended up as the butt en of many jokes and had no credibility. I'm pretty sure that this council is heading very much in the same direction since many member countries are known for their lack of respect for Human Rights.

The US, whose recent track record has been put into question and who had boycotted the Council under Pres. Bush, was elected with over 90% of votes in their favor. Russia, despite the death of many opposition politicians was also elected. I find it amazing that a lot of these countries ran unopposed, Human Rights' violators such as China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba ran unopposed.

In a recent report on Reteurs the EU states that they have made no progress on Human Rights dealings with Cuba and that the EU will most likely put sanctions back in place in an upcoming vote. When asked about their position towards the EU and Human Rights, Cuba had this to say:

""Cuba is ready to normalize* relations, to establish a new start in the relationships between the European Union and Cuba," Rodriguez said.
He said the common EU position on Cuba, with its emphasis on human rights criticism, was "obsolete.""

*Normalization is a process whereby behaviours and ideas are made to seem "normal" through repetition, or through ideology, propaganda, etc., often to the point where they appear natural and taken for granted. (from Wikipedia)

The Czech foreign minister also said: "We came back to the issue of political prisoners in Cuba and their health, and the answer we got was that in Cuba there are no political prisoners."

The Cuban foreign minister even went so far as to say: "These are legal decisions, and not of a political nature. The Cuban penal system fully complies with all standards in this domain."

This, my dear readers, is what the UN Human Rights Council made up of: Human Rights violators, propagandists, liars and cheaters, with the few exceptions that must be the voice of reason and the voting majority of this council if it is to become credible and viable. If not, I fear that this UN initiative, like so many before will be doomed to crash and burn.

Muchacho Enfermo

What ceasefire?

The UN security council called for a ceasefire in Gaza yesterday. The vote was 14-0 with the US abstaining, standing by their original position that since Israel and Hamas wouldn't listen there was no point in trying.

Hamas is now being reported by the Associated Press as having said that it "is not interested in a ceasefire".

The violence has been escalating again, militants in Lebanon have reportedly been firing rockets on Israel.

Israel has been accused of firing on Red Cross aid workers and bombing a UN school. Since then all aid supplies in Gaza have been stopped.

If Israel is firing on the UN and Lebanon is firing on Israel... what does that leave? Are we on the eve of a much bigger crisis then was first expected in Gaza? Has Israel finally bitten off more then it can chew? And when will the UN actually step in and impose a ceasefire? If it does how likely is it to work?

Just a few questions I had... I'm hoping some of you have answers because I certainly don't.

Muchacho Enfermo