Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Is this true? It seems pretty amazing if it is. Or is it some sort of 'she's out for 2 weeks and then back in for 15 years' sort of thing? I haven't been keeping up with the news and saw it this morning and was a bit stunned.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/13/myanmar.suu.kyi.release/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

I was amazed when I heard about it. Apparently it was done to distract people from the last round of corrupt elections.

Also, her son hasn't seen her in nearly 10 years.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/20 ... to-reunion

So the people of Burma can vote her in again and the Government of Myanmar can deny it again.

Ballots farcis a la Myanmar.

Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw it on the news. Also, her party didn't run in this "election". They had been dissolved. And, interestingly enough, she was given the right to vote even though Burma law takes away this right from prisoners. Of course she said she wasn't going to vote. Sadly, I think the distraction is working. The media are reporting her release and not the election.

I keep waiting for them to be like "just kidding" in a week and lock her back up... I really hope she's out for good this time.

That's why I was a bit stunned.
I doubt our media would be reporting the election at all anyway. When do you hear news about Burma that isn't related to her? Regardless, I am happy to see her free. Onward, onward.

Really? The election was on the news quite a bit here. I think there even was a special with some experts' discussion on tv. And I remember there was a special report about how information gets out of Burma on the radio last week. So it wasn't top news, but they were paying attention to this topic. Now they are only talking about Suu Kyi.

To specify, the American media.

Yes. I know. Generally speaking, American media sucks. >:(

However, her release gives me a cautious hope. I am anxious to see what happens next.

I wish things would change but I'm afraid they won't let her keep her freedom for long.

On the media thing. For a very long time I used to think our media sucked but some of it is pretty good.But I feel like most people ignore all the good information given to them. Actually, how I found out about Suu Kyi's release was when I got up in the morning my mom excitedly told me she heard on the radio that the famous chinese political prisoner had been released (for my mom, anything asian is chinese therefore relevant and interesting to me because i major in chinese) so I thought: "What? Liu Xiao Po has been released? No way." Well then of course I found out she was talking about Suu Kyi. I never though she'd be released, so maybe Liu Xiao Po has a chance too, even when I think he doesn't.

Anyway, have you seen the documentary Burma VJ?

A professor here (of politics I guess — only had the news channel on in the background while doing other things) gives it a couple of months or so before more house arrest. But fingers crossed. It does seem like all-too-convenient timing right after the election (well, soon after).

Can anyone point me to any information about the US government's investment and involvement in Myanmar/Burma? In Canada, the government either totally or largely divested itself of any Burmese investments, etc. to try and pressure the military junta to allow true elections and release its grip on power. Has the US done anything like that? Has the US done anything at all to attempt to aid Myanmar in reverting to a democratic state?

The link here is for the official U.S. Treasury sanctions concerning Burma:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcem ... urma.shtml

I know that, working in a bank, it is prohibited to send any funds to individuals and any type of commercial transaction is not allowed either (but the part we get to act on is the transfer of funds from one company to another).