Socially Engaged Buddhism -- Buddhist Peace Fellowship -- site

http://www.bpf.org/html/about_us/history/history.html

"Do something, do something!" Gunter Grass

Here is an organization to help -- in 2008 and beyond -- note call for papers for special issue on Burma in Spring 2008.

Kyi May Kaung

Heart warming story from Burma -- missionaries from Wyoming help girl with deformed foot.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/12/30/news/wyoming/31c3d742a50b973f872573c10005c8e8.txt#blogcomments

Burma piece found on net --

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12489

I have no idea if this is so or not.

Pakistan -- Military Rule and Democracy -- Jan. 25th 2008, 7.10 PM to 8.30 PM

The late Ms. Benazir Bhutto with former Presd. George Bush, Sr. From Time photo essay on line.


Talk:

Jan. 25th Friday.

7.10 PM to 8.30 PM --

Pakistan: Military Rule and Democracy -- by political economist Dr. Kyi May Kaung

at Kefa Cafe, 963 Bonifant St., Silver Spring, MD.

Dr. Kaung wishes to add that she is not an expert on Pakistan, only a supporter of world wide democracy. This event was first planned in October 2007, after the first assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan People's Party. Ms. Bhutto survived.

Since then, we sadly mourn her loss and worry for Pakistan's future.

For this event there are no specific book reading assignments other than to read the news. We look forward to a discussion which will add to our understanding of this complex region.

HAPPY NEW YEAR --

Kuan Yin the Goddess of Mercy who rescues the shipwrecked --photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.


For everyone in Burma, stay alive and well --

For Americans, please be less self centered.

Don't give me a version of "Why should we care?"

I have heard it one time too many.

We need to care because we are all interconnected.

"When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world, it can eventually cause a hurricane in another . . ."

From Edward Lorenz and Chaos Theory.

Part III of interview of Dr. Kyi May Kaung on Political Economy of Burma by RFA --

Go to RFA.org

and find BUR-2007-1230-1930

program is 15.47 minutes into the whole broadcast.

Thanks for listening.

Summary: I said that analysts should take a more macro economic approach rather than a micro economic approach and that due to the command economy of the Burmese junta, the people will have a hard time and real economic development will not take place.

Things will be mitigated somewhat by the geographic proximity of the booming Chinese and Indian economies and the discovery of natural gas deposits in Burma.

But very little will trickle down to ordinary people.

I presented a similar argument with more detailed figures in a recent article in Mizzima.com

You can find everything I have written by Googling my full name.

Copyright Kyi May Kaung.

Going to KyaikHtiYo -- The Golden Rock Shrine in Burma --

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=762d978d-f47d-4b6d-9e4e-b76a777ca810

Glad I never went -- relatives who did described it the same way.

Part II of Interview of Dr. Kyi May Kaung by RFA on the political economy of Burma -- in Burmese --

As before, pl go to

http://www.rfa.org/burmese/ahthan/

then to "ah than" in Burmese --

where you should look for

ProgName-Bur-2007-1228-1930

2nd part starts at 24.01 mins into the program, you will hear female voices -- rest of broadcast sounds all male. Use fast forward button and cursor.

Regards,

kmk

World's best (controlled) implosions --

Stormy sky --photo copyright Kyi May Kaung


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/12/29/relerford.old.file.cabinet.stocks.whdh

Do I hear my friends in poor countries like Burma going, "Oh, oh, oh! -- Perfectly good buildings!"

Notice how skillfully the implosion is carried out.

Don't you wish it were a neat metaphor for old defunct systems like dictatorships and command economies? Unfortunately, political and economic systems don't (can't) go down, or be brought down, that neatly.

Kyi May Kaung

Poem -- Seeds of Truth - by Kyi May Kaung

Ah May Pu's House -- acrylic on canvas --painting copyright Kyi May Kaung -- private collection.

This is one of the paintings I created and exhibited in Chiangmai in July -- based on green vines and black house outside my veranda.

http://peajaypee.blogspot.com/2007/07/words-1-seeds-of-truth-by-kyi-may-kaung.html

Poem copyright Kyi May Kaung --

I took a bit of poetic license here -- rosselle seeds do not cling to your clothes like some grass seeds - but it's emotionally true, as they say on TV interviews.

Kyi May Kaung

Detailed analysis of Benazir Bhutto assassination:

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/28/pakistan_in_turmoil

Very sad --

92 year old, self-exiled Indian artist Husain's work attacked in Dehli --

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sena-activists-attack-mf-husains-delhi-art-show/55108-3-1.html

It art so threatening?

Burma on DownwithTyranny Blog

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/12/update-to-howies-post-from-myanmar-no.html

Part I of interview of Dr. Kyi May Kaung on Economics of Burma by RFA

http://www.rfa.org/burmese/ahthan/

it's in Burmese, abt 15 mins into the program -- 2007/12/25

ProgName-BUR-2007-1226-1930

-- economist colleagues in Burma apparently heard it.

Day of great sadness -- Benazir Bhutto is dead.

The nascent orchid of promise -- Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung


http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/27/us.pakistan.ap/index.html

1930 Time magazine review of F. Tennyson Jesse's The Lacquer Lady, set in Burma 1886

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,738566,00.html

Great movie, script and review -- There Will be Blood

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/movies/26bloo.html?th&emc=th

I read the script, leaked by Paramount on line, and it is masterly.

Daniel D. Lewis is one of those wonderful classically trained British actors.

He was scary also in Gangs of New York, as the Butcher -- I feel this role is played in the same way.

Strange no one picked that up.

I "watched" Gangs with my eyes half closed most of the time -- so much -- too much blood and graphic violence -- but the story was still mesmerizing.

In the end that is all that counts, the story.

Kyi May Kaung

Pearl Lam Gallery in Shanghai -- Astronomical Chinese Art Prices

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/25/arts/gallery.php

Remains of 22 Burmese retrieved from Andaman Sea near Ranong in Thailand.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/23/news/Thailand-Myanmar-Bodies.php

We don't even know who they were, and their families may never know what happened to them.

New Yorker Review of There Will be Blood.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2007/12/17/071217crci_cinema_denby

It's interesting how the movie adaptation, a loose one, focuses on character -- and it's disintegration, and "loses" the socialist literalism of Upton Sinclair's original.

The director and the actor revealed very little plot, but analysed character a lot in a recent interview with Charlie Rose.

I haven't seen the film yet, but think the screenplay -- leaked by Paramount, is masterful.

Kyi May Kaung.

Toughtful review of movie There Will be Blood, based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! -- published in 1927.

http://www.variety.com/VE1117935281.html

Recent Burmese Jokes -- in Burmese --

Sketch of Burmese monks at hearing on religious freedom in DC -- copyright Kyi May Kaung

http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2007/12/22/to-say-young-sone-anyein-all-of-you-are-respected-heroes-of-burma/

One example: This is the time to donate Tho Thingan Robes.

-- You have it wrong, it's not "Tho Thingan" -- it's "Ma Tho Thingan." (Robes that last forever, don't go bad).

-- No, I meant Tho Thingan -- as we can't donate (the robes, because the monks all gone) the robes have gone bad (tho thwa te)

--- The comedians play "good cop, bad cop." One on far right says --

-- "I am afraid, I am afraid" and keeps walking out.

-- At beginning he says, "We agreed, didn't we? No sending metta (loving kindness.)"

-- In September, the monks walked around the city chanting the metta sutra and have been brutally repressed, with the arrests etc continuing.

-- We salute all these brave artists and the audience who supported them.

Sketch, notes and translation by Kyi May Kaung.

Happy Christmas and Peace to All --

Composition in Reds -- Copyright Kyi May Kaung

Elderly Burmese Monk Detained in Mental Hospital

http://www.burmanet.org/news/2007/12/21/democratic-voice-of-burma-monk-detained-in-mental-hospital/

More on Botero --

http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/2005/04/fernando-botero-paints-abu-ghraib.html

Painted from the imagination and written reports -- Botero on Abu Ghraib.

http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/museum/2007nov_botero.cfm

Physics Star at 71 -- How to make complex ideas and theories easy to understand.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/education/19physics.html?em&ex=1198299600&en=ec220a51d461ae69&ei=5087%0A

Creating Artificial Scarcity in Burma --

"Diesel Fuel for Life" ad. in an American airport --photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.

The so-called Saffron Revolution began in August 07 due to fuel price hikes by the Burmese government. A naive blogger wrote "I hope they removed the price hikes."

Here is an example of how the generals create artificial scarcity -- in a system gone bonkers:

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9605

This is what the Burmese call -- ta lwe zapin kaun -- or

"Beautiful hair in the wrong place," i.e. in pubic area.

A member of the Burmese language broadcast media recently asked me by email -- "Which sectors should the Burmese economy give priority to?"

I declined that interview.

As it's the whole political-economic system that is upside down, due to the power holders making all the economic and other decisions, only a complete system change or systemic reforms, not piece meal measures, will make a difference.

Meanwhile the poor Burmese people continue to suffer while the regime and the crony capitalists get rich. That is why I have no time for junta apologists.

Copyright Kyi May Kaung

More from Burma -- repression continues --

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2227910,00.html

There's an apparent typo in the text -- the monastery must be Old Ma Soe Yein -- which means

"Old, Never Fear" Monastery.

It can't be "Ma Soe" as Ma Soe is a woman's name, Ms. Soe.

Otherwise everything in this article confirms what has been reported elsewhere.

Kyi May Kaung

Parrot Facts --

http://www.garudaaviary.org/beforeyoubuy.html

The Kite Runner -- the movie --

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/14/movies/14kite.html?8dpc

The Writers' Brush -- Writers who Paint --

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1214/p19s01-hfgn.html

This is a lovely book and makes one feel less strange and less of a freak.

I saw it at Politics and Prose Book Store.

Kyi May Kaung

Burmese refugee families in Fort Wayne need friends --

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/LOCAL0201/712130316/1002/LOCAL

War and Peace: The Opera.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/arts/music/12peac.html?th&emc=th

U.S. House Passes Bill to Ban Gems from Burma, Chevron.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7144932

Makes you feel good -- what $1 million in pennies looks like --

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_fe_st/odd100_million_pennies

Let's do this for the monks of Burma --

Another heart breaking story from Burma --

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/283849

and the west is very cold in all senses of the word.

Wow! This is good writing --

C.M. Mayo's prize winning essay --

http://www.cmmayo.com/maximilian-fr-mexico-to-miramar.html

Can nuclear power save the planet?

http://hoosierinva.blogspot.com/2007/02/can-nuclear-power-save-planet.html

Essence of good drama --

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/arts/music/09pare.html?th&emc=th

It's amazing that many people who want to write don't realize that you go for the jugular.

Kyi May Kaung

Inside the Glass Palace by Deborshi Chaki

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/deborshichaki/187/2651/inside-the-glass-palace.html

What it is like post-clampdown, which is really a misnomer as the clampdown is continuing and seemingly without an end.

After the meeting with Suu Kyi described in this piece, the junta has gone back to its old ways.

Kyi May Kaung

UN Human Rights Rapporteur Sergio Pinhiero's Report Finds Serious Abuses in Burmese Junta's Continuing Crackdown --

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=154904

South Africa: Whose side are you on?

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=653905

Pre-diabetes info:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/17/diabetes.parenting/index.html

Hollywood writers talks stalled --

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/business/media/08strike.html?th&emc=th

Deadly Rain: Burmese Government Lying About Number Who Died --

"The gunshots were like rain, I never saw so much bleeding."

Min Min Oo (pseudonym of high school student interviewed by Human Rights Watch)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3017089.ece

Ironically, in the past 19 years since 1988 and past 45 years since 1962, this is nothing new in Burma (which the junta calls Myanmar).

Posted by Kyi May Kaung

Driving for Burma --

http://drivingforburma.blogspot.com/

Human Rights Watch publishes report based on 100 interviews of Burmese political prisoners --

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7132716.stm by Jonathan Head, BBC.

Torture methods used and conditions in Burmese prisons are detailed here --

Billy Joel has someone else sing his anti-war song --

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/07/people.billyjoel.ap/index.html

Honorary Doctorate for Monks of Burma --

Rowing to Freedom with Sugar Palm Fans -- painting copyright Kyi May Kaung

(based on a photograph)

http://preciousmetal.wordpress.com/2007/12/05/university-of-san-francisco-to-honor-buddhist-monks-who-fought-for-democracy/

This is Ma Soe Yein Sayadaw (Abbot), U Kovida, who will be accepting the degree on behalf of all the monks of Burma, including of course U Kovida who fled from the regime and is now on the Burma-Thai Border and U Gambira, who was arrested inside Burma.

U Gambira's father was released this week. The junta arrested his family members, including a AIDS patient, before it found and arrested him. He had been in hiding in Pauk in central Burma, gave interviews on his cell phone (Oct. 19th) while he was on the run. U Gambira has been charged with treason for which there is a death sentence. Amnesty International has designated him a prisoner of conscience of special concern.

Please speak out and be active for U Gambira and the monks of Burma and all the people of Burma.

How to de-commercialize Christmas --

Vase of flowers with inedible berries -- Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.


http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/071205/23795.html?.v=1

Give to people who really need it, including Burmese refugees.

Here are some organizations that you can find on the Internet --

1. Burma Refugee Project -- run by a medical doctor and a social scientist -- they have a medical clinic on the Thai-Burma Border. The number of refugees increases as the Burmese junta grows more oppressive.

2. Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners -- Burma -- (AAPPB) -- They send money to political prisoners in Burma, of whom there are between 2000 and 3000 at any time in Burma, and growing daily, through trusted channels and provide other strategic/logistical help. In Burma, you can be arrested for anything, including clapping during the recent demonstrations. The prisoners are spread all over the country in different jails and the families (already stressed) have to provide htaung win sar -- ("money to get into prison") -- of which the jailers take a large portion, to feed their son/daughter or other family member in detention.

3. Burma Border Consortium (BBC) -- Has been feeding Burmese refugees for the last 19 years. Recently suffered a funding cut. Are only able to provide basics such as rice and fish sauce.

4. Democratic Voice of Burma, radio and TV station broadcasting to Burma -- yesterday won prize from Reporters Without Borders for coverage of The Saffron Revolution. Only station which aired photographs of the demonstrations, taken by their Citizen Journalists, who risked their lives to do so, and are in hiding or were arrested. Oslo based, with staff on the Thai-Burma border.

5. Mizzima.com -- a newsletter run from India and Thailand.

I am a board member of BRP and sometimes contribute articles to Mizzima ("Middle Earth") - and have been interviewed by DVB, but have no financial connection with any of these organizations.

Kyi May Kaung

U.K. Political Studies Association Honors Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/NewsBriefs/2007/Nov/02-nov-2007.html

World's Smallest (?) Most Expensive Statue --

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071206/ts_afp/entertainmentartusantiquityauction

Burmese Poet Flees to Thai-Burma Border

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=717

Baptist Church -- Gospel Song

http://www.youtube.com/AVANAChurch

I think this is Laying on of Hands in Karen Baptist Church in Thailand -- but there are Buddhist elements integrated into the Song.

Scope Creep -- what free lancers tussle with --

hmm --

I am just experiencing this, and have experienced it in non-profit world where I mostly work, even at level of writing articles/books.

Partly it's due to enthusiasm and so project grows in ambition, but I feel every now and then one should, as diplomatically as possible, draw the line.

And keep one's rights as a free lance writer.

Even work for hire, sometimes the employer encroaches.

A friend told me that she was asked to turn in all photos she took on her own on a work trip. She refused.

We should be like doctors and dentists. "Would you like to write the check now?" (Before anyone touches our teeth etc). Why do people think we can write (or paint) effortlessly and without any costs, in our sleep.

Try this -- Instant Picasso!

http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html

Bertil Lintner on Sasakawa Foundation --

which works in Burma and for "research concerning Burma" and its checquered past.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9487

China and Burma --

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stsang1

India's Burma Dilemma by Mira Kamdar

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/kamdar1


I first noticed this article in a browse-through due to the name Kamdar.

Yes, she is one of the Rangoon Kamdars that I used to hear mutual friends talk about.

Interesting that almost everyone that the junta thought it would see the last of when they expelled them in 1962, has become influential in the world.

It just shows the enduring power of truth.

Kyi May Kaung

Papers of famous Burma historian Gordon H. Luce in Australia.

http://sealang.net/archives/luce/UThawKaung.pdf

Estimating Post-Crisis Economic Fallout in Burma, 2007 by Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)

Painting (detail) Rowing to Freedom with Sugar Palm Fans -- painting copyright Kyi May Kaung

http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/EdOp/2007/Dec/Post-crisis%20economic%20fallout%20in%20Burma%20(Analysis).html

The recent crisis in Burma that started in August with the Burmese government raising fuel prices from 100 to 500% happened at a time when world fuel prices were $72 per barrel. At the end of November, light sweet crude was at $99 per barrel and seemed likely to rise further. But the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's interest rate cuts and a sufficient supply of oil, resulted in a slight price fall this past week.

Any assessment of the economic fallout of the crisis in Burma will have to include these international economic factors as well as systemic factors built into the command economy that the SPDC favors.

An assessment is doubly difficult as it has to be based on figures for isolated years; estimates picked from different publications at different times, that don’t form a continuous time series. So my analysis will be for the most part quite conjectural, but it will give a picture of what to expect in Burma in this international context where the United States is probably in for a recession due to the home mortgage debt crisis, while China is playing an increasing role in the world economy and is not expected to have any dampening of its 10-11% p.a. growth rates. (See The Economist, How fit is the Panda?” Sept. 29^th, 2007, pp. 75-77.)

Burma’s other main neighbor on the west, India, is also increasingly a major player on the world economic stage, with an average of 8% growth in the last 3 years (CIA Factbook) and 9.4 % growth in 2006-2007. It just happens that Burma is geographically spliced between the two fastest growing economies in the world, and if physical closeness alone could do the job, it should be in good economic shape itself, but as everyone knows, it isn’t. It’s also resource rich, including rich in fairly well educated workers (who would be better educated if it were an open society), yet its economic prospects are always dismal.

I’d like to argue that all this is due to the military government’s command economy that has been in place more or less unchanged since 1962. Add onto this the ongoing economic and social disruption of the last 3 months, and we see a system that has been failing on its own, even without sanctions, which are more targeted and effective this time around.

I will try to beef up these impressions with what scattered statistics I can find. Probably the most reliable are from the CIA Factbook on line.

Since at least 2004, leading Burmese economists have been gently casting doubt on the performance of the Burmese economy, saying metaphorically to the effect that -- if it’s such a new model car, how can it drive so fast on such poor roads? This points to an anonymous technocrat’s realization that infrastructure and the design of the economic system are largely responsible for how fast (or slow) a growth rate can be achieved. The CIA Factbook updated Nov. 1, that I accessed on Nov. 15^th, gives a 2006 estimate for Burma of 3 % per annum growth rate. As the UN Special Envoy for Burma has been talking of poverty alleviation in Burma and “trying to find out its causes” it seems relevant here that a year 2000 estimate in the CIA Factbook mentions that fully a quarter or 25% of the Burmese population is below the poverty line. The inflation rate for consumer prices (2006 estimate) is 20% per annum.

F. William Engdahl (a pseudonym?) in an article “The Geopolitical Stakes of the ‘Saffron Revolution’” Oct 17, 2007, http://samsara.tuditi.del.si/2007/11/18 accessed on Nov 19, says:

. . . few will argue that the present military dictatorship of the reclusive General Than Shwe is right up there when it comes to world class tyrannies. It’s also a fact that Myanmar enjoys (sic) one of the world’s lowest living standards. Partly as a result of the ill-conceived 100% to 500% price hikes in gasoline and other fuels in August, inflation, the nominal trigger for the mass protests led by saffron robed monks, is unofficially estimated to have risen by 35% (that is, since August?) Ironically the demand to establish “market” energy prices came from the IMF and World Bank.

The UN estimates that the population of some 50 million inhabitants spend up to 70% of their monthly income on food alone. The recent fuel price hike makes matters unbearable for tens of millions.

This points to the fact that prices may have risen “up to 35%” since August alone. Before the August to October crisis, there were reports that people could not afford to go to work because of the high transport costs due to high petrol prices. During the demonstrations themselves, some dissident websites overseas reported that over the long run, demonstrators would have difficulties in coming out onto the streets daily as they were “struggling with their livelihoods on a day to day basis.”

Looking at petroleum oil imports alone, CIA Factbook states that Burma imports 19, 180 barrels a day (2004 estimate.) At $100 per barrel, Burma would be paying $19m a day just for its fuel oil imports. Foreign experts as yet have been unable to ascertain if the army pays the central government for its fuel needs. The answer is “probably not” and as the central government and the army “tatmadaw” are increasingly becoming one and the same thing, we can only expect accelerated inflation rates post-clampdown since Oct. 2007. It is highly likely that the fuel price increases will be financed by budget deficits and more printing of paper money.

The United States has instituted stronger and more targeted sanctions against Burma which are of a financial nature, and already there are reports that Bagan Air has closed down flights specifically citing sanctions and high fuel prices as the reasons. It is also widely rumored that the targeted financial sanctions by the U.S.A. on top SPDC officials and connected businessmen has caused Singapore banks, where the junta does most of its banking and shopping, to close down the accounts of certain individuals and to return cash to the former account holders. This was said to have been transported in suitcases to Rangoon, subject to a 10% surcharge levied by the Burmese government, but we could not confirm this.

Several experts that I spoke to who did not wish to be named, said that the Burmese balance of payments and the government budget figures are in Burmese kyats, at the official exchange rate of about 7 kyats to the US dollar, while the black market or real exchange rate was about 1300 kyats to the dollar in September. They said that beyond the exchange rate, it was highly likely that the regime top brass “skims off the top” from Burma’s export earnings before the figures are entered in the official statistics. This leakage is un-estimated, but shows itself in the high spending life styles of the top junta officials.

Looking at the trade figures, total Burmese exports are $5,321 billion f.o.b. in 2006 and consist of natural gas, wood and wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice, jade and other gems. But this official figure does not include the timber, gems, narcotics, rice and other products transported overland illegally (smuggled) to Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh. Since the “old original” Gen. Ne Win staged his coup in 1962, the military government which has ruled Burma under different names, has caused these illegal cross border trade flows to flourish due to the mass nationalizations on private enterprises immediately after 1962, the on-going inefficiency of the State Economic Enterprises, and the economic irrationality of the centrally controlled command economy. After 1988, at about the same time that the People’s Republic of China stopped financing the CPB (Communist Party Burma), the cross border trade with China was also legalized but obviously many contraband goods were not included in the official statistics. It is common knowledge that the hardwood resources of Northern Burma have been largely exploited and depleted and there are jade buying depots in Yunnan close to the Burma border.

Burma’s imports were estimated at $2.284 billion f.o.b. in 2006. CIA Factbook states that “import figures are grossly underestimated due to the value of consumer goods, diesel fuel and other products smuggled in from Thailand, China, Malaysia and India.

Burma’s main export partners and direction of exports are as follows:

Thailand 49%

India 12.8%

China 5.3%

Japan 5.2%

Exports to Thailand consist mainly of natural gas.

Burma’s buys (imports) most from the following countries:

China 34.6%

Thailand 21.8%

Singapore 16.2%

Malaysia 4.7%

S. Korea 4.3%

The United States’ trade with Burma according to the U.S. Census

(accessed 11-15-2007) is

Zero imports from Burma

Exports to Burma US $7.5 billion.

In mid-November, Burma recently held another gem auction. It has been holding these emporiums increasingly frequently in an obvious attempt to raise revenues. Irrawaddy magazine reports that though many buyers came to the current emporium, and a lot of jade tonnage was sold, revenue figures were not given as they “are lower than usual this time.” Sean Turnell of Macquarie University, Sydney, has pointed out that gems are easy to hide. Burmese jade is mostly sold to Chinese customers while rubies and sapphires are cut and set into jewelry in Bangkok. In the case of rubies they are “baked” to enhance color. As the main market for Burmese gems are in Asia, it is uncertain how large an impact the gems embargo will make on Burma’s earnings from gems, which in a normal year are estimated at $300m. a year.

The SPDC typically tries to raise revenues through greater exploitation of resources and people, rather than trying to decrease spending. It could be argued that in some sense “it cannot decrease spending” as it needs to pay off its crony capitalists and top army personnel in order to buy the political support it so badly needs.

In foreign investments, an Associated Press article published on Nov 26^th

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/11/26/ap4373496.html

states that foreign investment in Burma’s oil and gas sector reached $470m in 2006-07, accounting for more than 60% of total investment, according to recently released government statistics. Of this, $240.68m was from the U.K. and $160m from Singapore and Russia and S. Korea also had large investments in this sector. These figures show that Burma is fast becoming a country dependent on and dominated by foreign investors (corporations) in spite of the policies of the junta which are often seen as “isolationist.”

Not just the United States but Canada also tightened sanctions. But as total trade between Canada and Burma sank to $9 m. last year, the sanctions are seen as largely symbolic. (VOA news, 14 Nov. 2007). Australia likewise has a slight trade relationship with Burma, which will also be influenced by sanctions. According to the Australian government’s figures, Australian exports to Burma ranked 77^th and fell 19.9% in 2006-07. Imports from Burma ranked 73^rd in importance to Australia and rose 47.7% in 2006-07. Australia mainly exports wheat to Burma and imports mainly fish and shellfish (crustaceans) from Burma. According to official Australian trade figures, compiled from IMF etc., this is Burma’s trade picture.

Burma’s principal export destination, 2006 were –

1. Thailand 49.0%

2. India 12.8%

3. China 5.3%

4. Australia 0.4%

Burma’s principal import sources were:

1. China 34.6%

2. Thailand 21.8%

3. Singapore 16.2%

4. Australia 0.7%

So Australia’s sanctions on Burma are also largely symbolic and will hurt Burma more than Australia itself notices.

Besides these trade effects, the fuel price increases, the demonstrations themselves and the on-going clampdown are likely to have a dampening effect on the Burmese economy. The Economic Intelligence Unit, which estimates average consumer price inflation will be 39.5% in 2008, while real GDP growth will be 2.5%, has presented the most succinct prognosis for Burma. This was accessed from the Internet on Nov 15:

Myanmar – Economic Intelligence Unit – The Economist.

OVERVIEW: Following its brutal suppression of peaceful protestors, including Buddhist monks, in September, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, the ruling junta) still maintains a firm grip on power. Given that public resentment towards the junta has reached new heights, there could be a renewed effort to oust the regime in the near future, but any such attempt is likely again to be violently suppressed. The US remains strongly critical of the Burmese regime, and will keep sanctions in place, as will the EU. Although China and Myanmar’s fellow members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have expressed some criticisms of the military’s repressive actions, these countries are unlikely to impose any punishment. Economic policymaking will continue to be erratic. The energy sector will remain fairly buoyant, but the outlook for the rest of the economy is poor. High inflation will put downward pressure on the free-market exchange rate. Gas exports will put the current account in surplus.

In conclusion, as the economic fallout of the recent crisis in Burma is continuing on top of structural or systemic factors which have been in place since 1962 and 1988, and on top of the generals’ own tendencies toward erratic and dysfunctional economic behavior, overall the outlook is quite bleak. But the energy sector and the physical closeness of a super charged Chinese economy and a rapidly growing Indian one will have some mitigating effect on it all.

Copyright Kyi May Kaung.

Affordable Houses for Hot and Wet Climates: Brad Pitt commissions house designs for Ninth Ward, New Orleans --

These could work in Burma and elsewhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/design/03pitt.html?th&emc=th

Congrats Brad and Angelina for your activism and good sense. I hope these get built.

Kyi May Kaung

Burmese junta's 7 step "road map" -- recognized as a sham.

"Please Keep the Burma News Hot!" by Kyi May Kaung.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=124189

Ten Activists Released Even As Many More Being Arrested.

Found poster of Shwedagone Pagoda, c. 1975. Thanks "JAZZ" -- copyright Kyi May Kaung.


http://myamarnews.blogspot.com/2007/12/burma-releases-ten-activists.html

These ten were held two months without trial.

Burmese political prisoners have been held up to 19 years -- Writer U Win Tin, in his 70s, the longest time continuously.

Artist-Activist Paul Chan -- Waiting for Godot in the Ninth Ward.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/arts/design/02cott.html?em&ex=1196744400&en=01c43e9e6d0b70a7&ei=5087%0A