Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Distance learning - OU or The Open University, UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_University

Champion US skier "Speedy" Petersen loses to his demons and commits suicide -

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/26/u-s-skier-jeret-peterson-shot-himself-to-death-police-say/

Political analyst Win Min at Payap Presents -

http://ic.payap.ac.th/pp/index.php

"A POLITICAL UPDATE ON POST-ELECTION BURMA"

Speaker: Win Min, Researcher at Vahu Development Institute and Journalist at Voice of America (Burmese political analyst)

When: Tuesday, 9 August 2011

Time: 5-6:30pm

Place: Room 317, Pentecost Building, Mae Khao main campus
By imposing restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in the November 2010 election and rigging the electoral system, the Burmese junta was able to control the outcome. Although Aung San Suu Kyi was released after the election, the post-election government, led by retired generals, has outlawed her party and shown no signs that it will hold a dialogue with her. The new parliament includes a small number of opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), some of whom are ethnic representatives, but they have not been allowed to discuss critical issues like the release of political prisoners, ethnic autonomy or the budget. Nearly 2000 political prisoners remain in prison and fighting against ethnic ceasefire groups has resumed in Karen, Shan and Kachin states. Despite the new president’s inaugural speech promising an improved socio-economic situation and international cooperation, very little progress has been seen so far.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

"Myanmar" is now world's #1 spammer -

great!



--- On Tue, 7/26/11, wrote:


From:
Subject: eSecurity Planet - Myanmar is No.1 Spammer Now
To:
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 6:03 PM

eSecurity Planet - Myanmar is No.1 Spammer Now
July 26, 2011
By Sean Michael Kerner

Internet attacks can come from any country in the world at any given point in time. Over the course of the first quarter of 2011, Akamai's latest State of the Internet report found one country to be the source of more attack traffic than any other.

Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, now tops the list, representing 13 percent of all attack traffic observed by Akamai. Myanmar's top billing is particularly suprising given that the small south Asian country did not rank in the top 10 originating countries for attack traffic at the end of 2010.

The U.S. came in second at 10 percent up from 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Taiwan was third at 9.1 percent, Russia fourth at 7.7 percent and China rounds out the top five at 6.4 percent. At the end of 2010, Russia was reported to be in the top spot for attack traffic accounting for 10 percent of all observed global attack traffic.

"It's not clear if that attacks from Myanmar are coming from a specific group or if its some kind of botnet that happened to find some unprotected hosts," David Belson, editor of the Akamai State of the Internet report told InternetNews.com.

Belson noted that it will be interesting to see if the trend on Myanmar leading the list will continue into the second quarter and beyond.

Akamai's data comes from its own points of presence and only looks at the last networking hop before a connection comes in. As such, it is possible that Myanmar is being used as a proxy for attacks as opposed to being the origination point itself.

"It could be the case that someone was bouncing attacks through Myanmar," Belson said. "That would align with some of what we saw with attacks on port 9050."

Port 9050 is often used for the open source Tor onion router, which is an anonymous proxy networking service. Belson noted that Myanmar's top billing could be a case of the attack community doing a better job at hiding their tracks.

In terms of ports that are being targeted, Akamai once again reported that port 445 used for Microsoft directory services was the most attacked port, representing 34 percent of attack traffic. Attacks targeting Port 80 and Port 443, for HTTP and HTTPS were up significantly during the quarter. Port 80 attacks accounted for 11 percent of all attack traffic up from 1.5 percent at the end of 2010. Port 443 attacks were reported at 4.7 percent up from 0.2 percent.

Belson wasn't sure if the Port 443 attacks were directly related to the SSL certificate attack against security vendor Commodo earlier this year.

"I don't know if it was people trying to exploit those certificates or if it was a broader SQL Injection type attack or something else," Belson said.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

Kyansittha, the movie -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyan_Sit_Min

Burmese actress Myint Myint Khin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myint_Myint_Khin

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

re-posting - US push for Burma war crimes probe hits Chinese wall - from 2010

http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/10/24/us_push_for_burmese_war_crimes_probe_hits_chinese_wall

US war crimes

http://www.globalissues.org/article/667/us-war-crimes-act-changes-would-reduce-threat-of-prosecution

AEGIS Trust - preventing war crimes

http://www.aegistrust.org/International-Justice/wanted-for-war-crimes-training.html

Htoo Htoo Han who said he killed 24-100 people in 1988 in Burma and Australian legal loopholes by a Melbourne Univ. Prof. of Law -

http://www.watoday.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/crimes-of-war-get-lost-in-law-limbo-20110719-1hn1g.html?from=smh_ft

J.K. Rowling and NJKR

http://www.szjo.uw.edu.pl/twardo/2003-2004%202rok/essbystp2/spmysza.htm

J.K. Rowling has left her literary agent Christopher Little agency -

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/harry-potter-and-the-furious-feud-rowling-banishes-her-literary-agent-2306257.html

Australian government recommends refering Burmese refugee's confession he killed between 24-100 people to International Criminal Court



http://www.smh.com.au/national/refugees-agony-over-murder-of-dissidents-20110718-1hlpn.html

Monday, July 18, 2011

Former Burmese military intelligence, now Australian citizen, confesses to war crimes in Burma -

--- On Mon, 7/18/11, wrote:


From:
Subject: Australian (former Burmese military intelligence officer) admits war crimes in Burma (involvement in over 100 executions and murders of dissidents)
To:
Date: Monday, July 18, 2011, 7:14 AM

Australian admits war crimes in Burma
18 July 2011 | 07:48:05 PM | Source: AAP

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1570945/Australian-admits-war-crimes-in-Burma

An Australian citizen has admitted to executing 24 anti-government
protesters and student leaders as an officer in Burmese military
intelligence.

Htoo Htoo Han, who came to Australia as a refugee in 1996 and has
since been involved in campaigns aimed at highlighting human rights
abuses in Burma, says he also had indirect involvement in at least 100
other murders.

Han says he led a group which infiltrated student organisations,
identifying and targeting leading activists.

"We destroy them ... destroy means kill," Han said.

He said he performed the executions during the 1988 anti-government
uprising that swept Burma, leaving thousands dead.

The father of three young children says he has come forward because he
can no longer live with his guilt.

"I did it, I am a war criminal," Han said.

"For so long I have lived like an animal.

"Now I want to release what I carry inside for 20 years. I want to say
sorry to the mothers and fathers of the people I killed."

He said he killed his victims with a bullet to the back of the head:
"Just bang, very quick. I don't do torture."

He said he was aware of others who were buried alive and their bodies
incinerated.

Han's confession has prompted calls from human rights groups for the
Australian government to press for a United Nations inquiry into
abuses in Burma.

"What makes the situation more urgent is that it's still happening,"
said Debbie Stothard, spokesperson for the Alternative ASEAN Network.

"There is no shortage of evidence even from people who committed those
crimes themselves."

Burmese activist groups based in Thailand said Han, who now lives in
Brisbane, was known to them, one senior figure expressing doubt over
the motives behind Han's admissions.

The secretary of the support group, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners, Tate Naing, said Han, had returned to Thailand a
number of times since being granted asylum in Australia.

"He was a very bad man," Naing said.

"I know his history, so I don't want to recommend him."

Han, 44, claims to have posed as a political prisoner while undercover in Burma.

But Naing suggests Han's failure on his recent visits to Thailand to
visit the AAPP base in the border town of Mae Sot is reason to doubt
his allegiances to the group.

Other Burmese sources questioned whether Han had genuinely rejected
the Burmese regime.

Han says he turned his back on his former Burmese masters before
coming to this country, a decision he claims resulted in an attempt on
his own life.

Since arriving here he has campaigned widely against his former
government, speaking in schools and using his artistic skills to focus
on repression and human rights abuses around the world.

He insists he has not engaged in any criminal activity in Australia.

He acknowledges he may never see his children again as a result of his
admissions, but he hopes they will come to understand what he has
done.

"I am prepared for this. I think my wife and kids for sure will cry a
lot," he said.

"But in Burma a thousand mothers cry."

An Australian Federal Police spokesman said it would consider what
action, if any, it would take in the absence of a complaint from the
country in which the alleged crimes were committed.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said Burma's
military regime must be referred immediately to the International
Criminal Court (ICC).

"Mr Han's confession must be taken seriously and referred to relevant
international authorities, including the ICC, for further
investigation," she said.

The government has so far not commented.

=================================================================
Aust citizen admits war crimes in Burma

Mike Hedge, Senior Correspondent
July 18, 2011 - 11:54AM

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/aust-citizen-admits-war-crimes-in-burma-20110718-1hkug.html


AAP

A Burmese refugee living in Australia has confessed to committing 24
executions while working undercover for the Burmese military regime
and says he was involved in at least another 100 murders.

Htoo Htoo Han, now an Australian citizen, says he performed the
executions during the 1988 anti-government uprising that swept Burma,
resulting in thousands of deaths.

"I did it, I am a war criminal," Han said.

Advertisement: Story continues below
"For so long I have lived like an animal.

"Now I want to release what I carry inside for 20 years. I want to say
sorry to the mothers and fathers of the people I killed."

Han said he led a group that infiltrated student groups and
masqueraded as protesters.

He says as leader of the group he was also indirectly involved in at
least 100 other murders.

"We destroy them ... destroy means kill," Han said.

He said he killed his victims with a bullet to the back of the head,
but is aware of others who were buried alive and their bodies
incinerated.

"Just bang, very quick. I don't do torture," Han said.

Han, 44, now a father of three young children, has come forward
because he says he can no longer live with his guilt.

He expects to be dealt with and is ready to turn himself over to
Australian authorities.

Han says he worked as an undercover officer in Burmese military
intelligence from 1987 until 1992, leading a group whose main role was
to identify targets and kill them.

An Australian citizen for more than a decade, Han says he turned his
back on his former Burmese masters before coming to this country, a
decision that he claims resulted in an attempt on his own life.

Since arriving here he has campaigned widely in Australia against his
former government, speaking in schools and using his artistic skills
to focus on repression and human rights abuses around the world.

He insists he has not engaged in any criminal activity in Australia.

In 2003, SBS television made a documentary around a campaign he
conducted in Australia to raise awareness of human rights abuses in
Burma.

Han says he is prepared to face whatever justice he deserves,
including a long jail term.

He also acknowledges he may never see his children again, but he hopes
they will come to understand what he has done.

"I am prepared for this. I think my wife and kids for sure will cry a
lot," he said.

"But in Burma a thousand mothers cry."

Han said he chose to approach the media with his story, fearing it
might not be told if he went directly to authorities.

© 2011 AAP

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Aung San Suu Kyi in Bagan -

http://www.signonsandiego.com/photos/2011/jul/05/405478/

This time she traveled by plane and no goons in junta's pay beat up her party and her, but she still needs to be (very) careful.

Specialpost--Ellen Bernstein--expose of World Bank Rohingya project--

https://www.irrawaddy.com/culture/books/hellfire-and-damnation-in-myanmar-ex-world-bank-country-head-recounts-rohingya-catastrophe-response....