Monday, May 16, 2011

Dr Myint and Dr Kyi May Kaung cited on Wiki article on Dr Hla Myint

known as H. Myint - one of the founders (with Arthur Lewis)of Development Economics.

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

Dr. H. Myint advocated an open economy for Burma, and told me when I visited in Nov 2010 that he wished he had "pressed harder" with Ne Win when Taiwan liberalized, but I don't think anyone could have "pressed hard" with that dictator.

In fact according to family members, Saya Hla Myint was not even allowed to go inside Rangoon airport to see his mother, and had to talk to her while she was on the balcony from the tarmac.

I don't think anyone can persuade dictators to open up, we only think so.

Kyi May Kaung

Dr Myint and Dr Kyi May Kaung cited on Wiki article on Dr Hla Myint

known as H. Myint - one of the founders (with Arthur Lewis)of Development Economics.

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

Dr. H. Myint advocated an open economy for Burma, and told me when I visited in Nov 2010 that he wished he had "pressed harder" with Ne Win when Taiwan liberalized, but I don't think anyone could have "pressed hard" with that dictator.

In fact according to family members, Saya Hla Myint was not even allowed to go inside Rangoon airport to see his mother, and had to talk to her while she was on the balcony from the tarmac.

I don't think anyone can persuade dictators to open up, we only think so.

Kyi May Kaung

Libyan Youth Movement

http://feb17.info/live-benghazi-video-feed-mohammed/

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Children's book Hippopattamustn't that is a rare book by Children's Poet Laureate

http://www.buy.com/prod/a-hippopotamusn-t-and-other-animal-poems-an-other-animal-poems/q/loc/106/30760517.html

Demjanjuk convicted in Munich of Nazi war crimes -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110512/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_demjanjuk

Left on Guernica site - ref. interview of poet WS Merwin

When I started writing poetry through a great sense of loss about 1994, one of the first poetry readings I went to was W. S. Merwin's on Penn campus.

I was so impressed by the skyscraper of poetry books that he had written that was as high as the podium.

I bought The Moving Target and The Lice. He selected my colleague Dr Dr Sharon Ann Jeager (2 Ph.D.s) for her translations of Riilke and Dannie Abse gave me a prize from the Academy of American Poets for my first 5 poems.

Since then reading poetry has taken me to many places, cities and countries, but I can't go back to Burma.

I remember talking to him about his translations from Eskimo.

I want to thank W. S. Merwin for his example. Neruda is another of my favorite poets. I did not know till now that he was influenced by Neruda so much. It all makes sense now.

Sad to learn of Robert Graves losing his mind, as I thought "I Claudius" was just brilliant.


We must write while we are still able.

Kyi May Kaung.

Monday, May 09, 2011

The Sartorialist

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

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article5874273.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Rosett Report on VOA, Burma and Iran

http://pajamasmedia.com/claudiarosett/why_is_voice_of_america_speaki/

Burma's Billionaire - Forbes Magazine 2007

http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/0423/058.html

Article about Bin Ladin from Time magazine

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2068858-6,00.html

Anne Sexton -

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

Pains of the Poet and Miracles - by Lance Morrow

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973887-1,00.html

I think she was right and the family was just blaming the victim. Psychiatry was not as advanced as it is today.

Kyi May Kaung

Music swims back to me, by Anne Sexton

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171271

Thai government bans Burmese dissident meeting in Chiangmai

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21258

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Kentucky Derby Hats -

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Kentucky-Derby-hats/ss/events/us/050711kyderbyhats#photoViewer=/110507/483/urn_publicid_ap_org774c7fa646954a969d3becb5acd2da61

Anderson Cooper of Royal Wedding Hats: "I mean, you can't really wear them again, can you? You can't dress them up." :)

Mothers' Day Message -


stone inscription - Nothern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

Must you write in Burmese to be a Burmese poet?

Must you write in Burmese to be a Burmese Poet.
Sunflower Sutra (Naykyar Pan Thoke) after Allen Ginsburg.

Old gay man, renowned poet
son of a communist mother Naomi
which is your best poem, I ask
Kaddish, Kaddish, definitely Kaddish

you give me permission to talk about Buddhism
Tibetan,
sphincters, old railroad lines
old lines of old stories
going back to the old country

maybe incest in some families
the promise and the failures of the new
new country, the I country, the You country.

Is it a take down, an assassination, an execution
do we do this in America
Michael Moore saying, to CNN, I am glad he's gone
Bin Ladin, but we lost something.

My art work - being made of old recycled things
does not necessarily mean
the artwork is inferior
it does not necessarily mean, work made of expensive materials, is
necessarily better.

You give me permission to be Angry.

Vajrapani, the bodyguard of Buddha
sometimes depicted with blue skin a necklace of skulls
sometimes shown the Gupta period, as a Greek man with curly
hair, Hercules.

I only saw Ginsburg once at a reading at
the University of Pennsylvania
I got in because the house manager asked me
dead pan - You're downstage guard today, aren't you.

Maybe down stage guard for life regarding Burma.
Must you write in Burmese to be a Burmese poet.

Isn't it enough to just be "a poet" of no nationality or all nationalities.

What a sad life Bin Ladin must have lived in Abbottabad
named after a certain British Mr./Sir James Abbot
as Maymyo in Burma another hill station named after a Colonel May. But now it has a Burmese name. Pyin Oo Lwin.

The family never went out, never called out for pizza
maybe ate goat meat, how many different ways.
The wives never went to shop for their own clothes or their own food, never gossiped in the bazaar, never chose their own eggplant purple, to cook, how.

No flowers in the grey yard, though said to have been a pet rabbit. Everything barricaded and the last meal
perhaps would have been either red beets or red tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs lying in a concrete sink.

The journalists said he lived in relative comfort but
give me Allen Ginsburg's untidy life and sunflower sutra any day. Ginsburg did not kill anyone.

Never met but once briefly yet went to his funeral
Naropa Institute Boulder Colorado, where
they played a tape of the dead Ginsburg reading his poems
while
a photograph was ceremonially burned and became
right before us, Ashes.

Give me his memorial service any time.

This poem copyright Kyi May Kaung.
Written May 7, 2011

Saturday, May 07, 2011

George Lucas - film maker

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

Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsburg


Sunflower Sutra- tribute to Allen Ginsburg - art work and photo- copyright Kyi May Kaung.


http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179382

and here is my own Sunflower Sutra (Naykyar Pan Thoke)after Allen Ginsburg.

old gay man, renowned poet
son of a communist mother Naomi
which is your best poem, I ask
Kaddish, Kaddish, definitely Kaddish

you give me permission to talk about Buddhism
Tibetan,
spincters, old railroad lines
old lines of old stories
going back to the old country

maybe incest in some families
the promise and the failures of the new
new country, the I country, the You country.

is it a take down, an assassination, an execution
do we do this in America
Michael Moore saying,to CNN, I am glad he's gone
Bin Ladin, but we lost something.

my art work - being made of old recycyled things
does not necessarily mean
the artwork is inferior
it does not necessarily mean, work made of expensive materials, is
necessarily better.

you give me permission to be angry.

Vajrapani, the bodyguard of Buddha
sometimes depicted with blue skin a necklace of skulls
sometimes shown the Gupta period, as a Greek man with curly
hair.

I only saw Ginsburg once at a reading at
the University of Pennsylvania
I got in because the house manager asked me
dead pan - You're downstage guard today, aren't you.

Maybe down stage guard for life regarding Burma.
Must you write in Burmese to be a Burmese poet.

isn't it enough to just be "a poet" of no nationality or all nationalities.

What a sad life Bin Ladin must have lived in Abbottabad
named after a certain British Mr Abbot
as Maymyo in Burma another hill station named after a Colonel May. But now it has a Burmese name. Pyin Oo Lwin.

The family never went out, never called out for pizza
maybe ate goat meat, how many different ways.
The wives never went to shop for their own clothes or their own food, never gossiped in the bazaar, never chose their own eggplant

no flowers in the grey yard, though said to have been a pet rabbit. everything barricaded and the last meal
perhaps would have been either red beets or red tomatoes and hard boiled eggs lying in a concrete sink.

the journalists said he lived in relative comfort but
give me Allen Ginsburg's untidy life and sunflower sutra any day. Ginsburg did not kill anyone.

Never met but once briefly yet went to his funeral
Naropa Institute Boulder Colorado, where
they played a tape of the dead Ginsburg reading his poems
while
a photograph was ceremonially burned and became
right before us, Ashes.

Give me his memorial service any time.

This poem copyright Kyi May Kaung.

re-posting - Paper by Dr. Bruce Mathews - State oppression of Burmese-Buddhist clergy

http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Regional-focus-area-studies/Constitutional-reform-in-a-repressive-state-the-case-of-Burma.html

Bruce Mathews paper was written in 1993.

The Saffron Revolution of 2007 and the resulting crackdown, also on monks, in addition to the general population, shows how prescient he was.

In my view Burma studies and political science and commentary in general pays too much attention to the here and now, and does not go deeply enough into the reasons why things happen.

Kyi May kaung.

Re-posting - Dr. Kyi May Kaung addresses Senator Webb


big shiny fig leaf - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung


Sr. General Than Shwe throwing rose petals at Gandhi's grave - from Internet.


http://burmadigest.info/2009/10/04/dr-kyi-may-kaung-addresses-senator-webb/

Commission of Inquiry Petition with 5,000+ signatures delivered to British Foreign Office


Three Generations - painted with permission of Free Burma Rangers - painting and photo copyright Kyi May Kaung


http://www.chinlandguardian.com/news-2009/1307-coi-petition-delivered-to-british-foreign-office.html

Monday, May 02, 2011

US war casualities and their hometowns - from CNN site

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/war.casualties/index.html?hpt=C2

Council on American-Islamic Relations' statement on Bin Ladin death

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):

"We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel. ... Bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide. We also reiterate President Obama's clear statement tonight that the United States is not at war with Islam."

From CNN site

Locked in, tied up - Burma's disciplined democracy

http://www.burmapartnership.org/2011/04/locked-in-tied-up-burma%E2%80%99s-disciplined-democracy/

from Alt-ASEAN

the alternative ASEAN

Abbotabad resident who unknowingly "live blogged" Bin Ladin raid -

http://www.suntimes.com/news/5139787-417/man-unknowingly-liveblogs-bin-laden-operation.html

Bin Ladin's NYTs obit - written in 2010 by correspondent who has since passed away.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/02osama-bin-laden-obituary.html?pagewanted=7

Full text of Presdt Obama's statement announcing Bin Ladin's death - from White House website -

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/remarks-president-osama-bin-laden

Bin Ladin buried at sea after being killed by US special ops - from Washingtom Post - 26 minutes ago

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/osama_bin_laden_is_killed_by_us_forces_in_pakistan/2011/05/01/AFXMZyVF_story.html?wprss=rss_world

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Endangered places and animals

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-39412377

Amazingly prolific writer we knew as Jean Plaidy etc -

now Victoria Holt or Philippa Carr etc

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

100 m books sold!! I thought Jean Plaidy was long dead and other two were young - 3rd generation writers -- truly amazing.

Found her while looking for books about Catherine Valois and her gardener lover Owen Tudor, who set up the Tudor Dynasty.

Guide mentioned when I went to Leeds Castle.

Kyi May Kaung

Swan upping on the Thames -

http://www.royal.gov.uk/RoyalEventsandCeremonies/SwanUpping/SwanUpping.aspx

from British Royal official site.

I leave you to read for yourself and find out what that is.

Bob Dylan sings Blowing in the Wind

http://www.bobdylan.com/sites/www.bobdylan.com/themes/dylan/player.php?song_nid=108&album_nid=6245

site will only let you listen to a bit free.

Bob Dylan's song - "Blowing in the Wind"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin%27_in_the_Wind

Kim Aris (Aung San Suu Kyi's son) and Dr Myint sing Blowing in the Wind

http://drkokogyi.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/blowing-in-the-wind-u-myint-kim-aris/

Gaddafi family tree -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12531442

Ice skating free dance champions

http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=7a1114a0-173b-43c1-b569-917c83e5adc8.html#daviswhite+free+dance


It takes years of practice, not to mention many falls and pulled muscles and even broken bones, to learn to be free like this.

BTW, the woman dancer has a "Daw Suu hairstyle and a flower in her hair" actually a Spanish flamenco style.

Kyi May Kaung

Kyi May Kaung's comment on Burma - "Dr. Myint among Thein Sein economic advisers"


Dead fish out of water a long time (actually a shad or nga tha lauk) ready to be cooked. Photo and plate, copyright Kyi May Kaung.


I tried to leave this on the Irrawaddy magazine site, but it was too long.

kmk


"Dr. Myint is a fine individual and economist, though in this case maybe, a tad naive.

Since at least the mid-90s, I have been advocating economic reforms in Burma. See my Ph.D. dissertation from the University of Pennsylvania at their Penn Commons on line site. In this work I argued that economic reforms need to be in conjunction with political reforms. (This is the only time "Myanmar patriot" and I agree.)My Chinese classmate in fact went home to a think tank created for her.

The junta may re-jigger the prices a bit, and have more pretend privatizations, but will it give farmers their land back? I doubt it. And look what happened when IMF and WB in 07 advised liberating fuel prices (only).

Nothing will happen even if God were advising them. In past, their PR took out "political remarks" of Nobel economist Joseph Stigltiz.

BTW, I met Dr Myint twice in 04 and 05 at undisclosed locations at international conferences. In 04 Khin Nyunt was purged even as they were still abroad.

Now I worry they will "shoot the messenger."

My doctorate is from Penn in Political Economy. I studied the economies of Burma, Zaire,the USSR,India and the PRC etc in detail and formulated my own theory that only if central control is relaxed, can there be Development.

A micro-economic, sectoral approach won't cut it without human rights, among them right to work where we wish, say what we want,live where we want, associate with whomever we want.

I just hope Dr. Myint is not made into a scapegoat.

But I do admire his Courage and that of Daw Suu, the NLD and All.

Being optimistic while being pessimistic,

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)"

Friday, April 29, 2011

A new translation of Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago --

http://blogs.monografias.com/sistema-limbico-neurociencias/2010/10/25/boris-pasternak-vs-mario-garcia-lorcas-prose/

Peter, Paul and Mary, Puff the Magic Dragon

http://www.actionext.com/names_p/peter_paul_mary_lyrics/puff_magic_dragon.html

I saw Peter, Paul and Mary perform in Colonial Williamsburg in March 1988.

Kyi May Kaung

Mozart's The Magic Flute - 3 little boys save Pamina from suicide -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INixpVpSerE

With French subtitles, but costumes a bit outre, outdated and off putting.

Kyi May Kaung

Nana Mouskourie sings Song of Liberty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTo0Inuvlxk&feature=fvwrel

Fear no more the heat of the sun -

FEAR no more the heat o' the sun
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

--Shakespeare, From XLV. Fidele

Princess Grace's funeral in 1983

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/royalwedding/2011/04/29/2011-04-29_kate_middletons_wedding_dress_similar_to_gown_worn_by_grace_kelly_actress_marrie.html

"Golden lads and girls all must
Like chimney sweepers, come to dust."

Sarah Burton who designed Kate Middleton's wedding dress.

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

Viewed Thursday night at Goring Hotel -- :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/sarah-burton-kate-middleton-hotel_n_855245.html

the late Alexander McQueen

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

Burma's Big Lie

http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/601086/n/Burma-s-Big-Lie

About Naresuan who fought off the Burmese in the 15th century

http://nyiwin.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/naresuan-bhyanarit/

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Maung Zarni's Al Jazeera article on ICG report

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/201141013120449738.html

Maung Zarni on International Crisis Group's report.

Opinion
Don't buy into Burma's cosmetic reforms
When the EU reviews its position on Burma it would be wise to discard the ICG's recent report on the country.
Maung Zarni



Web Exclusive
Outrageously optimistic 08 April 2011

By Maung Zarni
The intellectual crisis of reporting on Burma by the International Crisis Group.

http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4383-outrageously-optimistic.html

Why the ICG's Burma analyses and calls for ending sanctions cannot be taken seriously

Published on April 11, 2011

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2011/04/11/opinion/Why-the-ICGs-Burma-analyses-and-calls-for-ending-s-30152934.html

Grasping at Straws- International Crisis Group's recent report

http://mizzima.com/edop/opinion/5149-grasping-at-straws-icgs-latest-report-is-ill-informed-unsubstantiated-and-wrong-headed.html
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
ill-informed, unsubstantiated and wrong headed - by Ben Rogers

Bring in the clowns - "Military plays a civilian-looking game" by Larry Jagan in The Irrawaddy -

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21114&page=1

Fouad Ajami - Middle East expert - Iraq hawk

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

Magnificent response to (Burma junta apologist) David Steinberg

Yahoo! Mail

Dear Kyi May Kaung,

Thank you for your kind words. Please feel free to put my statement on
your blog.

Cheers,

Roland

> Dear Roland and Anonymous Dissident Co-Writer of Response,
>
> That was magnificently put together.
>
> I passed by SAIS in a taxi Monday morning on my way to a previous appt.,
> and saw some folks with Shan Bags on the street, whom I hope were
> demonstrating.
>
> For reference purposes, in Gottenberg in 2002, at the Burma Studies
> Conference, Steinberg invited me to co-produce a panel, then titled
> Democracy and Dialog in Burma/Myanmar, (I think the "slash Myanmar" was in
> the title).
>
> On Steinberg's side of the panel were Morton Pedersen and I don't remember
> who else, but I brought in, or attempted to bring in, Ko Aung Zaw, Ko Zaw
> Oo, and Ko Zarni and the late Chao Tsang Yawngwe was also present, as was U
> Thet Tun, former head of CSED Statistical board coming from Burma.
>
> Zarni pointed his finger "point blank" at Steinberg and accused him of
> using Georgetown Univ etc to advance his own views.
>
> Ko Aung Zaw came in a few minutes late, at which point Z. had just
> finished speaking, and S. was so angry he snatched the microphone back
> from me and did not even allow me to summarize the remarks from my side of
> the panel. He also would not allow Ko Aung Zaw to come onto the podium,
> saying to me "Enough of your people." How childish can an 80 year old
> professor be?
>
> Zarni and I even have photos that I took of the actual confrontation.
>
> Previously, FYI, Steinberg was unable to see Dr Sein Win at the office
> because PM in Exile declined to see him.
>
> From a reliable source ( a contemporary of his, not mine) Steinberg
> allegedly does not even have a doctorate, and this you can check for
> yourselves on line. I've never bothered to check as to me it seems
> apparent from his lack of knowledge and logic that he does not have a
> solid academic footing.
>
> I look forward to hearing more from you all about the actual conference
> from those who were able to attend.
>
> I am writing now to ask you for permission to post the letters on my blog.
>
> My article about Ma Thanegi's "fell flat" presentation that I wrote in
> 2002 is still on the Irrawaddy site, and my 2006 debate with Steinberg in
> Foreign Policy in Focus is also still on line, as is my BBC Hardtalk
> interview where co-interviewee was Derek Tonkin.
>
> I hope the US Government will not be taken in by these anti-sanctions and
> pro-regime views.
>
> In 2007, U Tin Maung Maung Than, who was also scheduled to speak on Monday
> at SAIS, argued (I saw the video) that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in fact never
> won the 1990 election.
>
> Now what kind of b-s is that??
>
> Kyi May Kaung.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 4/12/11, Free Burma wrote:
>
> From: Free Burma
> Subject: Response to David Steinberg
> To:
>
>
> DICTATOR WATCH
> (www.dictatorwatch.org)
>
> Contact: Roland Watson,
>
> RESPONSE TO DAVID STEINBERG
>
> April 12, 2011
>
> Please forward.
>
>
> We received the following reaction from David Steinberg to our statement
> about the Washington SAIS conference. (Of note, Mr. Steinberg, and also
> Priscilla Clapp, former U.S. Charge d’Affaires to Burma, both
> subsequently
> argued at the conference that the recent “election” in Burma is a
> significant pro-democracy accomplishment.)
>
> “I do not know what fortune teller Mr. Watson has consulted to so
> characterize the nature of the conference as "pro-military," since the
> conference has not been held, any papers from it have not been
> distributed, and the participants judiciously chosen to address the topics
> under discussion--North and South Korean relations with Myanmar--the
> accepted title of that country by each of those states. The readers of
> Mr. Watson's many diatribes are no doubt aware of his consistent views
> and by now must cautiously approach what he has written with judicious
> care; they might well search for verification of his often dubious
> charges. I suggest they do so in this case.
>
> Ad hominem charges will be dealt with separately.
>
> David Steinberg
> School of Foreign Service
> Georgetown University”
>
>
> My initial response to this was with passion, and is the type of thing
> that Mr. Steinberg confuses with diatribe. (I also included a more formal
> analysis from another Burma activist, of Than Shwe’s strategy to have
> the
> election accepted and thereby bring about the end of western economic
> sanctions.)
>
>
> “I thought my reasoning was clear. This is America. We say Burma. The
> SPDC
> says Myanmar. And why aren't there any speakers from Burma's pro-democracy
> movement on the panels? For that matter, why wasn't I invited, since I
> first broke the story of North Korea's involvement in Burma's nuclear
> program.
>
> Of the many people who responded to the Dictator Watch release, only one
> other was not favorable, possibly one of your former students. My answer
> to this individual, which holds for you as well, is as follows:
>
> In case you are unaware, Burmese are dying every day at the regime's
> hands, and have been for years. Some of the people at this conference have
> done everything they can, also for years, to deflect pressure on what is
> nothing less than a gang of murderers. I could be much stronger.
>
> Maybe you don't think what is happening in Burma is that bad. Maybe you
> don't care. I do.”
>
>
> I have now decided that I should address Mr. Steinberg’s charges, and
> his
> academic position on the military regime, more formally as well.
>
> Dear Professor,
>
> If I can stand up to the dictator of Burma, I can certainly stand up to
> you.
>
> The most important issue in Burma by far is the need to save lives. The
> people of the country are being put to death by the murderous gangster and
> terrorist Than Shwe, either directly at the hands of his soldiers - as is
> now most egregious in Shan and Karen states - or indirectly through the
> lack of food and medical care that he enforces and which among other
> things has led to one of the worst rates of child mortality in the world.
> (According to Unicef, an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 children under the
> age of five die every year in the country, many due to preventable
> diseases.)
>
> I believe that we all should care about Burma, and similar situations that
> exist in the other dictatorships of the world. Of course, not everyone can
> do something about it. Most people must focus on their own survival, in
> part because they themselves are subject to political and other forms of
> dictatorship. But anyone who enjoys freedom, particularly the luxury of
> financial freedom, should be involved, certainly well-paid professors at
> prestigious universities and who are so-called experts in the field. Not
> to be involved, not to dedicate oneself to ending the murder and saving
> lives, is unethical. To act in a way that actually supports the dictators
> is despicable.
>
> There is only one conference that should ever be held on Burma: How to get
> rid of Than Shwe, to save the people of the country and to give them the
> freedom that they so truly deserve. Even a focused examination of Burma's
> nuclear cooperation with North Korea, not to mention the program's
> connections to China, Russia and even possibly Iran, should be secondary
> to this subject. If we can free Burma, the nuclear proliferation problem
> there will go away.
>
> Some people will argue that such an idealistic stance ignores political
> realities, and I suppose in a way it does. The question then becomes,
> whose realities are we talking about, and being forced to accept.
>
> In my book Freedom From Form, I asked the question why, with the top
> universities of the world graduating one class after another of highly
> intelligent and motivated young men and women, and who rise to positions
> of leadership in society's different institutions, does the world continue
> to deteriorate? The answer to this is that such men and women are
> conditioned by their teachers, and then channeled into an employment
> structure where the conditioning intensifies, such that by the time they
> obtain the leadership roles (all doubters are weaned out along the way),
> they fully accept the system's principles, including that money and power
> are everything and that all possible means to them should be pursued.
>
> The idea that money and power are everything is the core force behind
> social and environmental decline.
>
> How do I know about the embedded structure of society? I was part of it as
> well, a graduate of universities that are well regarded and also on my way
> to a position at the top of a major corporation. I could easily have
> remained a part of the incestuous framework of schools, corporations,
> media, and yes, even democratic governments. But I became a doubter as
> well, and rather that wait to be expelled, I purposefully
> de-institutionalized myself.
>
> This actually explains why activism is so difficult, even though the vast
> majority of the general public want real change. We live in an
> institutional world, and in this system only institutional voices are
> accepted. Why weren't there any Burma pro-democracy activists on the
> panels at the SAIS conference? Because they don't have institutional
> standing. Why are human rights secondary to such things as the pervasive
> Kremlin-think about the intricacies of Burma's military junta? Because the
> people of the country don't have any institutional standing.
>
> Schools of Foreign Service teach political realism, the dominant paradigm
> - with a few cultural exceptions - of all human history. This is simply
> that "might is right." In technical terms, in international affairs only
> nations have standing, and national sovereignty is supreme. It does not
> matter a single iota how the rulers of a particular country obtained
> power, or what they do once they have it. Tyrants such as Than Shwe are
> embraced fully, and as equals.
>
> Also, all nations compete, and any one nation can - and should - do
> anything to further its own interests relative to all others.
>
> Political realism is a wonderfully immoral system of selfishness.
> Surprisingly, it is taught in the universities of democratic nations, and
> pursued as policy by the governments of those nations. The reason this is
> surprising is that democracy is an idealistic system, predicated on
> reason, not power, and because of this equality and rights. But a
> democracy that fairly holds elections does not guarantee that its leaders
> will follow democratic principles. And as is evident now with the United
> States and Europe, through their responses to Burma, China, and the
> pro-democracy uprisings in Arab nations and Iran, they regularly don't.
>
> The historical system is still untouched. It remains stable. As George
> Orwell commented in 1984:
>
> "… the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after
> enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern
> has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to
> equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other."
>
> This will continue to be the case until we reach the tipping point and
> refuse to accept it for even one second more, until we find a way to
> overcome power with reason, and such that it can never revert. I don't
> pretend to have all the answers to this, but I do know that democracy, and
> education - real education - are essential. It is clear that democracy
> still has a long way to evolve. And, along the way we will have to deal
> with the likes of major universities such as Johns Hopkins and Georgetown,
> to which young people aspire, and which continue to use instructors with
> amazing institutional backgrounds and who are so enamored of realism that
> they don't even recognize their bias.
>
> We will have to work with determination, and find the way. It will be
> extremely difficult, considering the financial and military power of the
> opponents that we face. As Orwell observed, we may well fail. But we have
> to try. People power - democracy - is our only option. This is the only
> conceivable way we can successfully end oppression and save the multitude
> of lives that tyrants so ruthlessly take.
>
> For Burma, as many of the people in the country now recognize, they can
> expect little help from the international community, and this will extend
> to the new U.S. envoy. International support for the Burmese people is an
> artifice: crocodile tears. As long as Chevron and Total fund Than Shwe,
> anything else that the U.S. and Europe does is rendered moot. The Burmese
> people will have to win freedom on their own.
>
>
>

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The London Review Cake Shop -


An apple pie from O'Hare Airport in Chicago, dressed up on my plate from China - Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.

http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/pages.php?pageid=4

As our dear Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said, "I have been to Bristol" -- when she was recently named honorary convenor of a festival in Bristol "Next time I am in Bristol, I must go to the Festival."

Next time I am in London, I shall go to this cake shop.

R K Narayan's short story - Trail of the Green Blazer in London Review of Books -

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n11/rk-narayan/trail-of-the-green-blazer

RK Narayan was president of India, his wife Usha Narayan was born in Mandalay - translated Burmese short stories.

Kyi May Kaung

Saif Gaddafi and offshore banking

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n08/david-runciman/didnt-they-notice

3 Burmese Poems, introduced and translated by Kyi May Kaung

http://vispoets.com/index.php?showtopic=1380

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Kyi May Kaung's Moulmein Riverfront poem in Counterpunch

http://counterpunch.org/poems01082010.html

So far 81 movers and shakers wish to donate 52 Merchant St. former US Embassy Rangoon to Suu Kyi and the NLD

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/donate-52-merchant-st-rangoon-to-nldaung-san-suu-kyi/

Jesse Ventura

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

Libyan multiple rape victim fears for her life

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110405/ts_yblog_thecutline/alleged-libyan-rape-victim-iman-al-obeidi-breaks-through-to-the-international-press

Comment left by Kyi May Kaung on New Mandala site ref. blurb about Zarni's upcoming piece and mostly infantile "comments."

"Anyone can change their opinion as many times as they wish, they may change their ideology, their religion, their clothes, their shoes, where they live, their spouses etc etc.
The way they blow their noses.

It's their lives, No??

Being stuck is known as being dogmatic, "textual" "fundamentalist" didn't you all know?

At least Zarni has the courage to confront reality and to write about it.

Criticizing is allowed in a free society as long as it's all true. In fact, it's a good thing.

Enough said,

Kyi May Kaung"

Monday, April 04, 2011

Kay's poem - The Formal Reception - translated by Kyi May Kaung

http://kthwe.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_3203.html

actually - don't quite know what padeikthantara san myiek means?

and did you do the sketch yourself also?

I will post on my blog with internet photo of Obamas greeting Hu Jin Tao

http://blogs.forbes.com/raquellaneri/2011/01/20/michelle-obamas-state-dinner-dress-daring-or-pandering/

but I need you to post the original in Burmese pdf with the sketch on my Burmese blog -

-- translation:


The Formal Reception

I dress up
for one of life's
formal
receptions

clip on my head
one fall of false
fake hair

tame my unruly
tresses with
the spiked hairpin
stab
of forbearance

let fall my
padeikthantara
fringe or bangs

add on two
boastful
bling bling
ear rings

then - for defense
cover myself with
my pawa or stole --

There -

I'm all dressed up

to go.

English translation copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-4-2011

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Loveliest of trees the cherry now --


To see the cherry hung with snow - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung - In memory of my father.


Loveliest of Trees



Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide.



Now, of my three score years and ten,

Twenty will not come again,

And take from seventy springs a score,

It only leaves me fifty more.



And since to look at things in bloom

Fifty springs are little room,

About the woodlands I will go

To see the cherry hung with snow.



A.E. Housman

Washington DC cherry blossoms peak - all photos copyright Kyi May Kaung


Jefferson Memorial at Tidal Basin



DC Washington Monument

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Re-posting - from 07 Saffron Revolution, Burma - interesting in light of current intervention in Libya -

http://a4.g.akamai.net/7/4/27043/v0001/kalw.download.akamai.com/27043/YourCall/100107yc.mp3

during the Saffron Revolution - an interview by Rose Aguiler of Dr Michael Aung Thwin, Ko Nyunt Than of Burmese American Democratic Alliance and Dr. Kyi May Kaung -

interesting in light of what is happening with Libya now.

"A bay of goats?"

Curry pumpkin soup--

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/curry-pumpkin-soup?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us