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by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
October 5, 2017
“But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.
Believe that a further shore
is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles.”— Seamus Heaney, 1939-2013, “The Cure at Troy”
By J. Brett Whitesell
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
Come The Revolution
Sept. 22, 2011
Image by Jan van Raay via Flickr
When we were kids living in the city we would walk around for hours solving all the world’s problems. One day we decided to patrol another neighborhood we hadn’t seen for sometime, and found a huge construction site. We ran down to find what looked like a fifty-foot plywood wall surrounding the entire city block. You could hear the incredible amount of noise on the other side and a gigantic crane with a ball on the end that we knew could only be for one purpose, to tear something down. We had to see in. We ran around the block until we found an open knothole in the plywood, everyone took turns looking into the site.
by Brian McAfee
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
April 24, 2011
Image by jonathan mcintosh via Flickr
So far 2011 is proving to be an eventful year for Myanmar, formerly known as and still generally called Burma. Despite the slight easing of restraints put on Aung San Suu Kyi, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Shan State in northeast Burma on March 24, which the junta controlled media says killed 75 people but aid agencies believe killed over 150, leads to widespread distrust of the country’s rulers and their version of reality. Now the U.S. is sending a new envoy to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific affairs. It is an open question: What will be his role in Burma?
by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
18 November 2009
The Mighty Agency on it’s Knees in a Legal Battle
After 15 years of legal battles the CIA agrees to pay $3 million to a former DEA agent who accused a former CIA official of illegally eavesdropping on him as part of a joint CIA and State Department effort to thwart DEA’s anti-narcotics mission in Burma in the early 1990s.
Richard Horn was stationed in Burma in the early 1990s as the DEA country attaché to Burma, a nation that is ranked as one of the top opium poppy producing countries in the world. He was in charge of overseeing DEA’s mission in Burma involving eradication of the opium poppy, which is used to produce heroin.
AlJazeeraEnglish
August 11, 2009
Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to another 18 months house arrest after she was found guilty of violating Myanmar’s security laws.
Her supporters say the expected verdict is the military government’s way of keeping the opposition leader out of general elections next year.
Al Jazeera’s Aela Callan reports.
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instablogs
June 05, 2009 Continue reading
By Jeremy R. Hammond
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
November 14, 2008
Crossposted on Foreign Policy Journal
Writer Antonio Graceffo has become the target of a disinformation campaign by the ruling junta in Burma for opposing the oppressive regime.
The Myanmar ruling military has hinted that it might release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in six months time. But critics argue the words are just empty rhetoric.
Al Jazeera’s Hannah Belcher reports.
Noam Chomsky interviewed by Stuart Alan Becker
Bangkok Post, July 14, 2008
BECKER: You opposed the Vietnam War long before it was fashionable. When and why did you make that decision? Do you feel you made a difference?
CHOMSKY: I opposed the Vietnam war from the mid-1940s, when the French invaded, a few years later receiving direct US support. But I did not do much beyond signing statements and the like until 1962, when the back pages of the New York Times casually reported that the US Air Force was flying a large proportion of the bombing missions against South Vietnam, with the planes disguised with SVN markings. At that point I realised that I had better learn more about this, began to look into it more carefully, and had to make a hard decision. I had enough experience with political activism to know that if I became involved, it would soon grow to be a major undertaking, with few limits, and I would have to give up a lot that meant a great deal to me. I decided to plunge in, not without reluctance. It took years of hard and painful work of protest and resistance before a real anti-war movement developed. There is no doubt that it made a difference. One illustration comes from the Pentagon Papers, the final section, dealing with the immediate reaction to the Tet revolt; in imperial terminology, it is called the “Tet offensive”, on the tacit assumption that a revolt against our military occupation is aggression. The government considered sending several hundred thousand more troops to South Vietnam, but decided not to because of concern that they would need the troops for civil disorder control at home in the likely event of a mass uprising of unprecedented proportions. We also know that by then 70 per cent of the US population felt that the war was “fundamentally wrong and immoral”, not “a mistake” – while intellectual elites debated whether Washington’s “bungling efforts to do good” were a “mistake” that was becoming too costly to us (Anthony Lewis of the New York Times, at the outer limits of dissidence within the mainstream).
How much any one individual contributed to the radical change of consciousness and understanding, and the willingness to do something about state crimes, it is hard to say.
h/t: Noam
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On May 3 2008 tropical storm called Nargis hit Myanmar. Most of the land was left in ruins. The death toll amounted tens of thousands.
Just a couple of months before Nargis RT crew visited Myanmar and filmed a report about life in the country. Now, as this Asian state is craving to recover from the hurricane we give you a chance many have not seen before. We bring you the story of the golden land in our report.
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BBC
Monday, 16 June 2008 11:38 UK
More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.
Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.
h/t: Derek Wallace – organicreform.org
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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Refugees say Myanmar’s military government is forcing farmers off their land as it rushes to grow plants for biofuel production. Al Jazeera’s Selina Downes reports.
Warning
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Exactly one month ago Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta region, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing. Now aid workers are fighting to prevent a second disaster caused by disease and malnutrition. Selina Downes reports from Bangkok.
by John Pilger
The Guardian,
Saturday May 31 2008 Continue reading
Jennifer Wants Justice and Peace
by Jennifer
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Jennifer’s blog post
Justice and Peace
May 24, 2008
Think of it as the true test of the Western humanitarian impulse: The international effort that went into coordinating relief after the 2004 tsunami has to be repeated, but in much harsher, trickier, uglier political circumstances. Yes, we should help the Burmese, even against the will of their irrational leaders. Yes, we should think hard about the right way to do it. And, yes, there isn’t much time to ruminate about any of this.
~ Anne Applebaum
The situation facing the Burmese and the Chinese in the face of natural disaster is in dire need of attention. Some reports and media outlets are offering figures as high as 125,000 dead and 2.4 million at risk due to starvation and disease. The numbers in Burma alone are staggering. In fact, the amount of suffering civilians has led lawmakers including President George Bush to respond swiftly.
In response to these combined natural disasters, the United States has come forward with close to 20 million dollars in aid and the international community has “responded by offering over 100 million”
It seems as if the United States and indeed the world at large has taken the advice of Applebaum. Swift action in the face of “irrational leaders” will save lives and reduce the suffering of victims.
Sadly, Western media outlets fail to compare this humanitarian crisis to the US created crisis taking place daily in the Middle East, namely in Iraq, where over 4 million have been displaced and are living in squalid conditions. This humanitarian crisis has been named the largest humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world, and goes on largely unnoticed.
In a recently released report published by Refugees International, (Uprooted and Unstable, 2008) “the needs of the displaced are not adequately addressed by the Government of Iraq or the international community.”
Indeed, when compared to the billions of dollars (most recently 165 billion) President George Bush requests from US taxpayers to pay for the continued military presence in Iraq annually, a mere 35 million in humanitarian aid was requested for the fiscal year 2008. The report goes on to note, “This vacuum is quickly being filled by militias and other armed groups, who engage in hearts and minds campaigns and provide assistance as a means of building support for their political and military goals.”
The Iraqi government fragmented and corrupt has done little to assist their own people in providing basic services and aid, according to Refugees International, “It is unable and unwilling to use its important resources to respond appropriately to the humanitarian crisis.” However, in sharp contrast, as reported by Democracy Now! the Iraqi government “has now become one of the largest purchasers of US arms” worldwide.
Yet, in spite of the dire humanitarian situation in Iraq, the continued hypocrisies and politicization of convenient crisis’s, and the obvious blunder of pushing Iraqi civilians towards militias and radical groups, Western media and politicians will continue to distract voters from the real issues underlying continued destabilization of Iraq…the deliberate denial of Iraq’s humanitarian crisis.
One can easily take the words of Applebaum and make them apply to Iraq, “Yes, we should help the Iraqis, even against the will of irrational leaders like George Bush. Yes, we should think hard about the right way to do it. And, yes, there isn’t much time to ruminate about any of this.
You can do something…here.
Dandelion Salad 