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Burma Out!! The Heroin Explosion/Bu



Subject: Burma Out!! The Heroin Explosion/Burma Out!! 

Burma Out!! The Heroin Explosion/Burma Out!! SHAN critique of current
policies 


The Millenium Olympiad :  Burma Out Update : 

Your support for Burma Out is welcomed by the vast  
majority of the international community.

Thursday, October 1, 1998 Published at 15:13 GMT 16:13 UK 
World: Asia-Pacific New report says 
Burma is facing heroin explosion 

A new report on the use and trafficking of heroin in Burma says there's
mounting evidence of the involvement of members of the ruling military
government in the illicit drugs trade. 
The report, released by the Southeast Asian Information Network, a
non-governmental organisation based in Thailand, says interviews with
drug
dealers, traffickers and users in Burma consistently point to military
involvement in heroin distribution. 
It also alleges that several heroin refineries are located near army
bases,
and that one is accessible only by military helicopter. 
The report says Burma is facing what it calls devastating epidemics of
heroin addiction and HIV infection, with the HIV virus spreading rapidly
from drug users into the wider population. 
>>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Follow the appreciations of the Shan Democratic Union, 
film maker John Pilger,  HH the  Dalai Lama, The Free Burma 
Coalition, Dennis Skinner MP, Tony Benn MP, parliamentarians, 
Socialist Workers' Party, JPR Williams, sportspersons, Hendrix 
bassist Noel Redding, Abdullah Ibrahim, musicians,  All 
Burma Students Democratic Organization and numerous others.  

             Support a REAL war on drugs : Sydney 2000 : Burma Out!

Music Industry Human Rights Association

http://www.mihra.org / policy.office@xxxxxxxxx 
US Satellite http://www.212.net  
click on roger / then click on news desk

Mihra was founded during UN50 to advance and protect 
creators rights in a cultural market monopolised by the 
recording  / publishing Grand Cartel. Mihra's roots are in 
music and anti-racism and was first in line in calling for a 
sports boycott of Burma for the Sydney 2000 Olympic 
Games.

UK webhosting donated by http://www.cerbernet.co.uk
US webhosting donated by http://www.212.net


"Piece of Mind". Recorded in Holland in 1969, (same time 
as Sgt Pepper was being recorded at Abbey Road.

http://onlinetv.com/rogerbunn.html


                          ========================
The Millenium Olympiad :  Burma Out Update : 

Your support for Burma Out is welcomed by the vast  
majority of the international community.

Subject: war on drugs - shan herald agency for news
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999


ASSISTING THE BURMESE MILITARY IN THE WAR ON DRUGS:
IS IT GOING TO WORK?
On 7 January 1999, the U.S. Government decertified Burma on Drugs.
Nevertheless, reports about foreign agencies, especially that of the
United
States, doing their best not only to "laud" the junta's "drug efforts"
at
every opportunity but to channel fi-nancial and material assistance to
it
have not ceased. There is, as a consequence, wellgrounded widespread
fear
that there will be, as in the 1974-88 period, a resumption of aid to the
mili-tary most hated and feared by its people, and that it will be using
the
aid again, not against drugs but against its people and its political
opponents.  However, the American experience in Latin America as summed
up
by Peter Zirnite (Reluctant Recruits: the US military and the War on
Drugs,
August 1997) provides sufficient lessons against Americans opting for
the
easier way out to aid the junta by following the late Deng Xioping's
most
well-known maxim, that the color of the cat is not important as long as
it
catches mice.
In the Latin American countries, Uncle Sam has not only employed its own
personnel but also inevitably those of the native armed forces.The
report
card shows it has resulted in some "great" successes i.e. the arrests of
drug traffickers, for example, the notorious Noriega, eradication of
coca
fields, destruction of processing labs and disruption of transportation.
However, the fact, as admitted by the White House's most zealous drug
warriors, is that "gains have been more tactical than strategic".
Moreover,
they "have been episodicand temporary", as the 'enemy" adapts quickly to
en
forcement strategies.
The result:
Seizures of thousands of metric tons of Cocaine and eradication of
more than 55,000 hectares of Coca plants between 1988 and 1995, "have
failed
to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the United States or their
avail
ability".
"Eradication  ...... is offset by expanded cultivation".  Amnesty
International USA and Human Rights Watch/Americas reported "counter
insurgency units ... (being) responsible for some of the worst human
rights
atrocities in recent years".
Worst, the region's armed forces are increasingly playing a significant
role
within the society just as straggling civilian elected governments are
srtiving to keep them in check.
This comes at a time when the Cold War has ended and the world is
supposed
to be moving towards more democratic societies. Needless to say, these
native armed forces are reemerging as a threat to democracy and human
rights. The outgoing Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozado put it
this way: "When you have a corrupt chief of police, you fire him. When
you
have a corrupt chief of the army, he fires you".
Therefore, it is not surprising that the War on Drugs there, as it is
here,
is not winning the hearts and minds of the people, which is fundamental

for
drug control efforts to succeed. On the contrary, it is pushing people
who
are economically dependent on Coca cultivation into the arms of the
enemy.
One former Peruvian regional commander, "noting that each of the 150,000
Cocaleros (Coca planters) in the Upper Huallaga Valley was a Potential
subversive", put it this way: "Eradicate his field and the next day, he
will
be one".  Thus, while some militarists argue that " strengthening
cilivian
institutions to increase their effectiveness in countering drug
trafficking
is not a viable approach anywhere in the near term", facts prove that
increasing military involvement may be even more detrimental.
One big mistake, as noted by the writer, is that "US assistance is
(being)
provided prior to improvement in human rights performance or
demonstrated
political will on the part of aid recipients to hold accountable those
responsible for abuses".  SHAN, therefore, hopes that these lessons are
taken seriously by the policy-makers in both Washington and Bangkok.
The writer, however, warns against too much hope. Because, as he put it:
"As
in Vietnam, it is easier from a political standpoint to plunge ahead
rather
than conduct a serious reassessment".
But SHAN also remembers the words of General Mc Caffrey, who became the
head
of the UNDCP in March 1996. Which was also quoted by the writer.
"At the end of the day, I would suggest that this actually isn't a war
to be
won by anybody's army... At the end of the day, prosecutors, law
enforcement
officers, teachers, school superintendents, religious leaders, that is
who
the front line troops are".
He might have added that these front line troops should be led by a
popularly elected government.

Follow the appreciations of the Shan Democratic Union, 
film maker John Pilger,  HH the  Dalai Lama, The Free Burma 
Coalition, Dennis Skinner MP, Tony Benn MP, parliamentarians, 
Socialist Workers' Party, JPR Williams, sportspersons, Hendrix 
bassist Noel Redding, Abdullah Ibrahim, musicians,  All 
Burma Students Democratic Organization and numerous others.  

             Support a REAL war on drugs : Sydney 2000 : Burma Out!

Music Industry Human Rights Association

http://www.mihra.org / policy.office@xxxxxxxxx 
US Satellite http://www.212.net  
click on roger / then click on news desk

Mihra was founded during UN50 to advance and protect 
creators rights in a cultural market monopolised by the 
recording  / publishing Grand Cartel. Mihra's roots are in 
music and anti-racism and was first in line in calling for a 
sports boycott of Burma for the Sydney 2000 Olympic 
Games.

UK webhosting donated by http://www.cerbernet.co.uk
US webhosting donated by http://www.212.net


"Piece of Mind". Recorded in Holland in 1969, (same time 
as Sgt Pepper was being recorded at Abbey Road.

http://onlinetv.com/rogerbunn.html

                          ========================