The 20 or so very fit men gathered deep in the forests of northeast Cambodia at the Tropaing Tear Base in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary.On their uniforms, a patch richly embroidered with the map of Cambodia and its protected landscapes, elephants, tigers, one of the national flowers and the Ministry of Environment logo did little to counter their overall don’t-mess-with-us attitude.“I live in the forest more than my home,” said Reth Phearun, a 26-year-old ranger who commands the Chas Yang Base in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary. Half a century ago, the region rivaled the East African savannah for its diversity and abundance of wildlife — banteng, Asian elephants, Eld’s deer, Indochinese tigers, leopards and more.Today, those beasts exist in critically low numbers, but the recent and increased protection effort “leaves hope that, at some point in the future” wildlife populations in the region “can be restored to their former glory,” Reth Phearun, park ranger, speaks to VOA Khmer in Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuary in Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek district on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)Nationwide, Cambodia employs some 1,200 rangers to guard endangered species on more than 7.3 million hectares of protected forests, according to the Ministry of Environment. In the critical 6,000-square-kilometer bioregion of the Srepok and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary, there are just 51 rangers, 46 wildlife guards and 588 community patrol teams.These vast areas swallow this protection. In Mondulkiri province, there is less than one ranger per 100 square kilometers, far below the international standard of eight rangers for that amount of territory.Although few Cambodians want to become rangers, those who do see the job as a calling, putting themselves in danger and sacrificing home life.The rangers patrol Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary four times a month on trips over four days and three nights, according to Reth Phearun.“It is very challenging at night in some areas. We get no sleep at night, and must help each other patrol until morning,” he said.Reth Phearun worries about encounters with poachers and loggers, saying, “If they see us, they will definitely shoot us. They are not afraid of us at all.”One of his colleagues, Cheng Chanty, was sleeping near a creek in the Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary when poachers arrived around 3 a.m.  Jan. 29, 2019.“They were on motorbikes,” said Cheng Chanty, 42. “We told them to stop, but they didn’t. We followed them and they shot at us. I was shot in my front abdomen and the bullet went through to my buttock.”  The wound took four months to heal.Park rangers show forest patrols to reporters in Cambodia’s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Nhek district Mondulkiri on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)All of the alleged poachers remain at large. Cheng Chanty remains on the job.The attack on Cheng Chanty was not unusual.An Environment Ministry ranger, a Wildlife Conservation Society staffer and a military police officer were killed by Cambodian armed forces aligned with illegal loggers Park rangers show forest patrols to reporters in Cambodia’s Srepok Wildlife Sanctuary in Koh Nhek district Mondulkiri on Jan. 17, 2021. (Oun Chheng Por/VOA)His solution is to take one day off “when I miss my son,” he said.Kroeurng Tola, a representative of the Bunong indigenous community, acknowledged the rangers’ efforts but said they are limited.An activist who exposes misuse of natural reserves, Kroeurng Tola said, “Our rangers have strong will in protecting the forest and wildlife, but their job is still being limited when there are orders from the higher level not to arrest any culprit.”Reth Phearun remains passionate about protecting the forests and its endangered wildlife.”I want to improve my (ranger) base” with a bigger building fully supplied with electricity and linked into the mobile network, he said, adding a better road to improve accessibility and more rangers would be good, too.“I want to see wildlife and forest increase” he said. “And I want to see tourists coming in and out in the future. If there are tourists, we will benefit from them.”
…

your ad here

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Myanmar’s cities on Saturday to denounce this week’s coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite a blockade on the internet by the junta.In an upwelling of anger in the country’s largest city, Yangon, protesters chanted, “Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win” and held banners reading “Against military dictatorship.” Bystanders offered them food and water.Many in the crowds wore red, the color of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) which won Nov. 8 elections in a landslide, a result the generals have refused to recognize, claiming fraud.Riot police line up during a protest against the military coup demanding the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 6, 2021.Thousands marched on Yangon’s City Hall. Drivers honked horns and leaned out of their cars and raised the three-finger salute, a gesture returned by protesters. Some of them held up NLD flags or pictures of Suu Kyi and clapped and danced.By evening, the protesters had mostly dispersed. But for a fifth night, a cacophony rose in the darkness as people banged on pots, pans and drums in a show of resistance even as power cuts affected many districts of the city.Thousands more took to the streets in Myanmar’s second city Mandalay and its military-built capital Naypyidaw, home to the nation’s government servants, where demonstrators chanted anti-coup slogans and called for Suu Kyi’s release.The protests built despite a blockade of the internet imposed after demonstrators first began to gather. All day, the state-run broadcaster MRTV showed scenes praising the military.Internet Shutdown in Myanmar as Thousands ProtestIt was the biggest street demonstration seen yet since this week’s coupMonitoring group NetBlocks Internet Observatory reported a “national-scale internet blackout,” saying on Twitter that connectivity had fallen to 16% of usual levels.The junta did not respond to requests for comment. It extended a social media crackdown to Twitter and Instagram after seeking to silence dissent by blocking Facebook , which counts half of the population as users.Facebook urged the junta to unblock social media.”At this critical time, the people of Myanmar need access to important information and to be able to communicate with their loved ones,” Facebook’s head of public policy for Asia-Pacific emerging countries, Rafael Frankel, said in a statement.The United Nations human rights office said on Twitter that “internet and communication services must be fully restored to ensure freedom of expression and access to information.”Norwegian mobile network provider Telenor ASA said authorities had ordered all mobile operators to temporarily shut down the data network, although voice and SMS services remained open.Myanmar civil society groups appealed to internet providers to resist the junta’s orders, saying in a joint statement they were “essentially legitimizing the military’s authority.”Telenor said it regretted the impact of the shutdown on the people of Myanmar but said it was bound by local law and its first priority was the safety of its local workers.Myanmar Residents, Expats Voice Dismay Over CoupResistance to the coup is growing despite the military government’s decision to block access to Facebook, which is how most people access the internet in Myanmar; anger is quickly setting inInternational falloutArmy chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power alleging fraud, although the electoral commission says it has found no evidence of widespread irregularities in the November vote.The junta announced a one-year state of emergency and has promised to hand over power after new elections, without giving a timeframe.Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, 75, has been charged with illegally importing six walkie-talkies, while ousted President Win Myint is accused of flouting COVID-19 restrictions. Neither has been seen since the coup. Their lawyer said they were being held in their homes.NLD member Aung Moe Nyo, chief minister of the Magway region, said on Facebook before the shutdown: “It is not OK to let the country fall under junta government. I am very much thankful to those who oppose this, to those government staff who oppose this. This act is to save the country.”Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Suu Kyi, said in a message to Reuters on Saturday he was being detained.Australia’s government, without naming Turnell, said it had summoned the Myanmar ambassador to register “deep concern” over the arbitrary detention of Australian and other foreign nationals in Myanmar.A civil disobedience movement has been building in Myanmar all week, with doctors and teachers among those refusing to work. Every night people bang pots and pans in a show of anger.The protests in Yangon would resume on Sunday, demonstrators said. One, who asked not to be named, said: “We will go and protest again tomorrow. If they arrest one person, we will try to pile in and fill up the truck as a group.”The coup has sparked international outrage, with the United States considering sanctions against the generals and the U.N. Security Council calling for the release of all detainees.It has also deepened tensions between the United States and China, which has close links to Myanmar’s military. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in a phone call on Friday to condemn the coup, the State Department said.The generals have few overseas interests vulnerable to sanctions but the military’s extensive business investments could suffer if foreign partners leave – as Japanese drinks company Kirin Holdings said it would on Friday.Suu Kyi spent 15 years under house arrest after leading pro-democracy protests against the long-ruling military junta in 1988.After sharing power with a civilian government, the army began democratic reforms in 2011. That led to the election of the NLD in a landslide victory four years later. November’s election was meant to solidify a troubled democratic transition.
…

your ad here

The Myanmar military shut down the internet in the country on Saturday as thousands of people protested in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.It was the biggest street demonstration seen yet since this week’s coup.As the protests swelled, witnesses reported a shutdown of mobile data services and Wi-Fi.Earlier, the military ordered mobile operators and internet providers to block access to Twitter and Instagram.A temporary ban had already been put on Facebook, which counts half of the country’s 54 million population as users.Before the shutdown, hashtag #SaveMyanmar and #RespectOurVotes were trending, and many were using the platform to voice their opposition to the military coup.The Ministry of Communications and Information did not immediately answer a request for comment but said previously it had blocked Facebook for the sake of “stability.”A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the block on Instagram to Reuters.A spokesperson for Twitter said, “we will continue to advocate to end destructive government-led shutdowns.”Norwegian telecom Telenor, one of the largest in Myanmar, expressed its concern in a statement and said it had challenged the necessity of the order to authorities.For the fourth consecutive night, Yangon residents banged pots and pans to show resistance against the military takeover and “drive out evil spirits.”There were signs of coup opponents growing bolder on Friday.Staff from various government ministries put on red ribbons in the capital Naypyitaw and some teachers at a university in Yangon refused to work and held a three-finger salute as a symbol of resistance, borrowed from the Hunger Games film series.On Saturday, Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Suu Kyi, said in a message to Reuters he was being detained.This is the first known arrest of a foreign national in Myanmar since the army generals seized power on Monday alleging fraud in the November election.Suu Kyi and at least 147 people have been detained since the coup, including activists, lawmakers and officials from her government.That’s according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
…

your ad here

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Beijing on its treatment of Uighurs, Tibetans and Hong Kong in the first conversation between top officials of the two powers since President Joe Biden took office.   “I made clear the U.S. will defend our national interests, stand up for our democratic values, and hold Beijing accountable for its abuses of the international system,” Blinken said on Twitter of his call with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi.   Blinken told Yang that the United States “will continue to stand up for human rights and democratic values, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong,” a State Department statement said of the call, which took place Friday, Washington time.   Blinken also “pressed China to join the international community in condemning the military coup in Burma,” it said, using the former name of Myanmar.   The top U.S. diplomat said the United States would hold Beijing “accountable for its efforts to threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait, and its undermining of the rules-based international system.”   The tough tone comes after Blinken in his confirmation hearing said he would continue former president Donald Trump’s approach to China in a rare point of agreement between the two administrations.   Blinken has said he agrees with a determination by the State Department under Trump that Beijing is carrying out genocide in the western region of Xinjiang, where rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been rounded up in camps.   Beijing has also ramped up a crackdown in Hong Kong, arresting leading activists, after imposing a new law against subversion following major protests in the financial hub to which it had guaranteed a separate system.   Biden nonetheless offered a small olive branch during a speech on foreign policy on Thursday, saying that while the United states will “confront” China, “We are ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America’s interest to do so.”   Blinken has previously spoken of climate change as an area of cooperation as China and the United State are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases.   Beijing has long enjoyed a privileged relationship with Myanmar, supporting the junta that gave way to democracy a decade ago with U.S. support.   The military in the Southeast Asian nation this week carried out a coup, arresting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in what Chinese state media described as “a major cabinet reshuffle.”   Biden, who has vowed to promote democracy worldwide after Trump’s flirtations with autocratic leaders, strongly condemned the coup and threatened sanctions if the military did not relinquish power.      
…

your ad here

“It was my birthday on Monday [February 1] and my partner woke me up and said Suu Kyi has been detained, the military has taken over, and the first thing I did was cry,” said Shona Cannon, a British national who has been teaching in Yangon for nearly two years.Early Monday, Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, many of her cabinet members, student leaders, monks, bloggers, writers and dissidents were detained by the country’s military leaders following allegations of fraud in the November election, won by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) — a result the military does not accept.A number of expatriates and locals living in Yangon have spoken to VOA about their reaction to the coup. Some have used pseudonyms for fear of retaliation by the government.“It still hasn’t sunk in what has happened. I feel I can say that I know the people here. I have a lot of Burmese friends and I’m heartbroken for them,” said Cannon.She said all her local friends support Suu Kyi’s NLD, and that she had witnessed people campaigning tirelessly to ensure the party’s victory last year.“A lot of my students are all taking part in the civil disobedience movement,” she said, referring to a pro-democracy campaign involving socially distanced demonstrations, strikes and boycotts in response to the coup.“I’ve got students that are doctors, nurses and engineers,” she said. “You know, we are hearing the pots and pans at night; everyone feels shattered from it. They are all broken.”New tacticsDissidents and activists started the disobedience movement as a way for citizens to voice their rejection of the military takeover.Spurred on by medical workers striking to protest the coup and urging NLD supporters to do the same, the campaign is a new form of political activism for the country. Instead of protesting in large crowds on the street — a response to previous coups that almost always ended in bloodshed — people are abiding by COVID-19 safety measures by staying at home, campaigning on social media and banging pots and pans in their own neighborhoods.Supporters give roses to police while four arrested activists make a court appearance in Mandalay, Myanmar, Feb. 5, 2021.Laura Maiah, a medical doctor working in one of Yangon’s general hospitals who studies English part time, told VOA, “As a citizen of Myanmar, we want peace, justice, democracy and an NLD leader who can develop our country in the same way that other countries have.”In recent times, the NLD has gained widespread support not only from the medical community in Myanmar but also from broader swaths of society during the COVID-19 pandemic, which the NLD has been praised for battling.The NLD has improved international relations, the economy and the education sector, which have all had positive effects on the country and are the main reasons for its landslide victory in the last election. However, it has been criticized internationally for the government’s failure to deal with the military’s human rights abuses against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state.Communications, media blackoutsResistance to the coup is growing despite the military government’s decision to block access to Facebook, which is how most people access the internet in Myanmar.The Ministry of Communications and Information said in a statement that the social media giant would be blocked until Sunday in order to keep “stability” in the country.Unlike media and communications blackouts during prior coups, citizens with adequate financial means have rushed to purchase VPNs (virtual private networks) in recent days to circumvent the block.Min Nyi Nyi Kon, center left, Pyae Sone Aung, right, Ye Win Tun, left, and Saw Oak Kar Oo, center right, show a salute of protest during their court appearance in Mandalay, Myanmar, Feb. 5, 2021.Although Facebook removed several accounts linked to Myanmar’s military in 2018, including that of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, rumors are circulating that military government officials themselves still rely on Facebook’s Messenger app as a primary means of communication.Facebook service disruptions have nonetheless persisted since late Wednesday night.“Telecom providers in Myanmar have been ordered to temporarily block [our platform],” Facebook said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information.”Maung Aung, a local journalist and editor working for a prominent news publication in Yangon, who asked VOA to withhold his real name so that he could speak candidly without fear of retaliation, said, “I am sad to again witness the dark legacy of this country perpetuated again by the seizure of power based on unsubstantiated voter fraud.”The coup is “purely motivated by the power and greed of army chief Min Aung Hlaing,” he said.Aung told VOA that the coup sets a negative precedent for the country, proving that the military can intervene in the country’s electoral process despite recent democratic gains.Legacy of sanctionsAlthough U.S. President Joe Biden is threatening to impose targeted sanctions on wealthy members of Myanmar’s junta, many citizens hope Western governments will take a different approach. U.S. sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders steadily tightened after Washington first applied them in 1998 in response to a violent military crackdown on street protests.Teachers from Yangon University of Education wear red ribbons and pose with a three-finger salute as they take part in demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 5, 2021.U.S. sanctions eased after reforms by Myanmar President Thein Sein and the release of Suu Kyi from detention, but former President Donald Trump in 2019 introduced new sanctions over the extrajudicial killings of Rohingya Muslims.Wealthy junta generals, say some observers in Yangon, have long proven adept at deflecting international pressure.Prior sanctions, they say, have harmed some of the very civilians now struggling with the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.While no one can predict what coming weeks will bring for the people of Myanmar, their shock appears to be wearing off and anger is quickly setting in.The Associated Press contributed to this report.    
…

your ad here

One coup. One country. Two names?Myanmar is the official name of the country upended by a military coup this week. In official documents issued by the Biden administration, the country with beaches on the Andaman Sea is Burma.And whenever the country is in the news, the question of what’s in a name returns.“Our official policy is that we say ‘Burma’ but use ‘Myanmar’ as a courtesy in certain communications,” Jen Psaki, the White House spokesperson, said when asked to address the issue during a press conference this week. “So, for example, the embassy website refers to Burma — Myanmar because they are by definition dealing with officials and the public. The State Department website uses ‘Burma (Myanmar)’ in some places and ‘Burma’ in others.”How it beganThe conundrum emerged in 1989 when the ruling military government changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar after quashing a pro-democracy uprising by killing thousands of people. The military changed the name of Rangoon, the nation’s major city, to Yangon at the same time.The military government believes that the term Burma only covers Burman, the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, and does not include the other 134 ethnic minority groups. The military position is that if the name of the main ethnic group is used as the name of the country, it would be racially discriminatory, according to the FILE – Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Shwedegon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple founded between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, in Yangon, Myanmar, Dec. 1, 2011.Decades later, when Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, visited in 2011, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told Agence France-Presse that U.S. policy believed that “any change of the name of a country should be a decision” for its people, according to the FILE – People eat at a restaurant along a street in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 18, 2013.The two words mean the same thing, and one is derived from the other. Burmah, as it was spelled in the 19th century, is a local corruption of the word Myanmar, according to the BBC.They have both been used within Burma for a long time, anthropologist Gustaaf Houtman, who has written extensively about Burmese politics, told the BBC.The situation now is that the Burmese verbally refer to their country as Burma, but generally use the term Myanmar in official written documents.Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counselor and democratic movement leader who is currently in custody, has publicly stated that she likes to call her country Burma.’Will of the people’In her speech at the Singapore Summit in September 2013, she said, “I have explained very often that the main reason why I prefer to use Burma is because the name change was made without reference to the will of the people. To me, that’s basic. We have to respect the people. We have to respect the will of the people if we truly want to make the transition to a democratic society.”  “Democracy means choice, widening choice, making our choice more varied and making choice more accessible to more of us,” she said.After becoming the counselor of the state in 2016, she again emphasized that there is no explicit stipulation in the national constitution on which name must be used, so foreign countries can choose either of these two names at will.She said that while she uses Burma, others need not, and at times, she also uses Myanmar.  
…

your ad here

As the Biden administration contemplates a return to Obama-era policies in the Middle East – from the Iran nuclear deal to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — it is finding those policies complicated by China’s rising role as an influential political player throughout the region.China became the largest trading partner of Arab countries in the first half of 2020 with two-way trade of more than $115 billion. It has established strategic partnerships or a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with 12 Arab nations.A recent survey conducted in the region found China is viewed more favorably than the United States. Arab Barometer, a research network based at Princeton University, polled citizens in six countries in the Middle East — Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia — to gauge their attitudes toward China and the U.S. “The survey results make clear that Arab publics prefer China,” the organization said.China’s government has made its “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative a key part of its regional outreach. Although the U.S. still criticizes the plan for extending loans that some countries may struggle to repay, 18 nations have joined including Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the region.Through this trillion-dollar initiative, China has invested throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. “To connect all these places, China is very active in building or helping to build or helping to finance ports and military bases and just striking up strong economic and strategic partnerships with the countries of the greater Middle East,” Robert D. Kaplan, chair in geopolitics at the Pennsylvania-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, told VOA in a telephone interview.By linking Europe with East Asia through the Middle East, China could dominate Afro-Eurasia trading routes —what the great British geographer Halford Mackinder labeled the “World-Island,” said Kaplan.The U.S. regional withdrawalThe last two decades have seen Washington escalating and then winding down its presence in the Middle East and southwest Asia. After years of grinding wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for foreign military engagements in the region has dropped among members of both U.S. political parties.Former President Barack Obama once described the region as beset by conflicts going back millennia, while Donald Trump repeatedly advocated that the U.S. should leave behind the “forever wars.””I think that the Americans have been complaining and Americans in the national security community have been complaining for two or three decades now that the Middle East is a distraction from the things that we really need to commit to it,” said Robert Farley, a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky, in a telephone interview with VOA. Patterson is with the university’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.Analysts say the fierce competition between China and the U.S. has reinforced Washington’s desire to reduce the strategic importance of the Middle East, which some have been pushing for since the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia” 10 years ago.Kaplan argued that as Beijing fills the Middle East vacuum, it will eventually pose a threat to the U.S.”It’s a threat because most of the talk in Washington over the past few years is that we need to withdraw from the Middle East, because we’ve been engaged there in the so-called endless wars. And if we truly withdraw, or even partially withdraw from the Middle East, that will open up a vast avenue of opportunity for the Chinese,” Kaplan told VOA.Iran – China’s footholdWhile China is happy to work with both foes and friends of Washington in the region, its tie to Iran holds particular significance for both countries. Burdened by sanctions and deepening isolation on the world stage, Tehran has turned to China for economic and military support while Beijing looks for cheaper energy resources.After a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two countries established a so-called Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, giving China a foothold in a region that has been a strategic preoccupation of the United States for decades.Wojciech Michnik is an assistant professor of international relations and security studies at Poland’s Jagiellonian University. He said among the influential powers in the Middle East, Iran is China’s natural partner.“Iran is quite an important power, especially after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the fallout of the Saddam Hussein, Iran gained in terms of the relative power in the region. It has been using its proxies from Syria to Yemen,” Michnik told VOA.China is currently Iran’s largest trading partner and oil buyer, as well as Iran’s largest export market for non-oil products and an important source of foreign investment.  Bilateral trade was only about $400 million in 1994 but increased to $2.48 billion in 2000. By 2019, according to data release by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the value reached more than $23 billion, an increase of nearly 10 times.With the change in the U.S. administration and Washington’s policy on the Iran nuclear agreement, the two governments have recently recommitted to strengthening their relationship.Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is the speaker of Iran’s hardliner-dominated parliament. Last month, he told Li Zhanshu of China’s National People’s Congress that “ties between Tehran and Beijing are not and will not be affected by the international conditions” and will continue to deepen.Engagement redefinedWhile experts doubt the United States will be disengaging in any substantial way from the Middle East, Washington’s interests are likely shifting from a focus on terrorism to China’s growing regional influence.”Yes, we do need to confront China, but now we need to pay attention to the Middle East, not because of terrorism, but rather because of China’s growing influence in Iran, of China’s developing relationship with Saudi Arabia, and so forth,” said Farley, who was also a visiting professor at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.He said that shift in thinking is reflected in other parts of the U.S. national security community, where analysts have begun to redefine what American engagement means in the context of China’s robust foreign diplomacy.  
…

your ad here

Australia’s prime minister said he invited President Joe Biden to visit in September during a very warm and engaging phone call between the two leaders on Thursday.
He sees the Australia-U.S. relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region,'' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.And that is true. We share that view. In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there’s nothing to fix there, only things to build on.”
The White House later said Biden described Australia as an anchor of stability in the Indo-Pacific and the world.''They also agreed to work together, alongside other allies and partners, to hold to account those responsible for the coup in Burma,” the White House statement said, referring to the country also known as Myanmar.
The leaders affirmed their commitment to working together to advance our shared values, global security and prosperity,'' it added.  
Morrison invited Biden to visit Australia to mark the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, a defense agreement that once included New Zealand and was signed on Sept. 1, 1950.
Morrison said Biden reacted positively to the invitation.He told me he needs no special reason to come to Australia, he loves the place,” Morrison said.
But they (Biden and first lady Jill Biden) would very much like to be in Australia at some point, and we'll see how that progresses.''
American presidents making the 15,900-kilometer (9,900-mile) flight between the two national capitals typically incorporate visits to Asia or Southeast Asian capitals.
Diplomatic travel has been virtually halted around the world by the coronavirus pandemic, but success in vaccinating people would allow for such trips to resume.
Australia has made exemptions to its own strict travel restrictions for important allies.
Australia's defense and foreign ministers highlighted the importance of the U.S. relationship by flying to Washington, D.C., for an annual bilateral meeting in July. They had to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks on their return.
Morrison's only overseas trip of the pandemic was to meet Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in November. He also had to quarantine on his return.
Morrison said his conversation with the president also covered the alliance the two nations share with Japan and India known as the Quad as well as the Five-Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership that includes, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. They also discussed the pandemic and climate change.
Morrison said he did not expect a change in U.S.-direction on China under the Biden administration.I think in the United States, Australia has, and remains to have, a very, very strong and effective partner on these issues of Indo-Pacific security,” Morrison said.
The last U.S. president to visit Australia was Barack Obama.  
Australia had an occasionally troubled relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration, with friction over an Obama-era deal for the U.S. to take Muslim refugees refused entry to Australia and differences over U.S. steel tariffs.
Australia’s then-Prime Minister John Howard was in Washington, D.C., marking the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty when terrorists struck the Pentagon and New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
Australia responded by committing combat troops to the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
…

your ad here

After three years of negotiations with the late controversial art collector Douglas Latchford and his family, more than 100 Cambodian artifacts will be returned to Cambodia, according to the government.How Latchford, a British art collector and co-author of three books on Cambodian art and antiques, built his collection was a topic of art world speculation. He faced accusations of trafficking the artifacts to his homes in Bangkok and London. In November 2019, federal prosecutors in New York City charged Latchford with falsifying the provenance, invoices and shipping documents to transport valuable Khmer-era relics to private collections, museums and auction houses across the world.At the time, FILE – Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat ancient Hindu temple complex stands in Siem Reap province, some 230 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 28, 2012.The first shipment of five artifacts is expected to arrive in late February or early March. Cambodian authorities anticipate these will include a 10th-century sandstone sculpture of Hindu deities Shiva and Skanda, a 12th-century sandstone sculpture of Prajnaparamita – a female deity worshipped during the Khmer Empire – and a bronze statue of a male deity from the late 11th century.Kriangsak said she didn’t anticipate the complexity of the lengthy negotiations.“I am delighted that this complete collection, gathered over many decades, will be returned to their ancestral home in the Kingdom of Cambodia,” she said in the same Culture Ministry statement.In an interview with The New York Times published last week, Kriangsak skirted questions about the accusations and charges levelled against Latchford.“Despite what people say or accuse against Douglas, my father started his collection in a very different era, and his world has changed,” she FILE – Tourists visit the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia, March 14, 2018. Cambodia’s main tourist destination, Angkor Wat, was built between the 9th and 15th centuries.The indictment alleges that Latchford intentionally faked the provenance of antiquities that were the “product of looting, unauthorized excavation, and illicit smuggling” to encourage the sales and boost the prices of merchandise he was putting on the international market.United States federal law enforcement authorities worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in 2020 to return two statues that were confiscated from an auction house in California in 2017. The U.S. and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding to place import restrictions on archaeological artifacts being taken out of the country.Hab Touch, secretary of state in charge of illicit trafficking and restitution at Cambodia’s Culture Ministry, said the government had negotiated with Douglas before he died last year.“We had worked with [Kriangsak’s] father for a long time,” he said. “His daughter had the willingness and intention to return what she has got from her father to Cambodia.”The official did not comment on the accusations and charges against Latchford.Thuy Chanthourn, who has researched Cambodian artifacts for 30 years, said many artifacts were lost most recently during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980 but also during the late 1800s and early 1900s.“Our ancient objects are not only with Douglas. There are many in Thailand, England, the U.S. and France. They are privately owned,” he said.The artifact researcher claimed that Latchford did not steal the artifacts himself but that they were trafficked to Thailand, which is one of the biggest markets for Cambodian relics.Vong Sotheara, a professor of history at the state-run Royal University of Phnom Penh, said numerous Cambodian artifacts remained in private collections, with many people having small museums to display their antiques.“The rich and millionaires spend their money buying authentic old objects from Cambodia as a hobby,” he said, adding that it was a long process to prove the provenance of these objects so they could be returned to Cambodia.
…

your ad here

Internet providers in Myanmar, including state-owned telecom MPT, were blocking access to Facebook Inc.-owned services in the country on Thursday, days after military leaders seized power in a coup.A letter posted online by the Ministry of Communications and Information overnight said Facebook would be blocked until February 7 for the sake of “stability.”Some users in Myanmar reported they were not able to access several Facebook services.Network monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed state-owned telecom MPT, which says it has 23 million users, had blocked Facebook as well as its Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp services.Norway’s Telenor Asa said it had just blocked Facebook to comply with the directive.Facebook spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged the disruption.”We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with their families and friends and access important information,” he said.Half of population affectedHalf of Myanmar’s 53 million people use Facebook, which for many is synonymous with the internet.”Currently, the people who are troubling the country’s stability … are spreading fake news and misinformation and causing misunderstanding among people by using Facebook,” the ministry letter said.Telenor expressed “grave concern” about the directive, which it said had been received by all mobile operators and internet service providers on Wednesday.It said in a statement it was directing users to a message saying Facebook websites cannot be reached because of a government order.”While the directive has legal basis in Myanmar law, Telenor does not believe that the request is based on necessity and proportionality, in accordance with international human rights law,” it said.On Tuesday, the military warned against the posting of what it said were rumors on social media that could incite rioting and cause instability.U.N. human rights investigators have previously said hate speech on Facebook had played a key role in fomenting violence in Myanmar. The company has said it was too slow to act in preventing misinformation and hate in the country.This week, Facebook said it was treating the situation in Myanmar as an emergency and taking temporary measures to protect against harm such as removing content that praises or supports the coup, according to a spokeswoman. 
…

your ad here

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) international team of investigators Wednesday visited a virology laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan, a research center that has been the subject of speculation about the origin of COVID-19.  
The team spent about three-and-a-half hours at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When asked by reporters if they found anything, one off the researchers called from her car as it sped away, “Very interesting. Many questions.”  
The institute is the subject of conspiracy theories that speculate a laboratory leak caused the city’s first coronavirus outbreak in the city. Most scientists reject the hypothesis, but some speculate that a virus captured from the wild could have figured into experiments at the lab to test the risks to humans, and then escaped.  
Scientists called for the lab to release details of all coronavirus samples studied there to investigate those theories.
The lab visit came on day six of the mission to explore the origins of the virus that first appeared in the central China city at the end of the 2019 and has since killed more than 2.2 million people worldwide.  
WHO officials, including members of the team, have tried to manage expectations for the mission and have played down the chances of finding any definitive answers on this trip, including how the virus jumped from animals to humans.
But in an interview Tuesday, with Britain’s Sky News, team member and disease ecology expert Peter Daszak said the investigators have seen data that has not been seen before and the team is “really getting somewhere” in their effort to find the source of the virus.  
He said, “We will, at the end of this mission, produce a report, which will have some indications of what you know, what the most likely scenarios are, and also some suggestions and really strong indications of what work needs to be done in the next few weeks and months to really get a grip of that.”
…

your ad here

Authorities in Myanmar have filed charges against detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating import-export laws. A press officer for her National League for Democracy party said Wednesday on his official Facebook page that Aung San Suu Kyi was ordered to be held for two weeks. She was detained along with other leaders, including President Win Myint, on Monday as the military seized power. The NLD party also said in a statement Wednesday authorities had raided its offices in multiple regions of the country. Foreign ministers from the G-7 group of nations on Wednesday condemned the coup.   “We are deeply concerned by the detention of political leaders and civil society activists, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, and targeting of the media,” the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States said in a statement.    G-7 Condemns Myanmar Coup Foreign ministers add to calls for military to release detained political leaders They called on Myanmar’s military to end its declared state of emergency and to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to support the most vulnerable people in the country.    “The November election results must be respected and Parliament should be convened at the earliest opportunity,” the G-7 ministers said.    Medical workers protest coup
Wednesday also brought a work stoppage by staff at 70 hospitals and medical departments in 30 towns to protest the coup.    
A statement from the newly formed Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement said the army had put its own interests above a population facing hardships during the pandemic that has killed more than 3,100 people in Myanmar. Medical workers wearing red ribbons pose during a protest against the coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon General Hospital in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2021.A U.S. State Department official told reporters Tuesday the government had officially declared the military takeover earlier this week a coup, a designation that “triggers certain restrictions on foreign assistance to the government.”    The official said the United States “will take action against those responsible,” but will continue programs that help the country’s citizens, including humanitarian assistance and democracy support initiatives.      Myanmar’s military stand guard at a checkpoint manned with an armored vehicles blocking a road leading to the parliament building Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.Year-long state of emergency
The Myanmar military said its seizure, set to last one year, was necessary because the government had not acted on claims of voter fraud in November elections that were overwhelmingly won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party.  A new session of parliament had been due to begin Monday.      U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the United States will need “the help of our friends and allies” to pressure Myanmar’s military.    “It is time for freedom-loving nations to stand up for democracy and impose their own meaningful costs on the military junta,” McConnell said.      I’ve had good conversations with People walk at a market after the army seized power in a coup in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 2, 2021.Myanmar history
A British colony until 1948, Myanmar was ruled by dictators backed by the military from 1962 to 2010.                    An uprising in 1988 pushed for an election in 1990, which the NLD party won in a landslide, but the elected members of parliament were imprisoned, and the dictatorship continued.                     Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, who was assassinated in 1947, emerged as a leader in the pro-democracy rallies and in the NLD. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest.                In 2010, Senior General Than Shwe announced the country would be handed over to civilian leaders, who included retired generals. They freed political prisoners, including the lawmakers from the National League for Democracy, and Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected in a 2012 by-election and later became the state counsellor of Myanmar.              FILE – Aung San Suu Kyi attends a hearing in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, at the International Court of Justice, Dec.10, 2019.But Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, while popular among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, has seen her international reputation decline over her government’s treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.                  In 2017, an Army crackdown against the Rohingya, sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state, led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity. State Department correspondent Nike Ching  contributed to this report.
…

your ad here