"In the talks the chief adviser has proposed to extend the proposed road-link up to China," foreign adviser Dr Iftekhar told a press briefing after the talks.

"We have also proposed to have a tripartite meeting involving China and our two countries. Myanmar side said that they would let us know about their decision after exploring the feasibility as, according to them, there are issues of resource mobilisation," he added.

Asked about tentative date for the construction of the 23-km road connecting Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said it would be clear after tomorrow's meeting with Communications Advisor Maj Gen (retd) Golam Quader. Bangladesh earlier pledged to provide financial support for the 20.3 million road.

He said that the chief adviser requested the Myanmar side to resolve the  issue of the maritime boundary through further talks and both sides agreed on it. "We have requested the Myanmar general to use his political clout to solve the problem and to provide the required political direction."

Responding to a question on this issue foreign secretary Touhidur Rahman said that Myanmar was not engaged in any kind of exploration in the areas, which Bangladesh claimed as its own.

Myanmar agreed to Bangladesh proposal to increase the quantum of export of rice to one-lakh ton from 50,000 on a regular basis. It was decided that the commerce ministries of the two countries will finalise the matter in a couple of days.

Bangladesh also proposed to import gas from Myanmar through a pipeline to use it for producing fertiliser to be exported to Myanmar to meet its demand. They responded positively to the proposal Foreign adviser said that both sides agreed to resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis. "Presently 21 thousand Rohinga refugees are staying in Bangladesh and we have proposed to repatriate them immediately through a tripartite mechanism involving Myanmar, UNHRC and Bangladesh," he said adding that the Myanmar side agreed to resolve the problem through further talks.

The meeting also stressed the need for boosting the bilateral trade from the present 140 millions dollar to 500 million dollar.

"In this connection we have agreed to increase import of fresh fish from Myanmar and to increase exports of pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh. These will be finalised through further talks between the commerce ministries and the private sector delegations between the two countries," he said.

Following the meeting an agreement on avoiding double taxation was signed between the two countries.

Replying to a question, the foreign adviser said that since the issue of contract farming in Myanmar land by Bangladeshi farmers was a complicated one it would require further discussions.

Asked to detail the nature of cooperation between the armies of the two countries, he said that the areas of such cooperation are training, exchange of visits and best practices.

He said that in recent years the relations between the two countries reached a new height and it is expected that it would be warmer further after the visit of the high profile 55 member Myanmar delegation including involving six ministers.

Press Secretary to the chief adviser Syed Fahim Munaim was present at the briefing and later told newsmen that the attitude of the Myanmar side was very positive.

Agencies add: The chief adviser, Dr Chowdhury said, proposed inclusion of China in the road link project for tripartite benefit while General Maung Aye assured him of considering the proposal.

The foreign adviser said, Dr Fakhruddin also proposed direct air link between Dhaka and Yangon alongside the road connectivity for increased trade relations.

If the Burmese citizens thought that the cyclone had taken whatever they had, they would have been further horror struck to know that the worst was still to come. With poor aid distribution and several dead bodies unattended to, the military dictatorship used this situation to enforce the constitutional referendum formulated to reinstate the military order in Myanmar (Burma). Thus, in the course of it, they barred aid distributors and local donors from doing their work. How well a country copes with a natural disaster completely depends on how deftly and efficiently it handles the distribution of aid. But what can one say when the government shows disregard for everything but its objectives? Reports also claimed that there were names of military generals on the aid boxes for propaganda purposes. The homeless who sought shelter in schools were evicted from those places and the schools were turned into polling booths. Not surprisingly, people did vote, not even conscious of what they were voting for, but with a fear of facing the wrath of the military government. Villagers in and around Yangon could not even muster the courage to speak about the elections. The stench of dead bodies still lingers in the devastated Irrawaddy delta and cholera, diarrhoea are on the verge of breaking out if clean water is not provided. With phone lines down, prices soaring high and food supply becoming scarce, the population now suffers the oppression of the government finding no respite from their misery.

Myanmar since the last fourteen years has been under the iron-fisted rule of the military government, with military generals heading significant ministries. It is a closed country which allows very little foreign support and exercises strict censorship of media. However, the tropical cyclone that struck the country on May 2, 2008, leaving millions homeless and more than 22,000 dead had forced the government to open up for aid. Having already confronted international opprobrium for suppressing the peaceful uprising by monks last year and sanctions imposed by the US and other western nations with the UN’s recommendation, Myanmar’s political situation has been further deteriorating. The opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was kept under house arrest for several years too has been affected by the cyclone and her house was reported to have been damaged. The cyclone seems to have shaken one and all but failed to uproot the determination of the repressive rulers.

The frequent punctuations in the speedy dispatch of aid by this government not only heightens the tragic effects of the cyclone but leaves very little scope for hope amongst the Burmese. In such a case the storm is not the only disaster, but an even more catastrophic man made disaster is to take place due to the junta’s actions in Burma.

The communications ministry has already requested the foreign affairs ministry to seek opinions of the Myanmar authorities in this regard, said a senior official concerned.

Dhaka may take up the issue of the proposed direct road link between the two neighbours for discussion with the vice-senior general Maung Aye, the vice-chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, who is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka this morning on a three-day official visit.

"The survey on the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar link road will begin soon" The construction work may begin in the middle of 2008," the communications secretary, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, told New Age in his office on Monday.

The contract for conducting the study and cost estimation of the trans-boundary road by March 2009 will be signed soon as the evaluation of the proposals was under process, official sources in the communications ministry said, adding that five consulting firms were short-listed for proposal submission.

Eight firms submitted expression of interest for the survey in response to the advertisement by the Roads and Highways Department.

The interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed after assuming office in January 2007 expedited the previous government's move to establish the direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar to boost trade and commerce between the two neighbours.

The Planning Commission on March 10, 2008 approved an estimated fund of Tk 4.97 crore for the survey.

The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar earlier signed a memorandum of understanding on April 4, 2004 to initially construct the 25km link road two kilometres in Bangladesh and 23 kilometres in Myanmar at an estimated cost of Tk 195.85 crore.

Later in July 2007, the two governments signed another agreement on the proposed road communication between Myanmar and Bangladesh, to be financed by Dhaka.

The project area includes Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and the Arakan province of Myanmar. As per the memorandum of understanding, two task forces ‘technical and financial' were commissioned for the proposed link road.

The Bangladesh-Myanmar Direct Link Road Project has been initiated by communications ministry of the government of Bangladesh and the Roads and Highways Department is the implementing authority of the project.

L'articolo continua sul nuovo numero di LibMagazine.

Though the story is set in Burma (or Myanmar) I would call it her "least Asian" book to date. She does great justice to the physical and cultural beauty of the country, but I think the political turmoil there is rather confusing and too serious to lend itself to Tan's style of book. As always, I love how Tan weaves humor into the cultural misunderstandings -- one of her strongest points as a writer -- but again, I think that's where the Burma piece doesn't work as well. To make light of individuals who misinterpret each other is one thing; to try to apply that same lightness to people who are killed, raped, tortured, and otherwise hurt by a military regime is... awkward. I think she was trying to do a good thing, by bringing awareness about the problems there, but at the end of the book, I realized that there was no positive way to conclude that aspect of the story, and thus I had to question everything else in the book. It's like...

Despite all that, I found a great number of quotes and passages that I liked. Seems a little contradicting, I know, but like I said, I DID still enjoy the book! Mostly. Like over half of it. Just not so much towards the end...

Anyway, because there are so many, I will put the majority of them under the cut. Enjoy:

From what I have observed, when the anesthesia of love wears off, there is always the pain of consequences. You don't have to be stupid to marry the wrong man. (p 15)

I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I had placed them. (p 30)

"Can we discuss this more rationally?" Ver said. My dear friend despised hearing people use sexual expletives for emphasis. Invoke religion instead, she'd say to those in her organization--use the "damn" and "God Almighty" that show strength of conviction. Use the f-word for what it was intended, the deep-down guttural pleasure of sex. And don't bring it into arguments where hearts and brains should prevail. She was known to have kicked people off projects at work for lesser linguistic offenses. She observed that Dwight was smart and abrasive, and this combination was worse than being simply stupid and annoying. It made people want to pummel him to bits, though they might have agreed with some of what he had to say. (p 36)

Passionate people create too many problems: They are reckless. They endanger others in their pursuit of fetishes and infatuations. And they self-agitate when it is better to simply relax and let matters be. (p 43-44)

In China, many notions previously thought to be impossible could not be so easily dismissed. (p 124)

I just never saw the point in spending days and days reading stories only to disturb myself with problems I was powerless to fix. (p 146)

Let me hasten to add that although I was raised a Buddhist during childhood, it was a Chinese kind of Buddhism, which is a bit of this, that, and the other--ancestor worship, a belief in ghosts, bad fate, and all the frightful things. But it was not the Burmese version that desires nothing. With our kind of Buddhism, we desired everything--riches, fame, good luck at gambling, a large number of sons, good dishes to eat with rare ingredients and subtle flavors, and first place in anything and not just honorable mention. (p 147)

Off in the distance, Wendy and Wyatt saw a shady path leading into a forest of bamboo, and strolled hand in hand. Wendy had not yet recovered from her perceived rejection by Wyatt, but she pretended that all was fine. She chatted and flirted, yet she had a sick pang of fear in her chest. She was looking for proof that he felt equally warm toward her, which was--well, it was hard to say, exactly, except that she knew he felt none of the uncertainty that she did. He was perfectly at ease with their being together, as he had been, she imagined, with every woman. Why was he not concerned whether he felt more for her than she for him? Why didn't he worry over whether he had given more than she had? Did he feel no risk of emotion? When her eyes began to sting with tears, she pretended a lash had caught under the lid, and she rubbed at her eye. He, in turn, raised her face to his, to see if he could help extract the offender. To see such concern from him filled her with even more desperation, and she wrapped her arms around him. He instinctively did what she craved. He kissed her, clutching her buttocks. And in joy, she blurted the forbidden words: "I love you."

To his credit, Wyatt continued to kiss Wendy, covering her mouth so that she did not utter anything more along those lines. He had been expecting her to say this, afraid she would. He liked Wendy a lot. She was fun most of the time, except when she was analyzing everything he said with those searching eyes. He didn't want to hurt her feelings. Also, they had another two weeks to go on this trip. Keep it steady. Keep it fun. (p 220-221)

Death was not a loss of life, but the culmination of a series of releases. (p 229)

I realized then that we miss so much of life while we are part of it. We fail to see ninety-nine percent of the glories of nature, for to do so would require vision that is simultaneously telescopic and microscopic. (p 251-252)

She needed his constant attention, the evidence that he adored her as much as she adored him, and she persisted because he had not yet said the actual word "love." She blew again. To see it from Wyatt's side, this childish play was suffocating. He wished Wendy would just enjoy the moment rather than work at it. He had found her so much more fun to be with when he first met her and she was so easygoing and did not demand attention but drew it naturally. (p 254)

"We've come to this beautiful place," Roxanne narrated, "and we've learned that within beauty, there is tragedy." (p 289)

It's amazing, isn't it, how easily people hand over the reins to those who presume power. Against their own intuition, they allow themselves to trust those who they feel should not be trusted. (p 299)

Through trial with death, you discover your power. Through trial, you shed your mortal flesh, layer after layer, until you become who you are supposed to be. If you die, you were mortal all long. But if you survive, you are a god. (p 313)

Alas, in every community that proposes to do good, there are always a few who do good mostly for themselves. (p 329)

It was a mundane life they'd led, but even the mundane was precious and he wanted it back. (p 368)

Putting her thoughts to paper freed her of some burden she never knew she carried. (p 458)

The book had been more difficult to write than she expected. The swirl of important ideas and powerful epiphanies seemed diminised on the page. They became fixed words and were no longer fresh internal debate. Still, she finished, and was excited and nervous to see what people would think, how her work might change their lives. It could have a ripple effect. She did not want to get her expectations up too high, yet writing about personal discovery could prove to be her calling.

And then she could not find a publisher. She kept sending out the manuscript and received only rejections or never heard back. It had been a waste of time to write the damn thing. She was going to throw it in the trash--it pained her to see it, this big lump of wasted time. But then she reconsidered. She was stronger than that. It wasn't a failure. She simply had not come out of the jungle yet. She needed perspective. She needed to revise her life before she could revise her book.

No more excuses about obligations. No more thinking she was indispensable. She bought a ticket for Paris. On the plane, she conjugated verbs that would soon have real meaning: Je crie au monde. J'ai crié au monde. Je crierai pour que le monde m'entende. I will shout to the world to hear me. (p 459)

Myanmar activists staged a protest Tuesday outside the Russian Embassy in Malaysia, calling on Moscow to scrap plans to help build a nuclear research centre in the military-ruled country.

But, today the US economic meltdown, assisted by unrestrained spending on an obsession, credit disaster, and campaign personality wars distract us from the task of altering that path leading to the wall we just crashed in to. The rest of the globe is positioning itself for advantage on the world stage.  Respect is measured by how dangerous you 'appear' to be.  Making deals to acquire nuclear capability is a crucial step toward credibility.  Appearances are everything.  Dictators of poor countries want to be respected by the 'big boys' and counted among the worthy in the nuclear street gang.  Street gang mentality is 'I have a gun, too' ...  Can you picture Myanmar with nuclear capability, beyond energy?  More attention should be directed to the pathway these capabilities are taking and more teeth are needed for the IAEA.

Nuclear bond for North Korea and Myanmar
By Norman Robespierre

YANGON - A recent flurry of high-level contacts between North Korea and Myanmar raises new nuclear proliferation concerns between the two pariah states, one of which already possesses nuclear-weapon capabilities and the other possibly aspiring.

At least three delegations led by flag-level officers from Myanmar's army have traveled to Pyongyang in the past three months, hot on the heels of the two sides' re-establishment last year of formal diplomatic relations. According to a source familiar with the travel itineraries of Myanmar officials, Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin visited North Korea in mid-September.

Before that, other Myanmar military delegations visited North Korea, including a group headed in August by Lieutenant General Tin Aye, chief of the Office of Chief Defense Industries, and another led in July by Lieutenant General Myint Hlaing, the chief of Air Defence.

The rapid-fire visits have gone beyond goodwill gestures and the normal diplomatic niceties of re-establishing ties. Rather, the personalities involved in the visits indicate that Myanmar is not only seeking weapons procurements, but also probable cooperation in establishing air defense weaponry, missiles, rockets or artillery production facilities.

The secretive visits are believed to entail a Myanmar quest for tunneling technology and possible assistance in developing its nascent nuclear program. Tin Aye and Myint Hlaing, by virtue of their positions as lieutenant generals, are logical choices to head official delegations in search of weapons technology for Myanmar's military, while Brigadier General Aung Thein Lin, current mayor of Yangon and chairman of the city's development committee, was formerly deputy minister of Industry-2, responsible for all industrial development in the country.

Constrained reaction
The United States' reaction to Myanmar's nuclear developments has been somewhat constrained, despite the George W Bush administration referring to the military-run country as an "outpost of tyranny".

... common interests have brought the two secretive nations back together. The famine in North Korea in the late 1990s and Myanmar's military expansion ambitions, including a drive for self-sufficiency in production, have fostered recent trade flows. While Myanmar has the agricultural surplus to ease North Korean hunger, Pyongyang possesses the weapons and technological know-how needed to boost Yangon's military might. There is also speculation Myanmar might provide uranium, mined in remote and difficult-to-monitor areas, to North Korea.

As testament to Pyongyang's willingness to supply weapons to the military regime, more North Korean ship visits have been noted at Thilawa port in Yangon, one of the country's primary receipt points for military cargo.

... Myanmar has publicly stated it seeks nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes, such as developing radio-isotopes for agricultural use and medical research. Yet two well-placed sources told this reporter that North Korean and Iranian technicians were already advising Myanmar on a possible secret nuclear effort, running in parallel to the aboveboard Russia-supported program. Asia Times Online could not independently confirm the claim.

The regime is also known to be interested in North Korea's tunneling technology (see Myanmar and North Korea share a tunnel vision, Asia Times Online, July 19, 2006) in line with the ruling junta's siege mentality and apparent fears of a possible US-led pre-emptive military attack.

As the true nature of the budding bilateral relationship comes into closer view, the risk is rising that Pyongyang and Yangon are conspiring to create a security quandary in Southeast Asia akin to the one now vexing the US and its allies on the Korean Peninsula.

UN CONCERN

There has been widespread speculation, and some skepticism, among U.N. diplomats about whether a nation such as Iran which is subject to U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program should — or could — win a seat on the same council that approved the sanctions.

The council voted unanimously as recently as Saturday to approve a resolution pressing Iran to suspend its enrichment of uranium and comply with efforts to monitor its nuclear development program. The resolution contained no new sanctions, but reaffirmed existing ones.

On Myanmar, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who traveled to the southeast Asian nation in May, has expressed deep frustration at the failure of its military junta to agree to efforts aimed at reforming itself.

Ban has been trying to encourage Myanmar to take real steps to include opponents led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest since her party overwhelmingly won a general election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power by the military.

Ibrahim Gambari, a special envoy for Ban, visited Myanmar in August but failed to see Suu Kyi, who declined to meet with him. Gambari has met with Suu Kyi seven times before.

"All the members of the council support the mediation efforts," Zhang said after the council finished meeting privately to set its monthly agenda.

He expressed hope that Myanmar "will continue its close communication" with Gambari to agree on a date for a visit.

Zhang was also asked about North Korea, which began disabling its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon under an aid-for-disarmament pact negotiated by six nations, but abruptly stopped in mid-August and has started to restore its disabled reactor.

North Korea cited Washington's refusal to remove it from a terrorism blacklist. The U.S. maintains that the pact requires North Korea to submit to a thorough verification of its nuclear accounting — a demand rejected by the North.

Burma's Nuke Take Away

Wrapped with

Mr Khan, Kim Jong II and Kremlin

Myanmar Gets a Russian Nuclear Reactor

Deal Vexes China's Efforts To Expand Its Influence By Courting Yangon

On state sovereignty, disarmament matters, world leaders urge solidarity over selectivity, as Assembly continues general debate

India ruling party hails historic nuclear deal

US Envoy Briefs China on North Korea Nuclear Talks

This is not a new development.  Somehow this nuclear relationship has not been worthy of US Mainstream Media.  Myanmar has been newsworthy only because of it's cyclone disaster, it's President under house arrest, it's Buddhist Monks slaughtered, its horrible junta.

Some blogs may have mentioned this concern, but right now, the focus is on the entertainment of US elections and personality bashing.

Enter another headache for the next US President.  If we just print more money and start a bonfire, we can forget the reason we are no longer Americans.  We are silent lambs who prefer to ignore where we are headed.  We can watch the pretty fire, roast marshmallows and ignore the noisemakers trying to put the fire out.

Small dictatorships pose bigger threats to world security than Russia, China, India and Pakistan. Israel and Iran are the most likely to pull the trigger first, using nukes as an excuse.

France urges Israel not to attack Iran

But NO, America is suffering from the consequences of a mis-directed administration.

A 28-year-old Burmese Buddhist monk, Ashin Pannasiri, has successfully escaped from Lantalang Prison in Chin State and arrived in Delhi, India, after 13 days.

Ashin Pannasiri said he climbed over two barbwire fences at about 1 am on September 16, when two security guards slept.

“When I climbed the posts, my hands and legs were scraped by barbwire. It was very painful, but I didn’t care about that,” he said. “I only cared about my life.”

In the days following his escape, he traveled alone and was unsure where the roads led. He survived by eating vegetables and fruit.

“I ate fruit wherever I found it the jungle, and I drank water from streams,” he said.

The monk crossed crossed into India at the Mizoram border. During the trip, he said he avoided local residents around Mizoram, fearing arrest and punishment.

“When they [local residents] saw me, they followed me,” he said. “I was afraid of them because I heard that strangers there can be killed or seriously punished if arrested.

Burmese authorities began searching for Ashin Pannasiri in late 2007 during the time of the civil uprising because of his close relationship with leading pro-democracy monks, including monk U Gambira, who is now in Insein Prison in Rangoon.

Ashin Pannasiri was affiliated with Yangon Monastery Maha Koe Su Taik in Pyigyitagun Township in Mandalay Division. When he learned he was wanted by authorities, he said he moved north to Monywa Township in Sagaing Division to escape arrest.

However, he was arrested on October 18, 2007, at an Internet shop in Monywa Township.

He said he was tortured by authorities, both physically and mentally, during interrogation.

“They [authorities] interrogated me from 18 through 20 October. They first asked me to stand up and squat repeatedly. They tied my hands behind my back and pushed and kicked me. They beat my face with an army boot when they asked each question.”

“Finally, I couldn’t control my mind, and there was no option for me. I thought about suicide,” he said.

On October 24, 2007, he was sent to Monywa Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent seven months. On January 18, 2008, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Authorities charged him with multiple offenses, including possession of illegal foreign currency.

In mid-May 2008, he was moved to Kale Prison in Sagaing Division where he spent a few weeks before being sent to Lantalang Prison.

On September 15, the day before he escaped from Lantalang, he was again questioned by authorities. He said that following the interrogation, he realized he would be sent back to Kale Prison with “double punishment,” convincing him he had no option but to try to escape.

Ashin Pannasiri is now staying with friends in Dehli. He said he plans to continue to struggle for freedom and peace in Burma while in exile.

“I want to urge all monks inside and outside Burma to fight against ah-dhamma (injustice) and maintain the dhamma (justice) policy,” he said.

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Sichuan Earthquake 2008.05.12
Myanmar Cyclone 2008.05.03

What is DUMBO
Project DUMBO deploys mobile wireless network on an ad hoc basis for emergency conditions, such as after a natural disaster when a fixed network infrastructure is not available or had been destroyed.

What is SAHANA
Sahana is an integrated set of pluggable, web based disaster management applications that provide solutions to large-scale humanitarian problems in the aftermath of a disaster.