# Burmese Overview **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 1, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849 "2009-03-01T04:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/21 "2009-07-22T02:44:47Z")
Criminy! There’s suspicion that Burma is trying to go nuclear, with assistance from North Korea. Story [here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072100256.html). Won’t happen anytme soon but still well worth looking out for. On a more pleasant note, Aung San Suu Kyi has been awared the Gandhi Peace Prize. See [here](http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1490923.php/Myanmar_opposition_leader_Suu_Kyi_awarded_Gandhi_peace_prize_). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/22 "2009-07-23T04:04:24Z")
[Crackdown on Passport Brokers Linked to Leaked Photos?](http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16382) Seems to be a problem with people obtaining passports from these brokers, leaving the country and never returning. Gee, I can’t imagine why! The crackdown is also possibly linked to people smuggling out photos and video footage: \*\*"The Bangkok-based English-language newspaper _The Nation_ reported recently that several senior Burmese officials and some journalists were sacked some weeks ago after publication of photographs and video footage of secret tunnels in Burma surfaced in the international media. Photographs and video footage of a tunnel construction site in Burma were also published by Burmese media organizations. “During his seven-day visit to Pyongyang, Shwe Mann signed a memorandum of understanding at the defense ministry with North Korea’s Chief of General Staff, Gen Kim Kyok-sik, to formalize military cooperation between the two nations.”\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/23 "2009-08-04T03:57:39Z")
This is rather worrying: [Defectors Tell of Burma’s Secret Nuclear Reactor](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/defectors-tell-of--burmas-secret-nuclear-reactor-1766566.html) **“North Korea is helping country develop weapons.”** Unrelated: [No Country to Call Their Own](http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16438) **“Stateless Burmese children in Thailand are still being denied basic rights such as access to education and health services, and they are vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation and abuse, according to migrant rights advocates.”** ---
**Author:** ![purple\_haze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@purple\_haze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_haze)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/24 "2009-08-05T04:52:17Z")
Have you ever considered creating a blog, if you haven’t already? 21 of the 23 posts here are yours. I kept wondering why the pigeon eggs thread kept popping up, and out of curiousity I read it today. Wow! It’s been around for well over a year. You could put that info in your blog too. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/25 "2009-08-06T05:03:15Z")
No, not really. Actually, the few “information threads” I have I’ve been asked to keep going, publicly and/or privately, depending on the thread. The pigeon thread in particular seems to garner a lot of interest. If I thought I was being truly annoying – at least, annoying to more than a small handful of members I’ve noticed seem to go out of their way to find something to complain about (no, I’m not referring to you) – then I would end them. As it is, I figure anyone not interested in them will do as I do with threads I’m not really interested in and not open them. As for Burma, their nuclear ambitions are starting to worry some over here. And apropos of those, people are wondering if [this building](http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2407/big-odd-myanmar-box) has anything to do with them. The Burmese leaders are just as evil as North Korea’s, but there’s no comical Kim Jong-il-type goofus for the world to laught at. ---
**Author:** ![purple\_haze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@purple\_haze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_haze)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/26 "2009-08-10T15:20:04Z")
Thank you for the reply. By the way, I was saddened to hear about Bob. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849/27 "2009-08-14T04:50:16Z")
[Art censorship these days in Burma](http://www.nbc26.com/Global/story.asp?S=10871890). The junta just gets weirder and weirder. There was a Burmese artist in Bangkok recently who had spent some time in jail. The stuff he said was incredible. White doves are out. Red is bad, because it denotes blood. Black is bad. He said it’s really odd having the censor stand before your work and say: “If you could just make the red in your sunset a little more orange, that would be good.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/burmese-overview/487849.md?page=1)