News stories by Larry Jagan

BANGKOK, Mar 02 (IPS) - Myanmar activists have called on the international community for help as security forces loyal to the military continue their draconian sweep against the civil disobedience campaign that has brought the country to a standstill since the Feb. 1 coup. The pleas come as analysts, commentators and diplomats who know Myanmar fear that more bloodshed is almost inevitable.

BANGKOK, Feb 17 (IPS) - Myanmar’s top generals have begun the process to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi – the country’s popular civilian leader – from ever holding political power. Both she and president Win Myint were arraigned in a closed-door court session via video link Tuesday, Feb. 16. This is the beginning of a trial that is expected to take about six months to conclude. If convicted, it will prevent Suu Kyi from standing in future elections.

BANGKOK, Feb 08 (IPS) - Myanmar is in a deep political crisis. Over the past week -- reminiscent of the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1988 -- Myanmar’s citizens are openly and publicly challenging the country’s powerful military, whose coup earlier this month now threatens to stifle the country’s fledgling democracy.

YANGON, Sep 01 (IPS) - After months of speculation and rumours, President Thein Sein of Myanmar (earlier Burma) has created a “super” cabinet to try to salvage his besieged administration – riven with divisions and inertia. Currently he is embroiled in a constitutional crisis – a battle for power between the president and the parliament – that threatens to paralyse the government until it is resolved. This has left the president increasingly isolated, with only the army offering concrete support.

As campaigning for the Apr. 1 poll in Burma (also Myanmar) gets into full-swing, there are misgivings on whether the National League for Democracy (NLD) party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will get a fair deal.

South-east Asian leaders did not push Burma’s junta too hard at their just- finished annual summit, hoping that a more subtle approach would nudge it to make sure the elections planned for later this year are credible.

As election fever grips Burma, the ruling junta is busy preparing a series of steps, including an amnesty of political prisoners, to try to make the vote more credible in the international community.

Following a strict global carbon budget is the only way to ride out climate change — and this is as much the responsibility of developing countries as it is of developed ones.

Burma’s monks are silent but seething with anger two years after the brutal state crackdown on their revolution.

The shift in the United States policy towards Burma has been met with mixed reactions, with few believing it will have an impact. But the South-east Asian state’s detained opposition leader has already endorsed Washington’s move to start talks with the reclusive regime.