An important article by Thai dissident in exile Giles Ji Ungpakorn about the militarization of labor relations under Thailand’s military regime.

https://uglytruththailand.wordpress.com/2017/12/24/the-militarisation-of-labour-relations/

The US has what some would call a “nuanced” policy toward the fascist Burmese government. It is more bluntly characterized as a contemptible charade to protect US investments in Burma’s neoliberal ‘gold rush’. After initial denials, the US quietly characterized the Rohingya genocide as ethnic cleansing. But to sustain the mythology of a civilian government led by Suu Kyi forging democracy, the US has only sanctioned General Maung Maung Soe who led the genocidal offensive in Arakan state. No sanctions at all against the military commander-in-chief & architect of the genocide General Min Aung Hlaing or of Suu Kyi who fronts for the military.

What the sanctions on Maung Maung Soe mean is that the US Treasury will freeze his US assets & Americans can no longer deal with him. Does he even have any US assets? Did any Americans even have any dealings with him? The Burmese government (which is of a piece with the military) has pulled Soe out of service in Arakan state & said they intend to take punitive action against unnamed officials who allowed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) to spread in the state. The issue of extrajudicial killings, massacres, torture, mass rape, torching of entire villages are not an issue to the Suu Kyi/military government.

Now Thailand, which is also run by a military junta, has invited Burma back to the 2018 Cobra Gold military exercises coordinated with the US Pentagon. These joint war exercises between Thailand & the US began in 1982 & involve thousands of soldiers from 29 countries engaged in live fire exercises; training in biological, chemical, jungle, nuclear, & radiological warfare; exercises with amphibious craft, fighter jets, attack helicopters. A Pentagon spokesperson claims Burma is only invited to observe the humanitarian assistance & disaster relief portion of the exercises. The Chinese & Russian militaries which are arming the Burmese junta are also invited as observers. What kind of crap is it that pretends Burma, China, & Russia require training in humanitarian assistance? In Arakan state? In Syria?

What monstrous cynicism & duplicity this whole observer thing is. The genocide of the Rohingya people has barely ended. There are thousands of Rohingya refugees stuck in no-man’s-land on the Burmese side of the Naf River unable to enter Bangladesh & with the Burmese military pointing assault rifles at their backs. At the same time, the Burmese army has escalated bombing & long-range shelling against the popular struggle in Kachin state which has displaced tens of thousands.

The photo is Rohingya refugees who are prevented from crossing this bridge to asylum in Bangladesh except for emergency medical care. They report that Burmese soldiers are in the hills behind them menacing them with guns.

(Photo from Poppy McPherson)

It’s really irritating to see low-income white people repeatedly blamed for the election of Trump when there has been no persuasive demographics done about who elected Trump. What we do know is that Clinton won the popular vote & the Electoral College threw the election to the pumpkin ass. There isn’t a single low-income person in the Electoral College. It’s a rich man’s game. What we also know is that a majority of eligible US voters don’t even bother to register, making a no vote for either candidate the resounding voice of the people.

This is a brief tribute to the 185 environmental activists who were murdered in 2017–the majority of them indigenous people holding the line against multinational mining, hydroelectric dam, & agribusiness projects which are part of scorched earth neoliberal economics. These projects have led to the ruthless expropriation of tribal lands, destruction of tribal societies & cultures, massive growth of urban slums, homelessness, joblessness, immigration, despair & human suffering.

We should take a moment to honor those who were murdered defending their societies & the planet. We need to stand more publicly with those who continue their fight. May they Rest In Peace after lives spent in service to humanity.

A Palestinian folk dance: “Keeping Palestinian culture, making it known & transmitting, is a resistance to occupation.”

https://www.facebook.com/opeBoycott/videos/1833932666882118/?

With her finger on the pulse of women’s struggles around the world, a bare-breasted Femen activist jumped the security gates in St. Peter’s Square & rushed the nativity scene to steal the baby Jesus statue. She was wrestled to the ground & carted off by three drooling gendarmes. How well I remember that male socialists once called naked protesting & Femen the emergence of a new “sex-positive feminism.” Feminists like me were called blue-nosed prudes & some even argued we had aged out of political relevance because we think you ought to put your clothes on when you go out marching for women’s rights. Coincidence that some of those guys are now Assad’s biggest groupies?

Caroline Kennedy is hosting the Kennedy Center artistic achievement awards. Reminds me that in 2008 this paragon of Democratic Party liberalism & an Obama diplomat to Japan declared Jerusalem the “undivided capital of Israel.”

Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the UN, talks through her teeth. Kind of like a Pit Bull, only less endearing, & even when she’s not threatening to punish countries who don’t vote with the US. She’s the ideal representative for Trump who farts racist & misogynist rubbish through his ill-fitting dentures.