The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Timing of SEA Games Opening Seen as Auspicious by Some
• Plans Afoot to Launch European-Backed Journalism School in Burma
• On Human Rights Day, Burma Activists Say More Work to Do
• Migrant Children Eyeing Burma’s Universities on the Rise
• Wood Factories in Burma to Beat 2014 Log Export Ban
• Tearful Thai PM Yingluck Asks Protesters to Take Part in Election
• China’s State Media Under Fire for Arguing Benefits of Smog
• US Skeptical North Korea Moves Will Ease Nuke Tensions

Timing of SEA Games Opening Seen as Auspicious by Some Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:32 AM PST Burmese runners practice at Wunna Theikdi Stadium in Naypyidaw in preparation of the 27th SEA Games. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — On Wednesday, the 27th Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony will be held in the gleaming new Wunna Theikdi Stadium in the capital Naypyidaw. The grand event will offer Burma an opportunity to burnish its new image as a quickly-changing country and the ceremony has been meticulously planned, with the vice-president ordering the use of back-up generators to ensure that Burma's chronic blackouts will not disturb the spectacle. But in a country where beliefs in the supernatural powers of numerology and astrology have long held sway, some think that the SEA Games opening ceremony—on 11/12/13—has also been timed to take place on a date that will bring good fortune to the country's sporting endeavors. "Eleven December is one of the auspicious days in this month. It's a good day to advance whatever one wants," said San Zarni Bo, one of Burma's most well-known astrologers. "It's an auspicious date for the country and international [events]." The soothsayer added that the male and female owls used as mascots for the regional bi-annual sports event were traditional Burmese symbols of good fortune. "The owl is seen as a symbol of a good omen," he said. "[Starting on] 11 means Myanmar is in an upper-hand position," said Kyaw Min Htet, an astrologer and palmist who offers his predictions to customers from his small jeep parked beside Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon. In Buddhist beliefs practiced in Burma the numbers 9 and 11 hold special significance and many temple visitors will recite their mantras 9 or 11 times, or offer 9 or 11 lotus flowers to the Buddha. The number 11 is considered auspicious as Buddha's teachings speak of "eleven fires"—greed, hatred, delusion, birth, aging, death, grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow and despair—that one should extinguish in order to progress in life. Kyaw Min Htet offered another supernatural benefit of the date set for the opening ceremony, saying, "The opening date tomorrow is on a Wednesday. From a Buddhist perspective, it's the day that the Buddha achieved enlightenment. So, we can say Myanmar has good potential [to win medals]." The astrological characteristics of the month of December, the soothsayer added, could also boost Burma's chances in the regional sports competition. "December, [month] 12, this chosen date means Myanmar is in a situation of having advantages over others according to the astrological position of the stars," he said. Astrology and numerology, at times tied to Buddhist beliefs and symbols, have long been influential in the daily lives of the Burmese. Many people consult their astrologers to set auspicious dates for weddings, travelling and religious ceremonies. Members of Burma's former military junta regimes—many of who still hold leading roles in the current nominally-civilian government—are known to have made political and government policy decision on the basis of such beliefs. Successive military leaders Ne Win and Than Shwe relied on the Burmese tradition of yadaya, where magical rituals were performed to ensure good fortune and ward off enemies. In the late 1980s, Ne Win ordered notes of 45 kyat and 90 kyat to be printed as both numbers add up to 9, his lucky number. In 2009, the junta is believed to have released 9002 prisoners so that numbers added up (9+2) to the lucky number 11. However, Win Kyaing, a Labor Ministry department director who heads the inter-ministerial SEA Games Winning Committee, said the opening ceremony of the regional sports event was in no way tied to astrology or numerology. "The date was chosen as it's easy to remember and noticeable. [December] 11 and 22 are easy to remember," he said when asked about a possibly auspicious timing of the opening ceremony. The owl mascot, Win Kyaing said, was chosen because "Myanmar believes owls will bring prosperity. "Even though, Myanmar's symbol is a peacock, the owl was chosen in order not to confuse the mascot with any political parties' symbol," he added, seemingly referring to the National League for Democracy's fighting peacock symbol. Although the opening ceremony is held on Wednesday, several sports events, such as chin lone (cane ball), water polo and basketball, have already been played. On Tuesday night, Burma stood at 17 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze medals, topping the table of the SEA Games' medal tally. In order to win the overall medal tally among the 11 participating countries, Win Kyaing said, Burma will need a dose of good fortune. "Myanmar could not win in sports like water polo and basketball. Even to win from Thailand in football is not an easy task," he said, before predicting that "Myanmar has only a 35-percent chance of triumphing." The post Timing of SEA Games Opening Seen as Auspicious by Some appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Plans Afoot to Launch European-Backed Journalism School in Burma Posted: 10 Dec 2013 05:37 AM PST Reporters and photographers in Burma's newly uncensored media surround pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an August visit to Pegu, about 50 miles north of Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's journalists have been operating free of the censor for more than a year now, and privately owned newspapers regularly publish critical stories once unthinkable under the country's military regime. But, with many in the industry lacking training and concerns over reporting standards and lingering self-censorship, a project backed by European governments is hoping to establish a new institution to provide international-quality journalism education. During a high-profile conference on women's issues in Rangoon on Saturday, the Myanmar Journalism School project, which organizers admitted was only at an embryonic stage, was announced by French Minister of Culture Aurélie Filippetti. France is providing funding for the project, alongside the governments of Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. "The aim of the school is to give to young journalists training sessions to help them to produce content of very high quality and also to meet the highest international standards in the freedom of information and quality of information," Filippetti told reporters. "That's a very ambitious program which [will] take place in a moment where Myanmar is opening its society and needs to have wide and diverse information." Organizers said they hoped to begin a one-year diploma course in journalism in July 2014, but were unable to give details yet on how students would be selected for the course, the content of the curriculum or how much the course would cost students. Burmese Minister of Information Aung Gyi was present at the launch Saturday. But during the press conference to announce the project, Aung Gyi delivered a speech on an unrelated subject—involving coordination in Burma and France's film industries—and did not give an express endorsement of the journalism school project. Neither of the ministers answered questions from reporters on the project. Monika Lengauer, project coordinator for the journalism school-to-be, said by e-mail on Tuesday that official approval was still "pending," but "the project has been assured of the official support." The project has already received an estimated 100,000 euro (US$137,000) of funding from donors. Going forward, "the funding is another thing that needs to be decided," Lengauer said during Saturday's press conference. "What I can tell you is that all donors or partners that are here today are committed on the long term." She said studies would be conducted on exactly how the school will be governed and details would soon be worked out. Sweden's Fojo media institute has already trained 12 Burmese journalists to be trainers for the school, where lessons will be conducted in Burmese, she said. With the only existing journalism school in the country closely associated with the government, and a long history of official meddling in journalism in Burma, Lengauer said one priority highlighted in early discussions about the project was the school's independence. "The indications of the media industry and civil society highlighted in focus group discussions made clear that Myanmar Journalism School needs to aim at being independent—that has been an overwhelming priority—with a broad, national ownership, anchored in civil society and media industry, reflecting best international practices in quality journalism education," she said. "Myanmar Journalism School will promote…universal journalistic values, rooted in ethics, and resulting in trustworthy reporting." The school would be non-profit and scholarships would likely be available for students, she said. Ramon Tuazon, a communication and information specialist at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in Myanmar, which is supporting the project, stressed that the school would be "inclusive" in its admissions. "In fact, as early as now we are thinking of the needs also not only of journalists from Yangon, Naypyidaw or Mandalay, but even ethnic people. Ethnic journalists will happily be accepted here and will be part of this program," he said. The school does not yet have a location, but one possible site is within the country's only existing journalism school at the National Management College (NMC), part of Rangoon University, which has been running a four-year journalism degree program since 2007. The school has this year begun using a curriculum based on a model drawn up by Unesco, but the course guidelines had previously been written by the Ministry of Information. It had been largely a training school for Burma's state-run media, which acts as a mouthpiece for the government. "It's really a facility to train functionaries, public administrators to manage PR [public relations] for, and to administer, government policy," said Glen Swanson, project coordinator in Myanmar for Denmark's International Media Support—which is backing the school. "Actually that has to be closed," he added. "That [NMC] is obsolete, but the physical institution is there embedded within the university. So we're hoping that while we work with the transformation of the National Management College, we can eventually roll the school into that." The post Plans Afoot to Launch European-Backed Journalism School in Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

On Human Rights Day, Burma Activists Say More Work to Do Posted: 10 Dec 2013 05:33 AM PST Nearly 60 people have been jailed in the last two years under a law on peaceful assemblies in Burma. RANGOON — Activists in Burma say that although the country's human rights situation is better now than it was under decades of oppressive military rule, rights abuses persist in the Southeast Asian nation. Burma marked International Human Rights Day on Tuesday, 65 years to the date that the United Nations adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "In the past, we didn't have the chance to say what we wanted. Now, compared to the past, we are beginning to have a chance, but not fully," said Thein Swe, a member of Parliament who was jailed six months for participating in a protest on Human Rights Day in 1991. On that day 22 years ago, students from Rangoon University and the Rangoon Institute of Technology (now called Yangon Technical University) organized a demonstration to show their support for Aung San Suu Kyi, who had recently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. At the time, she was under house arrest in Rangoon. The peaceful demonstration in 1991 began on the Rangoon University campus, with protestors demanding the release of Suu Kyi and all other activists detained by the government for voicing pro-democracy sentiments, including the prominent student leader Min Ko Naing. The demonstration continued for two days and threatened to spread to universities and colleges in other cities. Perhaps fearing a repeat of the nationwide uprising in 1988 that unseated Gen Ne Win, Burma's military regime closed higher education institutions across the country. They arrested several hundred students who had participated in the demonstrations as part of the crackdown. More than 100 of those detainees were sentenced to between 10 and 20 years' imprisonment by a military court. Despite a notably improved human rights situation in Burma today, Thein Swe said abuses continue throughout the country, including widespread land confiscation by the military and powerful business interests. "We need to keep trying to fully realize human rights. People need to understand more about human rights," Thein Swe said. Bo Bo Han, who was jailed 15 years for his role in organizing the Dec. 10, 1991, protest, said that freedom of expression and association remained limited in Burma. "Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law should not exist. As long as the article exists and arrests are made under that law, full human rights is not possible," he said. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) says 130 activists have been charged under the Peaceful Assembly Law, which was adopted in December 2011 and requires that would-be demonstrators get permission from the government prior to staging any organized assembly. A total of 57 activists have been jailed for protesting without authorization, according to the association. "Challenges for many individuals and communities still remain," Matthew Hedges, the British Embassy's deputy head of mission, said in a press release on Tuesday. "For example, I note the increasing number of people charged and convicted in 2013 under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law. It is our hope that the law will be brought in line with international standards following discussions in Parliament." The book "10D," which details the lives of more than 30 students who participated in the Nobel Peace demonstration on Dec. 10, 1991, was released on Tuesday. The post On Human Rights Day, Burma Activists Say More Work to Do appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Migrant Children Eyeing Burma’s Universities on the Rise Posted: 10 Dec 2013 04:21 AM PST Burmese migrant workers cross the Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Efforts to integrate the children of migrant worker from Burma into the country's higher education system are bearing fruit, with a threefold increase in the number of Burmese students in Thailand slated to take a 2014 matriculation exam that was administered for the first time earlier this year. The Burmese migrant students, who will complete high school in March 2014, will travel back to their home country to take the test, which is required for enrollment in Burma's higher education institutions. Around 150 students have registered to sit the examination, which will take place in March at a high school in Karen State's Myawaddy, according to Aye Aye Thet, head of the Science and Technology Training Center in Mae Sot, Thailand. "The students are now in a study camp at Hsa Thoo Lay school [a migrant school in Mae Sot], and this year is the second time students will take the test." As a result of discussions with the state-level government last year, the Karen State chief minister agreed in September 2012 to allow migrant students to sit the exam at the public school in Myawaddy, which now serves as a potential bridge back into the Burmese education system for thousands of children whose parents work in Thailand. "It is a good opportunity for those students who have had few opportunities for higher education," said Thein Naing, an education researcher who is working on curriculum development for migrant schools in Thailand. He told The Irrawaddy on Monday that "despite the government's imposition of a policy to let the migrant children continue studying at schools in Burma, policy orders have not yet been received at some schools. There are still difficulties in the inner areas of the country." "It is OK in the border towns such as in Myawaddy," Thein Naing added. Thein Naing, the secretary of the Migrant Education Integration Initiative (MEII) formed six months ago, works on curriculum development for migrant schools in Thailand. There is currently no standardization across the curricula of the various migrant schools, and the MEII is working to bring consistency to what Burmese children at these schools are taught. Migrant schools have been operating in Thailand for more than a decade, fulfilling a critical need for education among the children of Burmese migrant workers, who are estimated to number some 3 million in Thailand. For years, the schools were not officially recognized by the governments of either Burma or Thailand. The provincial government in the Thai border province of Tak began recognizing some of the schools in 2008, but that recognition came with mandatory Thai touches, such as a requirement that all school buildings include a portrait of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In Tak, there are 74 migrant schools, providing education for around 13,000 children of Burmese migrant workers. Thein Naing said the Burmese government needed to do a better job of recognizing the legitimacy of the curricula taught at migrant schools in order to facilitate a return of young university aspirants to Burma. The vast majority of graduates from high school-level equivalent programs at migrant schools end their studies at that point, because no government recognizes the migrant schools' certificates, but Thein Naing said that "a few graduates continue studying in non-formal education settings." In March 2013, following completion of the 2012-13 academic year, 56 students sat the matriculation exam at Myawaddy's No. 1 Basic Education High School. Eight out of the 56 passed the examination and some of them have continued on to higher education at universities in Sagaing, Karen State's Hpa-an and a government technological college in Burma, said Aye Aye Thet. Last year, "we had little time to prepare the students, as plans to administer the exam began in October 2012 and the students sat the exam in March 2013, so the results were not high," she said. This year, teachers have been preparing students since the beginning of the academic year, and they hope to see improved test scores as a result. On Monday, seven Burmese teachers from Mandalay traveled to Mae Sot, a Thai border town, to meet with the students preparing for next year's exam. More than 100 students from five migrant schools in Mae Sot benefitted from a week of lectures by the Burmese teachers. In the coming years, the number of students registering for Burma's matriculation exam could further swell. "There are around 350 students studying at 15 high school-level migrant schools across the border," Thein Naing said, referring to information gathered from just three Thai towns. The post Migrant Children Eyeing Burma's Universities on the Rise appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Wood Factories in Burma to Beat 2014 Log Export Ban Posted: 10 Dec 2013 02:21 AM PST A truck takes logs from Burma into Thailand at the Three Pagodas Pass in 2010. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) With a ban on log exports set for next year, foreign buyers of Burmese teak and other rare woods are looking to open timber processing facilities inside Burma. A new law coming into force on April 1 will prohibit the export of all raw tree logs, but it will not stop firms from processing timber in the country and then exporting it. An Indian company and a Singapore-based business were given licenses last week by the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) to build wood-processing factories in the country. The names of the firms have not yet been announced. In addition, two other Indian firms, Greenply Industries and Century Plyboards, have reportedly been seeking permits to build factories in an industrial zone in Dagon, Rangoon. Century Plyboards plans to invest about US$10 million in a factory capable of producing 25,000 square meters of plywood a day, according to The Hindu newspaper. "This project is important for the company as it would replace its import of timber from [Burma]," Century managing director Sajjan Bhajanka was quoting by the paper as saying. "Our plan is to bring veneers or plywoods to India." Burmese hardwoods, especially increasingly rare teak, are sought in Western countries and India and China in particular for furniture, house flooring and yacht decking. It's a lucrative business for Burmese traders. Legal exporters earned about US$600 million in the 2010-2011 financial year, according to government figures. However, cross-border illegal sales of raw felled timber to China, India and Thailand are believed to be much higher, say international environment NGOs. The export ban on raw timber is supposed to help protect Burma's declining forests and conserve sought-after hardwoods such as teak. However, the magazine SuperYacht World said it understood that the export of processed teak will not be stopped and teak veneer, teak yacht decking and interior flooring and furniture parts will still be available. "According to the authorities I spoke with, this ban…is only on the export of round logs which have previously been exported in large volumes to be cut in Thailand, India, Singapore, Malaysia, China and other countries for their domestic consumption as well as further exports," Singapore businessman Bob Steber, managing director at Ginnacle Import Export, told the London-based magazine. "The ban on round logs is intended to create more jobs internally for [Burmese] citizens," he said. The 2014 export halt is also a response to excessive legal harvesting of timber, made worse by illegal logging, Naypyidaw's parliamentary Natural Resources and Environment Conservation Committee said earlier this year. However, it's hard to quantify how much timber is actually leaving Burma and how much deforestation has taken place, said the European Forest Institute (EFI) in a study. "Figures for [Burma's] forest products trade are unreliable, often contradictory, and do not include nonofficial exports, including cross-border trade, which has been substantial in the past especially along the Yunnan [China] border," the EFI said recently. Teak grows naturally in only a handful of countries in Asia and nearly 50 percent of the world's remaining natural teak forest is in Burma, according to the website East by Southeast. Up to 2005, Burma was estimated to be more than 50 percent covered by forest. But recent studies by the United Nations and other major international bodies say it's now down to 46 percent or lower. Two thirds of Burma's rural population of 30 million "depend heavily on forests for their basic needs," according to a UN Food and Agricultural Organisation report in 2009. Half a million people rely directly on forests for employment, it said. Economic sanctions imposed until recently by the United States and the European Union had nurtured a large illegal logging industry, according to the Australian luxury yachts magazine Ocean. "Experts say this is likely to continue since [Burma] is unable to marshal forces to combat illegal loggers. Once logged it is difficult to determine where the teak has been sourced from. "Teak traders have evaded sanctions by shipping [Burmese] logs to neighbouring countries, which process the teak and sell it to the boat industry and other luxury wood-working industries in Western countries. India is by far the biggest market, followed by China, Thailand and Vietnam," said Ocean magazine. Teak timber is particularly valued in the boating industry for its durability, especially its resistance to water and rot. Flora and Fauna International (FFI), which is documenting the rare and unique wildlife in Burma, says the country's forests face "many and mounting threats" such as illegal logging. "Despite their high dependence on natural resources, local people have been excluded from decisions concerning the country's protected areas. Yet this situation is slowly changing. For the first time grass roots organisations are being established to address issues of environmental governance and human welfare. "We are also offering guidance to state-run protected area management authorities on how to work alongside these grass roots organisations," said FFI. Until April, all unprocessed tree logs legally designated for export must bear a stamp from the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise, but some environmental NGOs believe the monitoring system is so lax that it's easy for illegal logs to be legalized with a stamp. After April, policing of borders with India, China and Thailand will need strengthening if the illegal logging trade is not to increase, say the NGOs. The post Wood Factories in Burma to Beat 2014 Log Export Ban appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Tearful Thai PM Yingluck Asks Protesters to Take Part in Election Posted: 09 Dec 2013 11:25 PM PST Democracy protesters march from Bangkok's Democracy monument to Government House on Monday in what protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said was their last protest. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK — Her eyes welling with tears, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pleaded on Tuesday for anti-government demonstrators to clear the streets and support a snap election, but defiant protest leaders called for her to step down within 24 hours. After weeks of sometimes violent street protests, protesters rejected her call on Monday for a general election and said she should be replaced by an unelected "people's council," a proposal that has stoked concern Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy may abandon its democratic process. Yingluck said she would continue her duties as caretaker prime minister until the election, which is expected on Feb. 2. "Now that the government has dissolved parliament, I ask that you stop protesting and that all sides work toward elections," she told reporters. "I have backed down to the point where I don't know how to back down any further," Yingluck said, with tears in her eyes. She quickly composed herself. An estimated 3,000 protesters camped out overnight around Government House, where Yingluck's office is located, a day after 160,000 protesters converged peacefully on the complex in one of Bangkok's largest protests in memory. They made no attempt to get into the grounds, which appeared to be defended by unarmed police and soldiers. The crowd could swell again on Tuesday, a public holiday in Thailand for Constitution Day. The protesters want to oust Yingluck and eradicate the influence of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the military in 2006 and has chosen to live in exile rather than serve a jail term for abuse of power. This is the latest flare-up in almost a decade of rivalry between forces aligned with the Bangkok-based establishment and those who support Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon who won huge support in the countryside with pro-poor policies. In a late-night speech to supporters massed around Government House on Monday, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban gave Yingluck 24 hours to step down. "Suthep has asked the prime minister and the government to step down from their duties," said Akanat Promphan, a spokesman for the protest group. "We want the government to step aside and create a power vacuum in order to create a people's council," he said, adding protesters would camp near the prime minister's offices for three days. Lawmakers from the main opposition Democrat Party resigned from parliament en masse on Sunday, saying they could not work with Yingluck. Its leaders have refused to be drawn on whether they would participate in the election. In April 2006, amid mass protests against Thaksin, the pro-establishment Democrats refused to contest a snap election he had called. He was deposed by the military five months later. Aware that the allies of Yingluck and Thaksin would almost certainly win any election, Suthep has called for a "people's council" of appointed "good people" to replace the government. In another speech on Monday, he called Yingluck's government incompetent and corrupt for policies such as a costly rice intervention scheme and said the people would select a new prime minister. He did not say how that would be done or how he planned to take over the levers of power. Suthep was dismissive of the early election. "The dissolving of parliament is not our aim," he told Reuters. His campaign opens up the prospect of a minority of Thailand's 66 million people dislodging a democratically elected leader, this time without help from the military. The politically powerful army, which has staged or attempted 18 coups in the past 80 years, has said it does not want to get involved, although it has tried to mediate. Thaksin is widely seen as the power behind his sister's government. The protests were sparked last month by a government bid to introduce an amnesty that would have expunged his conviction and allowed him to return home a free man. Yingluck's Puea Thai Party won the last election in 2011 by a landslide, enjoying widespread support in the north and northeast, Thailand's poorest regions. She will be its candidate for prime minister if the party wins in February. Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak. The post Tearful Thai PM Yingluck Asks Protesters to Take Part in Election appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

China’s State Media Under Fire for Arguing Benefits of Smog Posted: 09 Dec 2013 10:27 PM PST Buildings are seen in heavy haze in Beijing's central business district on Jan. 14, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — Commentaries by two of China’s most influential news outlets suggesting that an ongoing air pollution crisis was not without a silver lining drew a withering reaction on Tuesday from internet users and other media. In online commentaries on Monday, state broadcaster CCTV and the widely read tabloid the Global Times, published by the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, both tried to put a positive spin on China’s smog problem. The Global Times said smog could be useful in military situations, as it could hinder the use of guided missiles, while CCTV listed five "unforeseen rewards" for smog, including helping Chinese people’s sense of humor. While both pieces have since been deleted from their websites, Chinese newspapers lost little time in denouncing their point of view, in an unusual case of state media criticising other state media, showing the scale of the anger. "Is the smog supposed to lift if we laugh about it?" wrote the Beijing Business Today, published by the city government’s official Beijing Daily. "Smog affects our breathing. We hope it does not affect our thinking." The Dongguan Times, from a heavily industrial city close to the border with Hong Kong, said CCTV’s comments were so bizarre people did not know "whether to laugh or cry". "There’s nothing funny about the health dangers of smog," it wrote. Even the main Xinhua news agency – which had initially picked up CCTV’s commentary – weighed in, writing on one of its official microblogs late on Monday that it was "totally inappropriate" to make fun of air pollution. Air quality in cities is of increasing concern to China’s stability-obsessed leaders, anxious to douse potential unrest as a more affluent urban population turns against a growth-at-all-costs economic model that has poisoned much of the country’s air, water and soil. Large parts of eastern China, including the country’s prosperous and cosmopolitan commercial capital Shanghai, have been covered in a thick pall of smog over the past week or so, though Beijing’s normally filthy air has been relatively clear. Users of Sina Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, also vented their outrage over the CCTV and Global Times’ comments. "The smog crisis covering large parts of China has revealed the failure of the government’s development strategy of only going after GDP (growth). CCTV is shameless in trying to cover up for their masters," wrote Wu Bihu, a professor at the elite Peking University. "The Global Times thinks that pollution will cause missiles to miss their targets … How shameful! So that’s what all this smog has really been about. People had thought it was just bad pollution…," state television in the eastern province of Shandong wrote on one of its microblogs. The post China’s State Media Under Fire for Arguing Benefits of Smog appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

US Skeptical North Korea Moves Will Ease Nuke Tensions Posted: 09 Dec 2013 10:22 PM PST A video grab from North Korean state television shows the 2012 Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket launch in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province. WASHINGTON — The dramatic ouster of the uncle of North Korea's young ruler has sidelined the reputed second-most powerful official in the secretive hierarchy but Washington is not banking on a radical shift in Pyongyang's nuclear policy. Nor does the release of an 85-year old US Korean War veteran over the weekend necessarily herald an improvement in chilly relations between Washington and Pyongyang that have gotten worse since young dictator Kim Jong Un took power. But there will be intense scrutiny of the North Korean government's next moves, to watch whether it moves to release another American citizen it has detained for the past year. That could provide an opportunity for some diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang, which remain utterly at odds over the North's development of nuclear weapons. Accused of abuse of power, corruption and profligate living, Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek was stripped of his official positions, including in the National Defense Commission, the government's top ruling body. State television on Monday showed him being grabbed by two security guards from a high-level party meeting, chaired by Kim. Political machinations in North Korea's authoritarian system are typically conducted behind closed doors, which made Jang's public purging and humiliation highly unusual. Jang had been viewed as a mentor to Kim since succeeding as dictator on the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011. It has been a generation or more since a North Korean ruler has conducted such a high-profile purge, but a senior US official said Washington doesn't know whether this will have any impact on Pyongyang's nuclear policy and its relations toward the US. Jang's ouster does not necessarily reflect instability in North Korea, but it shows Kim Jong Un is further consolidating his power, said the official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly on the US government's reading of events in North Korea. To the extent Jang's downfall affects the North's international relations, the impact is likely to be felt most keenly in Beijing as he was viewed as a front man for ties to China, its only major ally. Jang has been seen by outsiders as the leading supporter of Chinese-style economic reforms. Yet the most telling message Jang's ouster conveys is about North Korea's internal dynamics. Evans Revere, a former State Department official for East Asia, said it leaves no uncertainty about who is the sole source of legitimacy and command, and who is controlling government policy, including its twin goals, enshrined in the nation's constitution this year, to pursue both economic development and nuclear weapons. That could extinguish any remaining hopes Kim's rise to power would herald reform of the authoritarian state—hopes that were based on little more than his relative youth, education in Switzerland and enthusiasm for US basketball. Early on, his government reached an agreement with Washington for a nuclear freeze in exchange for US food aid that was meant to pave the way for full-fledged negotiations on the North's nuclear program. But the North wrecked the deal within weeks when it launched a rocket in defiance of a UN ban. Tensions spiked further after an underground nuclear test explosion in February, which the North followed up with dire verbal threats against the US and its allies for leading the push for tighter sanctions in response. Those tensions have eased in recent months, and North Korea says it is ready to resume the six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program that it withdrew from five years ago. But given recent signs the North is restarting a mothballed reactor that can produce plutonium for bombs, Washington remains skeptical of Pyongyang's intent. The North's detention of two American citizens has only made matters worse. One of the Americans, Korean War veteran Merrill Newman, who had been held since late October after visiting North Korea as a tourist, was freed on Saturday. North Korean state media explained he had apologized for his alleged crimes during the Korean War and because of his age and medical condition. Washington welcomed the release, announced as US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting neighboring South Korea, but is not reading into it any broader significance for US-North Korean relations. North Korea is still holding another American national, Kenneth Bae, who was arrested more than year ago and suffers health problems. He has been sentenced to 15 years on charges of subversion. Pyongyang shunned a previous offer by Washington to send a senior envoy to seek a pardon for Bae and his release. Washington views Bae's detention as an obstacle to improving the US-North Korean relationship and will now be pressing Pyongyang to resolve that case as well, although the US official said progress in diplomacy on the North's nuclear program would still hinge on Pyongyang's willingness to honor its previous commitments on denuclearization. The post US Skeptical North Korea Moves Will Ease Nuke Tensions appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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