An agreement on transnational crime is likely to be signed between the Philippines and Cambodia. The signing is expected to take place during President Dirty’s meeting with Prime Minister Hang Em this week. Dirty and Hang Em are both famous for their love of proper formal procedures with regard to crime, the new agreement will provide a valuable legal framework for joint anti-crime activities.
Specifically the agreement will involve cooperation between the Philippine National Police and the Cambodian National Police to fight terrorism (street protests), extremism (not agreeing with Dirty or Hang Em), financial and economic crimes (not paying off Government Officials), and drug trafficking (without the proper contribution to police). Hopefully, we will soon see suspected Cambodian drug dealers being shot dead by Filipino taxi drivers in Phnon Penh, and political opponents of Hang Em being assassinated in Manila. The report from VOA (14 Dec): PHNOM PENH - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is visiting Cambodia on a two-day diplomatic trip that will see the controversial world leader sign agreements on combating transnational crime with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Duterte will first meet King Norodom Sihamoni before a bilateral meeting with Hun Sen. Chum Sounry, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said the two world leaders would also discuss cooperation in the field of sports. Ou Virak, president of the Future Forum think tank, said Duterte likely sees Cambodia as a proxy through which he can conduct diplomacy with China over the contested South China Sea region. “Because of the intimate relationship between Cambodia and China, the Philippines can improve its relations with China through cooperating with Cambodia,” he said. Duterte, 71, was elected in June on a platform to clampdown on the drugs trade. Since his election, thousands of people are thought to have been extra-judicially killed on suspicion of involvement with drugs. On Monday morning, five Filipino protesters gathered at the Royal Palace to demonstrate against the killing, leaving after only a few minutes for fear of repercussions. The protesters, who hid their identities, later issued a statement saying numerous innocent people had been caught up in Duterte’s war on drugs. “This stupid action should be terminated… The killing of people outside of the judicial system is not the solution to the drug issue that originates from poverty and despair,” it read.
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The peoples of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand broke into spontaneous celebrations when they heard that “Sideshow Henry” has again been honoured by the Nobel Prize Committee. In Thailand thousands of teenage girls gathered at Utapao Airbase chanting “We love you too much En-ree” and “you come for short time”. Villagers from Ban Napia in Laos paraded down the streets with placards saying “long live Henry, please drop more bombs”. (In Ban Napia old US bombs are used to build houses, make spoons and attract tourists). In Vietnam, crowds showed that they were desperate to see the return of Henry and the Americans. “We miss the smell of gasoline in the morning” they shouted, and “American Henry would light up our lives (and skin)”. In Cambodia demonstrators against the anti-American remarks made by their Prime Minister, rallied to the cry of “Henry is right”. Kissenger was a titan of the twentieth century, a man who struggled for peace and didn’t mind how many people were killed to achieve it. With tentacles of Chinese power spreading throughout Asia and leaders in the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia telling America to stay out of their internal affairs, Kissinger's sage advice is needed more than ever. Obama’s pivot to Asia is in danger of collapsing. Trump should take Kissenger on as a senior adviser. That’s what Nixon did, and things worked out well for him, didn’t they. The story from Common Dreams (7 Dec): Groups Demand Arrest of 'War Mastermind' Kissinger at Nobel Peace Prize Forum Nobel Peace Prize committee honors Kissinger a second time with speaking engagement at new forum on world peace. The Nobel Peace Prize committee last month stunned many observers by choosing Henry Kissinger—the former secretary of state behind the secret American bombing of Cambodia and who supported Argentina's "dirty wars," among other things—to speak at a forum on "The United States and World Peace after the Presidential Election." In response, on Tuesday the progressive groups RootsAction and Nobel Peace Prize Watch issued a petition demanding that Norwegian officials arrest Kissinger. "The Nobel Committee has arranged for well-known war mastermind Henry Kissinger to speak as an honored guest at a forum that is part of the Nobel Peace Prize events," the petition states. "Several of Kissinger's crimes come under treaties that make it mandatory for Norway to prosecute. Kissinger is complicit or a main actor in many violations of the Genocide Convention and of the Geneva Conventions." Nobel Peace Prize Watch lays out Kissinger's actions in great detail, making the case that Norway is obligated under international law to arrest the former secretary of state. Kissinger was infamously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in the Vietnam war—a decision that comedian Tom Lehrer said "made political satire obsolete." Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor under Jimmy Carter, is also scheduled to speak at the Oslo forum, which will take place on December 11. Jan Oberg of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research condemned the Nobel committee's decision to honor the two former U.S. officials: These two experts on warfare and interventionism will—Orwellian style—speak about "The United States and World Peace after the Presidential Election." A Bangkok cartoonist has his facebook account suspended after posting a cartoon that lampooned facebook. Stephane Peray (Stephff), has long published cartoons critical of Thailand’s military government in "The Nation" newspaper and on facebook. These have not been subject to censorship by the Thai government nor bocked by facebook. However, as soon as he posted a cartoon suggesting that facebook might be trying the rule the world he found his facebook account suspended.
The story update from Peray's wife on facebook: 1 day after my husband - Stephane Peray ( Stephff ) published this cartoon , FACEBOOK has blocked his page . It's been 3 days already and still no news from them . It's not proven they blocked his facebook account for that particular reason but the timing is suspicious. The official reason given was : " you are using a fake identity so please change your name " . But he is using his real name and he has already sent proofs of his real identity 3 days ago . So what is going on ? Does Facebook prefer to go after cartoonists who criticize them than after white supremacists and jihadists ? Is it just one of their stupid algorithm which cannot make the difference between a meaningful cartoon and an anti-Facebook statement ? So much for Zuckerberg 's utopia of helping to build a better world ... According to Kofi, genocide “is a charge that requires legal review and the judicial determination. It is not a charge that should be thrown around loosely.” Clearly the refugees should not be blabbing to AP journalists about atrocities, they should wait until Mr Annan has finished his fact finding activities. Mr Annan is currently head of the Rakhine State Advisory Commission and was formally the United Nations Secretary General. So, obviously, the Rohingya have nothing to worry about.
In fact, Mr Annan has visited Rakhine State (where the ethnic cleansing is taking place) twice. When action is urgently needed, you can not do better than a United Nations person. Its remarkable that he was able to take this time away from his meetings with Suu Kyi (Burma’s De-facto ruler) and General Min. As Suu Kyi claims that the Rohingya do not exist, it is interesting to speculate what happens at these meetings. Maybe something like this: Annan: We are worried that the Rohingya might be the victims of genocide. Suu Kyi: What is “genocide”? Annan: “Genocide” is when a group of people are exterminated and cease to exist. Suu Kyi: But the Rohingya do not exist. General Min: How could we possibly exterminate a people that do not exist? Suu Kyi: And if we are not exterminating them how can we stop exterminating them? Annan: Yes, I see your point. So, if Mr Annan finds something amiss, we can look forward to a judicial review. In the meantime, if any refugees have complaints they can send them in writing to the commission (English or Burmese only – the Rohingya language does not exist dispite the fact that it has been written down for 300 years). Private Tye has long been an admirer of Suu Kyi and the democratic government of Burma: her love of the commmon people, her defense of a free press and journalists, her compassion for minorities and her example to Thailand. The Annan story from Frontier Myanmar (6 Dec) YANGON — Accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine State are “very serious” and can only be verified through a legal review, Kofi Annan said today. Rights groups have warned of widespread abuses by military forces conducting “clearance operations” in Maungdaw Township in the wake of coordinated attacks on Border Guard Police outposts in October. Some have suggested genocide or ethnic cleansing could be taking place in the state, but the government has denied any wrongdoing and said the military is using the minimum possible force. Annan, a former United Nations secretary general who now head the Rakhine State Advisory Commission, said the accusations were “a very serious charge”. “It is a charge that requires legal review and the judicial determination. It is not a charge that should be thrown around loosely,” he said. Annan was speaking at the end of his second visit to Rakhine State since the commission was formed, and the first since the October 9 attacks in northern Rakhine State by Islamist militants. Annan met State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing this morning in Nay Pyi Taw before returning to Yangon for the evening press conference. The Rohingya Story from Associated Press (5 Dec): COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — The Myanmar soldiers came in the morning, the young mother says. They set fire to the concrete-and-thatch homes, forcing the villagers to cluster together. When some of her neighbors tried to escape into the fields, they were shot. After that, she says, most people stopped running away. "They drove us out of our houses, men and women in separate lines, ordering us to keep our hands folded on the back of our heads," says 20-year-old Mohsena Begum, her voice choking as she described what happened to the little village of Caira Fara, which had long been home to hundreds of members of Myanmar's minority Rohingya community. She said that when about 50 people had been gathered together, the soldiers, along with a group of local men, pulled four village leaders from the crowd and slit their throats. Muslims in an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation, the Rohingya have long faced persecution in Myanmar, where most are denied citizenship. The latest outbreak of violence was triggered by October attacks on guard posts near the Bangladesh border that killed nine police officers. While the attackers' identities and motives are unclear, the government launched a massive counter-insurgency sweep through Rohingya areas in western Rakhine state. Most Rohingya live in Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh. The government, which has implied the attacks were carried out by Rohingya sympathizers, has acknowledged using helicopter gunships in support of ground troops in the sweep. While survivors and human rights groups have tracked waves of anti-Rohingya violence in recent weeks, the Myanmar government insists that stories like Begum's are exaggerations. |
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