New Mandala

Over the past couple of days a few people have written to ensure that George Packer’s recent article for The New Yorker does not escape the attention of New Mandala readers.  With the title “Drowning: Can the Burmese people rescue themselves?”, it is a wandering 12,000-word account of the trials and tribulations of contemporary Burma.  Much [...]

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In some countries big disasters always seem to be followed by big charity songs, the type where a whole lot of famous but not necessarily talented people sway backwards and forwards together and try to look sincere about donating their time and vocal chords for a good cause. But that a group of popular singers [...]

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With both Mizzima News and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) subjected to recent Distributed Denial of Service attacks it makes sense to draw some more attention to the excellent work of their journalists and editors.�
Earlier in July the DVB carried an outstanding report on the Burmese government effort to modify radios donated by the Chinese [...]

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Thanks to prolific New Mandala commentator, Grasshopper, I have learned of some interesting geographic information system work done by the US government on cyclone-affected areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.  A contextual article is available here and a very useful, but slightly dated, map is available here.
Other maps, including one that deals with livestock impact, are online at [...]

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As if a cyclone and a disastrous exercise in disaster relief were not enough, Myanmar has in the past week been hit by floods. From Kachin State in the north to Bago in the centre, the Ayeyarwaddy, Chindwin, Sittaung and Bago rivers among others have spilled over into towns, farmlands and villages.
The Chindwin, which flows [...]

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The global media has reported widely on the immense damage that Cyclone Nargis caused to crops, fisheries and livestock in Myanmar, and international agencies and governments have justifiably shown particular concerns for the coming rice crop. However, another important product that has also been seriously affected but has attracted less interest is salt.
According to official [...]

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Life for journalists in Burma, not easy at the best of times, has reportedly got even harder since the cyclone.  The Irrawaddy has some helpful details on the trying situation for the local media.  But even more interesting is this summary of the experiences of various BBC journalists.  They comment on disparate efforts to get access to the country, travel [...]

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Ashley South has put together an interesting analysis of recent events in Burma.  It is available, in full, here.  He concludes by noting that:
The international community has done little to support such peace-building: much more could have - and still might be - done to promote community development. The armed ethnic groups should move away [...]

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I was [later] taken to the immigration office at the airport and on my passport they stamped “Deportee” and a big star. And the special branch guy, took a lot of photographs of me from various directions…
- Statement by Korean freelance journalist, Lee Yu Kyong, who was deported from Burma on Sunday, according to a report [...]

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The East-West Center recently hosted an event that saw three major commentators on Burma issues discussing the impact of Cyclone Nargis.  There is a report of the conversation available here.  Readers hoping to learn more from these three quotable notables may also find these links useful: Priscilla Clapp, Kyi May Kaung and David Steinberg.

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