AUDREY'S MISSILES A newsletter dedicated to the peaceful reform of the United States government. DOING BUSINESS WITH CRIMINALS INTERPOL'S Yangon (Rangoon) heroin conference opened this week (February 23, 1999), on the world's drug problems. It was almost entirely shunned by the First World. Washington and the Europeans declined to attend the meeting because Myanmar is one of the world's leading producers of heroin, saying they feared Myanmar would use the event to give a false impression of its drug suppression efforts. (Some of the absentees had also linked their refusal to attend to Myanmar's poor human rights and political record.) Of Interpol's 176 member countries, only 24 – mainly from Asia and southern Africa – are represented at the conference. During the conference, the Burmese authorities will dramatize their claims to be fighting the drug menace with a mass destruction of heroin, opium and amphetamines in Rangoon on Friday. Evidently the drug lords that run the country want to convince the world that they are law- abiding members of the world community. Amnesty International reports details of torture, prolonged shackling, lack of proper medical care, and insufficient food for both criminal and political prisoners. There are also reports of people being employed in a jade mine under sub-human conditions. Two-thirds of the 100,000 workers at Hpakant Jade Mine are paid by drugs rather than cash.. More than 90 percent of the addicts in the region are H.I.V. positive, according to a U.N. report. In its latest human rights report, the State Department said Myanmar has ``a highly authoritarian regime'' that has killed and jailed its political opponents, squelched free speech and demonstrations and pressed thousands of people into forced labor to assist the military. The rulers do not seem to care if the entire population becomes addicted. In fact, appearances are that the rulers are deliberately engaging in genocide, depopulation. The conditions that exist in Myanmar are so oppressive that a number of companies have withdrawn and are no longer doing business there, including Hewlett-Packard and Eastman Kodak Co. Our federal government has not seen fit to impose any penalties, but the State of Massachusetts has refused to trade with them. Last Fall, a federal court ruling struck down the Massachusetts law imposing sanctions on firms doing business with Myanmar. U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro found that the Massachusetts Burma Law, which effectively barred firms doing business with Myanmar from state contracts, "unconstitutionally infringes on the federal government's exclusive authority to regulate foreign affairs." The World Trade Organization, at the urging of the EU and Japan, agreed to set up a dispute panel to examine the Massachusetts law. It is unclear what will happen in that action. Evidently the United States government sees nothing wrong in doing business with criminals. Sources: The Austrailian /www.the australian.com.au/masthead/theoz/state/4195397.htm Washington Times, June 8, 1998, p. A17.,http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/drugs/herointimes.txt http://www.msnbc.com/local/RTMA/4498.asp, http: //www.amnesty.org/news/1995/Myanmar.22.09.95.txt, and Reuters and AP reports READ THIS NEWSLETTER AND THEN GIVE IT TO A FRIEND. No copyright on the content of AUDREY'S MISSILES is claimed since it is our hope that the information in this newsletter will be copied and distributed widely. Topics covered are those which are not adequately treated on TV or in the press. If you live in the 209 calling area end a request to 209 847-7588 for a free fax subscription. E-mail is free anywhere. Paid subscriptions are not accepted. To subscribe or unsubscribe write [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2/99 Burma ========================================================================== [EMAIL PROTECTED] is an moderated maillist about government reform. To join or leave send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] TO: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: -------------------------------------- (un)subscribe audreys-missiles Visit http://www.uwsa.com Support UWSA.COM at http://www.uwsa.com/UWSACOMintro.html
