11-23-2017, 11:21 PM
*** 24-Nov-17 World View -- India and China support Burma (Myanmar) on Rohingya ethnic cleansing for business reasons
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Burma makes farcical agreement with Bangladesh to take back Rohingya refugees
****
![[Image: g171123b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g171123b.jpg)
A Rohingya girl in a Bangladesh refugee camp, her face covered in 'thanaka', a comestic makeup paste widely used in the region, made from ground bark (AP)
Ethnic cleansing "clearance operations" by Burma's (Myanmar's) army
have driven some 620,000 ethnic Rohingyas from Rakhine State into
Bangladesh, threatening to destabilize the entire region. Burma and
Bangladesh have now reached an agreement to return the Rohingyas
starting in three months, but only after all the appropriate forms
have been filled out for each one.
Burma's Buddhist army has been conducting atrocities on Muslim ethnic
Rohingyas in Rakhine State since 2012. In November of last year, the
United Nations found that Burma's army was "killing men, shooting
them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses,
forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh. Satellite
images showed that Burma's army was burning down entire villages where
Rohingyas had lived for decades, in order to perform ethnic cleansing
-- "cleanse" Rakhine State of all Rohingyas.
The attacks were led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his "969
movement," where 969 is a historic Buddhist sign, referring to the
nine qualities of Buddha, the six qualities of Buddha's teaching, and
nine qualities of the Buddhist community. 969 is supposed to promote
peace and happiness, although Wirathu's 969 movement is a vehicle
promoting violence. And now the Burma's army is apparently taking
over the movement with ethnic cleansing.
After several years of these atrocities by Burma's army, Rohingya
activists have formed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which
attacked 8 Burmese police posts in October of last year. These
attacks provoked a wave of deadly "clearance operations" by Burma's
army, and forced tens of thousands of Rohingyas to flee the violence
into Bangladesh.
On August 25 of this year, ARSA conducted coordinated attacks on 30
police outposts and an army base. This became a major violence
trigger for the entire Burmese army. Whereas the "clearance
operations" by Myanmar's army previously appeared to be reasonably
disciplined, after August 25 they became extremely undisciplined and
disorganized, to the point of mass bloody chaos, with the results
that thousands fled across the border to Bangladesh each day.
There are now around 620,000 Rohingya refugees in refugee camps
in Bangladesh.
Burma's "clearance operations" of Rohingyas is also creating
a diplomatic problem for the Pope, who is scheduled to visit
Myanmar on November 26 to December 2. The Pope is being
cautioned not even to use the word "Rohingya," for fear that
Burma's army will turn from murdering and cleansing Rohingyas
to murdering and cleansing the Christian minority, particularly
the 700,000 Roman Catholics.
On the other hand, if the Pope says nothing, then he risks his moral
authority, in the same way that Pope Pius XII lost his moral authority
for not criticizing the Nazi Holocaust. According to Father Thomas
Reese, an analyst at Religion News Service:
<QUOTE>"He risks either compromising his moral authority or
putting in danger the Christians of that country.
I have great admiration for the pope and his abilities, but
someone should have talked him out of making this
trip."<END QUOTE>
On Wednesday, for the first time, the US administration raised the
threat of targeted sanctions against Burmese officials, when Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson referred to the "horrendous atrocities" as
"ethnic cleansing" of Rohingyas. This has raised fears of a backlash,
with the result that the US embassy in Myanmar on Thursday suspended
official travel to parts of Rakhine until 4 December and warned
citizens against visiting the areas.
The agreement that Burma and Bangladesh have reached for the return of
refugees looks to me like a joke. There are 620,000 refugees, and the
number is still growing every day. Return of refugees won't begin for
three months, and then only when forms have been filled out, submitted
to the Burma military, and approved. This is clearly a stalling
maneuver by Burma, and signing it is an act of desperation by
Bangladesh, who are still overwhelmed by the waves of refugees.
Reuters and News24 (Bangladesh) and Reuters and Sydney Morning Herald
****
**** China proposes farcical three-point solution to Rohingya crisis
****
Last week, China said that Myanmar and Bangladesh should shut out the
international community from interfering in the Rohingya crisis, but
then offered itself to interfere by mediating between the two
countries. According to Chinese state media, China offered a
three-phase solution to the "Rakhine issue," without mentioning
the Rohingyas:
China's third phase is particularly farcical. There's poverty in
every country in the world, but it doesn't result in hundreds of
thousands of refugees. The "Rakhine issue" is not caused by poverty.
It's caused by Buddhist monks, members of the so-called religion of
peace (Buddhism), and Burma's Buddhist army committing war crimes,
raping, torturing and killing innocent civilians, not because of
poverty, but because the Burmese vitriolicly hate the Rohingyas and
would like to exterminate them.
China should understand this, because it has conducted similar
operations in the past, with its Han Chinese army committing
atrocities against its hated Buddhist Tibetans in China.
Basically, China's three-point proposal is a farce. Global Times (Beijing) and China's Foreign Ministry and Reuters
****
**** India and China support Burma on Rohingya ethnic cleansing for business reasons
****
In September, India's ministry of external affairs issued
a statement saying:
<QUOTE>"We stand by Myanmar in the hour of its crisis, we
strongly condemn the terrorist attack on August 24-25 and condole
the death of policemen and soldiers, we will back Myanmar in its
fight against terrorism."<END QUOTE>
India's statement made no mention of the atrocities committed by Burma
since 2012, nor the "clearance operations" that have forced 620,000
Rohingyas so far to flee the violence. As we wrote last month ( "7-Oct-17 World View -- Burma's Rohingya crisis merges with the Kashmir crisis, inflaming the entire region"
), Pakistan is siding with the Muslim Rohingyas. ARSA
is linking up with anti-Indian jihadist groups in India-controlled
Kashmir, so India officials see the Rohingyas as an existential
threat. India has also threatened to expel nearly 40,000 Rohingya
migrants it says have illegally settled in the country.
So there's a historical irony here. The ethnic cleansing and war
crimes by the Burmese have destabilized the region to the extent that
India feels that it must support the army committing the ethnic
cleansing and war crimes.
In September, Hong Liang, China's ambassador to Myanmar, made a
similar supportive statement:
<QUOTE>"The stance of China regarding the terrorist attacks
in Rakhine is clear, it is just an internal affair; the
counterattacks of Myanmar security forces against extremist
terrorists and the government’s undertakings to provide assistance
to the people are strongly welcomed.
China’s help for the Rakhine crisis is just a social obligation.
The president of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association, the vice
president of the oil and gas pipeline project and responsible
personnel from the Kyauk Phyu Deep Sea Port Project were brought
here together with him; the company wished to provide assistance
to the displaced persons."<END QUOTE>
As with India, the Chinese never mentioned the atrocities committed by
Burma since 2012, nor the "clearance operations" that have forced
620,000 Rohingyas so far to flee the violence.
However, the Chinese statement highlights why China supports Myanmar
despite the massive ethnic cleansing and slaughter. There are large
gas reserves off the coast of Rakhine State, and China brings gas from
Kyauk Phyu on Rakhine's coast through the Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline.
This gas meets the needs of China’s Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi
provinces as well as that of other counties and cities. The
transportation of this gas is more important to China than the ethnic
cleansing of the Rohingyas.
India also has huge infrastructure projects in Rakhine, including the
India-funded Kaladan multi-modal project designed to provide a
sea-river-land link to its remote northeast through Sittwe port.
Both India and China fear the threat of terrorism on the Rakhine
infrastructure projects, as well as on Indian and Chinese soil.
Indian intelligence expert Major General Gaganjit Singh asks:
<QUOTE>"What if ARSA terrorists attack an Indian ship on the
Kaladan river or try blowing up parts of the Yunnan-Kyauk Phyu
oil-gas pipeline as the [separatist group United Liberation Front
of Assam] used to do in [the Indian state of] Assam? Such
scenarios cannot be discounted."<END QUOTE>
Readers may recall that in September there was a threat of war between
India and China over a border conflict in Bhutan's Doklam Plateau.
That dispute was suddenly and unexpected settled and analysts could only guess at the reasons.
Part of the speculation was that a conflict would spill
over into Kashmir or into the Indian Ocean. Now there's another
possibility: the fear that a Doklam border conflict might spill over
into the Rakhine infrastructure projects of both countries. South China Morning Post (18-Oct) and Jamestown and Global New Light Of Myanmar and CNBC
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Burma, Myanmar, Rakhine State, Rohingyas,
Bangladesh, Clearance operations, China, India,
Buddhism, Ashin Wirathu, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, ARSA,
Pope Pius XII, Nazi Holocaust, Father Thomas Reese,
Rex Tillerson, Hong Liang,
Yunnan, Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline, Kyauk Phyu, Kaladan, Sittwe,
Gaganjit Singh, Bhutan, Doklam Plateau
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Burma makes farcical agreement with Bangladesh to take back Rohingya refugees
- China proposes farcical three-point solution to Rohingya crisis
- India and China support Burma on Rohingya ethnic cleansing for business reasons
****
**** Burma makes farcical agreement with Bangladesh to take back Rohingya refugees
****
A Rohingya girl in a Bangladesh refugee camp, her face covered in 'thanaka', a comestic makeup paste widely used in the region, made from ground bark (AP)
Ethnic cleansing "clearance operations" by Burma's (Myanmar's) army
have driven some 620,000 ethnic Rohingyas from Rakhine State into
Bangladesh, threatening to destabilize the entire region. Burma and
Bangladesh have now reached an agreement to return the Rohingyas
starting in three months, but only after all the appropriate forms
have been filled out for each one.
Burma's Buddhist army has been conducting atrocities on Muslim ethnic
Rohingyas in Rakhine State since 2012. In November of last year, the
United Nations found that Burma's army was "killing men, shooting
them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses,
forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh. Satellite
images showed that Burma's army was burning down entire villages where
Rohingyas had lived for decades, in order to perform ethnic cleansing
-- "cleanse" Rakhine State of all Rohingyas.
The attacks were led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his "969
movement," where 969 is a historic Buddhist sign, referring to the
nine qualities of Buddha, the six qualities of Buddha's teaching, and
nine qualities of the Buddhist community. 969 is supposed to promote
peace and happiness, although Wirathu's 969 movement is a vehicle
promoting violence. And now the Burma's army is apparently taking
over the movement with ethnic cleansing.
After several years of these atrocities by Burma's army, Rohingya
activists have formed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which
attacked 8 Burmese police posts in October of last year. These
attacks provoked a wave of deadly "clearance operations" by Burma's
army, and forced tens of thousands of Rohingyas to flee the violence
into Bangladesh.
On August 25 of this year, ARSA conducted coordinated attacks on 30
police outposts and an army base. This became a major violence
trigger for the entire Burmese army. Whereas the "clearance
operations" by Myanmar's army previously appeared to be reasonably
disciplined, after August 25 they became extremely undisciplined and
disorganized, to the point of mass bloody chaos, with the results
that thousands fled across the border to Bangladesh each day.
There are now around 620,000 Rohingya refugees in refugee camps
in Bangladesh.
Burma's "clearance operations" of Rohingyas is also creating
a diplomatic problem for the Pope, who is scheduled to visit
Myanmar on November 26 to December 2. The Pope is being
cautioned not even to use the word "Rohingya," for fear that
Burma's army will turn from murdering and cleansing Rohingyas
to murdering and cleansing the Christian minority, particularly
the 700,000 Roman Catholics.
On the other hand, if the Pope says nothing, then he risks his moral
authority, in the same way that Pope Pius XII lost his moral authority
for not criticizing the Nazi Holocaust. According to Father Thomas
Reese, an analyst at Religion News Service:
<QUOTE>"He risks either compromising his moral authority or
putting in danger the Christians of that country.
I have great admiration for the pope and his abilities, but
someone should have talked him out of making this
trip."<END QUOTE>
On Wednesday, for the first time, the US administration raised the
threat of targeted sanctions against Burmese officials, when Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson referred to the "horrendous atrocities" as
"ethnic cleansing" of Rohingyas. This has raised fears of a backlash,
with the result that the US embassy in Myanmar on Thursday suspended
official travel to parts of Rakhine until 4 December and warned
citizens against visiting the areas.
The agreement that Burma and Bangladesh have reached for the return of
refugees looks to me like a joke. There are 620,000 refugees, and the
number is still growing every day. Return of refugees won't begin for
three months, and then only when forms have been filled out, submitted
to the Burma military, and approved. This is clearly a stalling
maneuver by Burma, and signing it is an act of desperation by
Bangladesh, who are still overwhelmed by the waves of refugees.
Reuters and News24 (Bangladesh) and Reuters and Sydney Morning Herald
****
**** China proposes farcical three-point solution to Rohingya crisis
****
Last week, China said that Myanmar and Bangladesh should shut out the
international community from interfering in the Rohingya crisis, but
then offered itself to interfere by mediating between the two
countries. According to Chinese state media, China offered a
three-phase solution to the "Rakhine issue," without mentioning
the Rohingyas:
- "The first phase is to achieve a ceasefire so that local
residents can no longer be displaced. Through joint efforts, the
ceasefire has been in place." This is evidently not true, since
hundreds of Rohingyas are still crossing the border from Rakhine into
Bangladesh each day.
- "Second, the international community should encourage Myanmar
and Bangladesh to keep communication in a bid to find a feasible
solution to the issue, he said. The two countries have reached an
initial agreement on repatriation of refugees fleeing to Bangladesh
from Myanmar." This is the agreement that I described above, and
characterized as a joke.
- "The third phase is to find a long-term solution. Stressing
that poverty is the root cause of turbulence and conflict, the Chinese
foreign minister called on the international community to support
poverty alleviation efforts in Rakhine state."
China's third phase is particularly farcical. There's poverty in
every country in the world, but it doesn't result in hundreds of
thousands of refugees. The "Rakhine issue" is not caused by poverty.
It's caused by Buddhist monks, members of the so-called religion of
peace (Buddhism), and Burma's Buddhist army committing war crimes,
raping, torturing and killing innocent civilians, not because of
poverty, but because the Burmese vitriolicly hate the Rohingyas and
would like to exterminate them.
China should understand this, because it has conducted similar
operations in the past, with its Han Chinese army committing
atrocities against its hated Buddhist Tibetans in China.
Basically, China's three-point proposal is a farce. Global Times (Beijing) and China's Foreign Ministry and Reuters
****
**** India and China support Burma on Rohingya ethnic cleansing for business reasons
****
In September, India's ministry of external affairs issued
a statement saying:
<QUOTE>"We stand by Myanmar in the hour of its crisis, we
strongly condemn the terrorist attack on August 24-25 and condole
the death of policemen and soldiers, we will back Myanmar in its
fight against terrorism."<END QUOTE>
India's statement made no mention of the atrocities committed by Burma
since 2012, nor the "clearance operations" that have forced 620,000
Rohingyas so far to flee the violence. As we wrote last month ( "7-Oct-17 World View -- Burma's Rohingya crisis merges with the Kashmir crisis, inflaming the entire region"
), Pakistan is siding with the Muslim Rohingyas. ARSA
is linking up with anti-Indian jihadist groups in India-controlled
Kashmir, so India officials see the Rohingyas as an existential
threat. India has also threatened to expel nearly 40,000 Rohingya
migrants it says have illegally settled in the country.
So there's a historical irony here. The ethnic cleansing and war
crimes by the Burmese have destabilized the region to the extent that
India feels that it must support the army committing the ethnic
cleansing and war crimes.
In September, Hong Liang, China's ambassador to Myanmar, made a
similar supportive statement:
<QUOTE>"The stance of China regarding the terrorist attacks
in Rakhine is clear, it is just an internal affair; the
counterattacks of Myanmar security forces against extremist
terrorists and the government’s undertakings to provide assistance
to the people are strongly welcomed.
China’s help for the Rakhine crisis is just a social obligation.
The president of the Chinese Entrepreneurs Association, the vice
president of the oil and gas pipeline project and responsible
personnel from the Kyauk Phyu Deep Sea Port Project were brought
here together with him; the company wished to provide assistance
to the displaced persons."<END QUOTE>
As with India, the Chinese never mentioned the atrocities committed by
Burma since 2012, nor the "clearance operations" that have forced
620,000 Rohingyas so far to flee the violence.
However, the Chinese statement highlights why China supports Myanmar
despite the massive ethnic cleansing and slaughter. There are large
gas reserves off the coast of Rakhine State, and China brings gas from
Kyauk Phyu on Rakhine's coast through the Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline.
This gas meets the needs of China’s Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi
provinces as well as that of other counties and cities. The
transportation of this gas is more important to China than the ethnic
cleansing of the Rohingyas.
India also has huge infrastructure projects in Rakhine, including the
India-funded Kaladan multi-modal project designed to provide a
sea-river-land link to its remote northeast through Sittwe port.
Both India and China fear the threat of terrorism on the Rakhine
infrastructure projects, as well as on Indian and Chinese soil.
Indian intelligence expert Major General Gaganjit Singh asks:
<QUOTE>"What if ARSA terrorists attack an Indian ship on the
Kaladan river or try blowing up parts of the Yunnan-Kyauk Phyu
oil-gas pipeline as the [separatist group United Liberation Front
of Assam] used to do in [the Indian state of] Assam? Such
scenarios cannot be discounted."<END QUOTE>
Readers may recall that in September there was a threat of war between
India and China over a border conflict in Bhutan's Doklam Plateau.
That dispute was suddenly and unexpected settled and analysts could only guess at the reasons.
Part of the speculation was that a conflict would spill
over into Kashmir or into the Indian Ocean. Now there's another
possibility: the fear that a Doklam border conflict might spill over
into the Rakhine infrastructure projects of both countries. South China Morning Post (18-Oct) and Jamestown and Global New Light Of Myanmar and CNBC
Related Articles
- Burma's Rohingya crisis merges with the Kashmir crisis, inflaming the entire region (07-Oct-2017)
- Burma's (Myanmar's) leaders may be inspired by Pol Pot's Cambodian 'Killing Fields' genocide (29-Sep-2017)
- Violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar/Burma escalates dramatically (28-Aug-2017)
- Analysts draw lessons from the China vs India Doklam border standoff (24-Sep-2017)
- Meiktila, Burma, violence has echoes of Kristallnacht (05-Apr-2013)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Burma, Myanmar, Rakhine State, Rohingyas,
Bangladesh, Clearance operations, China, India,
Buddhism, Ashin Wirathu, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, ARSA,
Pope Pius XII, Nazi Holocaust, Father Thomas Reese,
Rex Tillerson, Hong Liang,
Yunnan, Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline, Kyauk Phyu, Kaladan, Sittwe,
Gaganjit Singh, Bhutan, Doklam Plateau
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
