U.S. to downgrade Myanmar in annual human trafficking report

  • June 29, 2016
  • ISP Admin
The United States has decided to place Myanmar on its global list of worst offenders in human trafficking, officials said, a move aimed at prodding the country’s new democratically elected government and its still-powerful military to do more to curb the use of child soldiers and forced labor The reprimand of Myanmar comes despite US Read more...

Burma Votes for Change: The New Configuration of Power

  • June 28, 2016
  • ISP Admin
The Burmese military’s decision to abide by the outcome of the November 2015 general elections, which saw a landslide by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, shows that the country’s emerging institutions—the constitution, parliament, and the party and election systems that were activated only during the political opening in Read more...

Myanmar court convicts man over penis tattoo poem

  • June 26, 2016
  • ISP Admin
Maung Saung Kha is one of the first political activists sentenced since Aung San Suu Kyi took power in April A court in Myanmar has sentenced a young poet to six months in jail for defaming former president Thein Sein, making him one of the first political activists sentenced since Nobel peace prize laureate Aung Read more...

A Southern Adventure in the Myeik Islands

  • June 26, 2016
  • ISP Admin
KAWTHAUNG, Tanintharyi Division—The rumors we had heard that the remote Myeik archipelago was a difficult place to visit meant that we almost didn’t go That would have been a big mistake Getting to the departure point for our five day trip through some of the area’s 800-plus islands was just a plane ride from Yangon Read more...

Myanmar kids prep for homecoming in Thailand's ‘Little Burma’

  • June 26, 2016
  • ISP Admin
In a Thai port dubbed ‘Little Burma’ the children of Myanmar migrant workers peer at white boards carrying the distinctive looping characters of their parents’ language Enrolment at the school, the first in the fishing hub of Samut Sakhon to offer a Myanmar curriculum including reading and writing, is surging as migrants wearied by the Read more...

Aung San Suu Kyi Asks U.S. Not to Refer to ‘Rohingya’

  • June 26, 2016
  • ISP Admin
BANGKOK — Myanmar recognizes 135 ethnic groups within its borders But the people who constitute No 136 They are the people-who-must-not-be-named Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s first democratically elected government since 1962, embraced that view last week when she advised the United States ambassador against using the term “Rohingya” to describe Read more...

Talking trash: Cleaning up Bagan

  • June 24, 2016
  • ISP Admin
The mystic lure of the ancient pagodas in Bagan attracts thousands of visitors every year And with Burma’s tourist figures set to increase dramatically in the near future, steps must be taken to ensure the historical site is conserved and protected Such an influx of tourists inevitably means tons of garbage: plastic bags, bottles, food Read more...

Obama to Relax U.S. Sanctions Against Myanmar

  • June 24, 2016
  • ISP Admin
WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials on Tuesday said they would lift a broad array of sanctions on Myanmar, removing restrictions on state-owned banks and businesses as they seek to reward a historic move toward democracy in a country dominated for decades by brutal military rule The moves, to take effect on Wednesday, will allow American Read more...

Myanmar's Deep Fissures Make Explosive Powder Keg

  • June 23, 2016
  • ISP Admin
A tenuous civilian-military dance Simmering Burman Buddhist nationalism An impatient populace that is struggling with rising prices and power cuts, amid record-high GDP growth A popular but inexperienced political leadership inching toward what some call “liberal Read more...

Norwegian Minister Indulges in the Myth of a Democratizing Middle Class

  • June 22, 2016
  • ISP Admin
The relationship between Burma and Norway has transformed in recent years; one of the most devout supporters of Burma’s democratic opposition movement has warmed considerably to the quasi-civilian government that assumed power in 2011, largely made up of members of a former military regime The friendship has proven to be mutually beneficial, as Norway has Read more...