The "Oversight Olympiad" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\| ||\____ | Opium EXPRESS | ||','''|'''''''\___, | __ | ||__|'__|___|| ['''(@)'(@)''''''''''''''''**|(@)(@) *****'(@)* >From Seattle to Sydney 2000: Of its kind : The most powerful communications group in existance Editorial asks : Do these reports make any difference to the situation inside Burma itself? "In the project areas, we see no poppy fields any more, but drugs seem to become more available," An official from the UN Drug Control Program stated on the rising availability of drugs, just as opium crops, due to drought (in the project areas) are disappearing. The UNDCP's "Alternative Development Program" in the Shan State. According to the "New Light of Myamar", a publication of the junta. Poppy acreage in Burma is dropping: 1997 -89 151,200.006 acres 1998-99 102,066.766 " 1999-2000 90,437.61 " But if the junta won't listen to the international community? To "reason"? What are you going to do? Because right now, as you will find your national sportspersons being "accidently involved" with the sanitization of the |IOC / Burmese military junta's racist Olympiad. And without regenerating sanctions, including cultural sanctions. You haven't got a hope in hell of doing anything. And junta heroin will continue to cover north America and the host nation of Syd2000. In actuality, the junta have built both meth and heroin labs in the jungle. One can only get in and out of these bases by military helicopter. members of the junta military are often caught when ambushed in a fire fight, transporting drugs for export. The junta next step? Allowing the "retired" Kung Sha's (the infamous drug / war lord) accomplices in international crime, to expand the Burmese road system.. So? If anything : What are you gonna do? FROM US DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND DEA 8/12/00 BURMA Burma is the world's second largest source of illicit opium and heroin, exceeded only by Afghanistan, and currently accounts for approximately 80 percent of the total production of Southeast Asian opium. Largely due to severe drought conditions in poppy growing areas, production and cultivation continued to decline significantly in 1999 for the third year in a row. In 1999 there were an estimated 89,500 hectares under opium poppy cultivation, down 31 percent from 1998. This hectarage yielded a maximum of 1,090 metric tons of opium gum, 38 percent lower than in 1998 and less than half the average production during the last decade. The Government of Burma (GOB) maintained most of its opium crop-eradication efforts and expanded the program to an additional 9,800 acres. Seizures of methamphetamine in 1999 exceeded 1998's record figures, although opium and heroin seizures were well below 1998 levels. Burma made its first airport seizures of illicit drugs in 1999. While there were cases of drug interdiction and arrests of members of some cease-fire groups for drug trafficking, the GOB has been unwilling or unable to take on the most powerful groups directly. Cease-fire agreements with insurgent ethnic groups dependent on the drug trade implicitly tolerate continued involvement in drug trafficking for varying periods of time. The ethnic armies, such as the United Wa State Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, remain armed and heavily involved in the heroin trade. The GOB expressed support for eradication efforts, crop substitution, and development assistance, but allocated few resources to such projects. GOB policy is to force the leaders in the ethnic areas to spend their own revenues, including from the drug trade, on social and physical infrastructure. The approach limits the GOB's ability to continue or expand its counter-drug efforts. Burma's 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law conforms to the 1988 UN Drug Convention and contains useful legal tools for addressing money laundering, seizing drug-related assets, and prosecuting drug conspiracy cases. GOB officials, claiming they lack sufficient expertise, have been slow to implement the law, targeting few, if any, major traffickers and their drug-related assets. Money laundering in Burma and the return of drug profits laundered elsewhere are thought to be significant factors in the overall Burmese economy, although the extent of this problem is impossible to measure accurately. The cease-fire agreements condone money laundering, as the government encouraged these groups to invest in "legitimate" businesses as an alternative to trafficking, thus extending to them the opportunity to sanitize past illicit proceeds with investments in hotels and construction companies, for example. The Burmese continued to refuse to render drug lord Chang Qifu on grounds that he had not violated his 1996 surrender agreement. The 1988 U.N. Drug convention obligates parties, including Burma, to prosecute such traffickers. The GOB's counter-drug efforts in 1999 showed progress in a number of areas: methamphetamine and ephedrine seizures increased; crop eradication continued with modest expansion; anti-drug forces conducted more vigorous law-enforcement efforts; and members of some cease-fire groups were arrested for drug trafficking. Such efforts must be stepped up, however, if they are to have a significant impact on the overall trafficking problem. On balance, the USG remains concerned that Burma's efforts are not commensurate with the extent of the drug problem within its borders. Large-scale poppy cultivation and opium production continue, decreasing in the last few years largely because of severe drought conditions rather than eradication programs. The GOB's effective toleration of money laundering, its unwillingness to implement its drug laws, and its failure to render notorious traffickers under indictment in the United States all continue to be serious concerns. Allowing APARTHEID : "Alive and loose in Burma, Switzerland and Sydney 2000 Australia". Follow the plea by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the appreciations of HH the Dalai Lama, the Shan Democratic Union, film maker John Pilger, the Free Burma Coalition, author Alan Clements, MPs Dennis Skinner, Tony Benn, Ann Clwyd, Maria Fyfe, Mike Hancock, Congress-woman Maxine Waters, Dr and Welsh rugby star JPR Williams, Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, S African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, All Burma Students Democratic Organisation, All Burma Students Democratic Front, Tasmanian Trades & Labour Council, SACP, COSATU, Tim Gopsill, editor. [EMAIL PROTECTED], and numerous others. Supporting a Genuine war upon drugs and human rights abuse. Sydney 2000 : Burma Out! http://www.mihra.org/2k/burma.htm Music Industry Human Rights Association http://www.mihra.org / [EMAIL PROTECTED] Union Action http://www.mihra.org/2k/union.htm Drugs http://www.mihra.org/2k/drugs.htm Media http://www.mihra.org/2k/media.htm Founded during UN50. Mihra's roots are in music and anti-racism and was first in line in calling for a sports boycott of Burma for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar issued on 14 March can be found on the website of the UN Commission on Human Rights: www.unhchr.ch Mihra also advances protection of creators rights in a market, currently 93.8% monopolized by the recording / publishing Grand Cartel. ========================
