#Burma (Mynamar) has been feeeling the heat lately. #suukyi has made it a long way politically despite being a political prisoner underof the military junta She cannot become president because the junta-drafted 2008 constitution bars those with foreign family, which directly aimed to bar Ms Suu Kyi whose two sons are British from becoming head of state. #WinMyint, one her loyal political friends, is the new President of #Mynamar.
April 3, 2018: Don't tease the deer just feed them at Japan's #NaraPark or risk getting bit.
april 9, 2018: #northkorea can try to spin this but it won't work. There were 429 foreigners competing on Sunday in #Pyongyang marathon, compared to more than 1,000 who raced in 2017.
April 12, 2018: Perhaps this is why #Mynamar remains perplexing : Seven Myanmar soldiers have been sentenced by a military court to prison for their involvement in the killings of 10 #Rohingya Muslim men last year while two Reuters journalists, who were investigating those killings, are still being held in prison.
April 23, 2018: #Myanmar grants amnesty to 8,500 prisoners but not to two #Reuters journalists facing 14 years in prison for possessing secret official documents .
May 8, 2018
Regardless of your ideology beware of laws passed to fight #fakenews Its more about cutting off free speech and dissent. In #Malaysia, Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman, 46, a Danish national, was the first. person convicted under their fake news laws for inaccurately criticiziing the police on social media. Now they're going after political opponents.
June 2, 2018
Way to go Bulldog #Mattis who issued a sharp criticism of #China for its "intimidation and coercion" by placing weapons on manmade islands in the disputed waterway of South China Sea.
June 11, 2018
#Vietnamese authorities have detained more than 100 people protesting in fear that Chinese companies and investors will get the lion's share of new urban economic zones. A popular protestors' chant was : "No leasing land to #China even for one day,"
June 12
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , a defacto US embassy, was unveiled in Taipei, Taiwan earlier today. So much for #ONECHINA .
June 20
Is #Duerte 's lax attitude to the the recent murders of three Catholic priests political suicide in the 90% Catholic #philippines . Senate President Vicente Sotto III called the killings a mere "coincidence."
June 26
Well, #duerte calls #god stupid- that's just politically stupid. Here's my favorite bonhead #duerte quote of this year. He told #Filipino soldiers "they should shoot female communist rebels in the vagina."
July 18, 2018
The Hong Kong Security Bureau (mainland China) sent a letter to #HKNP , one of the leading groups in Hong Kong's pro-independence movement, founder Andy Chan telling him he had until August 7 to justify its existence. The crackdown is in full force.
July 21 , 2018
Apparently some #Hindus in India do not like the notion of "Beef, it's what's for dinner." Hardline Hindu groups have been targeting and sometimes killing individuals, mostly Muslims, accused of eating beef or slaughtering cattle.
Aug 18, 2018
Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 29, are accused of smearing #VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s (half brother of NK dictator Kim Jong-un) face. And here's their defense: They thought they were taking part in a prank for a TV show. Malaysian officials haven't caught four North Korean men who are also suspects and haven't officially accused North Korea in the murder.
aug 24, 2018
This is probably why #malaysia is turning it's back on money from #china : Chinese investors bring in their own employees and create no new jobs.
aug 28, 2018
A #Facebook first: FB bans a country's military or political leaders In this case it's #Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlain over Rohingya
sept 24, 2018
#HongKong moved closer to not having a separate political and legal system from mainland China: Yesterday the Hong Kong National Party #HKNP became the first political party to be banned in Hong Kong since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
sept 30, 2018
Those cuddly little #raccoons brought to #Japan as pets are being released into the wild when they become too big and wreak havoc with agriculture and native species.
oct 3
#Trump 's administration approved a military sale to #Taiwan totaling $330 million (€281 million). Mainland China will love this !!!
oct 5, 2018
India regards Rohingya refugees from #Mynamar (Burma), including 16,000 of those registered with the UN's refugee agency, as "illegal immigrants," who do not have a right to stay in the country. If you recall #suikyi and the Mynamar Govt have been getting tons of criticism over their handling of the Rohingas, but India says they pose a "serious threat" with intelligence data showing links between some of the refugees and Pakistan-based terror groups and the "Islamic State" .
oct 7 :Bangladesh President #Hamid assented to a controversial new law that could cripple press freedom and curb free speech particularly this : jail time for articles on a website or in electronic form that hurt one's religious sentiment and values
nov 26 ,2018
#Rohingya protests blocked Bangladesh repatriation efforts to #Mynamar. None of the refugees set for repatriation showed up or wanted to return.
Nov 27, 2018
I've been slow on recognizing how repressive #Malaysia has become . Four Finnish nationals will be deported and barred from returning after they were detained for distributing pamphlets about Christianity in the Muslim-majority country.
A #Shariah court in Malaysia had two women caned for attempting lesbian sex. Caning is banned under civil law in Malaysia, but allowed under Islamic law in the country's dual-track legal system..
dec 1, 2018
This could go awry quickly. #Duterte, the Philippine President, proposed Military sparrow units, small assassination squads, to combat the (NPA), the military branch of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
dec 7, 2018
Look what's popped up in the middle of USA/ China tariff talks. Huawei’s chief financial officer, #MengWanzhou, faces possible extradition to the United States, according to Canadian authorities. She was detained in Vancouver for trying to evade US curbs on trade with Iran.
dec 9,2018
#AndrusAnsip , the EU technology commissioner, has joined this chorus : #Huawei is cooperating with the China's intelligence agencies or adding "back doors" to their systems to allow spies access to EU and other nations secrets.
dec 13, 2018
#china takes two Canadians in alleged political kidnappings to get #huawei back. #MichaelSpavor is a businessman based in Dandong, near the Chinese border with North Korea. #MichaelKovrig currently works International Crisis Group.
jan 1, 2019
Good luck to the Hong Kong protesters pushing to save their freedoms which have diminished greatly since the 1997 transfer of power from the UK to China.
jan 5, 2019
#JoSongGil , North Korea's top diplomat in Rome, has gone missing and is likely seeking asylum in Europe. He was allowed to bring his wife and family with him when he came to Rome in May
2015.
jan 14. 2019
Huawei on Saturday said it
had dismissed #WangWeijing , a Chinese worker arrested in #Poland on allegations of
spying for Beijing. Of course, the Chinese Govt is claiming Wang was arrested for personal reasons.
jan 20, 2019
#Taiwan to alter its military strategy: It has expanded to repelling an invasion on sea and
in the air from mainland China. And you can bet they'll move for a formal military alliance with the USA.
jan 22, 2019
Two of Japan's largest convenience stores will cease stocking
adult magazines ahead of the 2019
Rugby World Cup and next year's #TokyoOlympics., but I bet the day after the Olympics the "smut" returns to their shelves.
Feb 10
Turkey's Foreign Ministry has condemned China's treatment of its ethnic #Uighur Moslem minority while #ergodan , the Turkish leader clamps down of the press and the #Kurds. Another case of the pot calling the kettle black.
feb 11
China released a video of #Uighur #Abdurehim Heyit late Sunday in an attempt to disprove reports from Turkey of his death in custody?
feb 19
I'm talking #Kashmir, not the Led Zeppelin song, but the India
administered district Kashmir. The Pakistan-based militant group
Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in
Pulwama, and India may react militarily and target militants'
sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border.
feb 23
India is threatening to cut off off water supply in the East to Pakistan, which has offered its assistance to India in the investigation to find and punish the perpetrators of the attack in Pulwama. Yep, just like they let #binLaden live freely in Pakistan.
feb 24
#HowardX , a Kim Jong-un impersonator from Hong kong, has been deported from Vietnam ahead of the real North Korean leader's visit. X and Trump impersonator Russell White held a fake summit last week and were told to cease all their political jesting. Now we know why Vietnam was chosen as the summit site.
march 6
Here's your morning chuckle: Malaysia Tourism Minister Datuk Mohammaddin bin Ketapi claimed that the Muslim-majority country doesn't have gays.
march 28
#Malaysia, the number two producer of palm oil, will boycott EU goods, if the EU bloc goes ahead with its plan to restrict palm oil.The bloc uses 45% of its total palm oil imports for biodiesel and another 15% to generate heat and power.
april 1: #brunei 's new #shariah penal code includes brutal chopping off limbs
for theft or stoning people to death for homosexual activity.
april 10: China’s state planner wants to eliminate bitcoin mining and apply more government pressure on the cryptocurrency
sector.
april 27: #SriLanka police spokesman said that three suspected suicide bombers were among the 15 dead after a shootout between troops and Islamist militants. US State Dept ordered the departure from the country of all school-age family members
of U.S. government employees and also authorized non-emergency employees
to leave.
May 12
Captain #MyatMoeAung of Myanmar (Burma) Airlines safely landed an
Embraer 190 aircraft at #Mandalay airport in northern Burma after the front landing gear failed to deploy. No reported injuries to crew and passengers.
June 4
It turns out Russia and Japan never signed a peace treaty to end WW2. They're meeting to resolve the issues, but Russia is unhappy with Japan's planned installation of a US-made Aegis Ashore missile defense system . The basis of a return of the islands to Japan is based on a joint declaration in 1956 that
the then-Soviet Union was willing to cede Shikotan and Habomai, two islands that form part of the disputed #Kuril Islands the Red Army captured in the final days of the war.
June 8
#SuuKyi (Burma) and #Orban (Hungary) , an unlikely duo, issued a joint statement that immigration, and both countries' growing Muslim
populations, posed a serious challenge.
June 16
Those Commies in mainland China are busy trying to block internet images of “Taiwan supports Hong Kong.” and protesters in Hong Kong waiving Taiwan flags.I'm impressed with the staying power of the Hong Kong folks protesting the "extradition" legislation, and at how quickly Hong Kong tycoons have been moving their money off-shore.
July 10
Mainland Chinese diplomats repeatedly interrupted #deniseho , a Hong Kong pop star, while she accused Beijing of "preventing our democracy at all costs" in a speech to the UN. Suppression is the Commie tool of choice.
july 13
Mainland China is gritting its teeth: #HongKong suburbs: Protesters waved banners appealing to #Trump to “Please liberate Hong Kong” and “Defend our
Constitution”
July 24
Serious issue bordering on farcical: Japan criticized South Korea for taking action against a
Russian plane over what Japan says is its airspace, an area that is a part of the long running #LiancourtRocks dispute.
jULY 27
Several thousand protesters defied a police ban to converge
on Yuen Long, a rural Hong Kong town where suspected #Triad gang members attacked
protesters and commuters at a train station last weekend. Is it only a matter of time until Mainland China does a full clampdown?
aug 23, 2019
Accountants, a group not known for strident political activity, in Hong Kong have marched in support of the pro-democracy movement.
sept 27, 2019
Under the USA/Japan limited trade deal, #Japan will open new markets to about $7 billion in American agricultural products.
oct 24, 2019
A #Bangladesh court sentenced 16 people to death for the murder of a
student, Nusrat Jahan Rafi,
who was set on fire after accusing her teacher of sexual harassment. The teacher, Siraj Ud Doula, is one of those 16 .
oct 29, 2019
Putting out fires with gasoline: Hong Kong authorities barred high-profile pro-democracy activist #JoshuaWong from participating in the Chinese territory’s upcoming district council elections.
nov 21
#trump is expected to sign Congressional legislation late to sanction Hong Kong officials
who carry out human rights abuses and require an annual review of the
favorable trade status that the USA grants Hong Kong.
nov 25
In #HongKong nearly three million people - about 3/4 of eligible voters - pulled the levers for pro-democracy candidates who now control 400 of the 452 District Council seats. In the last election they had 100 seats.
dec 10
#suukyi will be at the Hague today defending Myanmar against genocide charges. She will argue that the court has no jurisdiction, and that Myanmar was only targeting Rohinga militants. She will be defending a Junta of generals who once kept her under house arrest.
jan 31, 2020
The Japanese town of #Narashino on January 27 marked 100 years since the last
group of WW1 German POWs left the prison camp, Many were captured during fall of Marshall and Marianas Islands,Germany's possessions in the Pacific Ocean at the time.
feb 15
A labor dispute in the #Himalayas ? Some #Sherpas guides are upset by Nepal's plan to use the military to collect trash and bodies on Mt Everest. They claim they should get paid to clean up the higher altitude areas since the military only reaches the lower altitude places.
feb 20
Impure language? North Korea
state media claims South Korea is destroying the Korean language by it usage of foreign words and
slang in music, TV, etc.
march 29, 2020
I missed this in January: #Facebook apologized while blaming a technical error for China's leader Xi Jinping’s
name appearing as “Mr Shithole” in posts when translated
into English from Burmese.
march 30
#copfight Police in China clashed with each other when Hubei residents ,who had travel restrictions lifted, tried to
cross a bridge to enter Jiangxi.
april 16
Animal Crossing, a Nintendo game, has been removed from sale in Chinese online stores after activists, particularly Hong Kong advocates for democracy, used it to criticize the government in mainland China.
april 18
#Thae ,a former North Korean diplomat in Europe, reported assets worth $1.5 million,
after defecting from North to South Korea in 2016. He won a seat in Parliament representing the wealthy Seoul district of Gangnam , which has ticked off the North Korean powerbrokers who are particularly upset that its a wealthy district. Hey North Korea how did he accumlate that wealth working for your Communist nation?
May 26, 2020
New national security legislation written by Beijing with no input from Hong Kong’s legislature, sparked the biggest drop on the Hong Kong
stock exchange in five years on Friday. And Leader Lam called the fears over
business-related freedoms "totally groundless." Sure no need to worry about Chinese intelligence agencies setting up official bases in the city.
June 18, 2020
Twenty Indian soldiers died in a border clash with with Chinese soldiers near the remote Galwan Valley. And no surprise that China claims it has no casualties.
Aug 4, 2020
When I read that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi formally declared her intention to seek a second term . I scrolled back in my notes and found this from June 8, 2019:
#SuuKyi (Burma) and #Orban (Hungary) , an unlikely duo, issued a joint
statement that immigration, and both countries' growing Muslim
populations, posed a serious challenge.
Sept 15
Is the Quad, Australia, India, Japan, and the USA, the answer to China's attempts at expansion? India and Japan have agreed to strengthen military cooperation which includes reciprocal provision of supplies and services.
Sept 16
Singapore , which is considered neutral territory with good ties to both
the USA and China, is attracting Chinese tech companies. How long will
China allow neutrality to last?
Oct 12
Iron Art Works, the artist behind .an illustrated portrait of a very yellow Xi Jinping with bat ears and the term 'BAT MAN', that was displayed in a Swedish restaurant Restaurant Riche, apologized for any offense caused, but not for the
image itself.
Nov 20
The government of Japanese Prime Minister Suga is reviewing drone security policy and could rule out purchases of drones from certain countries, particularly those made in China due to the possibility of data thievery.
dec 13
After reading that Israel improved its ties with #Bhutan , a remote country located on the eastern ridges of the Himalayas, I wondered about how I knew so little about it and how it hadn't been swallowed by a bigger Asian country. The absorption of Tibet by Communist China that began in the late 1950s pushed Bhutan toward ending its isolation and increasing its military precautions to guard against the potential danger
of a Chinese incursion from Tibet. Currency from India is considered legal tender in Bhutan.
dec16
U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered an end to state Shintoism in Japan on Dec 15, 1945 because one of its main tenets affirmed that the emperor was a divine being. However , the religion was not banned.
dec 29, 2020
Bangladesh began moving a second group of Rohingya Muslim refugees to a low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal . Ok so is anti- Rohingya fervor just a Buddhist/Muslim thing? Or long lasting residue from the British colonial policy of favoring minority communities, such as the Rohingya, over the majority Burmese population in the military ranks and local administration during three wars with the British beginning in 1824 .
jan 9, 2021
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir , radical Muslim cleric linked to the 2002 Bali bombings, has been freed amid concerns over his ongoing influence on extremists so he will enter a deradicalization program. Sure sounds like a complete gift to the 82-year-old former head of Jemaah Islamiah, an al-Qaeda-inspired group behind the attack that killed 202 people.
feb 9, 2021
Part of the Crown Resorts Ltd scandal in Australia involves their attempts to evade the mainland Chinese government's 2015 crackdown on foreign casinos recruiting Chinese high-rollers to gamble overseas. The jets that landed in Australia from China had no corporate logos to indicate that wealthy gamblers were inside.
The gambling hub of #Macau is a special administrative region of China, but many high-rollers wanted to gamble abroad to avoid scrutiny after authorities launched an anticorruption campaign.
feb 13, 2021
If anyone thinks mainland China isn't a totalitarian regime, this should wake you up: They ordered the BBC Off the Air and that includes Hong Kong.
March 20, 2021
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korea’s leader, warned the Biden administration against “causing a stink.” on March 16 and yesterday the USA extradited, Mun Chol Myong a North Korean on money laundering charges
Since Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed in Malaysia in 2017 with an internationally-banned nerve agent, relations between the two nations have been deteriorating because most folks think KJU ordered the murder.
May 22, 2021
China’s fishing ban in the South China Sea goes against international law, Hanoi says .
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