''The master plan for Myanmar''

"Myanmar is winning more foreign friends while international criticism of the current and previous government's abysmal human rights records has all but ceased. Old adversaries in the United States and European Union have scrapped - or are planning to scrap - economic sanctions against the regime, and big-time multinational companies are preparing to lunge into what many seems to believe is Asia's last investment frontier." 


from asia times...

''Burma Releases 651 Prisoners, US Prepares to Restore Relations''

what did the west offer burma for all this democracy?????..........read more from epoch times...

"The government of Burma announced today the release of 651 prisoners. The move, which is being called a significant step forward, comes two weeks after the opposition party, National League for Democracy was given the go-ahead to run in the upcoming by-elections in April, and only a day after a ceasefire agreement was signed with the Karen armed ethnic group. However, there is also suspicion among activists that real motive behind the move is to see economical sanctions lifted."

Clinton seeks a nuclear surety from Burma

from smh.....

"Hillary Clinton has made Burma's purchase of missile technology from North Korea the highest priority of the first visit by a US secretary of state to the impoverished south-east Asian nation in 50 years.

Mrs Clinton is seeking an assurance from Burma's leaders they are not receiving nuclear technologies from North Korea and wants them to agree to more vigorous inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to a senior State Department official".......READ MORE

''China-Myanmar ties challenged by US moves''

from china's people daily....

"For centuries, the two peoples have traveled freely across the border on dirt roads andforested mountains. Chinese late foreign minister Marshal Chen Yi composed a poemwhich reads, "I (China) am upstream and you (Myanmar) are downstream. We sharewater from the same river with friendship."

Today, Myanmar is the pivot of China's grand strategy to achieve its economic growthgoal.

The development of Western China depends on a secured shorter trade and fuelroutes to the ocean. Close to the key shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean andSoutheast Asia, Myanmar is important for China to develop its southwestern inlandprovinces, which have a population of about 200 million people".........READ MORE 

'Why India Courts Burma'

from the-diplomat.......

"India and Burma are getting closer – and at a surprisingly rapid pace.

The latest phase of the India-Burma bonhomie came with the October 12 to 15 state visit of Burmese President U Thein Sein, who was paying his third visit to India in seven years, the last time being in November 2008, when he came calling to New Delhi as prime minister"..............READ MORE

'China's Hand in the Renewed Civil War in Burma'

from irrawaddy..........

"KIA spokesperson La Nan told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the immediate cause of the latest fighting stemmed from the Burmese army's aggressive attempts to control areas surrounding the hydropower dams, which are located near the Chinese border—areas which have long been under the control of KIA forces, and just a few kilometers away from China's strategic oil pipeline from the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan Province which passes through central Burma.

La Nan said that these massive investments were implemented without the consent of the local public or stakeholders such as the KIA, and these economic interests have already pushed Beijing into becoming an ally of the Burmese army.

“When we approached the Chinese company officials working at these dams, their response is that they already have agreements with Naypyidaw,” he said. “China wants to get resources from Burma. So it seems that their policy is to secure our country's resources by any means necessary and, in this case, with the connivance of the Burmese authorities”...........LINK