The presidency is taking over the courts and Congress

WHERE IS CONGRESS? It's way past time for members to stand up. Historic matters are at stake. The Constitution is being trampled, the very form of our government is being perverted, and nothing less than American democracy itself is endangered--a presidential coup is taking place. I think of Barbara Jordan, the late congresswoman from Houston. On July 25, 1974, this powerful thinker and member of the House Judiciary Committee took her turn to speak during the Nixon impeachment inquiry.

"My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total," she declared in her thundering voice. "And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution."Where are the likes of Barbara Jordan in today's Congress? While the BushCheney regime continues to establish a supreme, arrogant, autocratic presidency in flagrant violation of the Constitution, members of Congress largely sit there as idle spectators--or worse, as abettors of Bush's usurpation of their own congressional authority.

DoD To 'Augment Civilian Law in Bio Attack

DoD To 'Augment Civilian
Law' In Pandemic/Bio Attack
By Lori Price
legitgov.org
10-24-7

Is Bush is getting ready to play the Bioterror Card? The GOP cannot steal an inevitable Democratic landslide in November 2008. Will the Bush regime continue its illegitimate rule and empire by implementing a full-blown police state, in the aftermath of an avian flu pandemic or (Bush-engendered) bioterror attack?

On Thursday, the Bush administration issued a directive which 'establishes a National Strategy for Public Health and Medical Preparedness (Strategy), which builds upon principles set forth in Biodefense for the 21st Century (April 2004) and will transform our national approach to protecting the health of the American people against [with] all disasters.'

HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-21 states that within one year of the directive's date, 'the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Defense, in coordination with the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, shall establish an academic Joint Program for Disaster Medicine and Public Health housed at a National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences... Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense authorities will be used to carry out respective civilian and military missions within this joint program.'

From the 'people' who brought you the response to Hurricane Katrina (blown levees): US military begins planning for avian flu pandemic 10 May 2007 The US military has begun to plan for a possible avian flu pandemic that could kill as many as three million people in the United States in as little as six weeks, a Pentagon planning document said. The Defense Department's "Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza," which was posted Wednesday on a Pentagon website, lays out guidelines and planning assumptions for US military services and combatant commands. Possible scenarios include US troops being called in to put down riots, guard pharmaceutical plants and shipments, and help restrict the movement of people inside the country and across its borders. "When directed by the president, DoD will provide support to civil authorities in the event of a civil disturbance," the document said. "DoD will augment civilian law enforcement efforts to restore and maintain order in accordance with existing statutes." The military also may assist civil authorities in "isolating and/or quarantining groups of people in order to minimize [foment] the spread of disease during an influenza pandemic," it said. [Bye bye, Posse Comitatus! And suddenly, the US is going to control its borders? Gag me with a chainsaw! This newfound 'border control' ability is to keep people from *leaving* the US. KBR's $385M detention center contract will be expanded and renewed.]

CDC wants to test 107 air passengers; TB patient stayed in NYC 31 May 2007 Health officials around the world were scrambling Wednesday to find about 80 air passengers who sat near a man who spent three days in a New York City hospital with a form of tuberculosis so dangerous he is under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding said Wednesday that the CDC is working closely with airlines to find passengers who may have been exposed to the rare, dangerous strain. Health officials in France said they have asked Air France-KLM for passenger lists, and the Italian Health Ministry said it is tracing the man's movements. [Did the US allow the TB-infected man to travel so that a media-engendered 'outcry' for safety would 'force all international departures heading to the U.S. to submit information about all the passengers aboard the plane prior to take off?' See:

DHS wants early passenger info 14 Jul 2006 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has submitted a proposal that will force all international departures heading to the U.S. to submit information about all the passengers aboard the plane prior to take off. Through the new plan, airlines could send the entire list of information on the flight and the people onboard up to 60 minutes before departure or through a constant relay system as passengers check in... The new proposals may also end the practice of international airlines having to screen their passengers against governmental "no fly" lists during check-in or boarding. Privacy laws in the European Union (EU) have prevented similar legislation being introduced before. In May, the highest court in the EU struck down a proposal to allow airlines to provide the DHS with extensive passenger information, such as fare payment details, phone numbers, and addresses. This directive is currently being redrafted.]

Report Says TSA Violated Privacy Law --Passengers Weren't Told That Brokers Provided Data to Screening Program in '04 22 Dec 2006 Secure Flight, the U.S. government's stalled program to screen domestic air passengers against terrorism watch lists, violated federal law during a crucial test phase, according to a report to be issued today by the Homeland Security Department's privacy office... TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said that he supports the use of Secure Flight and that his agency is working closely with other government officials to ensure it protects privacy. "We are working in a transparent way," Hawley said, adding that the agency's "challenging" goal is to roll out the program in 2008.

Secret DHS Agreement to Share Passenger Data in Violation of Agreements Is Confirmed (ACLU) 25 Apr 2006 The text of a secret agreement that the Department of Homeland Security executed with the Centers for Disease Control to share airline passenger data confirms...that the U.S. government is distributing information that it explicitly promised it would not share... In 2003, the United States and the European Union reached an agreement under which the EU would share Passenger Name Record (PNR) data with the U.S., despite the lack of privacy laws in the United States adequate to ensure Europeans' privacy. In return, DHS agreed that the passenger data would not be used for any purpose other than preventing acts of terrorism or other serious crimes. It is now clear that DHS did not abide by that agreement.]

Canadian authorities locate 16 of 28 passengers sought from TB exposure flight 30 May 2007 Public health officials in the United States and Canada revealed Wednesday they have narrowed down to roughly 70 to 80 the number of people on two recent transatlantic flights who were seated in close proximity to a man infected with a rare and potentially deadly form of tuberculosis. Canadian health authorities are trying to find anyone who sat in Row 12 - plus the two rows ahead and behind - of Czech Airline flight 0104 to Montreal from Prague on May 24. The man, who is infected with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis or XDR-TB, was seated in 12 C.

TB patient's father-in-law works at CDC lab --Infected man ID'd, taken to Denver hospital; others on 2 flights sought 31 May 2007 The father-in-law of the tuberculosis patient under the first federal quarantine since 1963 works as a microbiologist at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory that studies TB and other bacterial infections. Bob Cooksey said he gave his 31-year-old son-in-law, attorney Andrew Speaker, "fatherly advice" [!] when he learned he contracted the disease.

Authorities seeking those on flight 29 May 2007 A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine by the U.S. government [!] after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month, health officials said Tuesday. The infected man flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385. He returned to North America on May 24 aboard Czech Air Flight 104 from Prague to Montreal. The man then drove into the United States. He cooperated with authorities after learning he had an unusually dangerous form of TB. He voluntarily went to a hospital and is not facing prosecution, officials said.

U.S. Government Issues a Quarantine Order --CDC Order is First Since 1963 29 May 2007 A man with a rare and exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis has been placed in quarantine by the U.S. government after possibly exposing passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month, health officials said Tuesday. This marks the first time since 1963 that the government issued a quarantine order. The last such order was to quarantine a patient with smallpox, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Report: National Guard May Be Needed to Enforce Quarantine in Flu Pandemic 09 May 2007 Military and civilian health facilities will be overwhelmed if a nationwide flu pandemic hits the United States, and the National Guard may have to be called out to provide medical help and even enforce a quarantine, the Defense Department warned in a report released Wednesday. ...The 86-page report report is dated August 2006 and titled "The Department of Defense Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza." According to the report, in the event of a pandemic or a [Bush-engendred] bioterror attack, the Defense Department may be called by the president to assist civilian authorities in minimizing the spread of disease by placing restrictions on interstate transportation.

Scientists Recreate 1918 Flu and See Parallels to Bird Flu --In 2005, U.S. Army scientists reconstructed Spanish flu virus by extracting genetic fragments from the bodies of victims exhumed from the Alaskan permafrost. 18 Jan 2007 Scientists infected monkeys with a virus that caused the 1918-19 influenza pandemic and said in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Nature that it caused an illness like that suffered by patients with the bird flu now spreading in Asia.

Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 UK Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions. A US team added two genes from a sample of the 1918 virus to a modern strain known to have no effect on mice. Animals exposed to this composite were dying within days of symptoms similar to those found in human victims of the 1918 pandemic.

KBR awarded $385M Homeland Security contract for U.S. detention centers 24 Jan 2006 KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.

KBR Awarded U.S. Department of Homeland Security Contingency Support for Emergency Support Services 24 Jan 2006 (halliburton.com) "The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities... to support the rapid development of new programs."

73,000 US Military DEAD

73,000 US Military
Dead Since Gulf War 1?
From Sources
10-24-7

Note - These figures do not include Iraqi civilian deaths (estimated at over 1 million at the hands of Bush 41 and the 8 years of the Clintons, and 1.2 million at the hands of Bush 43 - ed)


The Department of Veteran's Affairs, in conjunction with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has released the truth because they need the American People to know our military is literally, destroyed.

They cannot release these horrific numbers via the chain of command because they are under orders to conceal the truth at all costs, so they let slip a report which now cannot be "un-slipped."

Here are the facts and a link to the government source to prove these facts:

More Gulf War Veterans have died than Vietnam Veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, May 2007, Gulf War Veterans Information System reports the following:

Total U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths Since Gulf War One: 73,846
­ Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847
­ Deaths amongst Non-Deployed Veterans: 55,999

Total "Undiagnosed Illness" (UDX) claims: 14,874

Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906
- Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911
- Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed Veterans: 1,212,995

Percentage of combat troops that filed Disability Claims 36%

Soldiers, by nature, typically don't complain. In other words, the real impact of those who are disabled from the US invasions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Nations, is not fully reflected in the official Veterans Affairs numbers. When soldiers are sent to murder women and children they tend to never be able to live normal lives thereafter.

Why are the government numbers of 3,777 as of 9-7-7 so low? The answer is simple, the government does not want the 73,000 dead to be compared to the 55,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam. What the government is doing is only counting the soldiers that die in action before they can get them into a helicopter or ambulance. Any soldier who is shot but they get into a helicopter before he dies is not counted.

73,000 dead amongst the U.S. soldiers for this scale operation using weapons of mass destruction is not high - we expect the great majority of U.S. soldiers who took part in the invasion of Iraq to die of uranium poisoning, which can take decades to kill.

From a victors perspective, above any major war in history, The Gulf War has taken the severest toll on soldiers.

More than 1,820 tons of radioactive nuclear waste uranium were exploded into Iraq alone in the form of armor piercing rounds and bunker busters, representing the worlds worst man made ecological disaster ever. 64 kg of uranium were used in the Hiroshima bomb. The U.S. Iraq Nuclear Holocaust represents far more than fourteen thousand Hiroshima's. The nuclear waste the U.S. has exploded into the Middle East will continue killing for billions of years and can wipe out more than a third of life on earth. Gulf War Veterans who have ingested the uranium will continue to die off over a number of years.

So far, more than one million people have been slaughtered in the illegal invasion of Iraq by Bush 43 alone. Birth defects are up 600% in Iraq--the same will apply to U.S. Veterans.


Statistics and evidence published by the government and mainstream media in no way reflect the extreme gravity of the situation.

Those working for the government and media must wake up and take responsibility for immediately reversing this U.S. Holocaust. Understanding who is manipulating all of us is critical for all of us.

For those of you who doubt the veracity of this story, who believe it can't be true because if it were true, you would have heard it from the government or from the main stream media, can see the proof yourselves directly from the United States Department of Veteran's Affairs web site: here it is...

Source: http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/GWVIS_May2007.pdf

eBay censorship

eBay Removes ANY
Criticism Of Israel On Boards
From John Wade
ohiobookhunter@earthlink.net
10-25-7
Ebay has numerous discussion boards that are read by thousands of users every day.

In 2004, right after Yassar Arafat died, someone started a thread on the eBay discussion board "Soapbox" that contained the most vile hate speech I'd ever read directed towards Yassar Arafat and Palestinians. The thread contained dozens of extremely hate filled derogatory posts after being up for several weeks. It was obvious that many of the posts were written by Jews. The "Ebay Moderation Team" which claims to be aganist "hate speech" did nothing about it and didn't remove any posts even though I complained about several of them using the "report" button.

Just the opposite is true when one complains about Israel or zionists.

Last year, about one day after Israel attacked Lebanon, I posted three essays on "Soapbox" that I wrote about the use of weapons banned by all International War Treaties such as depleted uranium bombs, cluster bombs and white phosphorous bombs and their use by Israel and the U.S. Right away, my posts were removed by the "Ebay Moderation Team". They sent me e-mails claiming the posts violated eBay rules and were hate speech and profanity.

I've posted links to essays by professional journalists such as Henry Makow, Chris Bollyn and Wayne Madsen about problems with Israel and zionists and those posts were removed by eBay claiming the links were hate speech, profanity etc.

Recently, I posted a link to a long scholarly article about the involvement of the zionist Jews in the Russian Communist Revolution and that post was removed with the claim by the "Ebay Moderation Team" that it violated eBay rules and was hate speech etc. Here's the link; http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/v14n1p-4_Weber.html

It appears that eBay has a serious double standard when it comes to Muslims and Jews. It's O.K. to put up lies and hate speech about Muslims but don't ever tell the truth about Israel and zionist Jews.

Endgame Rips The Lid Off Elite's Final Masterplan

New documentary delves into the darkest recesses of the global elite


Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007



Alex Jones' brand new documentary Endgame charts the history of the elite blueprint for social domination and control, outlining the ultimate plans that those who consider themselves the anointed have for our planet.

The first section of the film documents the rise of the banking cartels, who since 1800 have funded both sides of almost every war. Endgame charts the usurpation of the British economy by the Rothchild family who went on to bankroll all factions during the first world war providing armaments companies through banks in France, Austria, Germany and England.

Endgame then documents the fallout of the great war and the attempts to form a controlling League of Nations, which was ultimately blocked by Congress. Such frustration on the part of the elite led to the rise of two factions, fascists and Fabian socialists. Endgame documents how bankers again funded both sides during WW2 which ultimately led to the creation of the UN and the beginning of the movement to implement three power blocs via incremental globalism.

The second section of the film covers the Bilderberg group and Alex's documentation of the elite group at the 2006 meeting in Ottawa. It covers Alex's detention on the Canadian border at the behest of Bilderberg insiders themselves. Alex and his crew describe how they were interrogated for nearly twelve hours before finally being allowed entry into the country.

Featuring extensive interviews with Jim Tucker and Daniel Estulin, veteran reporters who have been covering the meetings for 27 and 15 years respectively, Alex reveals how it is an offence for any member of the federal or state government to meet with foreign power brokers without the express authority of the president or Congress.

Endgame then shifts focus to the impending movement towards a North American Union, presenting reports and documentation relating to the efforts toward regional harmonization between the US Mexico and Canada at the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summits, which refer to an "evolution by stealth" agenda.

The later parts of the film deal firstly with the hijacking of the environmental movement. Experts and former insiders describe how there has been a long term goal spanning back decades to use an exaggerated threat from mother nature in order to control energy markets, regulate the progression of lesser economies and increase the rich poor divide by pricing out the middle classes.

This then dovetails with the ultimate endgame, the depopulation agenda. The film's gripping climax delves into the history of eugenics mindset. Endgame lays out the evidence that humans are being portrayed as a virus upon the earth, as we are increasingly being told to believe by cultural and academic kingpins.

From the teachings of "Dr Death" Eric Pianka, to German film fest cartoons, to New York Times best selling books, we are being saturated with the idea that humanity itself must be culled in order to save mother earth.

Endgame reveals how The eugenics movement never went away, it simply re-packaged itself to be more palatable to an increasingly skeptical public.

Looking more slick and professionally produced than ever with an intense soundtrack and filmed in super quality high definition, Endgame is a must watch for anyone seriously concerned with the world we live in today.

this is what usa will be like if we dont stop it now

click here

Hell and heroism: Tyranny that rules by terror is threatened by brave few
In a rare report from Burma, Andrew Buncombe, Asia correspondent, talks to some of the dissenters who live in fear of the ruling junta
Published: 19 September 2007
The junta has a list – a list that has reverberated through this rain-soaked, fear-ridden city. Arranged in order of their "wanted" priority, the list contains 22 names and faces, addresses and personal details, anything that could help the military find these pro-democracy activists and throw them behind bars.
Scores have already been locked up, dragged off to jails from which emerge reports of abuse and torture. But the junta is desperate to find those still at large.
Burma's military government, which has ruled the former British colony with a rare brutality for more than half a century, is facing its most serious challenge for at least a decade.
Every day there are flashes of resistance, flickering protests against the regime's unbending rule. And yesterday, in what may be a critical development, more than 1,000 saffron-robed Buddhist monks marched in defiant protest in two separate cities, only to have tear-gas grenades fired at them by the authorities.
This wave of protests was started by a group of charismatic activists that came of age during widespread demonstrations two decades ago and severely threatened the regime. They seized on an unexplained government decision to increase fuel prices and anger over the soaring prices fed into general despair among the downtrodden population about the regime's cruelty and ruinous governance.
Indeed, it may be the sinister normality of Burma that is the country's most disturbing signature. In the decaying colonial city of Rangoon there is barely a policeman or a soldier in sight, people with money are busy buying air conditioners and stereo systems driven in from China while traders set up their stalls on the street and hawk their wares to passers-by.
"In the past the regime has arrested people and then released them after a few months," said one Western diplomat in Rangoon, Burma's largest city. "I don't think that is the case here. I think the regime is preparing to throw the book at [the activists it has arrested]. I think they are very sophisticated at spotting leaders who people will rally around."
The diplomat added: "I was not here in 1988 but people say that then there were [initially] sporadic demonstrations and that eventually everybody joined in. If the monks join in, that could make a huge difference. They could get people out. That is what happened in '88."
The ability to rally ordinary people, to persuade them to confront the police and militias and to march against the regime is precisely why the authorities are so keen to trace those activists still free. The list of names, which includes seven women, has been circulated to government officials and hotel owners in Rangoon, who have been told to report anything suspicious. Police have even been showing up at foreign embassies with photographs and asking whether activists have taken refuge inside.
"We have been instructed to inform higher authorities immediately if we sight any of these people in our area," one official said.
The Burmese regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has a strong and clear advantage as it confronts its opponents. Two decades after the demonstrations of 1988, which it put down with the death of thousands of civilians, it is wealthier, more secure and more experienced at dealing with protesters. It also knows that the overwhelming majority of its citizens are too terrified to act. And having banned the international media and silenced its own press, it has controlled almost all the information that reaches the eyes and ears of the public.
Yet over the course of four storm-lashed days during which Rangoon's broken streets flooded and people huddled under makeshift shelters, I was able to speak to half-a-dozen pro-democracy campaigners desperate for change. The names of these individuals – members of the National League for Democracy, the political group headed by the imprisoned Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi – are not on the junta's list, but they, like so many others, live in constant fear and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
"The big difference is not with us but with the government. We are the same but they have money and experience," said a senior NLD member who acts as the group's spokesman.
The first of the protests that triggered this clampdown by the SPDC was launched last month by members of the '88 Generation Students group, an organisation that was heavily involved in the protests 19 years ago. Among those arrested was a high-profile activist and poet who goes by the nickname Min Ko Naing or "Conqueror of Kings", and who was only released from jail in 2006 after 15 years imprisonment.
There has been no word on Min Ko Naing's fate since he was dragged away on 22 August. NLD sources said about 65 people had been arrested with a dozen or so leaders being held in the country's notorious Insein Jail and the remainder detained at the Kyaik Ka San park, a former race course in Rangoon.
Campaigners based in neighbouring Thailand say the number of people arrested is about 120. Diplomats say they have heard reports the prisoners have been tortured but they have no confirmation.
Given the regime's iron grip on the media, it is difficult for campaigners to organise. A 70-year-old journalist who was released from jail two years ago having served 13 years, said: "There is no free press. We have no chance to speak to one another. We cannot tell other people about our experiences. Even the NLD cannot open its office. There is no freedom. No democracy. No rule of law."
Another journalist, who like the 70-year-old, can now only write using a pen name and then only about topics that the newspapers deem "safe", spent 17 years in jail. He was also released in 2005. "It was very hard to survive [in jail] but we have to struggle for our cause," he said.
After nearly two decades in prison, he emerged to see that, while the cause for which he had given so much had barely progressed, the underlying desire of the people remained as strong as ever. "After 17 years, nothing had changed, just the roads. People had not changed. People still encourage me to try to get democracy."
That determination is revealed by the flurry of scattered protests that have broken out across the country, coinciding with a massive hike in fuel prices by the government that saw the cost of petrol and compressed natural gas increase by 500 per cent.
While I was with the NLD spokesman, his mobile phone constantly rang, often with news of another demonstration. One morning, his phone trilling like a wind chime, he reported there had been a demonstration in the town of Lappottar, 200 miles to the north of Rangoon, when three activists had tried to set off on a march to the former capital.
The following day he reported there had been a demonstration in Taung Goke township, where two people had been arrested. He said a local NLD official claimed 10,000 people had come out in support of the protesters, a number he said he could not personally believe but the local official was adamant was correct.
The Burmese military regime, in control of the country since 1962, has been widely condemned by the international community and some of its neighbours.
When the authorities recently concluded a 15-year effort to draw up a new constitution, the resulting document was condemned by the United States State Department as a "sham".
It said the national conventions that agreed the constitution "clearly do not represent the will of the Burmese people, nor are they a step toward democracy". Even Laura Bush, the first lady, spoke out against the regime.
One Western diplomat, also based in Rangoon, said of the convention: "The regime has no understanding of what democracy means, of the value of dialogue, or of the abhorrent way in which it suppresses the voice of the people. The way it has ignored the demands of the ethnic groups in the National Convention and the unnecessary detention of people peacefully making their point indicates the regime's true intention: to keep tight control and to ensure power and wealth remains in the hands of the few."
But despite complete sanctions enacted by the US and partial sanctions imposed by the EU and Britain, the regime is still courted by regional powers such as India and China which are desperate to secure deals for Burma's vast natural gas resources – much of which is located in the offshore Shwe gasfields. Anything other than the most muted criticism of the regime's human rights record has been shoved aside as the two countries battle over their shared neighbour's resources. Both have signed arms deals with the regime.
Matthew Smith, a campaigner with the group EarthRights International, said: "The regime's brutality and readiness for violence in part secures its daily survival, but the gas deals are integral on a longer-term economic level, providing billions of dollars to private and state bank accounts that would otherwise be relatively empty.
"From this we can infer at least two things: one, the regime will stop at nothing to secure the export of its most lucrative asset, natural gas, and two, foreign oil and gas corporations are in a unique position of power because they provide the capital and expertise the regime presently lacks."
Campaigners insist progress can be made with Burma. They say the international community is finally starting to pay more attention to those making a stand in the country.
On the ground in Burma it is hard to find hope. People are not only terrified but they see little prospect for their country. One afternoon a tour guide nervously led the way to a tea shop, away from watchful eyes. Sitting on a low plastic seat he casually revealed that he, too, had been a political prisoner in the early 1990s and that he had spent two years in jail. For the first six months, his family had no idea where he was.
The 42-year-old said he had four children. "I tell my children that they must study hard. I tell them to do well at English," he said, leaning his body forward and speaking almost in a whisper. "I want them to move abroad – there is no future for them in Burma."
And yet for all the despair, there are perhaps flashes of hope. Despite the regime's efforts to ban a free media and limit what information the public receives, in the past couple of years Rangoon has seen the opening of numerous internet cafes where those who can afford to, log on and sit for hours. These cafes are usually packed with young people, bashing away at their keyboards. Perhaps they are sharing information with others that the regime does not want the world to know.