The images of monks marching in the lashing rain against the vicious military junta in Myanmar, joined by crowds of civilian sympathizers, brings back memories of Philippine-style people power and has once again given rise to the hope that this time Burmese democracy may have a chance. A firm and united international response by the ASEAN nations and the countries with the greatest influence on Myanmar’s shadowy generals – China, Russia and India, which provide weapons to the army– plus strident condemnation from the U.S. , U.K. and other western democracies gives the impression that positive and peaceful change may be on the way.

Protests began last month over increases in fuel prices which quickly gave way to popular and spontaneous expressions of frustration and anger over the 19-year military reign of terror. When the country’s highly revered Buddhist monks joined in, the junta was seriously threatened. The protesters even managed to march by the restricted area where Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was under house arrest. She made a brief public appearance and was quickly hustled away.

The military ring reacted in the usual manner, by dispatching troops to stifle protest actions and imposing a curfew. There have been reports that soldiers fired live rounds into the crowds and at least one monk has been killed. Aung San Suu Kyi was reported to have been moved to prison from house arrest. Read the rest of this entry »

But that doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth. In fact, the reverse is probably the case. Recovery is a process which demands rigorous honesty. As a recovering addict, a fact which he readily acknowledges , Joey is used to wrestling with his private demons and confronting painful truths on a daily basis. My point is that although his present conflict had become very public, he knows how to handle it. Which is one day at a time.

In any case, I find him more believable than the Palace flunkies and cronies who have been put on the defensive by his expose. Unable to convincingly defend the indefensible, they have resorted to mud-slinging and ad hominem attacks against Joey and others who dared question the NBN deal. But really, what justification can there be for an overpriced and redundant service already being provided by private enterprise ?

Don’t cry for Joey V. though. As I said, he’s honest and fearless, not to mention moneyed. He knows what he’s doing. Furthermore, he’s the son and namesake of a powerful politician. It had to take a De Vencia to bring this issue to the forefront of public consciousness and debate. Jarius Bondoc broke the story on the shady transaction awhile back, but it was not until Joey spoke up that the country started to pay attention. Moreover, he’s protected by the instinctive upper-class class response to treat one of its own differently, with more kindness and consideration, if not outright concern. This is apparent in the relaxed and polite, though probing, manner by which he was questioned by the members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. They could joke and banter around with Joey, clearly “one of us”, who a number of them have probably known socially for years. Read the rest of this entry »

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, with the candor exhibited by once-powerful men in their twilight years, has set the record straight about George W. Bush’ war on terror: It’s the oil, stupid.

Michael Moore has been saying this for years but his goofy, irreverent approach has made it easy to brush him aside. But now Greenspan, a pillar of the Republican establishment for decades, is saying the same thing.

In his memoir “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World”, Greenspan says:

“I’m saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows – the Iraq war is largely about oil.”

Oil and who controls it.

The Bush family’s business ties to the oil industry is well known, to the point that they are considered family in the House of Saud. Small wonder then that the war on terror would play out in the Middle East, in the oilfields of Iraq. Bush and the major oil players had to make sure that their economic interests were secured first.

Greenspan says he supported the invasion of Iraq not because Saddam Hussien might have had weapons of mass destruction, but because Saddam had shown a clear desire to capture the Middle East’s oil fields.

“I supported taking out Saddam, because he was moving inexorably toward taking the world’s oil resources”.

This was presumably the Bush administration’s thinking too.

And George W. is in a happy bind. As the body count rises, he has been groping around for an exit strategy from the Iraq quagmire, so far without success. Give the recent surge in U.S. troop deployment time to work, he says. But the only surge working for him is the surge in oil prices, which leaves his personal bottom line in good shape.