Myanmar (Burma): Junta Relies On Astrologers?

Myanmar’s (Burma) ruling military junta made a sudden decision Thursday to change the country’s flag, national anthem and official name. Burma will have general elections in two weeks, country’s first election in 20 years. There was also an order that the old flags must be burnt, giving rise to a speculation that the ruling junta has done all this at the behest of astrologers.

The Reuters reports: “The country’s new name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, instead of the Union of Myanmar. The military, which has ruled since a 1962 coup, changed the country’s name in English from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, a year after widespread protests against military rule were crushed, and a year before the last election.

“That election was won by the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but the military ignored the result. Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention.”… More here…

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“The fate of the long-detained Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tends to overshadow any talk of change, and the country’s highest court agreed to hear a final appeal to release her, according to press reports. The generals who run the country annulled the results of the last election, in 1990, when her party triumphed.

“Despite the hearing, scheduled for next Friday, speculation on her release has focused on Nov. 13, when her latest term of house arrest is set to expire and the elections will be over. Her absence from the Nov. 7 elections is just one point that Tomás Ojea Quintana, the United Nations human rights envoy for Myanmar, cited in casting doubt on the vote.’… More here…

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