DisainaM
Senior Member
Themenstarter
Obwohl Burma 12 Milliarden DM Schulden hat, davon alleine 6 Milliarden an Japan, will die Militärregierung nun mit prächtigen Provisionsgewinnen aus dem Drogenhandel, dem Tropenholzgeschäften und den Einnahmen aus dem Verkauf von Ölförderrechte an Thailand (!)
von Russland für 260 Millionen DM 10 MIG Kampfflugzeuge kaufen.
Dadurch wurde Thailand in Zugzwang gesetzt von den USA 8 AiM 30 Kampfflugzeuge zu kaufen.
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BURMA
MIGS SPELL TROUBLE
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By Bertil Lintner
Issue cover-dated August 02, 2001
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Just when Burma´s military rulers had started to reap some of the rewards of engaging with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, they may have blown it. Japan announced in January--after the talks became public knowledge--a $28 million aid package to refurbish a hydroelectric power plant in northeast Burma. It was the first major new Japanese aid project since 1988, when most donors suspended aid in protest at the brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement, and bucked the trend of Western countries that maintain aid embargos on Burma because of the repressive policies of the regime. But news in July that Burma would buy 10 MiG-29 fighter aircraft for $130 million from Russia "risks undermining its case for further foreign aid and loan write-offs," the United States-based on-line newsletter BurmaNet News wrote on July 13. Every year, Japan forgives about $150 million in interest payments on previous loans. Burma´s total foreign debt amounts to $6 billion, of which half is owed to Japan.
The acquisition of the MiG-29s marks the first time Burma has purchased a sophisticated interceptor and it is seen as an attempt to offset Thailand´s air superiority. Relations between the neighbours are prickly. Earlier this year, Burmese troops clashed with Thai soldiers while attacking ethnic rebels along their mutual border. The Thais buzzed the Burmese forces with their U.S.-supplied F-16s to demonstrate their air superiority.
The planned purchase will worry countries such as the U.S. that abhor the military regime in Rangoon and are anxious to see stability in volatile Southeast Asia.
Washington approved the sale of eight AIM-30 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles to Thailand once the deal with Russia became known. It had previously opted to keep such sophisticated weapons out of the region.
The irony is that the Thais may have inadvertently helped pay for the MiGs. The downpayment, 30% of the total, came in the same week that the state-owned Petroleum Authority of Thailand paid Burma $100 million in royalties for gas due to be piped ashore from fields in the Gulf of Martaban. Before the Thais paid up under the terms of a 1995 contract, Burma had almost depleted its foreign exchange reserves.
According to Robert Karniol, Asia editor of Jane´s Defence Weekly, the Russians were unwilling to sell aircraft to Burma until revenue began to flow from the Martaban gasfield, which is one of the country´s few sources of significant foreign exchange. But if the Burmese keep on spending their meagre hard-currency reserves on military hardware, even Japanese aid is in jeopardy, talks or no talks in Rangoon.
Quelle : FAR EASTERN Economic Rewiev
http://www.feer.com/0108_02/p023region.html
von Russland für 260 Millionen DM 10 MIG Kampfflugzeuge kaufen.
Dadurch wurde Thailand in Zugzwang gesetzt von den USA 8 AiM 30 Kampfflugzeuge zu kaufen.
__________________________________________
BURMA
MIGS SPELL TROUBLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bertil Lintner
Issue cover-dated August 02, 2001
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just when Burma´s military rulers had started to reap some of the rewards of engaging with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, they may have blown it. Japan announced in January--after the talks became public knowledge--a $28 million aid package to refurbish a hydroelectric power plant in northeast Burma. It was the first major new Japanese aid project since 1988, when most donors suspended aid in protest at the brutal suppression of the pro-democracy movement, and bucked the trend of Western countries that maintain aid embargos on Burma because of the repressive policies of the regime. But news in July that Burma would buy 10 MiG-29 fighter aircraft for $130 million from Russia "risks undermining its case for further foreign aid and loan write-offs," the United States-based on-line newsletter BurmaNet News wrote on July 13. Every year, Japan forgives about $150 million in interest payments on previous loans. Burma´s total foreign debt amounts to $6 billion, of which half is owed to Japan.
The acquisition of the MiG-29s marks the first time Burma has purchased a sophisticated interceptor and it is seen as an attempt to offset Thailand´s air superiority. Relations between the neighbours are prickly. Earlier this year, Burmese troops clashed with Thai soldiers while attacking ethnic rebels along their mutual border. The Thais buzzed the Burmese forces with their U.S.-supplied F-16s to demonstrate their air superiority.
The planned purchase will worry countries such as the U.S. that abhor the military regime in Rangoon and are anxious to see stability in volatile Southeast Asia.
Washington approved the sale of eight AIM-30 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles to Thailand once the deal with Russia became known. It had previously opted to keep such sophisticated weapons out of the region.
The irony is that the Thais may have inadvertently helped pay for the MiGs. The downpayment, 30% of the total, came in the same week that the state-owned Petroleum Authority of Thailand paid Burma $100 million in royalties for gas due to be piped ashore from fields in the Gulf of Martaban. Before the Thais paid up under the terms of a 1995 contract, Burma had almost depleted its foreign exchange reserves.
According to Robert Karniol, Asia editor of Jane´s Defence Weekly, the Russians were unwilling to sell aircraft to Burma until revenue began to flow from the Martaban gasfield, which is one of the country´s few sources of significant foreign exchange. But if the Burmese keep on spending their meagre hard-currency reserves on military hardware, even Japanese aid is in jeopardy, talks or no talks in Rangoon.
Quelle : FAR EASTERN Economic Rewiev
http://www.feer.com/0108_02/p023region.html
