This is a 4 minute protest video clip mini documentary flashing what has led up to now in Burma.
Mizzima News: Post-crisis economic fallout in Burma
The recent crisis in Burma that started in August with the Burmese government raising fuel prices from 100 to 500 percent happened at a time when world oil prices were $72 per barrel. By the end of November light sweet crude was at $99 per barrel and seemed likely to rise higher. However the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s interest rate cuts and a sufficient supply of oil have resulted in a slight price fall this past week.
In foreign investments, an Associated Press article published on November 26 states that foreign investment in Burma’s oil and gas sector reached $470 million in 2006-2007, accounting for more than 60 percent of total investment. Of this, $240 million was from the United Kingdom and $160 million from Singapore and Russia, with South Korea also maintaining large investments in this sector. These figures show that Burma is fast becoming a country dependent on and dominated by foreign investors (corporations) in spite of the policies of the junta which are often described as “isolationist.”
Many Western countries either ban or discourage investment in Myanmar as a way of pressuring its ruling junta, which is shunned for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government!
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