Myanmar's Generals & Astrology, WTF?! Options

[Kim Jong-il Hate...]

I read in the paper some piece about how the Myanmar junta relies on astrology to make decisions. Here are a few news pieces on the whole thing.

At precisely 6:37 a.m. on Sunday, according to one report - with a shout of "Let's go!" - a convoy of trucks began a huge, expensive and baffling transfer of the government of Myanmar from the capital, Yangon, to a secret mountain compound 320 kilometers to the north.

Diplomats and foreign analysts were left groping for an explanation, and in a country as secretive and eccentric as Myanmar, the leading theories had to do with astrological predictions and fears of invasion by the United States.

The relocation, which was later announced to reporters and foreign diplomats but has not yet been announced to the public, had been rumored for years. But according to reports from Yangon, officials and civil servants were given only a day or two to pack and say goodbye to their families.

When they arrived at the new site, called Pyinmana,they found it still under construction, with shortages of water, telephone lines and even sleeping quarters and food, according to family members quoted bynews services and exile groups.

Foreign diplomats said they had been told that if they had urgent business with the relocated government, they could send a fax but that no number was yet available.

According to various unofficial reports, the vast, fortified compound is to contain military headquarters, government ministries, huge meeting halls, residences, hotels, a hospital, an airport, underground bunkers and, not surprisingly, a golf course.

The military junta that runs the country, formerly known as Burma, offered little explanation for its mystery move.

"Due to changed circumstances, where Myanmar is trying to develop a modern nation, a more centrally located government seat has become a necessity," it said in a statement.

That left plenty of room for theories, and it was difficult to find one that seemed rational. Astrology seemed to make as much sense as anything.

Myanmar is a deeply superstitious nation that held its independence ceremony from the British, following astrological dictates, at exactly 4:20 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1948.

According to Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy Magazine,a Thailand-based émigré publication with a network of contacts inside the country, huge convoys of Chinese-built trucks began their journey at exactly 6:37 a.m., a strangely precise moment that may well have been dictated by astrologers.

Astrological timing may also have been behind the abruptness of the move to a site that was not yet complete.

One theory is that the entire move follows a warning by astrologers several years ago that the dilapidated capital on the Bay of Bengal would become a dangerous place for the ruling generals.

Seen from their perspective, the notion of an American invasion might not seem far-fetched.

This is a ruling clique of soldiers whose background is jungle warfare and who know little of the outside world.

For years they have been squeezed by economic sanctions and battered by relentless criticism from the West over their human rights abuses, and they have responded by pulling farther into their shells.

In January, Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice of the United States included Myanmar in a list of "outposts of tyranny," along with North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe and Belarus.

Officials in Myanmar sometimes offer visitors a list of their own: Panama,Grenada, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq - all countries where the United States has sent armed forces.

Not long ago, according to one story, an officer was asked the purpose of obligatory civil defense training for civilian men.

"You are the holding action against the Americans until the Chinese come to our aid," the officer said, according to David Steinberg, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington who is a leading expert on Myanmar.

Steinberg said wishful thinking about an American "rescue" was also current among opponents of the government.

"The joke going around is, 'After diamonds, gold,"' he said. In the Burmese language, "sein" is diamonds - as in Saddam Hussein. "Shwe" is gold - as in General Than Shwe,the leader of the junta.

There was no way to know whether there was a connection last week when the authorities in the capital reopened a road that passes by the entrance to the U.S. Embassy.

Barbed wire and concrete security barriers were removed for the first time since they were put in place after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Obviously, we are reviewing our security arrangements," an unnamed U.S. Embassy official told Reuters. "We felt a lot safer with them in place."

Minister of Information Kyaw Hsantold reporters in Yangon that the transfer of government had begun with nine of the 32 ministries but he gave no date for the projected completion of the move.

At the moment there appear to be no schools and little family housing at Pyinmana. The transfer is likely to separate civil servants from their families as well as from the second jobs that many found necessary to make ends meet in the country's minimal economy.

The junta's physical move into a fortified retreat reflects what many analysts say is a bunker mentality in the face of what may seem like a bewildering and antagonistic world.

"I keep hearing the same thing all the time," Steinberg said "Look, we don't need you guys. We can go it alone. We've done it before, and so what's new?"

Yangon- Myanmar's infatuation with astrology was confirmed Sunday when the January issue of Gambira magazine reassured readers that Pluto's loss of full planet status would not affect fortune telling. The military regime that has ruled since 1962 claims to be moving the country towards a sophisticated, high-tech state, but its generals - like most ordinary citizens - are thought to be steeped in traditional superstition.

The monthly publication reprinted an article by an American "astro-philosopher", Bella Liberty, which claimed the demotion of Pluto by the International Aeronautical Union (IAU) last August was not a major problem for astrologers.

Pluto was dropped to minor planet status for the technical reason that it had "failed to clear the neighbourhood around its orbit."

The IAU made the potentially alarming - for fate watchers - move to tighten up definitions of celestial grandeur because several other orbiting bodies appear to be as well qualified for planet status as Pluto.

This move reduced the number of planets in the solar system from nine to eight - a sharp worry for the people of Myanmar who often see nine as an auspicious number.

Nine is considered to be such a lucky number that the late dictator, Ne Win, notoriously issued banknotes with numbers that added up to nine. He is widely rumoured to have made many critical decisions on the advice of his astrologers.

The Gambira article admitted the controversy opened " a plethora of questions about the future of astrology". But readers were assured that astrology revolves around planets that have been spotted by man thousands of years before Pluto was recognized as such in 1930. "Astrology is much older than Pluto," argued Bella Liberty.

When ethnic Burmese are born a monk will work out the child's fortune from the time and date of birth. Fortune tellers are so popular that the junta has created a national Astrology Council to register astrologers and control the type of fortunes being told.

No ordinary Burmese thinks the army fears that astrologers will be used as a conduit for subversive information, but rather that they will - as is widely rumoured to have been the case in the past - predict the demise of the military regime.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency

And you wonder why their government is so bad. This is a ###### joke.

[seawolf]

I read in the paper some piece about how the Myanmar junta relies on astrology to make decisions. Here are a few news pieces on the whole thing.
And you wonder why their government is so bad. This is a ###### joke.

President Reagan was a fan in this too, he wouldn't make any important decisions without consulting his astrologers. Please don't ask me for a link, the source is in News Week I remember, it is very ancient, I have to go through all the old weeklies to find it, though it is not impossible.

[luf]

it means the American government is a fcuking joke too according to hater's logic. haaa.

[seawolf]

If one puts Ronald Reagan and astrology together in Google search, he will find dozens of articles under the title, Here I give you a few, they are not selected but chosen at random. This post is not in antagonism to Kim hater, but for entertainment only.

The good old fatherly president was very popular in his time, may god bless him in heaven, they must be together now. He is my favorite US president too.

Enjoy yourself ever one who read these articles.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Rel...d_astrology.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb13...805/ai_n6391936

http://www.astrodatabank.com/NM/ReaganRonald.htm

http://www.astrologynow.com/Astrology.601.htm

[Kim Jong-il Hate...]

Well at least he didn't move the capital to Burlington, Vermont! (IMG:style_emoticons/PDFEmotionIconsv10/BVICTORY.GIF)

Wait, that would be awesome.

[seawolf]

Well at least he didn't move the capital to Burlington, Vermont! (IMG:style_emoticons/PDFEmotionIconsv10/BVICTORY.GIF)

Wait, that would be awesome.

Well it's only out of different strategies and mentalities. You both feel unsafe, they moved their capital inland, you send your troupes abroad. I blame neither of you, my wish is that don't you each and several abuse your powers.