An outpost of Catholicism in Myanmar prepares for the Pope

This photo taken on November 15, 2017 shows a signboard welcoming Pope Francis in front of the Catholic Church in Yangon. Pope Francis will visit Myanmar from November 27 to 30. (AFP / YE AUNG THU)
Updated 23 November 2017
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An outpost of Catholicism in Myanmar prepares for the Pope

KAWKAREIK, Myanmar: Father William’s 16-strong flock on Myanmar’s eastern border is one of the Catholic Church’s tiniest outposts, but next week they will join a tide of 200,000 faithful in Yangon for a historic mass led by Pope Francis.
The Pope, renowned for powerful entreaties for peace no matter how highly-charged the issue, arrives on Monday in a country on the defensive over its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Some 620,000 Rohingya have been driven from western Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August, prompting allegations of ethnic cleansing of the stateless minority.
While Pope Francis’ visit is inevitably framed by the crisis, Father William Hla Myint Oo says it will not overshadow the momentous event.
The compact congregation of Kawkareik, just three families and several church volunteers, will join the priest for the eight-hour drive to Yangon.
“We’re very excited,” says the priest, who moved to the remote outpost in Karen state, near Myanmar’s eastern border, just five months ago.
“(The pope’s) visit to see us — a minority — gives us a real lift and strengthens our spirit..”
It is the first ever papal visit to a Buddhist-majority nation, whose estimated 700,000 Catholics represent just over one percent of the population.
Kawkareik, a town in Karen state of 40,000 people, sits in the foothills of mountains tracing the border with Thailand.
Karen is famed for its tree-clad limestone hills topped by pagodas that attest to the dominance of Buddhism.
The church, discreetly tucked behind high walls, has yet to host a wedding or a christening, giving its pastoral leader little work.
But the Yangon-born priest says the occasional flutters of boredom or loneliness have been dispelled by the Pope’s looming visit.
Maria Maung Lone, a spry 73-year-old worshipper, is equally delighted at the guest from the Vatican.
“None of my ancestors have ever done this,” he says with a wide smile. “We’re so lucky that we have this chance.”
There have been Catholics in Myanmar for over 500 years, the religion brought by Portuguese traders from their Indian settlement in Goa.
But it was not until the 18th Century that the country became a mission territory, even if spreading the Catholic word was not always been easy.
The southeast Asian country’s ferocious heat and malarial jungles threw up a natural barrier to progress, while Buddhist locals harbored reservations about the new faith.
But Catholics generally enjoyed a good relationship with their Buddhist neighbors, says Father Soe Naing, spokesman for Myanmar’s Catholic church.
That changed, however, after the 1988 uprising against military rule when the junta pitched itself as the keeper of the Buddhist faith as a tactic to augment its legitimacy.
“Suddenly we were being discriminated against,” Father Soe Naing says.
“If you were a Christian working for the government, you wouldn’t be promoted and it was impossible to build new churches.”
Today, however, he says relations with the Buddhist majority are back on track.
“We’ve grown up together, we mix with one another. We’re very good friends,” he says.
In 2014 the Vatican canonized Myanmar’s first saint, a religious teacher killed in 1950 while traveling in the eastern borderlands.
The country’s first cardinal was named in 2015.
Then the establishment of full diplomatic ties with the Vatican in May this year paved the way for the pontiff’s visit.
Catholics from across the country, including remote, mountainous areas of Chin and Kachin states, are expected to descend on Yangon for the pope’s visit, which runs from November 27-30 and will include two landmark masses.
While Myanmar’s Catholics are delighted at the pontiff’s visit, the trip is also fraught with risk.
The country — and international community — is holding its breath to see if Pope Francis uses the word “Rohingya” on Myanmar soil when he addresses the Rakhine crisis.
The term is toxic in the country, where many follow the government line that the Rohingya are not an indigenous ethnic group but instead “Bengalis,” shorthand for illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.
“He will not be able to avoid speaking of the Rohingya crisis,” says Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey.
“But he will also be aware that... the intervention of a Christian leader is more likely to inflame the situation than promote interfaith understanding.”
In recent months, the pope has repeatedly used the term “Rohingya,” calling for peace, interfaith acceptance and denouncing the plight of refugee children stuck in Bangladeshi camps.
His discourse has made Myanmar’s Catholic community nervous of a potential angry backlash from hard-line Buddhist groups.
But briefings, including by Myanmar’s cardinal, about the sensitivities surrounding the crisis have gone some way to soothing the Catholic community.
“We can see the Holy Father is very well informed,” Father Soe Naing says. “I’m sure he understands the issues and so our fear is lessened.”
Back in his small parish, Father William is reluctant to be drawn on the politics of the papal visit.
“It’s complicated,” he says.
“Human affairs are more important than politics and religion.”


Russia jails lawyer for 7 years for criticizing Ukraine campaign

Updated 3 sec ago
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Russia jails lawyer for 7 years for criticizing Ukraine campaign

Dmitry Talantov, 63, was arrested in July 2022 after describing the acts of the Russian army in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Bucha as being reminiscent of “Nazi practices“
Safronov is now serving a 22-year sentence on treason charges

MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday sentenced a senior lawyer who had defended a jailed journalist in a high-profile case to seven years in prison for denouncing Moscow’s Ukraine offensive on social media.
Dmitry Talantov, 63, was arrested in July 2022 after describing the acts of the Russian army in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Bucha as being reminiscent of “Nazi practices.”
Talantov was for many years president of the Udmurtia lawyer association and in 2021 was the defense lawyer for Ivan Safronov, a journalist covering military affairs whose arrest shook Russia’s media community.
Safronov is now serving a 22-year sentence on treason charges.
A court in the Udmurt Republic found Talantov guilty of actions aimed at spreading hatred and of knowingly distributing “fake” information on the Russian army — charges made possible with a censorship law adopted shortly after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.
In an emotional speech in court, Talantov said he feared he would not survive the prison term, but also stood by his convictions.
“I am 64 and it is hard for me to imagine that I will come out of prison alive,” Talantov said, according to an audio of the speech published by rights group Perviy Otdel.
Talantov has been in pre-trial detention for two and a half years and has spent two years in an isolation cell, saying the Russian national anthem blasts out there in the evening and at dawn, before a staunchly pro-Kremlin radio show is played.
“I am waiting for words of peace. They do not come,” he said.
He described his conditions as a “Middle-Ages cell with only a (toilet) hole and a tap,” saying “time kills a person” in isolation.
His voice breaking, he addressed his wife saying: “Olga, forgive me, I love you.”
According to a letter he sent to Perviy Otdel, Talantov was arrested while at his summer home in the summer of 2022.
More than 300 lawyers had signed a petition calling for his release at the time.

Germany offers re-deployment of Patriot air defense units to Poland

Updated 28 min 19 sec ago
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Germany offers re-deployment of Patriot air defense units to Poland

  • The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said
  • From January to November 2022, Germany had already deployed 300 troops

BERLIN: Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defense systems to NATO ally Poland at the start of the new year, the German defense ministry said on Thursday.
The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said in a statement.
“With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
From January to November 2022, Germany had already deployed 300 troops together with three Patriot units to Poland.
They were based in the town Zamosc, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.
The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in November 2022, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.


Putin says Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons

Updated 34 min 3 sec ago
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Putin says Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons

  • Putin said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon

ASTANA: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would head off any attempt by Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons and would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if such a scenario unfolded.
The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.
Putin, speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of “dirty bomb.”


One year on, daily ‘stop genocide’ protests target Israel’s embassy in Korea

A collage of photos show daily one-person rallies held by People in Solidarity with Palestinians in front of Israeli embassy.
Updated 39 min 47 sec ago
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One year on, daily ‘stop genocide’ protests target Israel’s embassy in Korea

  • South Korea observes significant growth in the Palestine solidarity movement— Embassy protests held by members of over 200 Korean civil society organizations

SEOUL: Across from the Israeli embassy in Seoul, Lee Hyun-ah was holding a big red banner, as she stood in a lone daily protest calling for an end to Israel’s onslaught, massacres, and occupation of Palestine.
The banner, with writing in Korean, Arabic, and bold English letters reading “Stop Genocide Against Palestinians,” has appeared in front of the embassy every workday since November last year, when UN experts and international rights groups began warning that Israel’s mass killings in the Gaza Strip were unfolding into a genocidal campaign.
The one-person protests have been organized by Urgent Action by Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine — also known as People in Solidarity with Palestinians — a coalition of 226 South Korean civil society organizations whose members have been volunteering to rally on specific days.
Lee, a 20-year-old student in Seoul, was taking part for the first time.
“I finally found the courage and decided to participate,” she told Arab News, recalling how she began to learn about the decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine only last year.
“I was appalled. There are fundamental virtues, ethics, and values in this world. I cannot believe one group can just attack, invade, and commit genocide. I felt compelled to act.”
Lee’s protest on Monday was the 267th lone demonstration held by Urgent Action in front of the Seoul embassy.
The coalition was established in October 2023, soon after Israel launched its war on Gaza, in which its military has since killed over 44,000 people and injured more than 100,000. The real death toll is believed to be much higher, with estimates by medical journal The Lancet indicating that, as of July, it could be more than 186,000.
The Korean civil society coalition, which includes BDS Korea — a group affiliated with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — has also been organizing mass protests, film screenings, and boycott campaigns tailored specifically for South Korea.
Their efforts to raise awareness are bearing fruit, as the number of people joining is rapidly increasing. From just a handful of activists, the movement has grown significantly, with over 2,000 people participating in its Palestine solidarity rally last month.
“Our group was very small. It was about five to seven people working together. There were limitations on what we could do because it was so small,” BDS Korea leader Deng Ya-ping told Arab News.
“Before October 2023, there were very few organizations in South Korea that were acting in solidarity with Palestine ... But after forming People in Solidarity with Palestinians, more civic groups joined, and individuals unrelated to any organization have started participating as well.”
The group is advocating for a change in the South Korean government’s stance on Israel’s occupation and demanding that it stop Korean companies from selling weapons to the Israeli military.
“In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must halt its military occupation and that all nations have a responsibility to make Israel comply. So, the Korean government is also responsible ... the most obvious way to do that is to ban arms trade. That is the biggest request we have toward the Korean government,” Deng said.
“Other than that, Korea is a part of the UN Security Council. Korea voted in favor of the resolution that the US vetoed, which called for an end to the genocide and a ceasefire. Therefore, Korea should act accordingly, pressuring Israel to stop.”
The sentiment that the South Korean government is not doing enough is common among those joining Seoul protests — as is their resolve to persist, even when the embassy staff try to stop them.
While the embassy denies the claims, one of the protesters, Lee S., who has been involved in the Palestine solidarity movement since 2016, recalled its attempts to harass them.
“Sometimes embassy workers would come out during our protests to complain or try to provoke physical confrontations. But we never got into the fights. And they would systematically tear down our posters,” Lee said.
“But the South Korean civil society will continue to speak out loudly until the genocide in Gaza ends. We will not stay silent.”


Presidential aide says Ukraine ready to host second peace summit soon

Updated 28 November 2024
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Presidential aide says Ukraine ready to host second peace summit soon

  • Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June
  • “Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed,” Yermak said

KYIV: Ukraine is ready to host a second global summit aimed at ending Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Thursday, local media outlets reported.
Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June, bringing together over 90 countries to draft a resolution based on Ukraine’s proposed conditions to end the war.
However, Russia was not invited to that summit and dismissed its deliberations as meaningless without Moscow’s participation. It has also said it would not take part in any follow-up summit organized by Ukraine.
“Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed, which will become the basis for the Second Peace Summit, and Ukraine is ready to hold it in the near future,” Yermak told a conference, according to Ukrainian media.
China also stayed away from the June summit, while other major non-Western powers including India, Saudi Arabia and Mexico withheld their signatures from the summit communique, underlining the diplomatic challenge Kyiv faces in marshalling broader global support for its cause beyond its Western allies.
Yermak’s comments came as Russian forces continue to make steady territorial gains in eastern Ukraine while also pounding energy infrastructure in Ukrainian cities and towns.
Kyiv and its European allies are also waiting to see how US President-elect Donald Trump will handle the Ukraine issue. He has criticized the scale of US financial and military support for Ukraine and has said he could end the war in a day, without saying how.