The meeting between Mr. Obama and leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will take place on the sidelines of the annual summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore, the U.S. ambassador for Asean affairs, Scot Marciel, said Saturday.
Prime Minister Thein Sein of Myanmar will attend the meeting, which marks the 32nd anniversary of Washington’s relations with Asean, said a senior Myanmar diplomat, Min Lwin. The junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, typically shuns official meetings outside the country.
The talks would be the highest-level contact between Myanmar and the United States in decades.
Officials have not said whether Mr. Obama will meet privately with Thein Sein.
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But he still won’t meet with Fox News because they’re “evil”.
Skywise on November 8, 2009 at 1:24 PM
Moral relativism in full display.
the_nile on November 8, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Meeting with evil people, kicking aside allies…
It’s the American way, now.
Enoxo on November 8, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Aung San Suu Kyi could not be reached for comment.
Sekhmet on November 8, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Gotta give a shout out to those totalitarian thugs, you know.
MrScribbler on November 8, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Maybe Hussein is hoping to get pointers from the Burma thugs. I refuse to call it “myanmar”.
Ceroth on November 8, 2009 at 1:31 PM
I’m sure Zero will find a way.
Brat4life on November 8, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Getting pointers on how to run a 3rd world country I see.
Swell/
Knucklehead on November 8, 2009 at 1:36 PM
No despotic thug left behind.
Oldnuke on November 8, 2009 at 1:47 PM
The United States doesn’t officially call it Myanmar either. Nor is Rangoon referred to as Yangon ‘officially’.
Oldnuke on November 8, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Back in the good old days when he was just Sen, Obama:
Now, not so much.
Terry_Dyne on November 8, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Sorry, headline writer, but Prime Minister Thein Sein is not the head of the thugocracy at all, for that dubious honour falls upon the dictator-in-chief Snr. Gen. Than Shwe (as even mentioned in the quoted text here).
An interesting factoid about Than Shwe (besides his lunatic superstitions, which include phobias involving female undergarments) is that he is known to have referred to this particular Prime Minister as his “Postman” — due to his function of delivering any message the old dictator wishes to send to any designated recipient. He’s a messenger boy.
Nobody has any authority in Burma apart from following the wishes of the dictator, who lives secluded in his specially-built new “capital” (in the middle of the jungle, out of paranoia of a US attack by W years ago). He wouldn’t even see the UN SecGen when he was there recently. The idea that Obama might actually meet this guy astounded me when I first saw this headline.
Obama will be meeting with the (truly vicious) dictator’s “Postman”, a powerless position, and I hope the world will understand that. It will be meaningless, other than to give credibility to a regime that doesn’t deserve any.
Agam on November 8, 2009 at 1:57 PM
I don’t think Obama will bring her up. It would harsh the mellow of the meeting.
hepcat on November 8, 2009 at 1:57 PM
I’ll take Pimp My Thug for 200$, Alex
nyx on November 8, 2009 at 2:02 PM
The acceptance of the thugs’ name for their country is a bad sign for any hope of freedom for the Burmese people.
Just two years ago, the NYT always referred to it as “Burma.” Now that name is not even mentioned in the article.
Our State Department still calls it “Burma,” although they have now added “Myanmar” in parentheses — this wasn’t there last time I looked, about two years ago….
The BBC, I think, still calls it Burma, as does the Washington Post.
And apparently, as recently as a few years ago, Obama himself used the name Burma (thanks, Terry_Dyne.)
If Obama starts calling it Myanmar in public, then we’ll know that he’s officially embraced yet another vicious, civil-rights abusing thugocracy with an open hand.
notropis on November 8, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Thug in Chief meets Burma’s thugocracy. He’ll feel right at home. There isn’t a thug he hasn’t embraced yet.
America, what have you done, so soon after 9/11/01? You have lost your collective mind.
Schadenfreude on November 8, 2009 at 2:06 PM
A serious question,
Is there a thug that the big O has not embraced? I can’t think of any.
nyx on November 8, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Obummer is just getting advice on how to install jungle law in America like they have in Myanmar.
Percy_Peabody on November 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Obama is slowly moving from campaign-mode to dodge-mode.
.
Visiting Burma may appear to be doing the job of President, but it’s a dodge; no stress, no policy questions, no decisions. Closed talks, a friendly photo-op and a pleasant joint communiqué at the end are all that’s required.
.
Burma is unrelated to any of the top 10 issues America faces. Obama’s visit avoids addressing unemployment, the deficit, uncontrolled spending, Iraq, Afghanistan, catching/whacking OBL, Iranian nukes, etc.
.
At what point will the country wake up and realize that Obama’s “performance” is really an evasion of “job performance”?
Arbalest on November 8, 2009 at 2:56 PM
They need an international policy win, and they think hated, isolated, destitute Burma can be bought cheap. But they are not hated by nor isolated from China. Another disappointing disappointment looms.
Kenosha Kid on November 8, 2009 at 3:06 PM
I had a horrible premonition that the world is going to continue to get much much worse this morning. And I was right…
mjk on November 8, 2009 at 3:10 PM
Burma Shave time, O’Bambi.
honsy on November 8, 2009 at 3:45 PM
This is all well and good, but what I really wonder is what new reading material Obama will be handed?
Freddy on November 8, 2009 at 3:45 PM
He is a disgrace.
WisCon on November 8, 2009 at 4:13 PM
There is no country called “Myanmar.” There’s one called Burma, though.
Perhaps Myanmar is one of Obama’s 57 states…
locomotivebreath1901 on November 8, 2009 at 4:33 PM