title: things you need to know about the dakota access pipeline protests
text: by tony cartalucci 
  myanmars defacto leader aung san suu kyi of the national league for democracy ndl political party has paved her time since coming to power earlier this year with both irony and hypocrisy she has not only illegally declared herself leader of the southeast asian state in contravention of its constitution she has also embarked on an ironfisted purge of her political opponents identical to the one she fought against as she struggled to seize power to begin with 
  during elections earlier this year myanmars constitution prevented suu kyi from holding the nations highest office due to her inordinate amount of time overseas her status of having been married to a foreign and her childrens dual citizenship instead of adhering to the law her party once in power simply contrived an entirely new post for her state counsellor of myanmar which makes her the defacto leader of myanmar 
  canadas the globe and mail in an article titled stéphane dion says aung san suu kyi is the de facto leader of myanmar would note that canadas government recognized this legal sidestepping stating 
  dion called suu kyi now myanmars foreign minister the de facto national leader of her country because they have a strange rule that if you have married somebody whos not of the country you cannot be the leader of the government and of the state 
  suu kyi the internationally recognized democracy advocate is barred from becoming president because her late husband was british as are her two sons the rule was crafted during myanmars decades of military rule which suu kyi fought against during years of house arrest before finally prevailing last fall 
  in essence she is unelected and illegally holding power for a woman whos western backers  particularly in the united states and united kingdom  have held her up as a champion for democracy and the rule of law she and her partys first act upon taking power was trampling both the inhumane humanitarian 
  another myth built up around nobel peace prize laureate suu kyi by the west has been her advocacy for human rights her advocacy for human rights however appears only to extend out to protect only as far as her immediate political allies are concerned for groups beyond this selfserving political protection and particularly regarding her political opponents she and her ndl are just as eager to jail crush or kill political opponents as they claimed the ruling military government had been 
  in addition to escalating violence targeting the nations rohingyas population several activists online have been sent to jail for insulting the ruling government and westernbacked media fronts and organizations 
  myanmars eleven media group emg in its article facebook offender brought to court for insulting suu kyi attempted to distance what suu kyi and her political supporters had once called draconian censorship as now a simple matter of enforcing the law it would state 
  a facebook user named zaw zaw aka nga pha was brought to the north dagon township court on october  to face prosecution for his defamatory posts about state counsellor aung san suu kyi 
  he has been charged under section d of the telecommunications law 
  hes being sued for defamatory writing and photos about the state counsellor posted on facebook said plaintiff nay myo kyaw a yearold resident of north okkalapa township 
  around  people showed up at the hearing wearing shirts affiliated with a group called the network of supporters of the rule of law they shouted you deserved it for insulting a good person 
  the article also admits 
  the myawady township court sentenced aung win hlaing aka a nyar thar the first man to be prosecuted under the current government for defamatory posts on facebook about president htin kyaw to nine months in jail after he was convicted under section d of the telecommunications law 
  aung myint tun aka ko pho htaung a member of the national league for democracy is still facing legal action under the same law for the wording of a resignation letter 
  another man named yar pyay was arrested and is being prosecuted for creating a fake facebook account under the name of nay myo wai the chairman of peace and diversity party 
  hla phone was also arrested and is being prosecuted for defamatory posts on facebook about the commanderinchief 
  emg  ironically awarded for its work in opposing the previous militaryled government by reporters without borders  would also admit that it itself had taken advantage of myanmars laws to silence its own critics claiming 
  eleven media group emg also filed complaints about repeated defamatory posts on facebook against the group though emg lodged complaints against film director mike tee who is the owner of a facebook account named than tun zaw and another facebook user named myat maw for offensive posts about the group and its staff the legal process has yet to begin emg lodged the complaints on january  and march  this year 
  one would expect such a tidal wave of abuse  as defined by the west in regards to media governance and censorship around the world  to be met with sweeping condemnation from the wests various human rights advocacy organizations including human rights watch amnesty international and a no doubt embarrassed reporters without borders  yet the silence is as deafening as it is telling taking over where accused dictators left off 
  the wests champions of democracy rule of law and human rights in myanmar appears to have simply taken over right where suu kyi and her ndl party had claimed the militaryled government left off and despite the overt nature of suu kyis breaches of western standards of democracy and human rights the us is on track to lift all sanctions from myanmar as suu kyi and her government open the nation its people and its resources to exploitation by western corporations 
  the overt nature of both the wests and suu kyis hypocrisy illustrates that democracy rule of law and human rights are merely facades behind which the west and its proxies wield their power  hiding behind such principles rather than truly upholding them and in reality such behavior undermines these principles more than any overt abuse by an openly tyrannical regime ever could  because genuine advocates thus become associated with hypocrites like the western governments supporting the current regime in myanmar their fauxnongovernmental organizations aiding and abetting the regime and proxies like suu kyi and her ndl themselves 
  international audiences must keep this example of hypocrisy in mind as the west attempts to overturn other governments in southeast asia and beyond under similar pretexts and using similar rhetoric  supporting supposed prodemocracy and prohuman rights advocates who have every intention of trampling both upon seizing power 
  tony cartalucci bangkokbased geopolitical researcher and writer especially for the online magazine new eastern outlook