Myanmar: US Sanctions Junta-Controlled State Oil and Gas Enterprise

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Nov 01, 2023

Image copyright: Wikimedia Commonsstory last updated Nov 02, 2023

The Facts

The US Treasury Department imposed fresh sanctions Tuesday on Myanmar's state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). Beginning Dec. 15, Americans and US companies will be prohibited from conducting financial services connected to the military junta-run company, including accounts, insurance, and investments.
The US also added three organizations and five junta officials to the list, including the ministers of industry and investment and foreign economic relations, the director generals of the prosecution and prisons departments, and the chief of general staff for the combined military forces.

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

Since the coup, private US companies have been profiting to the tune of millions from doing business with the Junta, so it's good to see Washington is finally following the EU's footsteps in sanctioning MOGE. When companies like Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Diamond Offshore Drilling use Myanmar's oil fields, they're helping finance the dictatorship's violent stranglehold on its citizens. Fossil fuel companies can no longer separate 'just doing business' from human cost of that business.

Guardian

Establishment-critical narrative

The US government does more than condemn atrocities and impose sanctions — it also funds pro-Western media outlets to produce desirable coverage of Myanmar. Just as has happened in every other country where it wished to conduct regime change, Washington is using these newspapers to exacerbate the crimes of the junta so it can push preferable international policy. If Washington eventually gets its pro-America leader into Myanmar's government, you can expect the disappearance of 'truth-telling' outlets.