House passes Burma sanctions bill

I had given up on the idea that this would ever happen.  Kudos for Tom Lantos:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday blocking imports of Myanmar rubies and removing tax credits for U.S. firms investing in the military-ruled Southeast Asian country.

The Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act, drafted after Myanmar’s suppression of pro-democracy protests in September, was approved as the junta rejected a U.N. report putting the death toll from that crackdown at 31.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, bans the import of Myanmar gems into the United States, freezes the assets of the country’s leaders and stops the former Burma from using U.S. financial institutions via third countries to launder funds of its leaders or close relatives.

His amendment to U.S. trade sanctions imposed in 2003 also targets the sale in America of rubies routed through China, India and Thailand to circumvent curbs on trade with Myanmar.

The bill, which must be approved by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President George W. Bush, also would stop the U.S. oil major Chevron Corp from taking tax deductions on its investment in Myanmar’s Yadana natural gas field.  [Reuters, Paul Eckert]  

I’m not sure what effect those sanctions will have.  We’ve learned from the Banco Delta experience that the way to really hurt  the  wealthy  oligarchy  of an  isolated  nation is to cut off its access to international finance, which this bill   does to at least some  extent.  I haven’t had time to read the all-important money-laundering sanctions, so I’ll reserve judgment for now. 

The  loss of Chevron’s tax deduction will probably just mean that Total Fina Elf or Lukoil will take over that part of it.  The gem sanctions may hit isolated parts of the Burmese economy, but won’t bring it down.   Let’s hope that Congress will see these sanctions as a work in progress and look for ways to improve them.

Thanks to a reader for forwarding.