Human rights groups attack US decision on Myanmar investment

07/12/12: The New York Times reports human rights groups are strongly criticizing the Obama Administration for its decision to allow virtually any new American investment in Myanmar.  The prized oil-and-gas sector in Myanmar is now wholly open to American firms, even though the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had asked foreign companies and governments to hold off doing business with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).  MOGE has long had deep ties to the military, and for years it essentially bankrolled a succession of authoritarian juntas.  The US Congressional Research Service has estimated that one energy project alone, the Yadana natural gas pipeline, has provided at least $500 million in annual revenue for the government.  Suu Kyi said last month that MOGE was still operating without transparency or accountability.