Burma Bleeding
I made a mistake yesterday by referring to Burma as Myanmar. The military regime currently subjugating the Burmese people changed the name of the country after brutally suppressing a popular uprising there in 1989. According to published reports, the illegitimate rulers of Burma stepped up their campaign of terror yesterday by raiding Buddhist monasteries and killing several civilians, including a Japanese journalist. Yes the Burmese military leaders are terrorists.
The US political response has been tepid. Our policy of enacting economic sanctions has never made a difference in the past. There’s no reason to believe that it will work this time around either. Laura Bush got on TV to complain about the situation. It’s nice to see her speak out, but she looked like she was late for a tea party. We all know Laura’s husband isn’t losing any sleep over the plight of the Burmese people.
Our leaders need to engage in a much more aggressive political campaign in support of the pro-democracy forces in Burma. The Bushies know about politics right? That’s when you go to great length to expose the shortcomings of your political opponents and their supporters.
Condoleezza Rice should be speaking out forcefully every day about the terrorist regime in Burma. She should be bending the ear of our allies in Thailand, India, Australia and Japan. After all, it’s not like she’s busy dealing with Iraq.
We need to put more heat on the totalitarian leaders of Burma. These guys don’t want to be the focus of the world’s attention. They would prefer to operate in the shadows. But we’ve got some very bright lights in America.
Here are links to organizations closely following the Burmese pro-democracy movement: Burma Digest, Democratic Voice of Burma, The Irrawaddy, Mizzima News, The Burma Campaign UK
Burma, Myanmar, Bush, Buddhist monks, pro-democracy, Laura Bush
October 11th, 2007 at 11:47 am
[...] stop the flood of information flowing from their country. I have previously listed a number of organizations covering the massacre of innocent civilians in Burma. The whole world knows about this historical [...]