The Chaos in Burma

[eX.A.K.R.]

(not sure if this could legitimately be posted in this part of the forums - moderators may want to move this off to the soapbox)

By now, most of you should have known about the chaos and nonsense that has been happening in Burma (I don't use that M-name those false, so-called rulers use). Monks have been beaten up, humilated, and confined. Peaceful demonstarters have been tear-gassed and maybe even insecticide-sprayed. Buddhist sites been sealed off. Foreigners have become involved in the mess - one Japanese journalist has been shot dead, another Singaporean businessman is shot and kicked. Practically every major news site now runs stories about the chaos in that country.

It all started when those so-called rulers of Burma suddenly raised fuel prices there, sending the prices of everything else, from food to transport in that country, blasting off into the sky overnight. The Burmese are practically selling off houses and jewellery just to feed and transport themselves. This lead to the citizens' protests, followed by the Buddhist monks.

At first, as with usual, I just took note of the events as something to keep myself informed about the world in general, not getting myself too involved.

However, in recent days, those so-called rulers have started to commit atrocities against the monks, who did nothing more than to conduct peaceful marches across Burma. Line after line, those so-called rulers crossed in my mind as I heard more tales of atrocities against the monks. But it was this one, from this New York Times article, that really took the cake, and sent me down to the point of no return:

Other unconfirmed reports from exile groups described scenes of brutality and humiliation of monks and their superiors when soldiers entered the monasteries.

“We were told by a lot of residents that the soldiers came in very rudely and told them to kneel down,” Mr. Aung Zaw said. “Their senior abbot was beaten in front of the others. They were told to walk like dogs. That news quickly spread, and whether it is rumor or true, people got very, very angry.”

This is digging into the pits of hell at a faster rate than I thought.

You may know by now that I'm a Buddhist, and this is just unspeakably offensive in my eyes. I went literally steaming mad upon reading that before I calmed myself down.

Even if you are not a Buddhist, reading about this and the other atrocities against the peaceful protesters will send convulsions down your spine. Automatic weapons. Tear gas. Entire armies beating up defenseless people. That incident involving the Japanese journalist.

Before I let loose myself and ramble on, let me end this here with some questions: what are your own thoughts and opinions on this matter? Do you think world leaders are doing enough to stop this? What about China's involvement in all of this? Do you think the people of Burma have a chance this time round?

Think about it.

 

[Fig]

This would send shiver down my spine, except that it's hardly a first in human history. Hardly a first in the past half-century, for that matter. China, Russia, Czhecoslovakia, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, virtually all of Africa, South Vietnam...and I'm skipping many.

Bloody repression is just another day in the history of power, and the worthless trash that think it is somehow are entitled to hold it.

As for China's involvement (or lack of thereof), on top of not being the kings of human rights themselves, China tends to be non-interventionist by and large, and appear to prefer to use economic ties to cultivate friendships with resource-rich developping countries rather than as a weapon (so far).

Beyond that, China has very little ability to put together a convincing military threat to Burma. This is because China has virtually no power projection capacity - it is debatable whether they even have the resources to invade Taiway which is across a strait from China ; Burma is half a continent away by sea! (all the way down to Singapore, then all the way back up to Burma). So any military intervention of China in Burma would have to be executed across a narrow mountainous border - not the sort of situation that makes for a very convincing peacekeeping via military option.
More than that, for all that they are a regional power, China has no power projection capacity to speak of, so any attempt to intervene militarily in Burma would bog down in the mountainous north of the country, on a narrow front.

 

[eX.A.K.R.]

I forgot to mention in my first post, but there's still India out there. India themselves face enough problems of their own though - their rivalry with Pakistan, among other things, is probably of more importance than any chaos in Burma. At least for India, it's probably not that they don't want to convince the so-called rulers, but that they can't. As they say, you should take care of your own backyard first before you complain about your neighbours.

One interesting thing I read today on Wikipedia - not sure how true this is though - is that it appears the second-in-command of that fake government in Burma is unhappy with how the first-in-command is handling the situation. I can sense impending infighting (and subsequent doom) approaching here...

Isn't it funny how human beings kill each other over a lust for an illusory sense of ego and power?