Monday, October 1, 2007

Burma Turning On Itself

As I said before, Burma is a Buddhist country. Therefore, monks are highly revered. When the monks joined the protests, the world probably believed they were untouchable. Sure, they were sealed inside temples and taken away to prisons and schools and buses that served imprisonment purposes, but to hurt and kill the monks? That's sacreligious. That's just goddamn wrong. Looking at Ho Htike's latest entry, monks are being murdered by their own soldiers and government that, according to satellite images, wiped out entire villages. There are also more personal accounts on BBC's website.

The very soldiers led by the very government that should, ideally, be protecting them. But instead, this is happening.

And what is anyone doing? The UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, met with the junta with the detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, but of course nothing will come of it. Come on, the junta's been around for a while and no one did anything about it before. They know they don't have to listen to the UN. And all the while, the only thing China, Russia and India care about is their economical ties with Burma, so of course they won't impose sanctions against Burma, yet they are the countries with strong influences on the country.

And I call bullshit on reports that at least nine people died today. Bullshit. It is obvious that many, many more than that died already. Many more. But it's difficult getting the right facts as journalists are continuously being arrested, which, at a crucial time like this, is a sad, sad thing.

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