A post by Maynard
This article in The Economist makes some interesting notes about how the world is reacting to the brutal government of Myanmar.
…As in the past, the world’s initial response to the junta’s violence was marked by bickering and point-scoring. On September 27th, the United Nations Security Council met in response to pressure from the West for coordinated sanctions. But Russia and China argued that the unrest was an internal matter that should not be on the council’s agenda at all. America announced new sanctions against the regime, in keeping with a policy some Western countries have pursued for nearly two decades.
Shareholder-activists and ordinary consumers in the West have also done their bit to encourage a boycott. But isolation has never really been on the cards. Any gap is eagerly filled by Myanmar’s neighbors — not just China, but also India and Thailand and other members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). American leaders have insisted the junta honor the 1990 election result and step aside. To this end, they have already imposed wide-ranging sanctions. The European Union has been more equivocal, and its sanctions correspondingly milder. Japan, Burma’s biggest aid donor until 1988, has been softer still…
This is sadly typical. Although it suits the political agendas of so many academics and thugs to blame the world’s ills upon America and Israel, I think the record speaks for itself.
A Message from Tammy:
If these last three posts don’t illustrate the different moods Maynard and I are in, I don’t know what will.
Yeah, let’s all look at the protesting, Fundamentalist Buddhists, as they peacefully walk down the main streets of Rangoon, here;
Let us all forget all the similar Mulsim protests, too, OK?
Can I rephrase that? Please?
Meant to say: “Let’s all forget about all the similar Muslim protests, too, OK?”
Vest Tegards,
These demonstrations were in response to a steep increase in the cost of gasoline. The pent up need for freedom followed. I think we overstate an innate desire for freedom and project it onto political discontent when economics may be the true provocation.
Whatever deep-rooted need for freedom is harbored in the human soul, resignation gets in the way of expressing it. The individual finds it easier to adapt to the societal context, even tyranny, attempting to maximize comfort and minimize trouble for himself.
It is for great thinkers to motivate and extraordinary leaders to bring about freedom. Freedom is the milieu that maximizes opportunities for individuals to achieve their best, but it is difficult to acquire and even harder to keep. The false promise of guaranteed comfort from the power hungry is very seductive. The primal brutality of tyrants is always ready to assert itself. Individuals grow weary. Freedom can be lost and a long darkness reign until the great ones come again to inspire courage to overcome resignation.
Something to think about while nothing changes and the army keeps killing in Myanmar.