Burma
Nine people have been killed amid a crackdown on anti-government protesters in Burmas main city of Rangoon, state television has reported.The dead included eight protesters and a Japanese man identified by Japans APF News as a video journalist.
Eleven demonstrators and 31 soldiers were injured, state media said.
The clashes came on the 10th day of protests against Burmas military rulers led by the countrys Buddhist monks. Hundreds have been arrested.
I am certainly not an expert in Burmese culture or history, and until the recent troubles there was pretty much just vaguely aware that it was a very poor nation under the control of a corrupt military junta. Sadly, not all that unique in the world.
One of the interesting things behind this crisis is the positions of the ‘great powers’ on the issue. The U.S. and Europe have pretty much sanctioned the place for years, the don’t have a lot of leverage left absent direct military force (which is not going to happen.) Russia is reletively nuetral on the issue, probably quite content to see a crisis there. China is a powerful ally to the junta, bought off by Burmese coastal oil reserves and the need China has for those resources. India has also been friendly to the regime, cultivating it as a way to counter-balance Chinese interests.
In such an environment, it doesn’t look to promising for the brave Burmese monks and civilians who are protesting the military government. The junta certainly seems to have the will to use force to maintain their power, and it is fairly obvious that no international efforts are going to apply any sort of meaningful pressure.
