Mission of Burma*
Burma news from Buddhist to Belmont Bangkok to Beijing on Bush. Monks defy military junta. Junta imposes a curfew and bans gatherings of more than five people. I don’t think the monks intend to back down. The old geezer in the orange robes looks PO’d.
Belmont Club’s Richard Fernandez at Pajamas on Burma’s “Saffron Revolution” cites Bangkok Pundit and others with their comparisons to the Philippine anti-Marcos “People Power” movement of the ’80s and says:
Both the comparisons between Burma in 2007 and the Philippines in 1986 omit one crucial point. In 1986 the Reagan administration and Paul Wolfowitz in particular realized that the rapid decline of the Soviet Union freed it from the geopolitical obligation to prop up Ferdinand Marcos. Events in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union itself had doomed the Philippine dictator who could no longer parlay the fear of Communism into automatic support for his regime. The question is whether China is similarly quit of its obligations to the Burmese junta.
… Unfortunately for the Burmese people, China’s needs are based on their appetite for oil, natural resources and markets and the access Burmese infrastructure gives them in protecting it.
The rest here.
Meanwhile, Bush at the General Assembly told the world’s America-bashing, Israel-hating, dictator-loving talking shop it needs to get back to its freedom and democracy supporting roots, and it can start with Burma. Let’s hear it from the offical commie news service, Xinhua:
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — U.S. President George W. Bush called on Tuesday for support from the international community to promote the process of democracy in some countries and to do necessary reform in the UN system.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Bush trumpeted democracy and freedom worldwide while announcing to impose new sanctions against Myanmar because of its alleged poor human rights record.
“The United States will tighten economic sanctions on the leaders of the regime and their financial backers, and we will impose an expanded visa ban on those responsible for the most egregious violations of human rights as well as their family members,” Bush said in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Bush also demanded the United Nations and its member states to use their diplomatic and economic leverage to force Myanmar to carry out political reform.
The United States and Myanmar have been in a tense relationship over human rights issues.
Accusing Myanmar’s government of imposing political repression, Washington has been demanding the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of political prisoners in Myanmar.
Myanmar, which categorically rejects the U.S. accusations, insists that there is no political prisoners in the country.
On Cuba, Bush urged the Central American country to have “free and competitive elections,” claiming “in Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end.”
Noting that Cuba enters a period of transition and the Cuban people are ready for their freedom, Bush said “the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly and ultimately free and competitive elections.”
In protest against Bush’s speech, the Cuban delegation stormed out of the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly.
The Cuban mission to the United Nations said in a statement that “Bush is responsible for the murder of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq, he authorized the torture of prisoners at the Guantanamo Naval Base and the kidnapping of people, as well as clandestine flights and secret prisons.”
“He is a criminal and has no moral authority or credibility to judge any other country,” the statement said.
… Speaking of UN reform, the U.S. president said that “the United Nations must reform its own Human Rights Council.”
“The American people are disappointed by the failures of the Human Rights Council,” he said, criticizing the newly-established Human Rights Council for ignoring problems in countries like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel.
“To be credible on human rights in the world, the United Nations must first reform its own Human Rights Council,” Bush said.
The UN Human Rights Council, successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights, was established by the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006.
The United States opposes the establishment of the organization from the very beginning.
On the issue of expanding the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful body, Bush suggested that Japan is “well qualified” to bean additional member and said “other nations should be considered as well.”
“The United States will listen to all good ideas, and we will support changes to the Security Council as part of broader UN reform,” he added.
The commies at Xinhua didn’t do a bad job, though they did not allow Bush to call it “Burma,” which is what he does as a matter of U.S. policy. They also left out the details on Bush’s call for everyone to kick in on freedom and/or freedom from meddling for Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, etc. Fun to see him stick it in their eye at the General Assembly, but that’s about all that’s good for.
* An old recently reunited Boston band that had absolutely nothing to do with Burma. Good name, though. Big hit, “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver.”
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:16 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2007
3 Responses to “Mission of Burma*”
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September 25th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
“Let freedom ring,”
He told the UN,
“Or take the risk
Of our fist on your chin.”
Burma Shave
September 25th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I was in the PI when the whole ‘People Power’ thing went down. The Enterprise slipped out of Subic Bay in the dead of night to stand off shore. They flew Marcos et al, out to her the next afternoon.
There were guns on the streets of Olongapo and a couple stray rounds fired, but we were never restricted to base. (That only happened when the Philippino base employees went on strike.) The lone violence we witnessed was when they came for the mayor, treating him rudely as they shoved him into a car. A close Marcos crony, it seems he hadn’t gotten his “Congratulations Mrs. Aquino” sign up quick enough.
I can’t see it being as benign in Burma.
September 26th, 2007 at 11:18 am
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