The Saffron Revolution

Of all the current events, I believe none is more momentous than what's happening in Burma right now. I'm surprised that there's not already a thread on it. As a longtime fan of Aung San Suu Kyi, I sure hope the time has come for Burma to finally free itself from the shackles of the military junta. I'm also surprised to learn that Laura Bush has also been a huge supporter of this country. No wonder her dear hubby used the occasion of his UN speech to bring up this subject (even if he might have trouble pointing out where the country is on a world map...)

Laura Bush's Burmese Crusade

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Sep 27 2007, 02:44 AM) [snapback]518365[/snapback]</div>

In 1988, India was one of the staunchest supporters of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, but a new, pragmatic approach to foreign policy saw those ties cut in the early 1990s.

Desperate to get its hands on Myanmar's gas to meet its growing energy needs, and determined to counter Chinese influence, India has instead courted Myanmar's generals...

India breaks silence on Myanmar

 

[attachmentid=11696]

Sandals lie abandoned on a blood-streaked street after soldiers opened fire on protesters in Yangon, Myanmar.

"The consensus around the European Parliament is that China is the key. China is the puppet master of Burma. The Olympics is the only real lever we have to make China act. The civilised world must seriously consider shunning China by using the Beijing Olympics to send the clear message that such abuses of human rights are not acceptable."

- Vice president of the European Parliament Edward McMillan-Scott.

 

Rare video footage

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6sX0HvBwjq4&amp...ser&search=

 

More on the Burma uprising

Video showing Japanese photographer shot point blank

Echoes of Tiananmen Square

 

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...ticle_id=484903

 

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, the wife of President George W. Bush strengthened her criticism of the Myanmar military government, saying "the generals must immediately stop their terror campaigns against their own people."

"General Than Shwe and his deputies are a friendless regime. They should step aside to make way for a unified Burma (Myanmar) governed by legitimate leaders," Bush wrote.

"Today, people everywhere know about the regime's atrocities. They are disgusted by the junta's abuses of human rights. This swelling outrage presents the generals with an urgent choice: Be part of Burma's peaceful transition to democracy, or get out of the way for a government of the Burmese people's choosing.

"Whatever last shred of legitimacy the junta had among its own citizens has vanished," she said.

US first lady blasts 'friendless' Myanmar regime