YANGON -- Security forces clamped down on protests in Myanmar's two biggest cities Friday, firing warning shots and using baton charges in the third day of a crackdown that has left at least 13 people dead.

The military regime also appeared to have cut the main Internet link to block images and reports of the violence from the isolated nation, which have galvanized world opinion against the ruling generals.

About 10,000 people surged onto the streets of the main city of Yangon, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as they repeatedly confronted police and soldiers before scattering and regrouping once more.
Inquirer

The US government has announced sanctions against the country, previously known as Burma. But does the US, or indeed the larger world community, have the stomach to do anything further than this in the long term?

It might be difficult to know who, exactly, to deal with:

'There is no cohesive Burmese government, only pools of influence that frequently drown each other out, some backed by senior generals, others leaning towards the Military Intelligence (MI) faction, and yet more clinging to the vestiges of power retained by military commanders with postings in the strategically important border region or mineral rich states of Upper Burma.' www.guardian.co.uk

And those mineral rich states seem to be part of the problem, too:

'Dismally, the Burmese leaders still believe that they can count on China, India and Russia to prop up their regime. More dismally still, the events of recent days suggest that they are right to have this belief. Despite the condemnation of the civilised world, Burma's feudal warlords feel that they can rely on friends and opportunists keen to exploit the country's natural resources. They play one off against the other and struggle on.' www.guardian.co.uk

it's sad that they're killing monks. they are the most peaceful people on the planet.

even the most peaceful of people can only take so much. The whole situation is sad really...

Hi Ron,

I found this article on the background to the events interesting, The Economist

NNN: regarding your quote on China's role, I found the following, on why China might be motivated to become involved:
The Saffron Revolution:

Nevertheless there are two reasons why China might now see its own interests as best served by assisting a peaceful transition in Myanmar. The first is that China wants stability on its borders, and it is becoming obvious that the junta cannot provide it. The generals' economic mismanagement has helped reduce a country blessed with rich resources to crippling poverty. Fleeing economic misery as much as political oppression, up to 2m migrants from Myanmar are in Thailand. And it was an economic grievance—a big, abrupt rise in fuel prices—that sparked the present unrest.....

Appealing to the Olympic spirit
China must also be wondering nervously how all this will affect next year's Olympic games in Beijing. Already, protests about China's support for the government of Sudan, larded with comparisons to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, have shown that its foreign policy as well as its human-rights record at home is under scrutiny. Myanmar is justifiably a popular cause in the West. If China proves actively obstructive to international efforts to bring the junta to book, it may provoke calls for a boycott of the games.

Sanctions achieve nothing but starving people who are already suffering. It is an inhumane practice that has no place in 21st century diplomacy. In fact, why is it even considered diplomacy? If anything, it is a passive form of warfare.

Why worry about it. The USA and UN did nothing about Rwanda or Darfur. I saw monks getting ready to go into the monkhood giving their guns to friends to hold for them. Revolvers or rice bowls.

quote:

Originally posted by newnickname:
Panties for Peace

Panties for peace in Myanmar (which, by the way, the BBC insists is Burma, not Myanmar)? Is that anything to do with the acronym B.U.R.M.A which British servicemen wrote on letters before homecomings? (It's for 'Be Upstairs Ready My Angel' )