Burma.... Civil war is about to explode there.

[American Patriot]

Just in case no one else happens to be looking here.... check this out.

Burmese military threatens monks

Buddhist monks march through Ahlone, a Rangoon suburb, on 24 September Enlarge Image

Burma's ruling military junta has warned it is ready to "take action" against Buddhist monks leading mounting protests, state media have reported.

Brig Gen Thura Myint Maung, minister for religion, warned them not to break Buddhist "rules and regulations" as Rangoon saw the largest march yet.


He blamed the protests on "destructive elements" opposed to peace in Burma.


President George W Bush is set to announce fresh US sanctions on Burmese leaders, the White House says.


The sanctions, which will include a ban on US visas, will be announced during Mr Bush's speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said.


The military government has so far showed restraint against the protests.

Map of Rangoon showing locations in the democracy march
Monks are highly revered in Burma and correspondents say any move by the junta to crush their demonstrations would spark an outcry.


But there are fears of a repeat of 1988, correspondents say, when the last democracy uprising was crushed by the military and some 3,000 people were killed.


'Communist plot'

Some monks' representatives had called for the entire country to join them in their campaign to overthrow the government, which began eight days ago.

PROTESTS MOUNT 15 Aug: Junta doubles fuel prices, sparking protests 5 Sept: Troops injure several monks at a protest in Pakokku 17 Sept: The junta's failure to apologise for the injuries draws fresh protests by monks 18-21 Sept: Daily marches by monks in Burmese cities gradually gather in size 22 Sept: 1,000 monks march to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon 23 Sept: Up to 20,000 march in Rangoon 24 Sept: New Rangoon march draws at least 50,000 and 24 other towns join in In pictures: Protests Q&A: Protests in Burma Send us your comments

Monday saw marches in at least 25 towns and cities, including Mandalay, Sittwe and Pakokku.


Turnout estimates in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, range from 50,000 to 100,000.
According to state media, the minister for religion spoke after meeting senior members of the Buddhist clergy, whom he warned to control the militant young monks who appear to be leading the current street protests.


In the first public response by the junta to the mass protests, he said action would be taken against the monks' protest marches "according to the law if they cannot be stopped by religious teachings".


No further details were forthcoming, but there was no hint of reconciliation in the government's message, BBC Asia correspondent Andrew Harding reports.


State television said the demonstrations of the past week were being fomented by communists and exiled media and student groups.


Dalai Lama appeal

Our correspondent says Monday's marches are a show of defiance unthinkable just a few weeks ago.


Five columns of monks, one reportedly stretching for more than 1km (0.6 miles), entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of bystanders.


Civilians who joined in included officials from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.


The authorities are likely to be under huge pressure from their close neighbour China to avoid bloodshed and instability, our correspondent notes.


But if the demonstrations continue, he adds, the generals may see their authority ebb away and their options narrow.


The European Union has urged the junta to show the "utmost restraint" in dealing with the protests and to take the opportunity to "launch a process of real political reform".


The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has given his backing to the monks' call for freedom and democracy but urged the military not to react with violence to the protests.


UK Ambassador Mark Canning said Burma's leaders were now in uncharted territory and he expressed concern about a possible government counter-reaction.


"That... would be a disaster, although in terms of probability it, I'm afraid, ranks quite high," he told the BBC.


Detained leader

A hard-core group of more than 1,000 of the maroon-robed monks and 400 sympathisers went to Aung San Suu Kyi's street at the end of Monday's march, the Associated Press reported.


They chanted a prayer for peace in the face of the riot police blocking access to her home, where she is under house arrest, before dispersing peacefully.


Monks have been urging Burmese people to hold 15-minute evening prayer vigils.


The organisation that has emerged to lead the protests, the Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks, has vowed to continue marches until it has "wiped the military dictatorship from the land".


The protests were triggered by the government's decision to double the price of fuel last month, hitting people hard in the impoverished nation.

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

Burma 'reaches tipping point' as monks take on the military junta

Monks stage more protests against its military rulers - despite threats of force


By DAVID WILLIAMS - More by this author » Last updated at 11:24am on 25th September 2007 Comments (3)
Some barefoot and some in sandals, they advanced steadily though the streets of Rangoon yesterday in a crimson tide of protest.



The shaven-headed monks of Burma led a demonstration of more than 100,000 against the impoverished nation's military leaders.


Behind them in a column stretching for at least a mile through the city centre were civilians, students and political activists.


Scroll down for more ...

The march of the monks: Buddhists lead mass protests against Burma's military rulers


Read more...

• Burma 'reaches tipping point' as monks take on the military junta

The march, cheered and applauded by thousands of bystanders, is the latest and largest in a series of protests by Burma's monks and dissidents.


Diplomats fear that the country has now reached a turning point, with the generals who have ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly half a century facing the biggest challenge to their power for 20 years.


They could crush the dissent - as they did 1988, leaving at least 3,000 dead - or they can give the monks free rein - and risk the movement spreading across the country.


Scroll down for more ...

This weekend saw Burma's largest demonstrations in nearly 20 years - and the monks are leading the way





Last night there were rumours of soldiers massing on the city outskirts and imminent emergency law. Britain's ambassador Mark Canning said: "The demonstrations could subside - that's looking less and less likely.
"Secondly, that we could see some sort of counter-reaction, which would be a disaster, although in terms of probability it, I'm afraid, ranks quite high."


If the military do come down hard on the Buddhist monks, who are revered by the bulk of the population, it risks turning pockets of dissent into nationwide outrage.


The monks are staging more protests against its military rulers - despite threats by the government that they will use force to quell the demonstrations.


Several hundred monks have marched into Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, the focal point of the largest anti-junta demonstrations in 20 years.
Many were carrying flags, including some bearing the image of a fighting peacock used by students in a 1988 pro-democracy uprising the generals crushed with the loss of around 3,000 lives.


Lorries with loudspeakers have been driving through Burma's main city of Rangoon warning residents to stop anti-government protests.


Scroll down for more ...

The monks led up to 100,000 people through the streets of the main city Rangoon





The protests started last month when the government decided to double the price of fuels. The rises meant staples such as rice and cooking oil suddenly became more costly. The monks became involved in steadily increasing numbers when troops broke up a peaceful rally on September 5. At least three monks were hurt.


At present, the junta's strategy appears to be softly-softly, analysts say, citing Saturday's decision to let 500 monks through barbedwire barricades outside the house of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


Scroll down for more ...

The demonstrations have been going on for seven days





Democracy campaigner Suu Kyi's 15-minute appearance was the first time the 62-year-old Nobel laureate has been allowed to be seen in public since May 2003.


It is thought that neighbour China, which is counting on Burma's vast energy reserves to fuel its booming economy, is urging restraint on the generals.




Buddhist nuns have joined the protests for the first time

[Jag]

Burma: Inside the saffron revolution

Death, confusion and worldwide outrage as the crackdown begins

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent and Peter Popham in Bangkok

Published: 27 September 2007



The inevitable happened sometime before noon.
Close to the Shwedagon pagoda, the golden gleaming monument in central Rangoon that has been the focus of protest for nine days, at least 10 monks were beaten up by police as thousands once again defied the authorities and tried to enter the holy shrine. Next, the police fired tear gas at them, and scores of the men in saffron robes were arrested and dragged away. From then on things only got worse.

By last night up to eight monks and civilians had, according to differing reports, been killed as the military regime finally resorted to violence to put down the soaring challenge to its rule.

Reuters reported that hospital and monastery sources claimed two monks and a civilian had been killed, while Burmese media operating outside of the country said the death toll was higher. Up to 300 monks and other demonstrators were reportedly arrested before the police again imposed a curfew and the streets of Rangoon cleared.

There was widespread condemnation of the violence last night and the United Nations special envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, was leaving for the region as members of the Security Council met for emergency consultations on the growing turmoil in the country.

"We condemn all violence against peaceful demonstrators and remind the country's leaders of their personal responsibilities for their actions," said a statement issued jointly by the EU and the US.

European Union leaders backed a call by Gordon Brown for them to tighten their sanctions on Burma. The move is likely to result in curbs on investment – and possibly a total ban. The Prime Minister said: "The whole world is watching Burma now and the age of impunity is over for anyone in that regime who commits crimes against individuals or the people of Burma."

Despite the calls for restraint, yesterday's violent turn of events was, many believed, bound to happen. If anything they appeared all the more awful because of the slow, sliding inevitability. Overnight the authorities had moved in to arrest key democracy activists, among them a Burmese comedian called Zaganar and U Win Naing, a veteran opposition member. The comedian had been part of a group providing food and supplies to the monks.

But if anything there was even more defiance and determination as the demonstrators marched for the ninth successive day – once again with at least 100,000 people taking to the streets. In Mandalay, at least 10,000 people marched and reports from the city of Sitwe, on Burma's western seaboard, also suggested 10,000 people turned out to protest.

"They are marching down the streets, with the monks in the middle and ordinary people either side. They are shielding them, forming a human chain," said one observer in Rangoon.

By 2.30pm crowds of monks were marching towards the Sule pagoda in central Rangoon, singing nationalist songs and chanting: "People must not be slaughtered". But then the other protagonist in this story showed its face. Shots could be heard from several parts of the city as the security forces fired, apparently not only above the heads of the marchers.

A witness who was with the protesters told Channel 4 News: "A six-truck military convoy, headed by a jeep, drove straight towards us and roared down towards the Sule pagoda. As they passed an almighty spatter of automatic gunfire ripped through the air. There were shades of Tiananmen Square as people threw themselves and their bicycles on the ground, burying their heads in their hands or hugging their friends. Then a terrified human tide swept down the street, fleeing from the soldiers in my direction. A look of terror was etched on many faces."

The parallels with the events that culminated in the massacres of 1988 were stark. Back then, protests began in September 1987, out of the eye of the Western media, until a demonstration in March 1988 provoked a ferocious reaction in which about 100 civilians were killed. Continuing protests ushered in Burma's "summer of democracy".

A huge rally was called on 8 August 1988 – but the army killed 3,000 of those rebels. Burma lives in the shadow of that massacre.

Even if eight people died, it is chicken-feed for the military junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council: in 1988 it took the lives of some 10,000 protesters. But this rebellion is still at a tender stage.

State television reported last night that one person had been killed after security forces were unable to disperse the "so-called monks". It claimed police had used "minimum force".

Burmese media located in neighbouring Thailand reported that three monks had been shot and killed in Rangoon's Ahlone Township. Zin Linn, the information minister for the country's self-styled government-in-exile, said eight people had been killed.

The regime revealed yesterday that no matter what position the monks hold in society, it is prepared to use violence against them as it finds itself with its back to the wall.

One Burma analyst wrote yesterday that if soldiers begin showing signs of siding with the rebels, that will be an indication that the rebels are winning. But it could also be the moment that the regime decides to crack down hard.

The picture seems to say "help me"....don't think the Monks stand much of a chance with out it....
Jag

[American Patriot]

I merged the thread with an existing one. Reminder to all, please SEARCH first from now on. This is happening a lot more now.

[Jag]

Thanks Rick, you're right I didn't do the search...sorry

Jag

[American Patriot]

Oh and "I told ya so" the day before it happened.

[American Patriot]

No problem. We've just been having to do a lot more merges lately is all

As for Burma, you're right, those folks need some help -- but how do we help them? Do we send in troops? The government is communist as far as I have been able to determine. Do we give them guns? No Monks are PEACEFUL.

I don't know. They aren't going to overthrow an evil government peacefully.

[American Patriot]

FOX news reporting this morning. At least one Japanese reporter has been killed in Burma and dozens may be dead this morning after "police' opened fire with automatic weapons.

In 1988 thousands were killed, right after that an election was held, and the democratic party won. However, the ruling Junta refused to give up power. At this point this country is under communist military leadership. They are the people who are shooting peaceful demostrators and reporters.

China is mum on this whole thing.

[American Patriot]

Military raids monasteries, bashes monks and students: Rangoon
http://www.nowpublic.com ^ | | September 27, 2007 at 09:31 am | Nksagar | September 27, 2007 at 09:31 am

Military raids monasteries, bashes monks and students: Rangoon News Type: Event — Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:35 PM IST world-news, riots, civil, Naresh kumar sagar

The reports emanating from the Burmese news exhibits that a peaceful demonstration by the monks and students for the restoration of democracy and anti government protest is being crushed by violence.The world Leaders want the internal matter of public participation in goverance in Burma be settled with dialogue.Budhist monks who are held in esteemed has not been spared and on soldiers refusal to use force are being punished on the scene. Reports from Burmese agencies quote.

[American Patriot]

Treasury Imposes Sanctions Against Senior Officials of Burma
EconomicsBriefing.com ^


The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced it is imposing sanctions against 14 senior Burmese Government officials and various entities.
As a result of Treasury's designations, any assets these individuals and entities have within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen, and U.S. persons are prohibited from transacting or doing business with them...

(Excerpt) Read more at economicsbriefing.com ...

[American Patriot]

Burma's government has shut off all access to the internet from that country. They do not want images getting out.

[American Patriot]

More updates on Burma....

Satellites capture evidence of Burma crackdown

NewScientist.com ^ | 28 September 2007 | Duncan Graham-Rowe



High-resolution satellites images may provide valuable evidence of the violent methods used by Burma's ruling junta to crack down on pro-democracy demonstration in recent days.


By obtaining photographic evidence of the authorities' activities, human rights groups hope to hold the junta to account before the international community.


"We should get the first images back in the next day or so," says Lars Bromley, a senior researcher with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC.


There have been 10 days of protests against the military dictatorship, led by Burmese monks and largely triggered by recent economic problems. The latest clashes between police and demonstrators have killed at least nine people.


Evidence has been requested from satellite imaging companies, including GeoEye and Digital Globe, which provide pictures with a resolutions down to about 1 pixel per metre.


Human rights abuses "You would not be able to see individual people," Bromley says, "but you would be able to see groups of people". In particular, he says, it should be easy to spot groups of monks because of their distinctive maroon robes, and to gauge military numbers.


Bromley says this evidence will hopefully act as a deterrent to the government. "It will give the authorities a sense that the world is watching," he told New Scientist.


Human rights organisations have long accused the Burmese regime of human rights abuses against civilians. Yet the authorities have denied these claims and sought to control the flow of information out of the country.


Cellphones and the internet have helped change this and have been used to transmit reports about the current clampdown. But both are still heavily controlled by the authorities. In fact, within the last 24 hours many internet cafes have been shut down in cities like Rangoon and Mandalay.

(Excerpt) Read more at technology.newscientist.com ...

[American Patriot]

Uprising in Rangoon
dailypioneer.com ^ | Sep 26, 2007 | Hiranmay Karlekar

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and the fear of the scourge of power those who are subject to it." The person who wrote this is a frail, highly sensitive woman, deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, and who has been under house arrest in Rangoon for the past five years, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her fault? Her emergence as Burma's voice of conscience.

It seems that the people of her country, who have repeatedly displayed remarkable courage by peacefully demanding democracy despite being put down each time by a savage ruling military junta, have shed fear once again. Outrage over the junta's announcement on August 15 of a 500 per cent hike in the price of Compressed Natural Gas and of 100 per cent in those of petrol and diesel, about 500 pro-democracy activists demonstrated in Rangoon on August 19. The junta reacted by arresting 150 pro-democracy activists and student leaders. Then the Buddhist monks, who wield enormous influence in the country, joined the protest on August 28.

Events took a significant turn on September 5 when 500 monks marched through the streets of Pakhokku in central Rangoon's Magwe division. The arrest of three monks that day with the help of junta-sponsored organisations Union Solidarity and Development Association and Swan Arrshin enraged the monks who, on the following day, detained several Government officials who had forced their way into the town's monastery complex. They were released in exchange of the three monks arrested the earlier day.

The demonstrations, however, continued and spread to the country's largest city and commercial capital, Rangoon. On September 18, hundreds of monks marched through the city's streets and have been marching since then. The number rose to around 20,000 on September 22 when hundreds of them arrived in front of the house where Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for the last five years. She prayed with them.

In a new development on the following day, 100 Buddhist nuns joined 2,000 of their male counterparts at prayer in Burma's holiest shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda, and marched with 5,000 of them towards the centre of the town. About 1,000 of them held a prayer vigil outside Aung San Suu Kyi's residence who was prevented from mingling with them by soldiers wielding metal shields.

Monday, September 24, saw two mammoth demonstrations, unprecedented in recent years, and involving an estimated total of 130,000 people, marching through Rangoon. On the following day, another march, estimated to be about 100,000-strong, meandered through the city. So far the demonstrations have been remarkably peaceful. The junta, on its part, has not yet launched the kind of murderous onslaught it did in August 1988. There, however, have been reports of tear gas shells being exploded and shots fired in the air. According to a Xinhua news bulletin on September 25, officials have been patrolling the city and calling upon "unlawful" gatherings to disperse.

Earlier on September 24, Burma's Minister for Religious Affairs, Brigadier-General Thura Mynt Maung, alleged that "external and internal destructive elements" had engineered the recent protest demonstrations by young monks. Stating that the demonstrations would not only undermine the stability of the state but also destroy the image of Burmese monks, he warned that action would be taken against those who did not obey their religious rules.

The junta's unusual restraint in the present instance is attributed to its fear that an attempt to crush the demonstrations by the monks through mass killing, imprisonment and torture, would severely recoil on itself given the enormous influence the men and women in saffron enjoy in a devoutly Buddhist country. The question is: What happens if the demonstrations continue to grow in strength and threaten to turn into a massive upsurge against the junta's rule? The latter will then have to choose between either of two courses - unleash the troops on the monks and nuns and drown their protest movement in a sea of blood or negotiate for a peaceful settlement.

By their march to Aung San Suu Kyi's residence on successive days, the monks have demonstrated their identification with her and her demand for a democratic Burma. The junta's past record shows that it has little time for democracy and even less for Aung San Suu Kyi who it has hounded for the past 18 years, of which she has spent 12 in detention. In this it has consistently defied world opinion, including those aired by the United Nations and the ASEAN. The world, therefore, has every reason to fear the worst, particularly after the junta has deployed troops in the streets and imposed curfew.

In anticipation of a crackdown, US President George W Bush has already announced a slew of fresh sanctions on the junta, including visa restrictions on its leaders. India has remained deafeningly silent, ever since it honoured Aung San Suu Kyi with the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 1995. This has been attributed to New Delhi's 'Look East' policy launched in 1992 involving, among other things, active economic cooperation with the military regime. The reason, one has been repeatedly told, is realpolitik. If so, then it has been realpolitik of a singularly stupid kind.

Burma has gained not only through economic cooperation but from the respectability and legitimacy that close ties with a genuinely democratic India brings. India has got very little. The junta has not flushed out the north-eastern insurgents, including those belonging to the ULFA, who operate from its soil with impunity. It has also blighted India's hopes of importing gas from the offshore Arakan fields. The right to do so has gone to China.

Worse, India's efforts to ingratiate itself with the junta reflect an old weakness of its foreign policy framers: Their frequent inability to see beyond their noses. At a seminar last year, an Indian diplomat told this writer that Aung San Suu Kyi was a thing of the past. It was clear on September 22 and 23 that this was by no means so. Nor can one take the junta's permanence for granted. For a long time few thought that Mr Nelson Mandela would one day come out of the prison and lead South Africa to democracy and harmony. The same may well happen with Aung San Suu Kyi. What will New Delhi tell her then?

[American Patriot]

The Day Burma was Silenced
TheTimesOnline ^ | 09/28/07 | Kenneth Denby

The junta showed a subtle and malignant cunning, and then moved against the monks

Burma’s generals silenced the Buddhist monks yesterday morning.

For a week and a half, the monks had been on the streets of Rangoon in their tens of thousands, and their angry calm gave courage to the people around them.

But overnight, they were beaten, shot and arrested, and locked in their monasteries. Handfuls of them emerged yesterday – two or three brave individuals, a dozen at most – but nothing to approach the mass marches of the previous nine days. Everyone felt their absence.

You could see it in the faces of the civilian demonstrators who took to the streets anyway, in defiance of the official warnings.

You could see it too in the swagger of the riot police, banging their batons menacingly on their shields as they advanced.

The monks were moral shields; without them the marchers had lost a lucky charm. They felt less like crusaders for justice and more like what they resembled – scared, angry kids in T-shirts facing well-drilled troops with automatic weapons.

They stood their ground as long as they dared, too long for some of them. At least nine people were killed, according to patchy reports, and eleven others injured. The dead included a Japanese photographer.

So far, though, this does not yet appear to be a repeat of the massacres of 1988, when 3,000 were mown down on the streets. The junta is showing patience and restraint, it is plotting its moves step by step, and it is displaying a subtle and malignant cunning.

In the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda in the South Okkala district of Rangoon, it began at 2am, but seven hours later the evidence was plain to see – a dozen thick patches of congealing blood and human tissue splashed about the yard. The windows of the monks’ dormitories were smashed jaggedly by the impact of rubber bullets – hard, round spheres fired from green cartridges that the monks had carefully gathered up and put on display.

Inside everything had been smashed – the thin plywood walls, the monks’ plaster statues of the Buddha – and the thin mattresses were soaked with blood.

“We had to flee for our lives into the neighbourhood,” said a small bespectacled young man named Ashin Thu, one of the few monks to have evaded arrest. “A family let me hide in one of their houses, I was so scared.”

The bullets may have been rubber, but at close range they can still do great damage. Seventy monks were driven away bleeding in 24 military vehicles and, to judge from the pools of blood in the yard, several of them were gravely injured.

Most outrageous of all, in the eyes of the survivors, was the theft that the soldiers had carried out. They took money from locked boxes and carried off a gold statue and a hoard of golden rings. And so it becomes clear why the Government has imposed an eight-hour overnight curfew. It was not to protect the city from “terrorists”, but to prevent its citizens bearing witness to its own crimes.

Similar raids – with beatings, terror and arrests – were reported in at least three other monasteries. Several senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the political party of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, were also rounded up overnight.

At 9am yesterday I had an appointment to meet U Myint Thein, the gracious and gentlemanly spokesman of the NLD. But U Myint Thein was otherwise engaged – in the headquarters of the police special branch, who took him away from his home in the middle of the night.

By the afternoon, there were troops stationed in monasteries all over the city. For Buddhists, there is an element of sacrilege in this, as well as simple bad manners. These were men of violence, fresh from acts of violence, who were imposing themselves on places dedicated to peace. At Moe Kaung Pagoda, the olive-uniformed troops wore red kerchiefs around their necks. It is the belief of many of the demonstrators that this is a sign that they are permitted to shoot to kill. But the killing was to take place elsewhere, on the road that leads south towards the Sule Pagoda, the second-most famous in Rangoon after the mighty golden Shwedagon. By noon, thousands of people had gathered at a crossroads which had been sealed off by soldiers, riot police and barbed wire barricades.

Around 1pm the police began moving forward, and the soldiers followed. Warnings were issued through loud-speakers on the roofs of vans.

Then, amid impenetrable confusion, shots were fired, as well as smoke grenades. It would be inconsistent with the behaviour of the security forces during the rest of the day if these had been live rounds, aimed to kill. But one man, apparently a photographer, was seen by witnesses to drop suddenly, as if shot. His limp body was lifted on to a military truck and carried away.

The crowd scattered and ran to reform a few hundred yards up the road. Banging their shields, the riot police advanced again with the loud-speaker van behind them.

The message was both crude and courteous. It included an honorific form of the Burmese word for “you”, and might be translated like this: “Good sirs, please leave the area or we will open fire in ten minutes time.”

No one had difficulty believing this and with oaths and screams of rage (one man lifted up his traditional longyi skirt to present a full moon to the forces of the junta), the protesters moved back, and back, and back again.

Late in the afternoon, shots were heard from the streets to the east of the pagoda. But by that stage none of the small corps of foreign diplomats, reporters and photographers following the demonstrations felt much like going out to have a look.

There are so many heartbreaking things about what is going in Burma, but for a foreigner one of the hardest to bear is the optimism. There are few foreign journalists here, but people treat them as saviours, encouraging them to get the story and the pictures out, with a touching faith that it will make a difference.

“Tell them to send foreign troops, UN troops,” said a young monk at the Mwe Kya Kan pagoda. “Please, fly them to our country to save our lives.”

An American in Rangoon told me yesterday about an opinion poll carried out on Burmese attitudes to US foreign policy.

“Like most people, they thought that it sucks,” he told me. “But not for the usual reason. Burmese wanted to know why George Bush hasn’t invaded their country yet.”

A boy named Raphael came up to practise his English, as the crowd screamed at the soldiers, and asked for my address so that he could visit me one day. A very small and old but irrepressibly vigorous white-haired man took my hand and led me to safety when he thought that I was too close to the trouble. “I am a teacher,” he said proudly. “PhD!”

Small, human encounters – and yet in these dark circumstances they become almost unbearably poignant. They are based on a very questionable assumption: that the people of Burma are going to be saved.

I wish that I could have told the monk, and the boy and the old man, that I believed everything would be well and that soon they could expect the basic decency from their Government that so many of us take for granted. Nothing is settled, of course, and the future is impossible to read – but on the basis of what I saw yesterday the Burmese junta is winning.

[American Patriot]

Bush hits out at 'brutal' Burma
BBC World News ^ | Friday, 28 September 2007, | BBC News

President George W Bush has led international condemnation of Burma after more people were killed in its crackdown on popular protests. The US imposed sanctions targeting Burma's military leaders and called on China, one of Burma's closest partners, to put more pressure on the country.

Beijing appealed for calm, and Burma's neighbours, in unusually harsh criticism, expressed "revulsion".

Nine people were killed on Thursday, official media reported.

They included eight protesters and a Japanese video journalist.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...

[American Patriot]

Japanese Journalist Shot Down At Close Range in Rangoon, Burma (Developing-Pics)
Zin Media Net (Reporting Underground from Burma) ^ | 27 September 2007 | Zin Media Net (Reporting Underground from Burma)

Posted on 09/27/2007 9:55:18 AM MDT by AmericanInTokyo

This was posted on Free Republic yesterday. I've already posted that a Japanese reporter was killed, but I'd missed the photos. Sorry about that, and sorry to have to post this, but it's necessary. This is a foreginer killed in the midst of all this. - RD

[American Patriot]

Here is the actual murder occuring. He was short in the upper right side lower chest cavity. The soldier in this picture did it.
The deceased's camera equipment (video) is still in his right hand.

[American Patriot]

Oh, this ought to help...

UN urges restraint on Burma junta
BBC World News ^ | Wednesday, 26 September 2007 | BBC News



The UN Security Council has urged Burma's ruling junta to show restraint amid a worsening political crisis. After an emergency session, it also called on Burma's generals to allow a special UN envoy into the country.


The US and European Union wanted the council to consider imposing sanctions - but that was rejected by China.


Burmese authorities confirmed one death on Wednesday after riot police used live rounds and tear gas in a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Rangoon.


US President George W Bush has already announced a tightening of US economic sanctions against Burma.


(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...

[American Patriot]

Burma launches daylight cracks down on protesters (Head of state Than Shwe's family left Burma!)
The Nation ^ | 2007 Sept 26

Posted on 09/26/2007 2:30:24 AM MDT by Wiz

Hundreds of riot police and soldiers Wednesday used batons and teargas to beat back monks and laymen from entering 's holiest shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda, in a crackdown on a week-long barefoot rebellion in 's former capital.

At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were beaten and then taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.

Police and soldiers manned barricades erected on the road to the east gate of the Shwedagon Pagoda, preventing marching monks from using the shrine as a launch pad for their ninth day of peaceful protests.

The show of force, however, failed to stop the monks from marching.

About 5,000 monks who had gathered outside the pagoda marched down Kanpatlan Road, rimming Kandawkyi Lake, with about 1,000 laymen followers in tow. Another 3,000 took another route.

Burma's military, after issuing several warnings to the monks for the past two days, deployed its troops against the protest for the first time in nine days of protest marches in .

At least 12 truckloads, each carrying about 40 police and soldiers, were dispatched Tuesday night to City Hall after tens of thousands of monks defied a government order to end their protest marches and return to their temples.

Dozens of military trucks and jeeps were seen parked outside the City Hall compound, but the troops were out of sight Wednesday morning. Police and military personnel were guarding the four gates of the Sule Pagoda, which sits in the centre of a traffic circle in front of City Hall.

The pagoda in the centre of downtown has been where the monks have congregated, joined by thousands of laymen, over the past four days in a show of defiance against 's military junta.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationmultimedia.com ...

Breaking! Breaking! According to Thailand's newspaper, The Nation, The family of head of state Than Shwe has left Burma and entered Thai (different article), hinting possibilities that Than Shwe himself may also be preparing to leave Burma (and maybe other top members of the military), meaning they are seeking to be exiled in Thailand, or any other country. This could be a real countdown for the fall of Burma.

More news! While police begun to crack down on monks, civilians resisted the police without fear, risking lives by throwing rocks at the police attempting to arrest monks. The people of Burma are no more afraid of death, and any arrests of monks is only likely to fuel anger than fear. The arrests of monks are likely to push the protest toward a more aggressive move toward the regime, and the fall of the regime is very likely with indications of the head of state may give up his power and escape to another country for his lfe. What color will this revolution be?

Stay tuned!
1 posted on 09/26/2007 2:30:29 AM MDT by Wiz