Some Incredibly Brave People

Anybody who has visited this blog over the past few years will know that I have written before about the 'situation' in Burma. I have posted about Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 18 years under house arrest, whose health we must now have genuine concern for given that the military junta have allowed the grounds of her house to become overgrown and therefore increasing the chances of snake infestation whilst refusing to ensure that she has sufficient supplies of serum to counteract any potentially lethal bites.

Over the past few days we have witnessed tens of thousands of monks and other civilians marching through the capital Rangoon in a demonstration of anti-government feeling, these people have been defying the army's warning to stay off the streets.

George Bush, in a speech at the UN General Assembly, has announced new sanctions against Burma's military rulers. Whilst I welcome any move that denies the Junta any chance of continuing its reign I can't help thinking this action should have been taking years ago and was far more pressing than invading bloody Iraq. The sanctions are going to include visa restrictions on the Burmese leadership and their financial backers - so I suppose that will stop any fund raising trips to Hicksville, Montana. The best news however was the announcement that the visa ban would be expanded to include those held responsible for human rights violations, I suppose it's too much to ask for that GWB might extend this visa ban to those reponsible for the war in Iraq isn't it?

That last part is very important because to make any further sanctions work the UN needs the support of Burma's two main trade partners China and India. China has an absolutley despicable record when it comes to human rights but they can't rock the boat so close to the 2008 Olympics and so, along with the EU, have really wimped out and simply said that the junta should show restraint and follow due legal process and launch a process of political reform.

(You can read Amnesty International's page about China here and about the situation in Burma here)

Well the Chinese and the EU obviously have more hope than I do because so far the Junta has showed all the restraint of Dracula in a blood bank. The thousands of people who marched through the streets shouted "we want dialogue" and "democracy, democracy," in scenes eerily reminiscent of Tianamen Square - and we all know what a difference that made to Chinese internal politics don't we?

The next few hours in Rangoon are vitally important to how this situation is resolved, there are eight trucks of armed riot police and eleven trucks of army personnel moving into the city centre as I write this - you don't usually bring such a large presence to a peaceful gathering unless you are expecting trouble one way or another.

Info sourced from BBC and Reuters but put together by me.