I don’t have time to do a full analysis of the situation in Burma, but other people can do it better anyway. So for a late contribution to International Blogger’s Day of Action for Burma I will link to the best information and analysis I have found:
General
- Wikipedia has all the latest news with a good general overview and plenty of photos and links.
- The consistently excellent Global Voices has a roundup of local and regional blog posts.
- The BBC has a couple of good analyses - “Lessons from the Burmese uprising” and “Where the world stands on Burma,” dealing with reasons for the apparent failure of the revolution and the positions of key regional players respectively.
- Eddie from Hidden Unities, “In the Streets of Burma…”
China’s influence
The Burmese protests have sparked debate about what influence China has in Burma. Here’s a sample:
- The Glittering Eye, “The Chinese Sphere of Influence.” Argues against the Barnett Core/Gap mode and reflects on the importance of connectivity and China’s soft power.
- Thomas PM Barnett responds to Eddie of Hidden Unities, and also the Glittering Eye, about China’s role and responsibility.
- Swedish Meatballs on the campaign to rebrand the 2008 Beijing Olympics the “Genocide Games.”
- Finally, Passport quotes Bill Overholt from RAND with some needed skepticism on China’s ability to force change, and whether they see any connection between Burma and the Olympics.
Atrocities, connectivity and other issues
- Passport on the news that a top defector has reported the secret slaughter of thousands of monks, their bodies being dumped in the jungle.
- Enterprise Resilience has a fascinating discussion on the influence of the Internet, cellphones etc, and the junta’s success in shutting off connectivity:
…the information age provides more tacit outlets for leaking information than in times past. As a result, it won’t be long before the curtain of secrecy that now isolates Myanmar will be lifted — if ever so slightly — to provide a peek into the evils being committed in the country’s relative darkness.
Activism and response
- I didn’t get to the vigil in Civic Square this afternoon. I recognise that protests like that are well-meaning, but I think non-violent action has extremely limited utility against dictatorships. They only work against democracies, unless the target is particularly vulnerable to international pressure.
- With that in mind, LibertyScott on “Bravery in Rangoon”:
Of course don’t forget that if you and your friends wanted to be mercenaries to help confront Burma (or Zimbabwe or Syria) as dictatorships, Helen Clark and the Labour government banned that, supported by the Greens who always oppose violence, unless it is the state imposing its own law upon its own people. After all, the state is sovereign isn’t it?
The anti-mercenary law is probably unenforceable - it doesn’t stop Kiwis from serving as contractors in Iraq, for example. But why are there such obstacles to international volunteers fighting in hellholes like Burma? Unfortunately this satisfyingly-gruesome trailer for John Rambo, depicting the aging action hero leading mercenaries into Burma and ripping out throats with his bare hands, remains a fantasy…
Great post on this! FREE Burma!!!
Bush slammed the UN and the rulers of Myanmar in his UN speech last week. The only country that has any influence over Myanmar is China, and they can’t and won’t push too hard. There is too much Oil & Gas there that they need.
The UN must do something, but they never use military force to fight.
That is a huge problem.
Illegal drug and ruby fortunes are a BIG part of this too.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe wants
complete narco states
criminals in power
loving the corrupt drug war
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
shoot peaceful protesters
calling for democracy
which you must never allow
absurd thought -
God of the Universe thinks
keep trying communism
you can never KILL too much
pursuing Utopia…
http://free-burma.org/
http://absurdthoughtsaboutgod.blogspot.com/
.
Left by USpace on October 6th, 2007