The people of Burma have been on edge for over a dozen years, expecting the US to invade and do their much much vaunted "Let's Restore Democracy" thing pretty much ever since Aung San Suu Kyi was first placed in detention. So much was made clear in Secret Histories : Finding George Orwell In a Burmese Teashop. Many consider this thinking was the cause behind the junta's move out of Rangoon into its new fortress-like governing building in the jungle.
As the current trial of Daw Suu Kyi drags on, and the junta rejects the recent ASEAN statement condemning the arrest and trial which apparently puts the "honor and the credibility" of the Burmese regime [...] "at stake", I wonder how many Nobel prize winners have to be illegally incarcerated before the western powers do anything?
I had this terrible premonition that even if she were to die in this stint in Insein prison currently, no-one would do anything.
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But if there's a sniff of oil... if there's a sniff of blocking China'a access to the Arabian Gulf... if there's short-term mega-money in it... If there's some mega-politics in it...
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One wonders, also just how many atom bombs have to be tested before something is done up about the "oh so ronery" Kim Jong Il and his merry band of anorexics up in bitter cold North Korea.
But hell, we don't even have to declare war as technically it's still ongoing (South Korea refused to sign the armistice). Mind you the reason we never finished it is because it was pretty much un-winnable in that terrain and weather and because you couldn't tell North K's from South K's in the light, let alone in the dark. And of course, kimchi makes everyone bullet-proof. Or maybe we've had enough episodes of M.A.S.H, thank you very much.
But, no we're going to keep fighting to prevent China running oil supply pipelines through from the Pakistan coast and keep Iraq going to allow Blackwater to honor their employment contracts with the mercenaries on their books.
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Why are we always fighting the wrong wars?
Or is that war just metamorphoses into something horrible no matter how well intentioned it was at the start.
Yeah, second thoughts, no invasion. I'd hate to see another My Lai in Mandalay.
E@L
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1 comment:
We can never have too many episodes of MASH.
War is never about what's doing right for the downtrodden its always about money.
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