Monks march in Burma

[Cali]

apparently the junta has blocked all internet and phone access

[Lindsay]

UN Human Rights Council to call emergency session on Myanmar

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...mar-Rights.php

...maybe this can open the door for an intervention...

[Rai]

Originally Posted by Lindsay

UN Human Rights Council to call emergency session on Myanmar

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...mar-Rights.php

...maybe this can open the door for an intervention...

Whatever happens, they will surely condemn Israel.

[Cali]

Originally Posted by Rai

Whatever happens, they will surely condemn Israel.

nowadays anyone that condems israel is accused of being antisemitic and gets a warning from the us government. one of the reasons the UN can't do much is because it has no real power and it is constantly undermined by all the powerful countries every time they **** up--which happens very often, an it's NOT just the US

[Rannveig]

Events have worsened.......this just got in 26 minutes ago

Myanmar breaks up rallies, cuts Internet
26 minutes ago

YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations Friday before they could grow, and the government cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify.

Troops also occupied Buddhist monasteries in a bid to clear the streets of Myanmar's revered monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations.

The government said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he believed the loss of life in Myanmar was "far greater" than is being reported. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

Witnesses said security forces aggressively broke up a rally of about 2,000 people near the Sule Pagoda in the largest city, Yangon. About 20 trucks packed with soldiers arrived and announced over loudspeakers, "We give you 10 minutes to move out from the road. Otherwise we will fire."

A group of about 10 people broke away from the main crowd and rushed toward a line of soldiers, who were dressed in green uniforms with red bandanas around their necks, holding shields and automatic weapons. The people were beaten up, and five were seen being hauled away in a truck.

Soldiers dispersed the other protesters, beating them with clubs and firing shots in the air.

"People in this country are gentle and calm. (But) people are very angry now and they dare to do anything," said a shopkeeper, who witnessed the clash and did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

Elsewhere, riot police played cat-and-mouse with smaller groups of die-hard activists, sometimes shooting into the air.

The clash near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic — though smaller — protests that were reported. Earlier Friday, soldiers and riot police dispersed a crowd of 300, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.

By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of the cinnamon-robed monks. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.

Efforts to squelch the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in.

"Now there are no monks, we have no one to turn to," said a young woman who took part in Thursday's protest with her boyfriend. He failed to turn up for dinner Friday, she said, and now she fears he may have been detained.

Security forces first moved against the anti-government protesters on Wednesday, when the first of the 10 deaths was reported. Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end the violence.

But by Myanmar standards, the crackdown has so far been muted, in part because the regime knows that killing monks could trigger a maelstrom of fury.

The United States imposed new sanctions on the junta's leaders, and the United Nations dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive Saturday.

"Clearly the government of Burma, the regime there, is facing a population that does not want to suffer quietly under its rule anymore," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Friday.

Bob Davis, Australia's ambassador to Myanmar, said he had heard unconfirmed reports that "several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities" may have been killed by troops in Yangon. Scores have been arrested, carted away in trucks at night or pummeled with batons in recent days, witnesses and diplomats said, with the junta ignoring all international appeals for restraint.

Following telephone talks with President Bush and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Brown said "we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported so far."

Brown's Office refused to give an estimate, saying British diplomats could only guess at how many people had been killed because they were unsure what was happening outside Yangon.

The Washington-based dissident group, U.S. Campaign for Burma, said about 200 protesters were killed and scores more arrested and beaten. The bloodiest day was Thursday, when troops opened fire into a crowd.

"The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.

"It's tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well behaved."

British Ambassador Mark Canning told BBC-TV that "there have been a lot of arrests," with up to 50 people detained at one time.

Getting accurate casualty figures has been difficult, with residents too afraid to speak out and journalists barred from openly entering the country. Soldiers and police were going door-to-door in some hotels looking for foreigners.

The U.S. Embassy in Yangon urged any Americans still in Myanmar to avoid any demonstrations or marches, refrain from photographing any troops, and avoid traveling after a nighttime curfew takes effect.

Video emerged of a striking image — the shooting death Thursday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News.

The Democratic Voice of Burma released video of security forces opening fire on protesters, including a man falling forward after apparently being shot at point-blank range, and the opposition shortwave radio station based in Norway said the victim was Nagai, 50.

Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemned new attempts by the military rulers to exert pressure on foreign journalists and the domestic media. The groups said security forces raided several Yangon hotels Thursday to check the IDs of foreign journalists.

The junta ordered the closure of several privately owned newspapers that refused to print government propaganda, the groups said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed "revulsion" at the violence in Myanmar and told the junta "to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution." Demonstrations against the junta were seen in Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere.

Southeast Asian envoys were told by Myanmar authorities Friday that a no-go zone had been declared around five key Buddhist monasteries, one diplomat said, raising fears of a repeat of 1988, when troops gunned down thousands of peaceful demonstrators and imprisoned the survivors.

Gates were locked and key intersections near monasteries in Yangon and the second-largest city of Mandalay were sealed off with barbed wire, and there was no sign of monks in the streets.

"We were told security forces had the monks under control" and will now turn their attention to civilian protesters, the Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The government suspended the services of the two Internet service providers, BaganNet and Myanmar Post and Telecom, but big companies and embassies hooked up to the Web by satellite remained online. The Internet has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world in the past month.

Thursday was the most violent day in more than a month of protests — which at their height have brought an estimated 70,000 demonstrators to the streets. Bloody sandals lay scattered on some streets as protesters fled shouting "Give us freedom, give us freedom!"

Truckloads of troops in riot gear raided Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of Yangon, beating and arresting dozens of monks, witnesses and Western diplomats said.

"I really hate the government. They arrest the monks while they are sleeping," said a 30-year-old service worker who saw some of the confrontations from his workplace. "These monks haven't done anything except meditating and praying and helping people."

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, headed to the country to promote a political solution and could arrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Though some analysts said negotiations were unlikely, the diplomat said the decision to let Gambari in "means they may see a role for him and the United Nations in mediating dialogue with the opposition and its leaders."

The protesters won support from countrymen abroad as more than 2,000 Myanmar immigrants rallied peacefully in Malaysia and smaller demonstrations against the junta took place in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

China, Myanmar's largest trading partner, for months quietly counseled the regime to speed up long-stalled political reforms. Some analysts say Beijing would hate to be viewed as party to a bloodbath as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics.

"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing Thursday.

But every other time the regime has been challenged, it has responded with force.

"Judging from the nature and habit of the Myanmar military, they will not allow the monks or activists to topple them," said Chaiyachoke Julsiriwong, a Myanmar scholar at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

[SisterMidnight]

thanks for those links rannveig. the pictures and eye witness accounts are so.. i can't even find the right word. it's really brave of those people in rangoon to be blogging at all. i'm sure the government would persecute them for that if they found out who they were..

i think the best thing to come out of all of this is that the whole world is paying attention to burma now. everyone is watching and images and stories are getting out to the international community where they didn't before and people are outraged. no matter how the junta tries to hide it's heinous behavior now the world will find out. i have hope for real change somehow, if only so these people haven't suffered and died in vain..

they're even being watched from space

Satellites confirm reports of Myanmar violence

[mucker]

The young Monks chant the Metta Sutta, and sit before the "Troops". How threatening is this? Russia and China and Thailand (another supposed Buddhist country) hedge on condemnation of the Monks. $$$ speaks louder than the Human Heart (see the Soap Opera called "Bush in Iraq"). The Metta Sutta? A part herein to give just cause to the violence therein.
Posted here because a quiet lil Irish Poet sang me a couple tunes.
Behold the growing threat from those pesky threatening Buddhists:

"Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will."

Pretty subversive stuff!
Walk in Peace.

[Timeé]

Lets hope the UN arent as stoned as the individual above me ^

[Lindsay]

Here's an article about current diplomatic efforts:

A United Nations envoy arrived in Burma on Saturday with hopes of convincing the ruling military junta to ease its violent response to massive demonstrations.

Ibrahim Gambari landed at Rangoon airport where he was brought up to speed by UN officials before expected meetings with the junta's military leaders in Naypyitaw.

Meanwhile, the streets of Rangoon and Madalay were quiet Saturday after days of riots and violence between troops and pro-democracy demonstrators -- suggesting protesters' challenge to the junta was losing momentum.

There was a heavy military presence in the nation's two largest cities, with soldiers stationed on nearly every corner, The Associated Press reports.

Gambari's schedule was set by the ruling junta and wasn't expected to include meetings with leaders of the pro-democracy movement, such as Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

Still, Gambari said: "I expect to meet all the people that I need to meet."

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo described Gambari's trip as vital for stability in the nation.

"If he fails then the situation can become quite dreadful," Yeo told AP.

He held out hope that the envoy could help the two sides reach "national reconciliation."

However, some protesters suggested the junta's violent response to the protests -- 10 people were killed this week -- had driven the two sides too far apart, and eliminated all hopes of a compromise.

>>article cont'd here http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top...s_burma_070929

Originally Posted by mucker

The young Monks chant the Metta Sutta, and sit before the "Troops". How threatening is this?

Ya, I agree....regardless if protesters are being "unlawful", the force used against them is surely far too extreme considering the threat the pose.

[audity]

Aung San Suu Kyi is not in Insein. According to pro-democracy sources inside Burma, Suu Kyi is being held in a military camp on the outskirts of Yangon and not in Insein prison.

[viv]

Originally Posted by SisterMidnight

i think the best thing to come out of all of this is that the whole world is paying attention to burma now. everyone is watching and images and stories are getting out to the international community where they didn't before and people are outraged. no matter how the junta tries to hide it's heinous behavior now the world will find out. i have hope for real change somehow, if only so these people haven't suffered and died in vain..

they're even being watched from space

Satellites confirm reports of Myanmar violence

I hate to be the cynic but, the world's attention span is unfortunately quite short.

[Lindsay]

Apparently the special envoy was able to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi:

Gambari met first with Burmese military rulers Saturday in the remote bunker-like capital Naypyitaw.

On Sunday, he returned to Yangon and met with Suu Kyi at the State Guest House. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won easily in the country's 1990 elections but the victory was annulled by the junta.

Suu Kyi was unexpectedly allowed to leave house arrest Sunday for the meeting, which lasted about 90 minutes.

full article here: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top...s_burma_070930

[Wheels]

The military can use that meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi to pacify the UN... and stall long enough to crush the protests.

Trócaire (a big Irish charity) has called on the Irish Olympic Committee to boycott the Chinese olympics if China don't use their influence on the Burmese junta. I'd like to think they'd do it... but I don't expect it.

[Hendrik]

Somebody should send in John Rambo to get Aung out (like he similarly does in the upcoming fourth part where he's sent to Burma to help out a rescue team).

I can't believe it...200 dead already (that's what it says in your sig, Claudia)?

[viv]

Originally Posted by Wheels

The military can use that meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi to pacify the UN... and stall long enough to crush the protests.

Trócaire (a big Irish charity) has called on the Irish Olympic Committee to boycott the Chinese olympics if China don't use their influence on the Burmese junta. I'd like to think they'd do it... but I don't expect it.

There are many reasons people should boycott the Olympics. I just don't know that anyone has it in them anymore. (the we're not gonna take this SH** anymore-boycotting spirit that is)

[Cali]

People around the world are gathering together to protest about the situation in Burma. US Campaign for Burma is encouraging university students to do the same. They've reported that between 100 to 200 students and their parents were killed at a high school in Burma. They've set up a web site with more information: www.studentsforburma.org.

Those eskimos that live in big cities can also help to organize protests against the situation in the country. I know that there's gonna be a gathering in Houstin and possibly in San Francisco too. Holding these protests in front of Chinese or Russian embassies or consulates can't hurt. Amnesty International has a page where we can email the offices of the Burmese Foreign Minister: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions_de...p?ActionID=331

Here's the email from US Campaign for Burma

October 5: National Campus Day of Action for Burma

Brave university and high school students inside Burma are working closely with monks in leading peaceful protests throughout Burma. On September 29th, there was a massacre at State High School No.2, Tamwe in Rangoon. Reports have confirmed that an estimated 50-100 students and parents were killed. Is your university supporting the military dictatorship?

We need a ground swell of support and action! We urge schools across the country to show their solidarity with students inside Burma and organize a Saffron Revolution Solidarity event for Friday, Oct. 5th. Click Here to Sign Up

Actions to take:
1) SIGNATURES - Collect as many people as you can to sign a petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao demanding China stop paralyzing UN Security Council action and use their leverage with Burma's military regime to stop the massacre inside Burma(You can find the petition to download online here)
2) WEAR RED - Have everyone on your campus wear red as a sign of solidarity with monks peacefully protesting in Burma
3) EDUCATE - Organize a rally, speaker, silent march, candle light vigil, or hold a film screening on the that day

4) ACT- Pass a resolution to get your University to use it's shareholder power to convince companies to stop doing business in Burma.

WHY we are doing it:
1) To raise awareness on campus and in the surrounding area about the protests in Burma
2) To give support to those risking their lives and peacefully protesting inside Burma; the Burmese hear about our protests through satellite radio
3) To put pressure on China to take action on Burma. China is starting to respond due to the international outcry; we need to get more people involved to keep up the pressure.

HOW to get students on your campus involved:
1) Start a Facebook event. Invite everyone. We already have a national Facebook event up- National Campus Day of Action for Burma
2) Send out emails to all listserves available and ask your friends to do the same
3) Put up banners, posters, dormslips, tableslips all around campus (we have provided these. Read below)
4) Set up tables on main quads and outside dining halls to collect signatures for the petition and hand out Burma "quick fact sheets"
5) Pass out red duct tape and red ribbons at tables to start raising awareness during the week, along with fact sheets
6) Work with other groups on campus to get the word out (Amnesty, STAND, other social justice networks)
7) Make sure to contact the local and regional press. This is crucial. Contact your school newspaper, alumni publications, town/city newspapers, AP, Reuters, local TV stations, and local radio stations.
8) Make sure the students know why they are wearing red by having speakers who explain the situation in Burma
9) Get professors, school departments, and school administration involved

Website for Campus Day of Action:
1) We have made a webpage for this Friday's Burma days: www.studentsforburma.org.
2) On the webpage you can download posters, tableslips/handbills, and "Burma quick fact sheets" to post around campu

Last Friday, half a dozen USCB university chapters had "red days." At Brown University in Providence, RI, over 2,500 students wore red—nearly half the student body. At noon, 400+ students gathered for a silent march around the main quad in a sea of red. Former US Senator Lincoln Chafee and former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso addressed the crowd.

You can do the same exact thing on your campus. And we need you to do this Friday. We do not have time to waste. The junta has already killed hundreds of people, including 50 unarmed students, and hundreds of monks. Stand up and take action this Friday.

-Thelma Young

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.

[northberwick]

Just saw this, hopefully it proves false:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1811

"Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.



The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand." "

[Cali]

oh god, i hope you are right and it is false

[Rai]

Originally Posted by northberwick

Just saw this, hopefully it proves false:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1811

"Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand." "

Its the Daily Mail, you mustn't forget that... Slightly better then the Sun, but not quite The Economist. The "thousands" also seems too much for such a short time...

Still, I think its all over. The protesters have been cut from the outside world, most of them are in detention, some are killed, even more are probably too scared to go out. The UN envoy is there but he is just a gesture, everyone knows that. Even if there are boycotts to the Beijing olympics, the momentum is sadly lost, what a chance wasted, UN should add one more notch to their long list of Rwandas and Srebrenicas.

[SisterMidnight]

i would say at least hundreds.. it's more likely than the "10" that the junta is admitting to..

Originally Posted by viv

I hate to be the cynic but, the world's attention span is unfortunately quite short.

you're right of course, but thanks and all for throwing a cold bucket of water on hope anyway

[borneoman]

But I have the feeling that if all those killings are true, the world is not gonna ignore this anymore, I mean, something like that cannot be ignored... (sadly) this might be what wakes people up...

When you ask around most people still don't know anything about what's been going on Burma for the last weeks. Ok, the BBC talks about it, but most media here in the US are ignoring it...

has it been confirmed, apart from the Daily Mirror? The BBC today was talking about missing monks but nothing about killings or dead ones...

[SisterMidnight]

Originally Posted by borneoman

But I have the feeling that if all those killings are true, the world is not gonna ignore this anymore, I mean, something like that cannot be ignored... (sadly) this might be what wakes people up...

i hope so

Originally Posted by borneoman

When you ask around most people still don't know anything about what's been going on Burma for the last weeks. Ok, the BBC talks about it, but most media here in the US are ignoring it...

has it been confirmed, apart from the Daily Mirror? The BBC today was talking about missing monks but nothing about killings or dead ones...

i don't think there's been any confirmation, official or otherwise. yeah, it was on the news for a day or two but mostly i had to listen to NPR to hear any news about it, and even they're not reporting much now.

[Rai]

Originally Posted by Lindsay

hehe I don't mean to be a nit-pick, but I don't think the Rwanda comparison is just....the UN's role in the massacre was absolutely criminal

I admit, in Burma, the UN did not have the manpower to stop the violence, as did in Rwanda. Incompetence has many levels and appearances and the UN hasn't missed a single one during its long and miserable history.

[cille]

I would still say that it's better to have a UN than nothing at all.

[Lindsay]

^^ I agree, cille

here's another article that refers to estimates on casualties:

Western governments said the death toll was certain to be much higher than the 10 acknowledged by the junta, but specific numbers could not be confirmed.

The Democratic Voice of Burma, an opposition radio station based in Norway, put the death toll at 138, based on a list compiled by the 88 Student Generation, a pro-democracy group operating in Myanmar.

Hundreds of monks were taken from their monasteries at the end of the week, some violently, and diplomats said they did not know what had become of them.

There were reports that the monks and others were being held in makeshift prisons at old factories, university buildings and a racetrack.

The Democratic Voice of Burma said about 1,600 demonstrators, including at least 1,400 monks, were being held, and other estimates put the number even higher.

full article here(NY Times): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/wo...ld&oref=slogin


Another article:

According to the Burmese government, at least 10 people were killed, including a Japanese journalist.

However, a Norway-based dissident news organization is reporting that 138 people were killed by the military and 6,000 detained.

The British Broadcasting Corp. is reporting on its website that about 4,000 monks have been detained over the past week in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
...
Meanwhile, Gambari reportedly also met with Suu Kyi for a second time. He first met with the "The Lady", as she is known, on Sunday.

full article here (CTV):http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top..._leader_071002

[Cali]

US Campaign for Burma - Call for action

Will You Help Us Stand Up for the Monks?
Global Day of Action October 6th

We are writing this urgent email to call for global demonstrations on Burma this coming Saturday, October 6th to demand the UN Security Council take action on Burma and to call for a global boycott of the 2008 Olympics. We are working together with a huge coalition of international organizations to put together this incredible day of action and we need you to make it happen.





This is one day after a day of student demonstrations across the Unted States on October 5th.

We are expecting demonstrations and protests in up to 35 countries around the world. We are asking for everyone to wear the color red on that day -- red shirts, headbands, or other -- in solidarity with the monks inside Burma. Organize an event or protest in your community, church, city, or join us at the Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States and around the world.

As you know, the UN Security Council shamefully has not lifted a finger to help the courageous Burmese monks and civilians even as they are slaughtered by solders wth automatic weapons. The Security Council has also never even breathed a word after the military regime in Burma destroyed over 3,000 villages -- nearly twice as many as have been destroyed in Darfur. The Burmese regime's scorched earth campaign in eastern Burma has been perhaps the most under-reported tragedy perhaps in the world.

There is one reason only for the paralysis of the Security Council: China. One country has singlehandedly blocked the international community from stopping the carnage in Burma. As a result, the UN is making the same mistakes it made on Rwanda and Darfur: sitting on its hands waiting while people die.

Nobel Peace Prize recipent Desmond Tutu has joined us in this call, saying he will boycott the Olympics unless China changes its position at the UN Security Council. Please pledge to boycott the 2008 Olympics today. The 2008 Olympics have become a monument to savagery and immorality (p.s. we know that many athletes have worked for a long time to participate in the Olympics. that is why we are asking for the Olympics to be moved to another country so athletes aren't harmed).

Please sign up to host an event on our webpage at and keep an eye on our webpage to see what events are already happening so you can join.

We are also requesting donations to help us fund this and more actions. If you are able to donate, please do so generously here. Or, you can host a fundraiser after your demonstration/event on October 6th. Action is always more important than money, but we are urgently short on funds and would appreciate your financial support in addition to your action.

Sign up today and keep the monks in your prayers,







Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, and Thelma Young

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.

[Timeé]

Tv Report on ITV News on burma in a few minutes if anyone wants to tune in..

[Hendrik]

Somebody should kick China's and Russia's butts for still delivering weapons into Burma. Grrrr.

(But then again...there's no oil in Burma...)

[SisterMidnight]

Myanmar junta releases 229 monks and nuns

[audity]

PARIS, Oct. 1 -- Floating face down in a filthy pool of water, a tangled strip of saffron cloth – the distinctive garb a Buddhist monk – still clinging to his neck, the images are a gruesome reminder of the brutality of last week’s military crackdown on Burmese protesters....Story Continues...