Opinion: Forget Kim Jong Il. The harder problem is Burma
Why Washington is powerless to help Aung San Suu Kyi.
Well, if the Burma leaders had any inclination "to do the right thing," we'd have heard about that decades ago. All of that presented a cacophony of conflicting approaches that emboldened the military dictators, enabling them to weather international scorn with hardly a worry. The same held true a year ago, when the Burmese government forbid international relief agencies from providing aid to thousands of people made homeless following cyclone Nargis. That brought on stronger sanctions and even louder excoriations. About that time, India worked out an agreement to give the Burmese generals $100 million for a waterway project.
In the last year, the situation has not improved. Early this year, Burma’s opposition party, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, acknowledged the obvious and said publicly that international sanctions were of no benefit to the country or its people.
Last week, after Burma arrested Suu Kyi for allowing John Yattaw, that odd American, to stay in her house for a day after he swum across a lake to see her, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia called for her release.
But, predictably, the nations that keep the junta in power, the enablers – China, India and Thailand – had nothing to say. With those trusty allies in the junta’s back pocket, all the ranting from the rest of the world means nothing. The ruling generals are proceeding with the trial. They will mete out whatever sentence they choose, free from worry or care. If anyone doubts the outcome, take note of the courts most recent act: forbidding the defendant to put her own witnesses on the stand.
When the Obama Administration finds time to conduct that Burma policy review, here’s an idea: Rather than haranguing the junta one day and then moving on when something more important inevitably comes up, why not call the various players in this debate – the United Nations, the European Union and Burma’s Asian neighbors – to an international conference. Maybe they could agree on a unified strategy. Maybe, under the Klieg lights and the skeptical gaze of a thousand reporters, China and India and Thailand might be shamed into doing the right thing.
More GlobalPost dispatches on Burma:
Ethnic Kachins defy Myanmar's junta
More on North Korea:
North Korea's cries for attention
Opinion: Kim Jong Il's successor is (envelope please) ... Paek Se Bong!
All eyes on North Korea, for good reason
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The situation in Burma is clearly unacceptable, and Joel Brinkley is right to point out the deficiencies in the international community response, especially at the regional level. But suggesting that the repressive Burmese junta is a more pressing problem than a nuclear-armed regime that is conducting nuclear and missile tests and threatening with war is just absurd.
The Burmese junta, despite all its nastiness, poses a threat mainly to its own citizens. The nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang not only brutally represses its own citizens, but also poses a threat to the entire world. For all the outrage that human rights violations anywhere should cause, that is a distinction one can not forget.
I can understand the need for a strong and catchy tittle - after all, it got me here, reading an article that I might otherwise have let slip away. But suggesting that the situation in North Korea is being hyped, and going on to imply there is some kind of diplomatic silver lining to this week's nuclear test is just preposterous.
I agree with this article. China is the key to the solution. Especially an Asian can not loose his face. Burma is a case of humanity, not a case of interests. This incredible lady Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Laureate and an icon of democracy, not oil or gas or atomic energy. Only world president Obama can unleash a tsunami of humanity and shame the world into action. See www.2009-de.com or www.twitter.com/democrats2009
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