Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

burma - potential uprising?

BBC is saying that the reports of people being shot are so far "Unconfirmed", hope they prove to be wrong, not holding my breath though.

E2A Reuters reports 1 protester dead
 
It's massive, bigger than ever. 300,000 reported, al over the city. Fires, stand-offs between soldiers and protesters everywhere.

11 admitted to hospital, one dead.

The soldiers and plainclothes cops have been knocking monks to the floor and stamping on them. People have been re-capturing monks taken by the police.

People throwing their sandals at the soldiers, shouting 'Killers! Killers!' and 'Your guns have come from our money'
 
On Strand Road today

britembassy.jpg
 
Bravery

Mizzima said:
4:30 p.m
Soldiers despised by civilians

As the protesting crowd advanced soldiers and the three army trucks which stopped them on Bogyoke Street had to move back. Slowly the soldiers were forced out of the street until they reached under the Pansodan flyover. Another group of people watching the scene from the flyover threw their shoes and dirt on the soldiers, a practice reserved for those who are despised in the Burmese community.
Click to expand...
.
 
If this does go the way of Tiananmen Square and the revolt is crushed, I suspect Burma will similarly follow China's path in that there'll be economic reforms - but no political ones, with the regime retaining it's monopoly on power. :(
 
I was pals with a Burmese refugee at Uni, he'd had a pretty rough time off it but had got of lightly compared to many Burmese after '88 and his family were fortunate to be well off enough to get out.

I suspect theres going to be a bloodbath :(
 
isitme said:
Suspect? There already fucking is. There has been for sixty years now it is just hidden.
Click to expand...

Okay, theres going to be a large massacre on the streets of Rangoon, happy now?
 
poster342002 said:
If this does go the way of Tiananmen Square and the revolt is crushed, I suspect Burma will similarly follow China's path in that there'll be economic reforms - but no political ones, with the regime retaining it's monopoly on power. :(
Click to expand...
This is already happening. The junta have been taking advice for years from the Chinese govt on how to restructure its economy along the lines of China, and there have been significant economic reforms since the mid 90s. There's now a good deal of cross-border trade between Burma and its neighbours which was absent during Ne Win's time and through much of the early 90s, and there's also been a massive increase foreign investment - most of it coming from China, India, ASEAN countries, and South Korea. All this amounts to is natural resource grabbing by these countries, with the money going into the pockets of generals and their cronies.

The National Convention, a series of meetings between the military and delegates from ethnic groups and 'sectors of society', was the body to draft a new constitution for Burma. It's just finished its final session; unsuprisingly, military rule seems guaranteed - the president of the country must have served at least 15 years in the army for example, and all references to the president are via the pronoun 'he' i.e. no room for ASSK - and the ethnic minorities have all received next to nothing in the way of self-rule. A sham, in other words, which is why the NLD boycotted it.
 
purves grundy said:
Exactly. Sanctions have been a gigantic failure.
Click to expand...
They can't sanction them much more, so we have no leverage. The only concrete measure mentioned is Bush limiting US visas for members of the regime.

Should they be appealing direct to China, and weaving a mention of the Olympics into the statements? I read an article arguing against olymp[ic boycott on the basis that if there is a boycott the leverage is lost - but would hints that it might be a response be worthwhile? It seems like the only thing we can do from here.
 
purves grundy said:
The National Convention, a series of meetings between the military and delegates from ethnic groups and 'sectors of society', was the body to draft a new constitution for Burma. It's just finished its final session; unsuprisingly, military rule seems guaranteed - the president of the country must have served at least 15 years in the army for example
Click to expand...
Sounds like an ideal way for President Than-Shwe to be "democratically" re-elected by 100% of the vote... :rolleyes:
 
ymu said:
Should they be appealing direct to China, and weaving a mention of the Olympics into the statements?
Click to expand...
I think any diplomat worth their salt should be making direct mention of China, Russia, and India's influence while the UN is meeting and urge them to do whatever they can. If they could twist a few arms before a Security Council meeting, then there might be a chance of passing some sort of resolution.
 
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Security forces shot and wounded three people today, and beat and dragged away dozens of Buddhist monks in the most violent crackdown against the protests that began last month, witnesses said. About 300 monks and activists were arrested, dissidents said.

Reports from exiled Myanmar journalists and activists in Thailand said security forces had shot and killed as many as five people in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon. The reports could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press.

The U.N. Security Council will meet later today to discuss Myanmar, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told French reporters.

Witnesses in Yangon known to the AP said they had seen two women and one young man with gunshot wounds in the chaotic confrontations.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070926/FOREIGN/109260095/1003
 
Brainaddict said:
I await the Security Council's action with bated breath.

What does 'bated' mean anyway?
Click to expand...
related to abated I think
bate 1 (bt)
tr.v. bat·ed, bat·ing, bates
1. To lessen the force or intensity of; moderate: "To his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story" George Eliot. See Usage Note at bait1.
2. To take away; subtract.
 
Jessiedog said:
"Baited"?

:(

Woof
Click to expand...
Nope:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm
bated here is a contraction of abated through loss of the unstressed first vowel (a process called aphesis); it has the meaning “reduced, lessened, lowered in force”. So bated breath refers to a state in which you almost stop breathing through terror, awe, extreme anticipation, or anxiety.
Click to expand...
No wonder I couldn't guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Bingoman
Another potential impeachment coming in America
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
ATOMIC SUPLEX
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Smangus
Effects - current and potential of the worlds sanctions on Russia
4 5 6 7 8
Replies
220
Views
12K
TopCat
TopCat
ska invita
Nigerian Uprising (End SARS)
Replies
4
Views
420
petee
petee
Badgers
Flu virus with 'pandemic potential' found in China
2
Replies
48
Views
2K
NoXion
NoXion
W
Should the UK government put more pressure on Sudan government give in to pro-democracy uprising?
Replies
14
Views
885
Poi E
P
Back
Top Bottom