The Burma Road Goes Through Beijing
As long as China provides political, financial, and military support for Burma’s rulers, no meaningful change in Burma is likely. But, just as in Darfur, where China’s perceived support for the Sudanese government translated into harsh criticism and threats to brand the 2008 Olympics the “Genocide Games,” the costs of China’s support for Burma’s generals are rising fast.
NEW YORK amp#45;amp#45; Three hard facts are setting the boundaries for the talks United Nations negotiator Ibrahim Gambari is undertaking as he shuttles between Burma’s ruling generals and the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. First, despite the heroic leadership of the Buddhist clergy and the pro-democracy community, almost 50 years of military misrule and terror tactics have worn down Burma’s people, who will likely find it hard to maintain their defiance without obvious splits among the ruling generals or widespread desertions among ordinary soldiers.
NEW YORK amp#45;amp#45; Three hard facts are setting the boundaries for the talks United Nations negotiator Ibrahim Gambari is undertaking as he shuttles between Burma’s ruling generals and the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. First, despite the heroic leadership of the Buddhist clergy and the pro-democracy community, almost 50 years of military misrule and terror tactics have worn down Burma’s people, who will likely find it hard to maintain their defiance without obvious splits among the ruling generals or widespread desertions among ordinary soldiers.