The lowly seer

Sanctions

It appears Than Shwe has offered to meet Burma's legitimate and imprisoned leader, Aung San Suu Kyi provided, amongst other things, she drops her calls for sanctions.
BBC story
This has to be the final nail in the coffin for those who claim sanctions wouldn't work. It hits the generals where it hurts most - in the pocket.
The problem is it has to be concerted action, the US and EU have moved forwards (even though they do nothing about Chevron and Total's continuing presence), but it's true that even a total pull-out would allow others to increase their commitment there, and it's why we need to see the rest shift their position, principally China, Thailand, India, Japan and Singapore.

And to any people who're foolish enough to believe Burma's a faraway small country of no significance to yourselves, every country that isn't already a dictatorship has military governors waiting in the wings, ready to take over should they decide a national emergency became dire enough and they must be watching this with great interest. With the attack on the monks, the illegal regime turned a very sharp corner, distancing themselves from the population much further than ever.

They mustn't be allowed to get away with it.

posted by Les the Spaceman @ 9:01 am