Saturday, September 29, 2007

SCENES FROM A CONFLICT ZONE

Some of the regional and on-the-spot citizen journalism is summarised and linked in the post Bad Times in Burma, by Dave Lucas. There are pictures of recent street scenes in the confrontation between citizens and the military here. The Burma News Cbox says there is little emerging at the moment. The response of the Japanese is noted (they are meeting to discuss the situation). Which way China jumps, and whether dissent in the army proves substantial, will be critical factors in deciding the outcome of the struggle between democracy and dictatorship. The junta evidently realises that it is in a life-and-death conflict - with the eyes of a watching world trained on it. Last night, at Sanchaung lann, the army reportedly went into a monastery to arrest the monks. When the people in the area tried to prevent them from going into the building, the soldiers threatened that they would shoot at the people, but did not immediately do so. It is believed that the military (SPDC) is trying to trick the United Nations envoy by asking their followers to carry out a 'set-up' protest - rallying against the genuine demonstrations. SPDC followers will force civilians to join in this action at gunpoint. This highlights the scale of the propaganda war going on. News just (13.45) in suggests that the army are wanting to use sniper tactics rather than mass killings against their civil and substantially nonviolent opponents, recognising their isolation in a global setting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Simon, This is a terrible tragedy taht makes one ashamed and embarassed to be part of this "human race." You have some excellent articles and I have bookmarked your weblog for future reference. Thank you!
Dave Lucas

Oh, and thanks for mentioning my blog.