Excuse me while I yawn. Don't get me wrong - it is probably a good idea to isolate such a regime. But there's two problems with Bush's supposed strong response to the problems in Burma:
1) sanctions hurt the people in a country and wreck their fledgling social movements much more than they help in any political transformation (South Africa was an anomaly, and that worked only because the nearly the whole world isolated them); and, 2) Burma is already incredibly isolated from the United States and our commerce. Increasing sanctions will have little impact on their economy.
We really don't have much of a relationship with Burma, and thus we have very little leverage. What we really need is China's help in reaching out to Burma and getting them to reform their political system. Ironic, no? We need the folks who brought us Tienanmen Square to help bring about democratic and social reform in Burma.
I agree with your assessment, that China has become THE critical player in many of these international sanctions and negotiations- many have made similar arguments about Darfur and the Sudan. I think I was more drawing attention to news on the topic than commenting per se... Lord help us indeed.
Excuse me while I yawn. Don't get me wrong - it is probably a good idea to isolate such a regime. But there's two problems with Bush's supposed strong response to the problems in Burma:
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2) Burma is already incredibly isolated from the United States and our commerce. Increasing sanctions will have little impact on their economy.
We really don't have much of a relationship with Burma, and thus we have very little leverage. What we really need is China's help in reaching out to Burma and getting them to reform their political system. Ironic, no? We need the folks who brought us Tienanmen Square to help bring about democratic and social reform in Burma.
Lord, help us.
I agree with your assessment, that China has become THE critical player in many of these international sanctions and negotiations- many have made similar arguments about Darfur and the Sudan. I think I was more drawing attention to news on the topic than commenting per se... Lord help us indeed.
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