Bloodthirsty Liberal

If “protest squashing” is an olympic event next year, Burmese junta will give the host Chinese a run for their money.

Satellite images confirm reports of burned villages, forced relocations and other human-rights abuses in Myanmar, scientists said on Friday.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science said the high-resolution photographs taken by commercial satellites document a growing military presence at 25 sites across eastern Myanmar, matching eyewitness reports.

“We found evidence of 18 villages that essentially disappeared,” AAAS researcher Lars Bromley said in an interview.

“We got reporting in late April that a set of villages in Karen state had been burned. We were actually able to identify burn scars on the ground — square-shaped burn scars the size of houses,” Bromley added.

The Karen State…that reminded us.

The military junta in Myanmar has embarked on forced labour, extortion and land confiscation in several projects funded or supported by United Nations agencies, the Karen Human Rights Group claimed today.

That was from April, folks. We were so far out ahead of this crackdown, we had to leave breadcrumbs for the rest of you.

Meanwhile, back in the capital:

Several hundred people have gathered in Burma’s main city of Rangoon, despite three days of a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The demonstrators have been surrounded by security forces and pro-military vigilante groups, eyewitnesses said.

The protesters are chanting slogans and taunting police, but no shots have so far been fired.

The protest came as a United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, arrived in Rangoon.

Picking up where he left off, no doubt. We’re not impressed.

And speaking of unimpressed:

I want to respond once again to this fellow, who thinks the Burmese monks are saps for not leading an armed resistance against the military junta instead of a nonviolent protest.

That would be me, although anyone who actually reads BTL wouldn’t recognize that characterization. In fact, I spot three misstatements in thirty or so words. Saps? Never said it, never would. Armed resistance? Same thing. Nonviolent protest?

What’s nonviolent about it?

I do appreciate his quoting me directly, wherein I express my doubts about the intentions of the protests, and my sadness and outrage over the deaths that have resulted. I see he has a page called The Wisdom of Doubt. I won’t pretend that I understand the theological implications, but the expression has meaning to me nevertheless.